Tamed (Torn #5)(67)

“Yeah, I’ll be there in twenty,” Alex said, surprise filling his voice.

“I’ll see you then,” I whispered before ending the call.

Tonight, I wanted to forget, and I knew the best way to do that.





Six Weeks Later—October

Morgantown, West Virginia

I hated the word whore. It sounded so…filthy. I’d been called a hundred different names before—slut, skank, ho, bitch, just to name a few—but when someone called me a whore, it would set my blood on fire.

As I stared down at my fate, I realized that they’d all been right. I was a whore.

There was no coming back from this.

I closed my eyes and willed myself not to cry. I’d done this to myself. This was what I deserved.

I hadn’t always been this way. Once, a really long time ago, I’d been innocent. I’d worn my heart on my sleeve. I’d looked at every day like it was a gift instead of the plague that it really was.

Life was so damn hard. I hated it. I’d hated it for years. More than once, I’d wished that I hadn’t had to deal with it, that I hadn’t had to deal with him. But fate had laughed at me, repeatedly throwing him in my face just when I thought I’d healed.

How could I tell him this when he seemed to hate me more and more every time we saw each other? How could I tell him this after what she’d done? I was no better than her.

What was once innocent love and attraction had morphed into something…volatile and ugly. By now, it was almost unrecognizable.

Who am I kidding?

It had never been innocent. We’d seemed to be incapable of innocence, especially him.

I would never survive this. The moment I’d seen him, even though I hadn’t wanted to admit it, I’d known that I would never survive him.

Tears fell down my cheeks, but I brushed them away as I stood and walked out of the room. When I reached my bedroom, I picked up my cell phone and dialed the only person I knew I could trust, the only person who knew every secret of mine—my best friend.

“Hey, Amber. What’s up?”

“Chloe, I need you,” I whispered.

“What’s wrong?” she asked anxiously.

“I screwed up. I screwed up so bad,” I said as my tears came faster now. “I’ve ruined everything.”

“Amber, calm down. You haven’t ruined anything. Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I’m pregnant.” I stared down at the pregnancy test in my hand. It was the third one I’d taken. Every single one of them had had the same result—positive.

It had taken me almost three weeks to realize how late my period was. Then, it had taken me almost another week to find enough courage to buy a test. I’d hoped that if I waited long enough to buy one, my period would magically appear, but I’d had no such luck.

She sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh my God. I…I don’t know what to say. Have you…have you told Adam?”

“I don’t even know if it’s his. It could be Alex’s.”

“Alex?” Her tone grew frantic.

I rubbed my temples. It was time I told her the rest. When I’d had my breakdown in L.A., I’d left out my idiocy with Alex because I’d thought it was a one-time deal. Plus, I had felt ashamed.

“I’ve been sleeping with him for the last few weeks.” I hesitated. “We didn’t tell anyone because he’s married.”

I heard the longest string of curse words that had ever left Chloe’s mouth. Under any other circumstances, I would’ve laughed at her.

“You slept with a married man?” she shouted. “How could you do something so dumb?”

“I know it was dumb, and I know what you’re thinking right now. I’m a whore. And you’re right.”

She sighed. “I don’t think you’re a whore. I think you’re an idiot, but you’re not a whore.”

“Thanks,” I whispered, and I meant it.

“So, it could be Alex’s or Adam’s. Is there…anyone else?”

“No,” I whispered. “No one else.”

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I don’t even understand how this happened!” I said angrily. “I’m on the pill. I take them religiously.”

“Accidents happen. There’s no—wait, I think I know what happened. You were sick, and the doctor put you on antibiotics, right?”

My mouth dropped open. “Holy f*ck. Antibiotics screw with birth control. I knew that. How could I have been so stupid? Everything is ruined now. Goddamn it!”

“Calm down, Amber. Please. You need to sit down and figure out what you’re going to do. You need to tell them—both of them.”

“I can’t. Adam hates me, and Alex is married. There’s no way I can tell either of them the truth.”

“You don’t have a choice, Amber. One of them is the father, and he deserves to know.”

“I can’t, Chloe!” I shouted at her.

I couldn’t tell them. It would ruin everything. If Alex were the father, it would destroy his marriage. If it were Adam’s—well, I wasn’t even going to go there.

“If you don’t, I will—at least, with Adam. I mean it,” Chloe said.