Page 24 of Scarred Heart

“Jarvis?”he asked.

“Whatever.He didn’t bother telling me his name.I told him I was pregnant… they did a test as soon as they admitted me and broke the news as soon as I was conscious.He showed up not long after that, totally out of nowhere, holding a document in front of me, telling me I was never allowed to talk about the accident.”

Suddenly, he was very interested in the floor, staring at it as he muttered, “So I heard from my father, but only after the fact.I only knew about you agreeing not to go public with the accident.I swear.”

“And I’m sure you and your dad high-fived before you both moved on.Because to people like you, all it takes is a payoff.Throw enough money at a problem, and you can sit back and relax, right?”

He searched my face, almost frantic.“But you told him?You told him you were going to have a baby?”

“The whole part where I was supposed to forget you existed made me figure I should say something.How was I supposed to never contact you when I was going to have your child?”

“What did he say?”I rolled my eyes, then flinched when he barked out, “Tell me!What did he say when you told him?”

“Let me see.”I pretended to probe my memory like there was a chance of ever forgetting the tall, thin man’s cruel words.Lowering my voice until it was almost as deep as the lawyer’s, I said, “Let’s not pretend girls in this town don’t know how to solve an inconvenient problem.”And even now, the memory of his cold, unaffected reaction chilled me.It just didn’t matter to him, like he wasn’t human.

“Rowan.”I watched, wary, as he touched a hand to his chest and swayed a little before getting a hold of himself.“Fuck me, Rowan.I had no idea.”

“I…” The fact that the same word kept coming up made me ashamed of myself, tightening my throat until I pushed through.“I assumed you assumed I didn’t go through with the pregnancy.”

His head swung back and forth, the motion full of distraught.“I didn’t know.I also had no idea this whole thing hinged upon you never seeing me again.I’m fucking serious,” he grunted out when all I did was snort, derisive.“I didn’t know.All this time…”

He sank onto the sofa, bending forward with his elbows on his knees and lowering his head into his hands.“I’ll kill that son of a bitch.If he were in front of me now, I would.I thought… it was because you hated me for what I did.I thought you blamed me.You had every right to.I didn’t know they forced your hand.I swear to God, I didn’t.”

I didn’t want to believe him.It would’ve meant having believed so much that wasn’t true all this time.I didn’t want to think I had been wrong.But was it better to think he had really sat back, fully aware that he was cutting me out of his life forever?That he didn’t care about the pregnancy?

I crept closer to him, an inch at a time.What was more surprising?That I wanted to comfort him, or how intense that desire was?Of all people, he was the last who deserved to be comforted, but was that true?Or was it only a story I had told myself?

By the time I stood in front of him, compassion took the place of suspicion.I reached out, tentative, and placed a hand on the back of his lowered head.He was quick to clasp my hand, closing his fingers around it and lifting his gaze.“I didn’t know,” he murmured.“All this time, I didn’t have the first idea.I am so sorry I wasn’t there for you.For both of you.You have to believe me.”

I understood now how little I’d wanted to believe he could leave me like that.Deep down, I must have harbored a secret hope, or why would relief be washing over me now that he held my hand so tight, his eyes searching mine like he was looking for forgiveness?

“You are so beautiful.”I barely processed what he said before he was on his feet, pulling me close and taking my face in his hands.He was so overwhelming, filling my senses, making my head spin until all I could do was lean against him for support while he lowered his head, touching his lips to mine in the softest kiss that threatened to stop my heart.

It wasn’t soft for long.All at once, it intensified the way it had back at his apartment.I was as defenseless against him now as I was then, as I always was.I never could resist the power he had over me.What he did to my body, lighting me up, making me sizzle, tingle, and feel alive.When was the last time I felt this alive?I twisted his hair around my fingers while our tongues danced and my heart sang.He didn’t mean to desert me.He didn’t know.

Did it change anything?

I wasn’t sure.

The only thing I was certain of was how much I needed him by the time he backed up against the sofa and dropped onto my makeshift bed.I followed him, straddling his lap, arms around his neck as I picked up where we left off and kissing him hard enough to make my lips sting.The touch of his hands up and down my back and over my ass was the sweetest fire, and in no time, I was rocking my hips, grinding against him until he groaned into my mouth.

The sound was an aphrodisiac, not that I needed one.I wanted to hear it again and again all night.I was working toward that when I ran my hands over his chest, slowly unbuttoning his shirt.He groaned again, his fingers sinking into my ass cheeks and drawing me in against what was so hard.Demanding.I was already wet, but now my pussy flooded, my clit aching.It had been so long since anybody touched me this way, and nobody had ever touched me the way he did.Even back then, when we were both so young, thinking we had all the answers.

He yanked the shirt free of his waistband and almost tore it off, then ran his hands under my nightshirt.Every touch left me wanting more.I was panting, lost in sensation and desire.

I lifted my arms, and he pulled the shirt over them, barely taking time to toss it aside before his hands took hold of my breasts.“Mmm… yesss,” I moaned out, arching my back to give myself to him—all of me.I wanted him to take all of me, to make me forget any time had passed.To take the fire he had set in my core and share it with me until it consumed us both.

His thumbs worked my nipples, his tongue brushing against them.Back and forth, the sweetest torture.I realized the sharp, animal breathing I heard was coming from me as my hips ground against him furiously, already so close, beyond the point of caring how it looked to lose it like this.Not when I was sure the pain of my swollen clit would kill me if I didn’t come soon.

“If I put a hand in these shorts…” he whispered between licks against my sensitive nipples.“Would you be wet?Would that sweet pussy be all wet and ready for me?”

“Yes!”I gasped, lifting myself off his lap so he could do what he promised.He slid a hand between us, shoving it inside my soft cotton shorts and the thong underneath them.

Fireworks exploded at the slightest touch of his fingertips against my shaved mound.My teeth sank into my lip, barely muffling a scream as a massive orgasm slammed into me all at once.My nails scraped his muscular shoulders, and my body went stiff as the wave broke and I crashed against him, my breath moistening his skin when I buried my face in his neck.

“Shit,” he whispered, his fingers still stroking my lips, teasing me as I trembled and whimpered.Slowly, he worked his way deeper, sliding through the river my slit had become.“More.I need more, baby.Can you come for me again?”

What had only started subsiding began to grow again—it was his voice, the growl running underneath it, his skillful touch.My hunger woke again, and soon, I was running my tongue over his neck and earlobe, moaning into his ear when he drove his fingers inside me.

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