Filed to story: Swallow Me Whole (Sadie & Ashton) Book Free
Shit. I completely forgot. “Uh, yeah, I did. It’s been a busy day.”
She settles a hand on my arm. “Did I do something to piss you off?”
I take in her hunched shoulders and feel my own slump. “You didn’t do anything, Corinne. I just wasn’t expecting you.”
Nibbling on her lower lip, she stares at me with hurt in her brown eyes. “I miss you.”
And I know I’m wearing the expression—the same one Sadie shot my way before I left her apartment twenty minutes ago.
“Look, Corinne, I don’t want to hurt—“
“Don’t,” she interrupts. “Don’t say you don’t want to hurt me. It’s too late for that.”
God, I feel like such an asshole for not addressing this before now. “I should’ve realize sooner that you felt…more. I thought we were just having fun.”
“Just having fun?” Her brown eyes are bright with pain, and the accusation in them spears through me, making me feel like the bastard I am. “I thought we had something…I mean…” Lowering her head, she wipes under her eyes. “What did I do? Just tell me so I can fix it.”
Fucking hell. I hate this part. I hate hurting people, especially someone as sweet and vulnerable as Corinne.
“You didn’t do anything. I’m just not into serious hookups. You already know this.”
She raises her chin and looks me square in the eyes. “I’m in love with you. How could you not know that?”
Closing my eyes, I drag a hand down my face. I’m not ready for this—for this girl standing before me, saying she loves me as tears drip from her eyes.
I’m a total asshole.
“I’m sorry, Corinne.”
“If you didn’t feel something for me, then why’d you worm your way back into my life after all of these years?”
“I didn’t worm my way into your life.” Taking a deep breath, I temper my tone. “We hooked up at a party. If I’d known you felt this way, I wouldn’t have slept with you again.”
And again and again.
“I thought I meant something to you.” Her mouth is trembling, and I dig deep for an explanation that will make her feel better, but there isn’t one. There’s only the harsh truth.
“We were never serious in high school. I didn’t think this was any different,” I say, silently pleading with her to stop crying. If there’s one thing that rips me apart, it’s a woman’s tears.
“It was serious for me!” Pointing her finger, she stalks toward me. “You broke my heart in high school, you jerk.” She jabs me in the chest, and I retreat a step. “But you were so caught up in yourself to notice.”
I grab her hand before she can do more damage with her finger and its razor sharp nail. “You’re right. I am a jerk. I didn’t realize, Corinne. If I had, I wouldn’t have hooked up with you.”
Her wet eyes pin me to the spot, like prey she’s about to devour in the eye of her pain. “Is there someone else?”
Parting my lips, I will the denial off my tongue, but the lie won’t form. Instead, I shake my head. But it’s too late. Glaring at me, she yanks her hand from mine. I hesitated too long, and now she knows the truth.
There is someone else, only that someone else doesn’t know it yet. What a twisted circle of heartbreak I’ve managed to create here.
“Who is she?” Venom drips from her tone, and something dark flashes in her brown eyes. I revisit my earlier thought that she’s sweet and vulnerable.
Because Corinne doesn’t look like either right now. If she were a cat, she’d have her claws out, her teeth bared as she hisses her warning. Instead of answering her, I cross to the door and open it. Arguing isn’t going to help either of us.
“I think you should go,” I say, trying to soften my tone. But as I ask her to leave my house—to leave my life—I know nothing will soften the blow to her heart.
Shit.
How many times have I ended up in this exact spot? Letting a girl down gently is never easy, but usually they leave more angry than hurt because I don’t make promises I can’t keep.
So where did I go wrong with Corinne? What did I do to make her think that what we had was more than a fun hookup? For fuck’s sake, we didn’t even see each other every weekend.
There was no dating. No declarations of love. We communicated over a few texts in between the times we fucked, but that was it.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I say, hoping my words will get her to move from her motionless spot in the middle of my living room.
She turns pained eyes on me. Damp eyes full of anger and heartbreak. “Ashton…I’m pregnant.”
Time doesn’t just screech to a halt—it slams into a wall. I can’t fucking breathe. A thousand thoughts and what-ifs torpedo through my mind, but it’s nothing but incomprehensible chaos. “I don’t believe you,” I finally say, my own voice strange to my ears.
This isn’t happening.
We were careful.
I’m always so fucking careful.
She finally moves, her steps renewed with purpose and power as she nears me. I’m still standing by the door like a fool.
“It’s true. Wishing otherwise isn’t going to make it disappear.” She brushes past me and steps onto the front porch. “And before you even think about asking, I’m keeping the baby.”
“I wasn’t asking,” I say, still shell-shocked. How can a person ask questions when their world is spinning out of control around them? Fuck, I can’t even think straight.
“When you’re ready to talk about it, you know where to find me.” She hurries down the pathway toward the street, seemingly unbothered by the rain. If I weren’t frozen to the spot, I’d offer to drive her home.
But I’m doing good to shut the door and plop onto the couch before my legs fail me.
Sadie
Monday mornings are the bane of my existence. This Monday morning, however, is ten times worse. Jake’s legal assistant—Candace “call me Candy”—is avoiding me like the plague, which isn’t the easiest to do since, as a paralegal, I work directly with Jake. If it were any other job, I would have thought about walking out by now because dealing with Jake trying to corner me at every turn is getting old.
Working for my father is a pain in the ass. I wish I could just waltz into his office and say “I quit.” But I’ve only gone against my parents a handful of times, and one of them was when I refused to give up my friendship with Mandy and Ash in the tenth grade.
My parents—my father especially—aren’t the biggest fans of the Levine twins. They disapprove of Mandy’s body art and the various jobs she works to put herself through school. She doesn’t have well-to-do parents to send her to college like I did. Her father split when she and Ashton were young, and her mother worked two jobs to make ends meet.
I have mad admiration for Mandy. She’s almost done with her business degree, and what my parents don’t realize is that she has plans to open her own tattoo parlor. Her future is wide open in front of her, unimpeded by parental expectations since she didn’t have parents who put her through college.
She didn’t break their hearts by deciding not to go to law school.
“Sadie, can I see you in my office for a moment?”
“Sure,” I tell my dad. “I’ll be right there after I put these away.” I hold up the files I was working on, and he gives me a brisk nod. As I make my way through the office, I wonder if this impromptu summons has anything to do with Jake.