Page 54 of Wicked and Bound

“Seriously?” She stiffened against him, then slowly lifted her head from his chest. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah. Don’t know how long it will last.” Surely, a place like this had backup generators waiting and ready to go at a moment’s notice.

“Okay.” In the next flash of lightning, he watched her suck in a shaky breath. “Good. I was praying for an opportunity. I didn’t think it would be this soon, but?—”

“What do you want to tell me, baby?”

“Why I left Lafayette—and you.” She pressed a hand to her chest like she might hyperventilate. Her voice trembled. “But I’m terrified.”

His arms tightened around her, and he shook his head. “Nothing you say will make me let you go.”

She let out a shaky breath. Then she opened her mouth before closing it. Her eyes glossed over with tears. “I—” She bit her lip, clearly digging for courage. “Two years ago, I left because I was pregnant.”

His stomach clenched. Blood pounded in his ears, drowning out the sound of the storm.Pregnant?

He tried to form words, to grasp what she was saying, but his mind was a wrecking ball slamming into every assumption he’d ever had. “What? You were carrying…mybaby?”

“Yes. When we were together, there was never anyone else.”

“I know. I just…” He didn’t know what the fuck to say. To think.

“We were careful, but…” She wrung her hands in her lap. “When I realized… When the doctor confirmed, I panicked. You’d made it clear you didn’t want children. I knew you’d grown up with too many siblings and too much responsibility and?—”

“Oh, my god.” Emotions—shock, confusion, hurt, anger—crashed through him. But mostly a bone-deep ache as pieces of their past clicked into place.

The tears sheening her eyes spilled over as she sniffled. “I didn’t know how to tell you.”

Anger hit. Betrayal followed. Nash scrubbed a hand down his face, feeling as if he’d been blindsided. “So youleft?You thought that was the fucking answer?”

For two years, she’d let him believe she hadn’t cared enough about him to even say goodbye. He shook with that rage, mentally unleashing a primal scream that plowed over his shock and ricocheted through his body.

“What the hell?” he shouted. “Did you think I was going to run out on you?”

She recoiled. “No. I-I don’t know. I didn’t… You were having fun. That’s what we’d agreed to. And…and we had rules. No emotions, no commitments. No future, no kids. I was already afraid to tell you that I’d caught feelings, but I was even more terrified to let you go. The positive pregnancy test… It almost killed me. I couldn’t risk seeing dread or rejection in your eyes. I didn’t want to give up that baby. So I panicked. And moved to California. I planned to raise the baby alone. I wasn’t ever going to burden you or trap you?—”

“Or even tell me?” Jesus, had she really thought he’d want nothing to do with his own child?

“Your face…” Her tears fell in earnest. “I’m so sorry. I was sure you d-didn’t want… And I was afraid. I spent that whole weekend trying to think and find the right words and…”

Her sobs swallowed the rest of her speech. Nash hurtled from the bed and stared in disbelief out the window, blocking out her obvious agony. He hated the decision she’d made to leave him. Part of him was fucking furious.

But as lightning flashed, illuminating his own haunted reflection, his rage collided with the sound of her crying—broken, wounded sounds that spoke of years of guilt and grief.

The storm inside him raged. She’d stolen his choice, denied him the right to know his own child existed. She had made assumptions about what he’d want, about who he was.

Yet she’d carried their baby alone, terrified and convinced he wouldn’t want either of them. The thought of her going through morning sickness, doctors’ appointments, feeling their child move—all while believing she had to hide it from him—squeezed his chest until he could barely breathe. He’d give anything to go back in time, swallow his careless words about not wanting a family, and show her that she meant everything to him.

But he couldn’t.

Thunder crashed outside as the warring emotions crashed inside him. He could hold onto his anger, let it fester between them like poison. Or he could choose to understand her fear, to share her grief, to heal together. The sound of her muffled sobs made the choice clear. Whatever mistakes she’d made, she had paid for them a thousand times over in tears and regret.

He turned back to the bed where she lay curled into herself, shaking with the force of her torment. His fury drained away, replaced by an overwhelming need to understand, to protect her, and to ensure she never felt alone again.

“Shh.” He pulled her closer and stroked her hair. “Deep breaths. I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. Where’s the baby, Hais?”

Her sobs came even harder. “Nash…”

He didn’t want to cause her any more anguish, but… “I need to know.”

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