Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106806 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
I blindly pull my jeans on, not bothering with the underwear in the dark. I can feel his panic as if it’s sharpened the air in the room, but just when I’m convinced he’s angry, convinced he’s going to pull away and shut me out again, he draws me into his arms and presses a kiss to the top of my head.
“I’ll take care of you. In whatever way you need, I’ll do it. You have my word.”
I melt completely and half expect to slide out of his arms and into a puddle on the floor. Hard-ass Oliver promising to care for me might be the sweetest thing I’ve ever experienced.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
OLIVER
As we leave the party, I hold Savvy’s hand so tightly I’m afraid I might hurt her. But I need to touch her, and once we’re in the car, I keep her hand in mine the whole way home and all the way up to my loft.
Only once I shut the door behind us do I let myself fully process what I’ve done. What I’ve risked—made her risk.
She bites her bottom lip and studies me. “It’ll be okay,” she says, inching closer. She touches my face with a tenderness I don’t deserve. “I promise it’ll be okay.”
Of course she would try to reassure me in this moment when I’m the one who could walk away. When I’m the one who could’ve just screwed up her whole life. I grab her hand and press a kiss to the inside of her palm. “I’m so sorry.”
Worry lines wrinkle her brow. “I had a full workup at the student clinic after I left Chuck, and I haven’t been with anyone since. I don’t have any STIs. Do you know . . .” She cringes.
“I had a workup first week of the semester.” I swallow hard. “Everything was good.”
“And since then? I know you go out a lot. Is there any chance that since then . . .?”
It blows my mind that she thinks I could’ve slept with anyone else since meeting her. That anyone but her could appeal to me when I know she’s in my bed. “The last time I was intimate with anyone but you, you walked in on it.”
Her eyes widen. “Wait—before classes started? How is that possible?”
I grunt. “Same way it’s possible for you.” I knew I wasn’t risking her health, so I hadn’t even considered that angle, but I’m glad we have it covered. I’m afraid to ask about the other part, but I have to. “Are you on birth control of any kind?”
She stares at the floor and shakes her head. “Chuck thought it was probably what was making me hold on to the extra weight, so I got off it months ago.”
If I weren’t so fixated on the potential consequences of that choice, I would hunt his ass down for the things he made her think about herself. “He is such a piece of trash, Savvy.”
She takes another step closer and puts her hand on my chest. “I realize that now.”
I wrap my arms around her and pull her against me until she rests her cheek over my heart. “I meant what I said. I’ll give you anything you need. If you end up pregnant, I’ll stand by any decision you make. And I’ll support you in every way I can.”
I’m not my father. I would never walk away from my child.
But this is the second time I’ve let this happen, and that means I’m more like him than I thought.
“Oliver?” she whispers.
“Yeah?” My voice is rough. As if I’m already weighed down by the consequences of tonight’s choices.
“Let’s not borrow trouble, okay? Let’s assume everything is fine until we know otherwise.”
I kiss the top of her head. “Anything you need.”
Part Eleven
PRESENT DAY
CHAPTER THIRTY
SAVVY
There’s a scenic pullover not far from my apartment in Orchid Valley that I discovered not long after moving here. It’s on a bluff that overlooks Lake Blackledge and all the lovely homes nestled into the trees around it.
I came here a lot when I first arrived in town. I was still trying to figure out who I was, trying to make sense of my life. Ever since, it’s been the place I go when the chaos in my mind feels like too much and I need to clear my head to make a decision.
Today, I’m here because I’m about to face Alec’s family as his fiancée for the first time, and my nerves are getting the best of me. It was bad enough to play this part when I knew Alec’s connection to Oliver, but doing it now that I know Charles was Rose and Alec’s father? Now that I know Cheryl was Charles’s wife?
I sit on the hood of my car and stare out over the lake, forcing myself to take three deep, measured breaths. The wind whips through my loose hair and clouds overhead darken with each passing minute, matching my somber mood.