Page 25 of Stay

“So much for sticking around,” I snap at her while she packs up.

Haley glowers at me. “How dare you.”

“How dare I what? Look at you. You’re packing up already.”

“I was putting my notebook away, so I don’t smack you in the face with it, you asshole!” Her whole face turns crimson. People start staring at us.

Holy shit, I had no clue there was this much resentment and anger still in me. Honestly, I feel like a jerk because I did this to myself. Haley’s not the only one at fault.

“I’m sorry,” she says, scooting out of the booth. She leaves her bag behind. With my heart in my lap, I watch her snake through the crowded bar area, holding my breath to see if she’s going to walk out the motherfucking door.

She veers left to the women’s restroom.

Relief surges through my veins. Shoving out of the booth, I bulldoze my way through the restaurant and straight into the bathroom.

“Cole!” she whisper-yells when I barge in. “You can’t be in here.”

“Fuck that.” I lock the door so no one else can enter. “Look, I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for. I deserve it.”

The hell she does. “I had no right to be like that with you out there. I’m just confused and lashing out.”

“You never said you loved me,” she whispers. Bracing herself against the sink, she keeps her head down and back to me. “You never once said you loved me.”

“If I had, would it have mattered?”

Her silence is answer enough. No. It wouldn’t have.

“I needed to go.” Her voice shakes. “There were things happening and I…” She shakes her head. “I couldn’t let you be in my life anymore. Not until I could make things better.”

I knew she had trouble with her parents, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t have been there for her. “We could have taken on anything together, Haley.” The fight’s already left me. “Hey, look at me.” Spinning her around slowly, I wipe her tears away with my thumbs and cradle her face. “We always made a great team, didn’t we?”

She doesn’t move. Doesn’t speak.

“What happened back then that had the power to rip you away from me?” In college, I didn’t think even an apocalypse could tear us apart. I’ve gone five years wondering what I did wrong. What made her run like I meant nothing to her at the end? “Don’t say it was our careers and ambitions. We’d have made it work and you fucking know it.”

She doesn’t say a word.

Time to switch tactics.

“Angel.” I run a hand through her hair and tug it, forcing her gaze to meet mine. “What made you run?”

She stares up at me, and all the color drains from her face. “I got pregnant.”

Chapter 8

Haley

I never wanted him to find out like this. Hell, I never wanted him to find out at all.

Cole tenses and this terrible, pained expression spreads across his face. “What?”

“I didn’t want you to ever find out.”

Wrong thing to say.

He stumbles back as if I shot him in the heart with a bazooka. His gaze flits all over the bathroom, most likely trying to find the fastest exit out of my life. “Are you for real, Haley?”

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