by Chloe Walsh
"I'm not doing it," I screamed, feeling frantic and terrified.
"Oh yes, you are," my mother shot back menacingly.
"Hold up," my father interjected, speaking for the first time in what felt like forever. "Nobody's having an abortion."
Hope flickered inside of my heart. "Really?"
He nodded once in confirmation.
"Have you lost your damn mind?" Mom hissed, glaring at my father. "Our daughter has gotten herself pregnant by a Riverside boy!" She shook her head, eyes bulging for emphasis. "Of course she has to have a termination, Clive."
"Oh shut up, woman!" Dad lashed out in annoyance. "Do you think that if I honestly believed in that sort of thing I'd be stuck here with you?"
My mother's mouth fell open.
"Don’t act so surprised, Liv," Dad drawled lazily. "We both know who trapped who in this marriage."
"You bastard," she hissed before reaching back and slapping him across the face. "I didn’t trap you."
"Sure you didn’t," he shot back mockingly. "Either way, it's done now. It's in the past."
The door bell sounded then and I balked.
"That'll be them," Mom announced, glaring at my father. "What the hell am I supposed to say, Clive?"
"Tell them we've made alternative arrangements," Dad instructed coolly before turning to me and saying, "Go up to your room. Don’t you dare leave that room until I get back. Do you hear me?"
"Thank you," I blurted out shakily as I turned blindly towards the staircase and bolted up the steps as fast as physically possible.
I wasn’t sure what my father was up to, but I was willing to put all of my eggs in his basket over my mother's right now.
****
Chapter Three
Andi
"HOW DARE YOU!" My mother screamed as she stormed into my room, catching me unaware. "You little slut."
"I'm not talking to you about this," I shot back shakily from where I was sitting on my bed. "Dad said I'm to wait in my room until he gets back." And right now, that was all I wanted to do. "So just leave me be." Get out of my life…
My mother's eyes narrowed. "Oh, you're going to talk to me, alright!" Lunging towards me, my mother caught a fistful of my hair in her hand and dragged me clean off my bed.
"Get off me," I screamed, landing roughly on my knees. "Let go of my hair, Momma." I desperately tried to free myself from her grasp, but it was no use. She was freakishly strong right now.
"You're disgusting," my mother hissed, finally releasing my hair. "A disgrace."
"I'm disgusting?" I blurted out as I climbed shakily to my feet. "You're one to talk."
"Don’t speak back, Adriana," Mom warned in a threatening tone, taking a step towards me. "You might have your father fooled, but I'm not blinded by those big, blue eyes." She laughed cruelly. "I can't believe he's even considering this."
"Considering what?" I wailed in confusion, still holding my aching scalp.
"If I had my way, you'd be out of here right now, slut," she hissed.
She took another step towards me and I jerked sideways, avoiding her. I needed to get out of this house and I needed to get out fast.
Stumbling backwards, I edged towards the door, never taking my eyes off my mother as I moved.
"Take one step out of this room and it's over for you," she warned. Her words caused a wave of fear to trickle down my spine.
"You can't stop me, momma…" I paused when my back hit my bedroom doorframe. "And if you try, I'll tell the whole world about what you did to Nathan. I'll tell them everything."
"You wouldn’t dare," Mom snarled.
"I've got nothing to lose," I shot back, catching ahold of the door handle. "You've given me no choice." Twisting the handle, I quickly slipped outside, putting the huge oak frame between me and my mother.
"And where will you go?" Mom roared after me as I bounded down the staircase. "You'll die without us, you stupid little bitch."
I didn’t stop to answer her.
I didn’t dare waste a split second.
Every moment was sacred to me.
Running at full speed, I bolted out of the house and down the driveway towards Nate's truck before throwing the door open and jumping inside.
As soon as the door was closed, I slammed my palm down on both lock buttons and exhaled a ragged breath.
God must have had an angel looking down on me, because the keys were in the ignition.
Cranking the engine, I quickly fastened my seatbelt and threw the huge Chevy into drive. And then I committed my first ever crime; I drove without a driver's license.
****
FEAR SPIRALED INSIDE OF me as I drove down the familiar route to Ivy's house. It was growing late in the evening, the sun was going down, and I honest to god didn’t know where I would be when it rose again in the morning.
I didn’t belong at Ivy's house, but I didn’t belong in my father's house either. There was nowhere else for me to go and in truth, I felt misguided and incredibly misplaced.
I had no home.
I was seventeen years old and pregnant.
My baby daddy was in jail and I was illegally operating a stolen vehicle without a license.
I didn’t recognize the person I was becoming...
I pulled into Ivy's driveway and drove around the back of the house before parking. My mother knew I was in Nate's truck. If she came looking for me, his red Chevy wasn’t exactly inconspicuous. With it parked out of sight from the road, I had some hope of remaining hidden.
Throwing open the door of the truck, I half jumped, half fell out of the driver's side before slamming the door shut and racing towards the back door.
Without thinking twice about it, or waiting to knock, I pushed open the back door and barreled into the Dupree's mudroom, both breathless and panting.
Tears were streaming down my face as I hurried through the empty house towards the staircase.
