Page 250 of Heart So Hollow

Bo exhales in exasperation and meanders in a circle, “I didn’t bring you out here to argue,” he says dismissively.

“Then why did you bring me out here?” I snap, growing tired of his ambiguity.

“Why?” he turns back to me with intrigue, “Because I want you to tell me about your abortion, E.”

All the air leaves my lungs like a balloon deflating. Suddenly, the woods don’t seem so vast anymore. The longer Bo looks at me, waiting for a response, the more the trees feel like they’ve uprooted and are inching closer and closer to the limestone plateau.

“What?” I reply, my chest heavy with dread.

Bo turns on his heel and slowly strolls toward me. His expression remains the same, eerily calm with a hint of amusement. He stops square in front of me, just a couple of feet from my sneakers, then tilts his head.

“What’s wrong?” his tone changes, taking on a sardonic edge.

My heart feels like it’s beating out of my chest, “Who—” I stop short, my mind racing, still unsure how to respond.

Hannah…

One defective condom later and I didn’t realize I would have to not only question my entire future, but also question the loyalty of one of my best friends who couldn’t manage to keep her goddamn mouth shut about my personal life.

Hannah was the only person I told when I missed my period and took a pregnancy test four weeks ago. I was terrified and I spent hours crying to her about what I should do and then, later, what I wanted to do. And she didn’t judge me. She listened to me and told me it was going to be OK. She went to every single appointment with me and made sure I was OK.

After all that, why would she go and tell Bo about it? Why in God’s name would she tell the one person who I didn’t ever want to know this? And who else did she tell?

What kind of woman…

Bo’s voice snaps me back to the present, “You’re coming at me for not texting you enough and you’ve been keeping this?” his voice begins to rise, “What the hell are you doing, Evie?”

“Well, you haven’t exactly been the easiest person to talk to lately.” My face twists in disgust, “Fucking Hannah…” I murmur, “fine, I should’ve told you.”

“Look,” Bo rubs the bridge of his nose, “Hannah’s a bitch, OK? She’s salty and she knows she’ll never measure up to you. That’s why she’s trying to stir shit up. She only told me any of this because she’s pissed I’m taking you to prom.”

I blink and just stare at him, “Prom?”

All of this is happening because of a prom date? Why would Hannah care who Bo takes to prom?

“You know what? Forget Hannah,” Bo throws his head to the side, “because it doesn’t matter. You’re walking around this whole time, acting like everything’s great, strutting your ass out on the field, picking out your prom dress, and meanwhile, you’re getting a goddamn abortion!”

“Why do you even care about prom?” I shout back, “Aren’t you taking Asher Avery now, anyway?”

He takes a step forward, towering over me, “What the fuck are you talking about? When the hell did I tell you that?”

“You didn’t! I had to hear about it in the middle of class,” my voice gets louder and louder as I recall the awful memory, until I’m basically screaming at him, “while Asher told everyone about you saying how hot she looked in her dress! And then she said she was going to see you at Leland’s…” my voice cracks while I try to bite back the tears, “I’m not an idiot, Bo. I know you, and I know what that means. So why the fuck do you even care that I got an abortion?”

“You’re falling to pieces because some bitch was running her mouth in class?” His voice softens and he furrows his brow, studying my face as I rub my cheeks and try to maintain my composure. “Did you ever stop to think that maybe I want that with you?”

“Want what?” I stare up at him in confusion.

His dark eyes seem to go on forever, and then, suddenly, I realize what he’s implying. “No,” I shake my head fervently, “you do not.” Now he’s just being ridiculous. “You know what would happen to your life if I decided to have a baby right now? Nothing!” I snap, “You’d be doing the exact same thing you’re doing right now—working for your dad, racing cars, hunting with Jay, doing whatever you want, and your only inconvenience would be me yelling at you for coming home too late. But my life would change. I couldn’t do any of the things I planned to do and I would resent you and probably end up hating you. What kind of life is that for anyone?”

He looks me up and down, “You already have it all figured out, huh?”

“What do you think this is, Bo?” I take a haggard breath, “Some Hallmark movie where I go off to school, come home for Christmas break, see you at the Well, and decide that school and softball aren’t for me and I’d rather come back here and have 10 babies with you?”

“Ten’s a little ambitious with your track record,” Bo deadpans.

My eyes blaze as I glare up at him, seething with rage, “I did it because this is my body and my life!”

Suddenly, Bo grabs my bicep and violently jerks me toward him, “Let me tell you something, Evie, the minute you decided to crawl into my bed every other night and beg me to fuck you seven ways to Sunday is when your body stopped being yours and every single part of you became my property!”

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