“You’re defending him?” It shouldn’t surprise me. The two of them have had some weird bond the entire time we’ve been together. It’s not easy for her to let people go, but Carson doesn’t deserve to stay in her life. Not after today.
“What he did was wrong, but he’s not like that. He wouldn’t hurt me—not on purpose.”
“You’re the most forgiving person I’ve ever met, Sunny.” I sit down on the edge of the bed, wondering what we’re going to do if he talks. I was sure we had more time to figure it out, but now it looks like we’ve run out before we’ve figured a single thing out one way or another.
“I’m more scared of Wyatt finding out. If Carson tells him, we’re done for.”
There’s no way that’s going to happen. “I told you, I’d risk it all for you, Sunny. I meant it. It’s you, me, and our baby now. I’m not going away to school next year. I can go to class here, like Carson does, and take care of you both. He’s done taking care of my girl.”
Her eyes widen in surprise. I wasn’t planning on dropping it on her this way. I was actually hoping to take her out to dinner and talk it through rationally, but desperate times call for desperate measure, and right now, all I care about is letting her know I’m hers. I’m not leaving her no matter what happens when the world finds out.
“You can’t do that. You’ll always regret it. I don’t want you to hate me someday because I ruined your dream.”
“What about your dreams? You want to go to Parsons just as bad as I wanted to play football. Why should you be expected to give it all up, and I get to move on like nothing ever happened?”
“You’ll regret it.”
“I’d regret it if I went. Not if I stayed, Sunny. You’re all I care about.”
I feel her phone vibrate against my leg. She rolls over and slides it out of her pocket. “It’s Carson.”
I reach for the phone, but she doesn’t let me have it. “Don’t make it worse than it already is. Please. I have to go back to that house.”
“I’ve never hated that you live with him more than I do now.”
“He was packing when I left. There’s a chance he’s already gone.”
“What’s he texting you?”
“He’s just apologizing.”
After she types out a response to Carson, that I don’t bother to read, I kiss her forehead and run my fingers over her stomach. All this stress can’t be good for them. We need some time away—just the two us like when we went to Fall Fest. I felt closer to her than ever that weekend, and I miss it. “My uncle has a cabin in the Poconos. We can stay there over break. Just me and you.”
Between Thanksgiving break coming up and winter break shortly after, we’ll need a place to go if we want to be together. Especially if everyone we know finds out. This could be the perfect solution.
“What do you mean? Like run away?”
“Think of it as taking a break—not running. I have a key, and nobody will bother us there. We can be us again. Without all this drama.”
She links her fingers with mine, bringing them to her lips. “I’ll go anywhere with you.”
Before I have a chance to tell her about the rest of my plans once we get there, my bedroom door whips open so hard I’m almost positive there’s a hole in the wall from the door knob.
My mom barges in, and takes one look at me and Kinsley in my bed, and narrows her eyes. “I trusted you, Rhett Mitchell Taylor.”
Whenever she busts out my full name, it’s never good. Today I know the reason is because of the baby. She knows.
She points her red fingernail at Kinsley. “You, out of my house! Now!”
Kinsley lets go of my hand, and scrambles to the side of the bed. “Mom! What are you doing? You can’t kick her out.”
“I most certainly can. This trash is not welcome in my home. Now when she’s sleeping around town like the little tramp she is.”
Is she kidding me right now? I’m the first guy who’s ever held her hand. The first guy Kinsley’s ever kissed, and her first date to a dance. I’m the only guy she’s ever shared her body with, and without a doubt we belong to each other in every way that matters. “You’re wrong, Mom. I’m the only guy she’s ever touched.”
Mom scoffs, rolling her eyes at me. “You really expect me to believe that? Jake’s mom filed Kinsley’s medical records at the office this afternoon, and then made sure to give me a call. You can imagine what a shock it was to find out at work in front of all my co-workers that my son’s girlfriend is pregnant. Do you have any idea how embarrassing that was for me? How hard it will be for me to show my face around this town now?”
In typical fashion, she’s more worried about her own rep than the one of the girl she’s trying to ruin by making false accusations. “Your face? What about hers? Thanks to you people think she’s a slut.”
“I don’t sleep around,” Kinsley murmurs over and over, as she slides her feet into her shoes.
“You’re knocked up and now you’re trying to ruin my son’s life. My Rhett wouldn’t let that happen. I’ve let him live in his fantasy world with you for weeks now, but you’ve taken it too far. You will not blame this pregnancy on my son.”
I grab Kinsley before she can leave, standing behind her with my hands on her shoulders. “Mom, I love this girl. She’s carrying my baby.” I spell it out for her, really slow, hoping she can accept it as the truth. I’ve lied about stupid shit in my life, but I would never lie about creating a life with another person.
“How are you going to raise a child, Rhett? You have college next year. You’re going to play football while she’ll be in some run down trailer park with a baby on her hip.”
“Wherever she is, is where I’ll be,” I tell her with complete confidence. I already told Kinsley that was the plan.
“I don’t care if she lives in a damn box behind the grocery store. She’s screwed up her future, but I won’t let her touch yours, Rhett.”
My girl completely breaks down in my arms, but she doesn’t let me comfort her this time. She pushes around my mom, running toward the front door.
I’ve always loved my mom, despite her over-bearing protectiveness, but today she’s gone too far. I can honestly say I hate her. I hate the way she acts superior, and the way she puts down a girl with the kindest heart. The kind of girl she would be lucky to have in her family.
“She’s running away because she knows I’m right, Rhett. You only run when you’re guilty.”
She doesn’t have to believe this is my baby, but she can’t keep me from Kinsley. “Shut up!” I yell at her. “Just stop talking because you have no idea what you’re even talking about.”
My mother recoils like I slapped her. “Do you see what you’ve done to my sweet son, Kinsley? You’ve turned him against his own mother.”
“No she didn’t, and like it or not, we’re having a baby.”
“Will you stop saying that! This is not your child. She’s living in that house with another boy. How do you know it’s not his baby?”
I glance at Kinsley, and she looks back at me like she’s dying more inside as each second passes. She has one hand protectively covering her stomach and the other dangling at her side. Even destroyed, she’s the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. “Because she loves me, Mom. She wouldn’t cheat on me.”
Kinsley raises her tear-stained face, her eyes desperate for me to believe every word I just said. “I didn’t, Rhett. You know I wouldn’t.”
“I know. Don’t even question it.”
Mom watches us, and for a minute, I almost think she’s going to give us a little support. But the tiny bit of compassion I saw, disappears. “We’ll deal with this later, Rhett. When your father gets home.”
She turns her attention back to my shaking girlfriend. In an eerily calm voice, she says, “You have two minutes to get out of this house before I call the cops, Kinsley.”
Kinsley flinches, and immediately scrambles for her bag. Her hands shake so wildly, she drops it on the floor twice before I pick it up for her.
I knew it was a possibility that the second someone found out, something like this could happen. Though I never imagined it would be this bad, this fast. “Sunny, don’t leave.”