Page 69 of The Monster I Loved
My feet had a mind of their own. I was now back in the car. I hung up the phone and hurled it onto the seat beside me. I had to find the one person I could get information from. I didn’t even care that this was none of my business. Why wouldn’t Summer have a baby? She’d always wanted to be a mother. I pulled up at the yarn shop and shoved the door open. Daisy’s eyes widened. She knew I wasn’t here to buying any fucking thing.
“T-T-Thaddeus?”
“I need some information. Summer. Is she pregnant, or was she?” Everything in front of me was red. I locked myself onto one goal, and I didn’t care what was in the way of my reaching the truth.
Daisy’s jaw now opened as wide as her eyes. “Summer went to Dr. Brown...”
“Brit saw her,” I said, and a fire grew inside me. “Is it that bartender? Did he force her to have an abortion?” My voice cracked.
The woman ran toward me. “What? Summer did what?”
Daisy shook her head, clearly hearing this for the first time. Damn, I had really ruined Summer’s life. Through the most difficult times, she was all alone, not a single soul to confide in.No wonder she hates me.
“Damn, it’s impossible for you to be a decent friend, isn’t it?” I spat.
A look of regret filled Daisy’s eyes. “I’m a good friend to Summer...Believe it or not, I regret phoning you all those years ago.”
Sometimes I wish she hadn’t too. If it weren’t for that phone call, I’d have lost only one person: my mother. After the call, I’d lost Summer too.
I sucked in a sharp breath. At the time, I’d been so deep in grief that I was charging full force into every decision. The pain was so overwhelming, I couldn’t fully see what surrounded me—the relationship I could’ve clung to.
Maybe I couldn’t have let Summer off easily for what she’d done, but did I have to swing all the way in the opposite direction? I set out to hurt her. Give her a scar she’d never forget, because anger had blinded me.
I hated that she’d betrayed me. Hated that the one woman who’d been a pillar of strength had tried to cover up my mother’s murder. I wanted her to pay for that. In the end, I lost someone who’d turned out to be a big part of my happiness.
“Summer’s my best friend. I don’t want to lose her,” Daisy continued.
This was all good and sweet, but I came here for answers, and so far, I’d gotten none.
“So, you didn’t know she was going to have an abortion?” My heart was thumping hard in my chest. It felt like it would explode. My thoughts ran wild.
Daisy lifted an eyebrow and stepped back. “Of course not. When we spoke last night, it was all about how she’d tell you about the baby if the doctor confirmed what we suspected. She went on and on about almost blurting it out at the hayride. But she didn’t know how to do it, since things are still so complicated between you two.”
My frown deepened as my head spun, trying to make sense of her words. “What?”
Daisy stopped speaking and stared. “Wait, I’m confused.”
So the fuck was I. Why would Summer need to break the news about her pregnancy to me? It wasn’t like I was?—
“Wait. Am I the father?” My voice was weak, hesitant.
Nothing came from Daisy’s mouth. She rubbed her temple and avoided my eyes.
She didn’t need to say a damn thing. Her silence spoke a thousand words.
Shit! I had my answer.Summer is pregnant with my baby. No, shewaspregnant with my baby.
It felt like a rope had tightened around my neck, and each gulp of air was like biting glass. Fuck, I was the one who burst in here for answers, and now I was about to lose it.
Get it together. I ground my jaw back and forth, weighing the news that’d smacked me like a boulder. The glow, her behavior at the farm, it all made sense now. I was the father.
Would’ve beenthe father. The baby wasn’t here anymore, and I never would’ve known that they’d even existed.
Slow and sharp breaths slipped out of my mouth. I was ready to explode. I curled my hand into a fist, then slammed it through the nearest wall in the yarn store. Daisy jumped further back.
“She killed my baby? First her fucking dad murdered my mother, and now Summer erased my baby.”
Daisy paled. “I thought you knew all of this. What did I do this time?” she yelled, but she was talking to my back.
