Page 72 of Won’t Let You Get Away

“I can’t drive like this,” she states. I cover her hand with mine and lower myself back into a crouch in front of her, taking both of her hands.

“No, Sugar. You’ll have to let me do that,” I respond softly. She glances at everyone gathered around before leaning forward slightly. I lean closer to minimize her movement.

“I might throw up…” she trails off, embarrassed.

“That’s okay. We’ll find a container or something, and I’ll clean Tucker’s car afterwards if necessary. And anything said during the ride won’t be held against you.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Tucker reassures me, clapping a hand on my shoulder and squeezing it affirmatively. “I’ll go grab a bin and check if there are towels or napkins around.”

“But the meeting,” Bri begins.

“Your parents, Quinn, and I will handle it,” Tucker finishes for her. “I already sent them a text while I was getting the car. You have about five minutes before your mother insists on accompanying you to the hospital.”

“Preeclampsia?”Bri questions, groaning as she adjusts the hospital gown they had her change into shortly after arriving. “Sorry, what does that even mean?”

The doctor smiles patiently. “It means I’m putting you on bed rest.”

“Bed rest?” Bri parrots back, shaking her head. “But… how? I don’t…did I do something to cause this? Is the baby okay?”

“I would like to get an ultrasound to double check on the baby,” The doctor tells us and Bri squeezes my hand. “But based on your bloodwork and urine sample, he’s okay. Your blood-pressure was concerning when you arrived, but it’s lower now. I would like to go over some of the other results and how you canmonitor them from home. But we can go over those when you’re back in your clothes after the ultrasound.”

The doctor answers a few more questions before excusing herself to go get the portable ultrasound machine.

“Well, I guess this means I have a chance to catch up on my reading.” Bri jokes before we fall into a comfortable silence for a few minutes.

“I know we just had this talk a couple weeks ago and I will fully support whatever you decide, but I need to ask. If only so you know how serious I am.”

Bri raises a brow. “Ask me what?”

“Move in with me now.” I say softly. She opens her mouth to answer, but I clasp her hand in mine and continue. “Or let me stay with you out at the cabin. I’ll try not to hover too much and make sure you don’t feel crowded, but I want to be there for you and the best way for me to do that is with you under the same roof as me. But if you’re at my house, there’s always someone close by in case something happens. I just…I need to dosomethingother than feel this helpless.”

I’m pleading by the time I finally snap my mouth shut. Bri reaches out, placing a hand on my cheek and chuckling lightly.

“You still want me to stay with you even after my ex showed up drunk claiming the baby was his?”

I roll my eyes. “I’d like to see him try to take either of you from me.”

She laughs and the sound resonates through me, drowning out some of the lingering fear from this afternoon.

During Paul’s drunken rants, I never once felt threatened or worried about Bri choosing to go back to him. There was never any doubt that she and this baby are mine.

There’s even a part of me that knows that, even if the baby was his, it wouldn’t make a difference when it came to the way I feel about them. Just because I haven’t said those three wordsto her yet, doesn’t change the fact that she and this child are my whole world.

But watching her fall, seeing her in pain and not being able to do anything to help her,thatgot under my skin more than anything her ex said or did.

“I’ve never seen him like that before,” she sighs and stares at the ceiling. “He’s always been that person who could walk into a crowded room and within five minutes, he’d have made friends with half the people there. No matter the situation, Paul was always the calm and stable one.”

“You don’t need to defend him to me.” I tell her softly. She swallows thickly, running a free hand through her hair in frustration.

“I just don’t get it. Everything was going so good. And then he showed up, acting like a completely different person and everything just…exploded.”

“Jealousy makes people do and say unexpected things.” I take her hand, rubbing my thumb in soothing circles. “Things are still good, Bri. We just hit a bump and got knocked off path, but it’ll be okay.”

“He wasn’t jealous, he was…” She trails off, shaking her head and I finish for her.

“He was envious that the baby isn’t his. That you’re not with him and that you’ve moved on with your life,withouthim. And he chose to lash out instead of confronting his issues. I’m not saying he’s a bad guy, although my opinion of him isn’t that great, but you knew him at his best. This was him at his worst.”

She sighs, squeezing my hand in hers and finally nodding.

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