Page 75 of My Damaged Protector

“I'm not telling him right now,” Sarah says, her voice coming off a bit angry.

Is this about the secret she's keeping from me?

“Well, why not? The man deserves to know the truth.”

“I'm not saying he doesn't. I'm saying I can't tell him. If I tell him, he's going to bolt through the door as fast as he can.”

She really thinks that low of me?

And what's so terrible that she thinks I won't be able to handle it?

“You don't know that, dear. You're just speculating. Give him a chance, an opportunity to at least have a say.”

“Not now, Auntie, please.”

I know I should walk back into the living room, take a seat, and pretend they're not talking about me. It's hard, especially when she's saying she doesn't trust me with her secret.

Well, here's what I think. It's either she tells me, or I just leave regardless.

The choice is hers. So, I walk into the kitchen and make her options known to her.

22

SARAH

“What are you guys talking about?”Ian asks as he bursts into the kitchen, a pissed expression on his face.

He didn't hear us, did he?

I falter for a moment, trying to decide if I want to tell him the truth or lie my way out of the situation.

My mouth decides for me by opening. “Nothing, I, um… It's just work and everything else with my dad,” I lie, intentionally not meeting his eyes. I do meet my aunt's, though. She’s chastising me.

She wants me to tell him the truth. What she doesn't get is that I know Ian. He's going to run away if I tell him the truth. He's wired that way. The first sign of complication, and he's out the door. That's what he did all those years ago when he found out our age difference.

“Bullshit. I heard you guys. Your aunt was clearly telling you to stop keeping something from me. What is it?”

It's my turn to look at my aunt in disapproval now. I didn't even want to talk about this to begin with. She started the conversation despite my protest. I hope she's happy now.

“Nothing, Ian. I promise.”

It kills me to look him in the eyes and lie to him, but it's what has to be done. I'm not ready to tell him the truth, not after what he said to me in the early hours of this morning.

Are you on any birth control?The words kept ringing in my head through the night. I could barely sleep.

He has some nerve. After we've had sex many times, now he remembers to ask me that?

Asshole.

Regardless, his words tell me his stance. He isn't ready to be a father. What he doesn't know is, he will soon be one.

Yeah, I'm pregnant. And there's no way Ian is not bolting out of the door without looking back if I tell him that. I mean, I'm not a hundred percent certain. I should probably give him the benefit of the doubt like my aunt is saying. But I literally just got him back. Am I willing to lose him? Especially with all that's going on right now?

I can't. I'm not ready to be alone. So if that means I have to lie to him for a couple more days, then fine.

“Sarah,” he says, his face red with anger. “Tell me the truth.”

“Or what?”

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