Page 22 of The Princess & the Prospect

“Then she gets a job and tells no one about it. She goes to the doctor and leaves me in the dark, she fucking hides from me and ignores when I try to ask about the baby or her when she accidentally runs into me if I’m late leaving for work. She literally has my schedule timed so she’s locked away or not here when I am. I can’t sleep at night for trying to figure out how to turn this around, but you’re gonna march your happy ass in my house and presume I’m being selfish? Based on what? Bullshit she’s telling you without telling you that she’s causing her own misery at this point?” Both Gretchen and Ever stood looking shell-shocked at my tirade. I didn’t want to see their faces any longer though. I was tired. Physically warn out from working doubles and sleeping on a couch not meant to be a permanent bed, and then the mental exhaustion were both bringing me to my knees.

“You know what? I’m fucking done here. I’m exhausted and I can’t fix shit alone. I can’t change the past or her mind, but I won’t continue being punished for caring or for trying.” I turned to Ever then. “You should probably go ahead and make room for her at your place. I’ll help get her set up with a place of her own once the baby is here. Hell, fuck it, she can have the house. I’ll move my shit out. I won’t be the reason she stays miserable and everyone blames me.”

“Maybe you should give this some thought,” Ever stated calmly.

“I did. It’s all I’ve done.”

“Okay.” She moved across the room and pulled out her phone. I knew she was calling Deck. I didn’t bother listening in on that conversation, because honestly, I didn’t have it in me to care any longer. What was the point? I’d fucked up enough that there was no fixing the situation and Anna had just finally proven that to me.

“I’ll send her out here while I pack my shit up,” I told Ever as I moved to go to the bedroom that once had been mine. The same bedroom I’d once dreamed of sharing with a beautiful girl I’d called Lise at the time.

I opened the door, which was surprisingly unlocked. “The girls are waiting for you out there,” I mentioned before moving to the closet where most of my things were still kept. I pulled a duffle bag down from the top shelf and started rolling my clothes and stuffing them inside.

“This is your house,” Anna insisted as she sat there on the edge of the bed watching me instead of going out to the living room where her sister and friend were waiting.

“Nah, it’s ours. I put it in both our names after we married.” That was a surprise to her judging by the shocked look she was giving me. “I’ll have my name taken off. I bought this house free and clear of debt when I came out of the military. You won’t have to worry about rent or a mortgage,” I informed her. “Though I will stipulate that you can’t sell it. The house can pass to our child when they’re old enough, but I want to ensure they always have a place to call home.”

“The baby is fine,” she whispered so low I almost missed it. “I heard the heartbeat today, nothing else. The machine they were supposed to use was broken. They rescheduled the rest of the appointment,” she mentioned with a little more excitement in her voice.

I’d missed it. I felt so far removed from the pregnancy, it was honestly nothing more than a remote idea for me. I turned my back on her when I felt the telling burn in my eyes. Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! I continued stuffing things in my duffle while trying to calm my emotions.

“I didn’t think you’d care.” Her words continued to gut me.

“If I didn’t care, you never would have been here.”

“I’m only here because your daddy threatened you and most likely your standing in the club.”

I turned, anger taking over. “You think so? Maybe you need to go talk to your daddy then. He suggested it in anger, but retracted his requirement of marriage the next day. He said he’d never do to you what Tiger Lily’s dad put her and Merc through.”

“But,”

“I told him I wanted it so our kid wouldn’t have to be handed off like a pawn in a game on visitation days. I was still mad at you, but I knew I’d regret not trying.”

“I didn’t know that,” she said meekly.

“Well, now you do,” I told her as I stuffed the last of the clothes I wore regularly into the bag, sealed it up, and left her there in the house with Ever and Gretchen.

I found myself on Merc’s doorstep a little while later begging for a place to stay where I knew rumors and wild imaginations wouldn’t come back to bite me in the ass.

---