Page 90 of Fate Forever and Always

“He doesn’t hit me. At least not yet,” she added.

“Good.”

“Did he hit you?” she asked.

“No, but he tried. He made me cry a lot toward the end of our relationship. When I finally thought about it, I think I knew he was cheating. I just didn’t want to admit that I had wasted so much time on someone.”

We both sat in silence for a minute before she spoke again. “I am crying because he wants me to end the pregnancy. He said if I didn’t, I would lose him.”

My stomach dropped. “He wants you to have an abortion?”

She nodded her head in confirmation. “He said it’s the baby or him. I told him I needed time to think. He told me not to come back until I chose him. I don’t know what I'm going to do. My mom moved in with her boyfriend when I moved into Jake’s. If I leave him, I will have nowhere to go. I literally have no one.”

I pulled her into a hug. It felt very weird, honestly. “Sara, I’m so sorry you are dealing with this.”

“Don’t be sorry. I don’t deserve your sympathy. I ruined your life.”

I thought for a moment, looking away. She was technically right, but I didn’t think of it like that anymore. “Honestly, Sara, I wouldn’t say you ruined it. You upended it, for sure.” We both let out a hesitant chuckle. “But I would say what you did drove me to where I should have been all along.”

She looked at me with questions in her eyes. “Really?”

I nodded and grabbed her hand in mine. “Really,” I said softly. “I realized quickly after leaving that Jake was just comfortable. I wasn’t actually happy being with him.”

She looked down at her hands. Then she whispered, “Lucky.”

I pulled her hand to get her attention on me again. “You don’t have to stay with him. You could totally do this on your own. I am sure your mom would help you, too.”

“I know. I just don’t want this child growing up without a dad. I had to, and it always made me wonder why I wasn’t good enough for my dad to stick around.”

“Do you really want a man like him around your child? Don’t you think it’s better to get out while you can?”

She shrugged.

“That isn’t a reason not to have the baby, Sara. Think about the here and now. Do you want to have this baby?”

“I do.”

“Then let’s get you the hell out of there.”

I started to get up, but she pulled on my hand, which made me look down at her.

“Callie,” she said cautiously.

“Yeah?”

“He has pictures and videos of you on his computer.”

My body froze. “You saw them?”

She nodded. “Is he using them to hurt you, Callie?”

I got on her level and gave her a curious look. “Why would you ask that?”

She looked at her hands. “I figured there was a reason you were trying to help me. You want me to help you get them back?” It was a question. Not a statement.

“Actually, no. I hadn’t even thought of that. To answer your question though, yes, he’s been blackmailing me, forcing me to leave Nick and move out.”

She looked appalled. That look honestly surprised me. I just assumed she was in on it. “Really?”

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