Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 39689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 198(@200wpm)___ 159(@250wpm)___ 132(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 198(@200wpm)___ 159(@250wpm)___ 132(@300wpm)
I didn’t know if I could go through losing him again.
“I know,” Miles told me softly as he wrapped his arms around me. A choked sob left my lips as I wrapped my own arms around his torso, crying into his chest. “You both just need some time away from each other. Damien loves you so fucking much, Hayley. He will never leave for good. He’ll be back. Right now, he hates himself as much as he thinks you hate him.”
“I don’t hate him, Miles,” I sobbed.
I could never hate him.
Even when Damien turned me into a shell of myself and made me lose my love for everything I once found joy in, I still couldn’t hate him.
Miles gently rubbed my back. “I know that, too, Hayley, but he doesn’t. I’ve never seen Damien as broken as he was last night since you left that ring on the table when he was in prison. He hurt you, and he broke your trust. I know he was in the wrong, but just give him some time.”
I nodded against his chest, pulling away from him. I numbly walked back to mine and Damien’s room, burrowing under the blankets and clutching his pillow to my chest, silent tears rushing down my cheeks.
I always managed to fuck everything up.
Had I not called Diego, Drake wouldn’t have been pissed. Had Drake not gotten pissed because of Lacie’s betrayal, he wouldn’t have tried to hit Damien, which resulted in him hitting me instead.
And Damien wouldn’t have shot Drake.
This was all my fault.
I was at fault for Drake’s death.
And I had pushed Damien away for something that wouldn’t have even happened had I not stuck my nose where it didn’t fucking belong.
14
I stared down at the white pregnancy test in my hand, tears flooding my vision. I hadn’t seen Damien in about three weeks, though I knew from Miles that he came to check on me while I was sleeping. I had texted him, but he just continued telling me he would be home soon.
But now, he had to come home.
Because he was going to be a fucking dad.
I washed my hands, and with shaking fingers, I tapped out a message to Damien on my phone. I then set it down on the nightstand afterward, not bothering to see if he texted me back or read my message.
I just walked out of the room and headed out to the pool, ignoring Miles’s worried gaze on my back.
Damien
Her text kept spinning through my head on replay as I quickly shut the door to my car and jogged up the steps to the porch.
I’m pregnant.
She hadn’t responded to me, and she hadn’t answered my calls. After speaking to Miles, I felt a bit more at ease knowing that she was just out in the pool. I hadn’t fucked up so badly that she was blatantly ignoring me.
I stepped into the house and dropped my bag by the door. “She still in the pool?” I asked Miles.
He nodded. “Surprised you’re home already,” he commented as I strode towards the door that led out to the patio. “You said you weren’t coming home until you cleared up a bit more shit with Tyrone.”
I shook my head. “She’s pregnant,” I grumbled as I stepped outside, shutting the door back behind me. I didn’t wait around to hear his response or witness his reaction to the news.
My eyes instantly locked on hers as she looked up from where she was laying on a float, letting the sun tan her skin. “Damien,” she breathed. She slid off of the float and came to the edge of the pool.
“Is it true?” I asked her quietly, running my eyes over her face.
She nodded. “I was feeling nauseous, and my period is a couple of days late.” She shrugged as she looked down at the water. She ran her hands over the surface of it. “I took a pregnancy test. It clearly said positive.”
I tilted her chin up and slanted my lips across hers. She softly sighed, her hands reaching up to wrap around my wrists as I cradled her face in my hands, kissing her tenderly. “I’m so happy that you’re home, Damien,” she whispered against my lips.
“You were so upset—" I started, but she shook her head at me, cutting me off. But God, I would never forget that agony in her eyes.
“I never wanted you to leave, Damien,” she told me, her eyes swimming with so many different emotions. “I was upset, yes, but I still wanted you here with me, Damien, no matter how angry or sad I was.”
“You’re way too good for me, darlin’,” I told her honestly as I ran my thumb over her cheek.
She smiled up at me. “Every bad guy needs a good woman on his side,” she reminded me.