Unlike mine and Jackson's, Ivy's parents were good people. She was the center of their world. She was the reason Mr. and Mrs. Dupree both worked crazy hours at the local hospital; to give her a better life.
My parents worked to escape us.
"Andi?" Ivy's face was laced with surprise when I all but fell into her bedroom. "Oh my god, what's wrong?"
She rushed towards me, catching me just before I collapsed from deflated adrenalin.
"They t-took them," I attempted to explain as I sobbed uncontrollably in my best friend's arms. "T-to jail!"
"Who?" I could hear the alarm in Ivy's voice as she attempted to calm me down. "Who'd they take, babe?"
"Sheriff Brady and his deputies. They took Nathan!" I choked out, shuddering violently. "And J-Jackson!"
"What?" she deadpanned. "Why?"
"Because of me," I squeezed out, clenching my eyes shut. "It's all my fault."
****
Chapter Four
Nate
"NATE, ARE YOU STILL AWAKE?"
"No."
Folding my arms behind my head, I attempted to relax on the hardest mattress I'd ever laid my ass down on.
I'd been holed up in this cage going on six hours now, and I was going out of my mind worrying about Andi.
The thought of her alone with her parents was causing the anxiety inside of me to spread like wildfire. I needed to be with her and instead I was here, caged like a dog with my asshole best friend.
Clive Davis had me backed into a corner and there was no way out.
I was trapped.
I couldn't do shit.
The man as good as owned this town.
I couldn't take him on and win.
This was a fucking nightmare... and that bitch he called a wife had tricked me.
I couldn’t put into words how violated I felt when I learned Clive knew all along about Callie. I felt sickened to my very core.
That woman had taken advantage of me. Jesus, I'd been barely sixteen at the time. I'd truly believed what I'd done was for the good of my family – for t
he good of Callie. Knowing that it was all lies now made me feel a million times worse.
"It's your damn fault we're in here," Jackson muttered in the darkness from the bunk above me.
"Yeah, you go ahead and keep telling yourself that, man, but I aint the one with the psycho dad," I shot back as I slowly smothered to death in the stench of urine coming from the toilet bowl less than three feet from my face.
His fucked-up father was the reason we were both behind bars right now – and the reason we'd been denied a fucking phone call.
Christ, money really did speak all languages and Clive Davis had more than enough to spare in his evil game of playing god with my life.
"At least I have a dad."
"Ouch." I rolled my eyes to the heavens, my tone laced with sarcasm. "Wow, good one. You really got me good with that one, Jacko."
Asshole.
Closing my eyes, I resumed my post of ignoring the shithead sleeping above me and the way he was purposefully creaking the bed springs.
"Can you knock it off?" I snapped after another hour or so of constant creaking, finally losing my patience. "Cause I'm telling you now, man, if I have to suffer listening to you roll around on that bunk for one more minute, I'm gonna lose my shit."
"You broke my nose," Jackson growled. "I think you're owed some suffering."
"Only after you busted my jaw."
"Because you fucked my momma, Nate!"
"Yeah." I grimaced at the memory. "Fair point."
"And my sister!" he added in a pained tone. "You screwed around with my baby sister, too."
It had gone down between me and Jackson earlier.
Too many hours confined in a small cell, fueled with a truckload of resentment and issues had resulted in me spilling my guts.
I told Jackson everything.
Every dark and seedy secret I'd ever kept from him, including the fact that he and Andi had a half-sister in the form of my niece.
Yeah, it was seriously messed up. I didn’t have the desire to cover for Kim like I once had. Not since I'd realized the one person I cared for most was in pain and hurting because of my lies.
Yeah, my priorities had shifted and were entirely focused on Andi and the baby now...
"And you knocked her up!"
"I did."
"I should kill you."
"You could try," I offered dryly. "I'll give you a free shot." I'd given him several of those earlier, too. It was the only reason I was sporting two black eyes now; I'd let him hit me.
"What's the point?" Jackson grumbled dejectedly from the top bunk. "Aint like I'm gonna be able to shake you off now."
He was right about that.
No one was going to keep me away from her.
Not him, or his father, or my sister's secrets…
Adriana Davis was mine and I was going back for her, just as soon as I got out of this fucking cage.
"You're not good enough for her."
"Do you think I'm blind?" I shot back heatedly. "I'm well aware she's too good for me. It's like I'm fucking running up a waterfall trying to be good enough for that girl. It aint never gonna happen. I'm well fucking aware, but I love her just the same."
"Did you even think about her diabetes?" Jackson asked then, tone serious. "About how dangerous her getting pregnant could be to her health?" He paused before adding, "Did you even care? I mean, you say you love her, but she's only seventeen, man. She's just a baby having a baby."
"Don’t you think I know this?" I growled through clenched teeth.
My chest ached at the thought of anything happening to Andi because of me.
"I've been going over those exact same questions in my mind since I found out and I want to kick my own ass for being so fucking reckless." Releasing a low growl, I ran my hands through my hair in frustration. "I'm scared to death, man. For her. For the baby – but mostly for her." With my hands on my face, I clenched my eyes shut and whispered, "If anything happens to her because of me…" I swallowed deeply and fought back my nerves. I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t even think it.
