Page 170 of Tied to You
“Dean, listen.” I hear him move, but he remains silent. “I need to thank you, for getting me out of there, for bringing me to the hospital.” All of it.
He lets out a low moan of frustration. “What’s going on, Mollie?” he asks clipped.
My eyes shut, tears rolling. They haven’t stopped. “I’m leaving.” My words catch in my throat.
“Leaving?”
My cast arm aches. I try to squeeze my fingers. Try to feel the burn a little deeper—anything to take the pain away from the one blazing in my chest. I swallow. “That’s right.”
“Why? Where the fuck are you going to go?”
“Please. Please, don’t get mad.” Anything but that.
“Jesus, Mol. This doesn’t make any sense. You and Travis go MIA, then you’re leaving? What the fuck happened?”
“He left me, Dean. After he found out about the baby. He left.”
He heaves a sigh. “Shit. Mollie, I know it might be bad now, but you canget through this.”
“No,” I sigh. “We can’t.” Because he doesn’t want it. Doesn’t want me. Doesn’t want our baby. “I hate him.” I don’t.
“I know Travis well enough to know that whatever he said, whatever he did, it was just a reaction. They’re just words. They don’t mean shit.”
I tilt my head back, looking up at the bright lights in the room.Then I’ll make this easy for you.“They meant a lot to me. I can’t forgive him.”
“Mollie—”
“I’m sorry, Dean, I can’t do it anymore.”
“Wait. Talk to him. Don’t just leave. It will kill him.”
Like him walking out killed me. “I need you to tell him I’m not coming back.”
He bangs the phone down. “If you’re choosing this, you can tell him yourself.”
I let out a choked sob, knowing he’s right. “I have to go. You’ll be released soon.” But not just yet.
“I was arrested, Mollie. It’s not that simple.”
And yet, it is. “My father will make sure you’re out. The charges will be dropped. You saved me, Dean. I’ll always owe you for that.”
“What will you do? Have the baby alone? What kind of life is that?”
I pause and take a breath, praying that what I’m going to say doesn’t come back to haunt me. “The baby’s gone, Dean.” I slap a hand to my mouth to stop myself from screaming the truth. To stop the bile that rises with my lie. The words are harsh. Evil. Unreasonable. But they’re the only way I can see I can walk away. They’re the only way I believe I can let Travis go. He didn’t want us. If he thinks we’re gone for good, he’ll eventually get over us, move on and live his life.
“You shouldn’t be alone, Mollie. You’ll need each other.”
Holding back my tears, I see my dad step by the window of the door. Time’s up. “I need to be the woman I was supposed to be.” Not the biker’s girl.
“Mollie, wait—”
“Goodbye, Dean.” I hang up as the door opens, clutching the phone to my chest.
“You ready?” my dad asks softly.
I use all my fears to move me, turning as my dad steps closer, picking upmy jacket from the bed. “Do you think I’m a horrible person?” I ask, wiping the tears from my face.
Dad regards me, taking his phone when I hold it out to him. “I think you’re brave.”
