Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

Ander

I stomp my way down the hall of the church. I know exactly where I’m going. I don’t wait for her to come out, I just kick the door open.

“Holy shit!” Her friend, who I recognize from the pictures I took from Lilly’s parents’ house, subtly puts herself in front of the other girls.

I’m going to give that woman whatever she wants because of that little motion too. The other friend, the redhead holds onto my girl like she isn’t going to let go of her no matter what. She gets whatever she wants too. Lilly has good friends. I like them just because of how they take care of my angel.

“Hey, what the hell are you doing, buddy?”

“And who the hell do you think you are?”

Both of the girls’ men step in front of me. I meet both of their glares with one of my own. “I’m here for Lilly. She’s mine!”

They search my face before moving aside to let me in. One of them slaps me on the back before pulling the brunette friend away. I go straight for Lilly. The other man pulls his girl into his arms as I reach for mine. I sweep her up in my arms and turn to leave.

“You better be good to her and fix this. Lolly is too sweet to have a broken heart.”

Broken heart? She isn’t the only one with a case of broken heart, I have one too. And I’m sick and tired of doing things Lilly’s way. I gave her space to figure shit out. I gave her time. Now, time is up. We’re going to sit down and figure all this shit out. And I’m not letting her go until we have it worked out.

“Where are you taking me?”

“Home.”

She starts stiffening in my arms. “I can’t leave. I’m a bride’s maid. Bonny needs me!”

I compromise and step into an empty room in the church. Fine. I’ll let her be a bride’s maid but then she’ll be leaving with me. But first, I’m going to make that clear.

I step inside the quiet room and kick the door shut with my foot. I sit her down on her feet and take her shoulders in my hands. We stare at one another, and I see the tiredness in her eyes, the dark circles that she’s tried to cover up with makeup.

I thought so long and hard about what I would say to her when I saw her again… face to face. Just because I gave her space doesn’t mean I just abandoned her. I’ve had a bodyguard on her for weeks now and I drive by her house at least once a day. All she had to do was step outside and ask for me and I would have been there in a heartbeat.

She just never asked for me.

“I…,”

She opens and closes her mouth like she is trying to figure out what to say to me. I look just as tired as she does. I’ve not slept well since I left the morning after we spent the night making love. I left to grab breakfast for us so we wouldn’t have to worry about getting out of bed since I was pretty sure she was going to be sore from all the nighttime activity. When I came back, she wasn’t there. I know she wasn’t there because I had the manager of the buildings open the door for me. The apartment was empty.

I spent all Thanksgiving Day outside her building waiting for her to come back, wondering what I did, calling and texting until I was mad with worry and fear for her. Did I hurt her? Was I too rough? Is that why she ran from me? I spent days searching for where she might have gone, where she ran to, only to find she was moving out of the apartment and into a house.

“Why are you here, Ander?” There’s a hint of fear in her eyes. Is she afraid of me?

I give her a question back, “Why the hell do you think I’m here, Lilly?”

“Why now?”

She looks like she might have lost weight. She felt like it too when I had her in my arms. She's not been eating like she should.

“I ought to throw you over the arm of that couch and spank your ass until you can’t sit for days.”

She backs up, putting space between us, causing my temper to slip. I grab her arm and start to pull her over to the couch.

“After I spank your little ass raw, I’m fucking you until you can’t walk too.”

“Oh my God! Ander! Please.”

Even though she is fighting me every step of the way, it doesn't take much for me to have her where I want her. Right when I’m about to turn her around and bend her over the arm of the couch she blurts out words that don’t make any sense to me.

“Ander, I’m pregnant! I…I’m pregnant! I don’t know if… if it will hurt the baby or…”

“What did you just say?”

“I…,” tears fill her eyes and her whole body starts to shake, “I said, I’m pregnant.”

“You…, you’re pregnant?”

A sob slips from her lips, and she looks on the verge of passing out. I lift her and sit with her in my lap on the very couch I was about to spank her on. A plethora of emotions burst through my brain causing me to be speechless.

“Were you going to tell me? If I hadn’t come today, would you have told me?”

“Of course I would have told you. I just told the girls I wasn’t saying anything to anyone until we spoke first. Well, nobody but them since it kind of, um, fell out when we were all crying and hugging and…it doesn’t matter. I was going to tell you.”

“When?”

She opens and closes her mouth, telling me all I need to know.

“After the birth but before college?”

She pops up off my lap.

“You’re lucky I even chose to tell you with what you’ve done to me! The pain you’ve caused me!”

“You? The pain I caused YOU? What about what you did to me? Ghosting my ass, cutting off any contact, pretending what happened between us never happened?”

“Don’t pretend you cared or that it meant anything to you! I saw you that morning! I saw you!”

“And what, decided you were done with me?”

“You were with my sister! The two of you laughing and she…she touc..., oh God.”

She takes off running for a nearby trashcan. I am right behind her. When she falls to her knees and starts retching, I hold her hair back for her and rub her back. Between heaves, I can tell she’s crying and all I can think of is murder. Death and violence. I might kill that little bitch if I ever see her again but right now I need to make sure I am taking care of Lilly the way she needs me to.

When she tries to stand and seems like she is done, I hand her a water bottle and sweep her up in my arms so I can take us back over to the couch. I brush the tears off her face and rock her as she cries some more. Eventually the tears slow and her sobs quieten down.

“Sweetheart, I went out that morning for breakfast for us. I was in my truck about to pull out when she opened the door and slid in.”

“I don’t want to know. I don’t want to…”

“She tried to touch me but I pushed her away and told her if she didn’t get out of my truck I was going to make her and her parents’ lives a living hell.”

She looks up at me with hope in her eyes. “You weren’t…”

“The only thing that…your sister touched was my forearm and I told her she made me want to throw up. Needless to say, she got back out and walked her happy ass back over to her car and took the fuck off.”

Horror clouds her face, “Oh my God…I…how can you ever forgive me? I thought…all the time we wasted…the time I wasted with you.”

“I…I have a confession that I need to make.”

“You found someone else.” Her lower lip quivers and tears start to gather in her eyes.

“There is no one else -and there never will be anyone else- for me but you. What I have to tell you…might make you mad but I’m not sorry for any of the things I did. I told you the truth when I said I would do whatever I needed to so I could make you mine, so I could keep you by my side.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’ve had a bodyguard watching you for the past two weeks.”

“What?”

“Murphy,” I yell loud enough for him to hear me and wait for him to stick his head through the door.

“Sir.”

“Meet Lilly…formally.”

He gives her a sheepish smile before addressing her, “Ma’am.”

“Thank you, Murph.”

He grins at me knowing all too well how crazy I have been over this woman. He's the one who gave me hourly check-ins on where she was and what she was doing after all.

“Why?”

“Because I want you to be safe even if you didn’t want to be with me.”

Her lips start to tremble, and she starts to cry again.

“I’m a horrible person. I thought you broke my heart, and I broke yours instead.”