"Don’t expect any sympathy from me, shit head."
"I'm not looking for sympathy from anybody, dipshit," I snarled. "I'm explaining why I couldn’t fucking stop it going this far." I sighed in agitation and rubbed my face once more. "Christ, I wish I handled things differently, but then Andi told me she loved me and I couldn’t take it anymore…" My words broke off once more, replaced this time with a pained groan. "You need to know that I tried to stop it. I fucking tried to leave her alone."
"You're an asshole, Nathan Cole."
"I know."
"And Andi knew?" His voice was laced with disgust. "About you and our mother?"
Not at first… "She knew."
"And she still wanted to be with you?"
"Yeah."
"Goddamn," Jackson muttered. "I should have seen this coming a mile away."
"How'd you figure?"
Jackson released a heavy sigh. "Because Andi's innocent, man. She's sheltered. Never shown any real interest in guys or dating. Except for you. She was different with you," Jackson offered glumly. "The way she always followed you around when we were kids, and hung on your every word like you'd invented the English fucking language? Or all the times you two hung out together when I wasn’t around? I should have seen it coming…" He laughed humorlessly. "I should have known you were into her."
"Dude, I was there because you were my best friend," I corrected him. "Still am – even though you're a fucking douche canoe. And I didn’t use you to get to her, if that's what you're thinking. It fucking killed me inside keeping all this shit from you."
"It did?"
"No." I rolled my eyes. "I thoroughly enjoyed keeping this secret life from you." I stretched my leg out and kicked his mattress above me. "Yeah, it fucking killed me, man."
"The thing is, I know that you're a good guy," Jackson said after several minutes of silence. "We've been friends since we were six, man. I've seen you with girls. I've seen how good you treat your momma and sister, even when they don’t deserve it. The moment you went public with Andi; I knew you were invested. I fucking knew it was serious. You're not the kind of guy who jumps in and out of shit without thinking long and hard about it first. When you put your mind to something it's all or all, nothing less will do... And sure, you'll stick by her. I get that okay. I'm not doubting your intentions, man…"
"But?" I offered, knowing full well there was a but following closely on the horizon.
"But it's not enough, is it?" he admitted dejectedly. "A trailer in Riverside and a baby on her hip before she graduates high school – that's if she even does graduate high school now." The bunk creaked again beneath his weight. "I just… I wanted better for her. That's all."
I knew Jackson wasn’t personally attacking my lifestyle.
He was genuinely expressing his concerns for his sister.
They were the same concerns I'd had since I was old enough to know where I ranked in the grand scheme of life – at the bottom.
The life I had been born into was the reason I had worked so damn hard at school, so relentlessly on the field.
Up until his momma screwed shit up for me, I'd had a plan.
I'd had my eyes on a football scholarship and the girl of my dreams.
Figured once I was out of Springhill and playing college ball, I'd have something to offer Andi. I'd be someone worthy of her.
Jackson's words only cemented the fact that I was so far beneath that girl it was a miracle she'd looked at me twice, much less love me back…
"I feel like I'm drowning, man," I admitted gruffly. "I'm so fucking in love with her and I can't see a damn thing beyond her. You don’t get it. You have no idea how it feels," I added. "To sit on the sidelines and observe? To feel so much, so fucking hard for one person, and when she's around you everything just falls into place… Christ, I didn’t wake up one morning and say, hey, I think I'll go bang Andi. It was a multitude of continuous mornings,
man. Every single morning since I was six year's old."
"So, what are you gonna do now?"
"Now?" I shrugged. "Now I'm gonna wait until your dick of a father decides to stop playing god with my life and lets me out of here. Then I'm gonna go get my girl." After a pause, I added, "I'm gonna get my place back on the team," surprising the both of us.
"You're gonna rejoin the team?"
I nodded. "Sure am."
"And what if coach won't let you?"
I snorted.
The question was laughable.
It didn’t deserve a response.
"Okay," Jackson conceded. "You're gonna rejoin the team. And then what?"
"I'm gonna get that goddamn scholarship to UA," I vowed quietly with newfound resolve. "After that, I'll make her a brand-new world. One she aint gotta be afraid to live in."
"And in the mean time?" Jackson asked doubtfully. "What are you gonna do while you're still in high school?"
"I'll work every spare hour of the day, god willing, to support Andi and the baby." I twisted my neck from side to side, finding relief when my muscles clicked back into place.
"My guitar's worth some," I mused, more to myself than him. It was about the only thing I had worth anything. "I'll sell it and put the cash it makes up against a deposit for a place of our own."
"You're really serious about this, aren’t you?" Jackson whispered after a while.
I nodded. "Are you gonna try and stand in my way?"
"No," he whispered finally. "I'm not. But I'm warning you now, man, I'm never gonna be happy about you and Andi being…together."
"You don’t have to be," I shot back. "You just have to accept it because as bad of a match as I am for your sister, I'm not going anywhere." There was silence for a long moment before I added, "Oh, and Jackson?"
