Chapter 7

Haisley had an idea of what they were going to talk about. "Listen, Robert?—"

"Please call me Peach. No one calls me Robert, and I won't know who you are talking about if you say Robert."

“What is that about? Why Peach?”

"Because when I first went into the Navy, the guys at RTC—that's recruit training command—they thought I looked very young. Then they found out I was from Georgia, and that sealed it. I was known as Peach. That's the simple answer."

“Okay. So Peach, there isn’t much to tell.”

“She called you some awful names.”

Her cheeks heated, and she turned away from him. "It’s okay.”

“I don’t think it is. I think I should know what is going on because I’m sure it ties to why you are living here.”

Haisley blew out a harsh breath and shook her head, trying to push away the pain and shame she still felt. Telling Robert, or Peach, about everything was too much. “I can’t. ”

She took off, racing to her room, which happened to be his old bedroom. Running away was immature, but she couldn’t tell this man everything that had happened. She’d barely been able to tell Ellen. Telling a guy what had happened to her was out of the question.

No footsteps followed, so Haisley began pulling her clothes from the closet, trying to decide what she would keep and take with her when Peach kicked her out because she was sure that would be coming soon.

The thing about what happened to her was embarrassing. Thick guilt piled on, making it even worse. Ellen had tried to make her see that she wasn’t at fault, but she couldn’t help but feel guilty for that night.

She’d gone over to Will’s place because he said he wanted to discuss something about her car that had been totaled. It seemed reasonable that he would admit to the crime and offer to pay her some money for damages. She hadn't known what he was planning, but she should have been smart enough to figure out the man was up to no good.

Will had never done anything out of any goodness of his heart or kindness for others. He'd always tried to screw her over. Now, she was paying the price. She set her clothes on the bed and then fell to the mattress. None of them knew she was pregnant. How mad would they be once they knew she had a baby in her belly? The pregnancy was proof that one of them had sex with her that night. Of course, with Kirsten telling everyone she was a whore, who would believe she'd been attacked? All the men were at fault because not one of them had tried to help her.

None of this was fair. She just wanted to escape. It would be nice to go to a place none of them would ever find her and live on her own. She could easily make up a story about the father of the baby. It would be easy to lie and say she’d done in vitro just to shield her baby from the hate that would surely come their way if anyone learned the truth.