Page 153 of Tied to You

“What?” Treading closer, I come to a stop before him. Has he looked? Does he know?

He steadily turns the stick so I can see, his eyes focused on me, waiting to see my reaction.

My breath escapes. My hand flies to my head. There’s no denying it. The instructions said two lines indicate I’m pregnant. My bottom lip shakes as I take another step closer to him, taking the stick from his hold. “I don’t know how this happened.”

Stood over me, Travis bends and kisses my head, his hand on the back of my neck. I’m just about to turn into him, but I hear him sigh, his heavy breath hitting me like a tonne of bricks. “I can’t have this baby, Mollie.”

I stare down at my hand. If there was anything you’d want the man you love to say when you find out you’re pregnant with his child, it’s not that. I give a light shake of my head, unsure of what I’m supposed to say. I knew his reaction could go either way, but to hear it with my own ears… my insides knot with an unknown sadness. “I,” I choke on my words.

“You don’t have to lie to me. I know.”

Know what?Time freezes. I swear a pin could drop and you’d hear it. Gritting my teeth together, I ignore the mistiness in my eyes. “You think I lied about knowing I was pregnant?”

His hand on my neck twitches when I look at him. “I think you knew.”

I step back from his hold. “You’re not serious?” I say harshly. My skin suddenly turns hot, my cheeks undoubtedly turning red as anger begins to swell.

The last thing I thought he’d do is smile at me. “Of course you knew, baby. After all, everyone knows antibiotics mess with your pill.”

He’s reciting what Janette said to me earlier. My shoulders slump. “That’swhat made you take off from the restaurant? What Janette said. Travis, you were sat in with me when the doctor told me to my face that it should be okay.”

“But it isn’t, is it.”

“So this is all my fault?”

His eyes narrow, his face turning hard. “She said she knew you were pregnant. How can she know and you didn’t?”

“Ididn’tknow!” I yell. “I just took this,” I hold it up, “you were the first one to find out just now.”

His lips roll. He doesn’t believe me.

Casting a look to one side, I take a deep breath, dropping my hand. “If you’re about to stand there and tell me you think I lied about knowing, then you don’t know me at all.”

I look back at him and see him thinking, his eyes looking through me. “I know you’re good at deceiving people.” His tone is so flat, it hurts more than anything he’s ever said to me.

Wanting to speak, I wait until the tears that are threatening to fill my eyes stop stinging. I won’t let them fall. Refuse to. I can’t let him hurt me. Not like this. Not about this. This is his fear being projected onto me. This isn’t my fault. “I can’t believe you just said that. If I have ever deceived anybody, it’s becauseyouasked me to. For the club,” I remind him.

His jaw ticks. “Mollie, you can’t be pregnant. You told me you didn’t want it.” Running a hand through his hair, he looks away, and I do too. “It was a mistake,” he sighs.

“What was?” Our relationship? My head snaps his way. Is he sayingwewere a mistake?

“Telling you that one day I might consider it.”

I recoil. This cruelness is new. “So, you think I heard that and saw an opportunity to do what, trap you?” The look on his face tells me that’s exactly what he thought, or at the very least, he considered it. “You bastard,” I whisper, walking away.

Getting into the lounge, my head spins too fast to keep up with. I feel like I’m going to pass out. Resting my elbows on the counter, I take my head in my hands, nausea now swimming through my blood. This can’t be happening. It’s not meant to be like this. Everything is becoming blurred, every decision I’ve made, every step, every turn, it all blends into one giantlump that I can’t make sense of.

When I look up, Travis has followed me. He’s now standing at the other end of the breakfast bar. He tilts his head to one side, his face expressionless. “Tell me you didn’t suggest wanting to get away because you knew you were carrying it.”

It.The word makes my hackles rise, anger pouring through me. “I suggested running away as a joke because of everything going on with my dad. And because all I needed was you.”

He huffs. “And now?”

I scrunch my face. “And now we have things we need to talk about.”

“There’s nothingtotalk about.”

“There’s plenty, Travis.” I stand straight. “You just accused me of trapping you and called our baby it.”