Page 68 of Skating the Blue Line
“Why the hell would I do that? I have a perfectly fine apartment here.” I don’t mean to raise my voice at him but I can’t handle this right now. The day has been way too long already and he’s asking me this? I can’t.
I can tell Liam is getting a little irritated too.
“Because you’re perfectly fine apartment is a walk up. You can’t be going up and down four floors every single day. The doctor told you to rest and to not do things that put you at risk of falling. Going up and down stairs every day is putting you at risk,” He tells me, his face getting stern in the process.
“I will be perfectly fine.” I say to him, turning to head up to my apartment.
“Chloe.” Liam says, his voice sounding angry.
I roll my eyes before turning back to face him. “I said I will be fine, Liam. The only reason you want me to live with you is because I’m carrying your baby and you want to make sure I don’t do anything stupid again. I promise you that I learned my lesson today. You don’t have to worry about me.” I can feel my anger rising, but I try to keep it at bay as much as I possibly can.
“It’s not just the baby I care about, you know?” he tells me, his voice rising and closing the distance between us. “I care about you too. I would care about you with or without the baby.”
“You don’t have to,” I throw out there. “We’re not together.”
Liam lets out a scuff that makes me tense up my hand into a fist. “We don’t have to be together for me to care about you. Hell, if I had my way, we would be together right now, but we’re not because I agree it wasn’t the right move for us. Even then, it’s not wrong for me to care about a friend. It’s not wrong for me to care about the woman that is carrying my child, together or not.”
He says the last few words through his teeth. I can see the anger flowing through his eyes and as much as I want to throw in my rebuttal, I don’t.
I stay silent and let him continue.
“Getting told that you were in the hospital today sucked so fucking much. The whole way there, I didn’t know if you were okay or not. So fucking forgive me for wanting you to move in with me and not wanting to worry about you falling every single damn day.”
I see… his reasoning and the more I think about it, the more my irritation starts to vanish.
The ER doctor did tell me to avoid anything that will cause me to hall and to take it easy.
Taking four flights of stairs every single day is definitely not easy. Something could happen whenever I lug groceries up or when my dryer isn’t working and I have to go to the laundromat down the street and carry my hamper up the stairs. And when my bump starts to grow, it can become even more dangerous.
Even though I hate to admit this, Liam does have a point.
Moving in with him is crazy, but if keeps me from falling and him from worrying, it could be a win-win situation.
Crap, why do I want to say yes to him?
I should be wanting to say no.
I can’t move in with a guy I barely know. I’m already pregnant with his kid, so I should draw the line there.
But all I keep thinking is how it’s a logical choice.
Stupid logic.
“If we were to step into this arrangement,” I start, choosing my words carefully. “How long would I live with you?”
“Until the baby is born,” he says with no hesitation whatsoever.
“Excuse me? The doctor told me to rest for only a few weeks.”
“So?” he says so damn unbothered. “I don’t care how long the doctor told you, I want you at my place at the very least until the baby is born.”
“‘At the very least’?” I feel my eyebrows rise up to my hairline.
The bastard gives me a shrug. “I’m leaving the door open for renegotiation.”
“There will not be any renegotiation. It’s going to be just until the baby is born and that is it.”
“Whatever you say. I can be a very persuasive man when I want to be.” He says, giving me a smirk.
