Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87825 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87825 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
I know Ashton has a past. The night I saw Corinne hanging all over him, I knew he was fucking her. And a few weeks before that, it was some tall brunette girl with a shy smile. The month before that, it was another blonde.
The amount of women he’s been with goes way beyond my fingers and toes. But to think that he got a girl pregnant and didn’t tell me about it, even after I gave him my heart…
That’s not something I can easily ignore. The guilt on his face when I uttered her name won’t leave my mind either. He knew he was in the wrong by not telling me.
So why didn’t he?
So fucking stupid, Sadie.
Maybe he would have explained if I’d given him a chance. But he’d been needed elsewhere, and I’d needed to get out of that hotel room so I could breathe again.
So I could push down the panic clawing my gut.
So why isn’t it working?
Because this is Ashton, and whether I like it or not, I’m head over heels for him. As I drive down the empty road in the middle of the night, his declaration haunts me.
He loves me.
And I believe him.
But that doesn’t change the fact that another woman is pregnant with his child, and I don’t know what that means for us.
Chapter Twenty-eight
Ashton
I’m an asshole.
I deserve Sadie’s anger, but acknowledging that doesn’t stop it from punching me in the gut. As I drive to the hospital, I’m plagued by the betrayal in her jade eyes as those elevator doors slid shut.
And I’m plagued by the harsh reality of Corinne’s frantic words. She sounded so scared over the phone, and that made her situation…our situation real. And to think I avoided talking to her for a whole week after she told me the news.
Have I mentioned I’m an asshole?
Not even the rock music pouring through the speakers is drowning out the weight of the mess I got myself into. Fuck, I should have told Sadie. I should have done a lot of shit, like not taking the coward’s way out by avoiding Corinne. As I pull into the parking lot of the emergency room and kill the engine, I don’t know what I’m going to find beyond the front entrance.
There’s only one way to find out, and it doesn’t involve being a coward. I make my way across the deserted parking lot and enter through the automatic sliding doors. Corinne is sitting in the waiting area. The instant she sees me, she spans the distance between us.
Her eyes are tired and red as if she’s been crying. “Thanks for coming. My car broke down a while back, and my sister dropped me off, but she’s on the graveyard shift, so I’m stuck without a ride home.”
“Of course. I’m glad you called. Is the baby okay?”
And that’s the moment her pregnancy really starts to set in.
She nods. “Can we just get out of here?”
I dart a glance at the receptionist. “Do they need my information? You shouldn’t have to bear the financial responsibility on your own.” It’s probably too little too late, but I’m hoping late is better than never.
“It’s been taken care of. They already discharged me.”
“If you want them to send me the bill, I can—”
“Ashton, it’s fine. Please, can we just go?”
I want to argue, but the ragged lines of her face are worrisome enough that I decide getting her home is the best course of action for now. We can argue semantics later. As we walk toward my car, she peeks at me from under her long lashes, and I get the feeling she wants to say something.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I ask.
“I’m fine. The baby’s fine. The doctor says I just need to take it easy for a few days and avoid stress.” She eyes me again. “Will you stay with me tonight? Just in case…I mean…” She lets out a quick breath.
“What is it, Corinne?”
“I’m scared I’ll start bleeding again.”
Her words jerk the ground from under my feet. Not only is she pregnant, but she might be in danger of losing the baby. I’ve always known I wanted kids. I just never imagined it happening like this.
But it is happening, and no matter the circumstances, there’s a fundamental part of me that wants to give this baby the kind of father I never had.
One who sticks around for the long term—the kind of dad who puts his child before himself.
My world seems to spin around me as I unlock the passenger side door and help her into the seat. “I’ll stay tonight, but you’re gonna be fine, okay?”
“Thank you,” she says with a dip of her head. Her blond hair falls forward, obscuring her face. “I almost forgot…” She pulls something from her purse. “They did an ultrasound.”