Sometimes It Lasts(Sea Breeze #5)(30)

She screamed and grabbed her head then started cursing.

“Get. Out!” I yelled.

She started to say something, but when her eyes saw the rage in mine, she snapped her mouth shut and slowly stood up. If she said one word—one f**king word—I was going to sling her ass across the damn apartment.

She reached for her clothes and started to put them on.

“No! Get. Out. Now!” I roared before slamming my fist through the wall.

She took off running. Holding her clothes in her hands tightly, she ran from my room and out the door of the apartment, slamming the door behind her. I dialed Eva’s number again.

“What, you sorry ass f**ker? Called to f**king explain now you’ve figured out that Eva knows! She don’t just know. She saw it. Your naked ass with another woman. All of it. Thanks to your friends there, a part of it was even videoed. You killed her. Just so you f**king know, the Eva we both knew is f**king dead. I had to look into her empty eyes as she threw up over and over again. I’m gonna f**king kill you!”

My stomach rolled. She had seen it? What the f**k had she seen? No. No. Oh God, no. I barely made it to the bathroom before I hit my knees and started throwing up last night’s beer. Something I hadn’t done since high school.

I reached for the phone as I sank back against the wall and leaned against it. “I was drugged.”

“Really? That might get your ass out of this if it wasn’t for all the pictures of your lying ass. You weren’t always wearing the same thing. You weren’t always at the same place. Grabbing tits at a party. Kissing some trashy bitch. Getting in a car on another day and driving off with the same bitch you were in bed with. What about the one you had her up against a pool table, doing everything but having sex with her, while onlookers cheered you on? You’re a sick motherf*cker who had something you didn’t deserve. You lost that. She’s done. It’s over. You killed it.”

I’d been set up. This had all been set up.

“I need to talk to her. You can come after me and f**king blow my head off, but let me talk to her first. Let me explain. I can’t let her think I did this to her.”

“You step foot on that property and Wilson will put a bullet in you. That man’s sick. He doesn’t need this damn drama. His little girl is broken. He’s gonna want your blood. These are her last months with her father, you f**king ass**le. She’s making memories for the rest of her life. A life she will live without him. And you just f**ked her up. Royally f**ked her up. I’m coming after your ass to make sure you’re in a hospital and can’t get to her. I don’t want jail time, but I intend to make sure you can’t f**king walk.”

“I didn’t. . . None of this is real. It’s a setup. What you saw in the pictures, that wasn’t real—the shit from last night that I don’t remember. I was drugged, so what you saw last night was real. It just wasn’t me. I gotta talk to her, Jeremy.”

He paused and I waited. He had to give me a chance to explain this to her. She couldn’t think I’d done this. I was coming home. This shit wasn’t for me. I should never have come here. It was a huge mistake.

“She won’t see you. Her daddy will kill you. You broke her. Let her heal. Leave her f**king alone. This is the time she is supposed to be spending with her daddy. Not dealing with a broken heart over you. Stay your ass in Tennessee and leave her alone.”

“I can’t.”

“Because you’re a selfish bastard. That’s why you can’t. For once in your godforsaken life think about someone else. Someone other than what you want. Stay away. Let her come to you when she’s ready. If she’s ever ready.”

How was I supposed to do that? Was I being selfish? I wanted her to know the truth. She would want to know the truth. That wasn’t selfishness.

“Just let me talk to her on the phone. Tell me how I can talk to her. Please.”

Jeremy was quiet again. Then he let out a frustrated sigh. “Let me call her first. I don’t believe your lying ass, but this is her decision to make.”

“Thank you,” I replied, but he’d hung up. I sat on the floor of the bathroom and stared at my phone, willing it to ring again. After ten minutes a blocked number flashed on the screen.

“Baby, listen to me,” I said before she could say anything.

“No. You listen to me. I’m done. We’re done. You’re dead to me. Completely. I trusted you with my heart, and I realized that you were my biggest mistake. You will always be my biggest mistake. I trusted you. I should have known guys like you can’t be trusted. Good-bye, Cage York. Don’t come here again. Don’t come near me again. I don’t care what you have to say. I never want to hear your voice again. I never want to see your face again.” The line went dead.

The first sob caused my entire body to tremble. The ones that followed took my soul with them and left me void.

Chapter Thirteen

EVA

I only let my daddy hold me while I cried that one day. Then I got determined. I would not sulk during the last months I had with my dad. I wanted memories to cherish not to regret. When I let myself think of Cage, it felt like someone had opened my chest and jerked out my heart all over again. Sometimes I had to stop and double over from the pain. But I was getting good at denial. I pretended.

I pretended that my daddy wasn’t dying. I pretended that Cage York hadn’t taken my soul and destroyed it. I pretended that Jeremy was my Josh. And now that I stood in the bathroom, looking down at the third small stick with two pink lines, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to pretend I wasn’t pregnant. I had pretended that my period wasn’t late for an entire month. When it was two months late, I knew it was time to stop pretending.