“You should’ve just told me that.”
“I should’ve, but that would’ve been bringing her up, and honest to God, Ry, I couldn’t. I couldn’t even think about her name without wanting to jump on the next flight home.”
“I thought you two were good that night you took her home from the party, after you gave that Clifford fuck a new nose. I thought things were solid between you two.”
Even a year later, knocking that asshole for disrespecting Ax is still gratifying to think about. “I did too. Axelle and I made some important decisions about our relationship that night. We were together, ya know?”
He nods. “I figured as much, but then you took the London gig.”
I blow out a breath and nod back. “I left, but only because she didn’t give me any choice.”
He frowns. “That doesn’t make any sense. She needed you.”
I whip my gaze to his, anger boiling in my gut. “I wanted to stay. I wanted to take care of her. I offered to be there for them. She didn’t want me.”
His eyebrows pinch together. “You know she ended up having to drop out of school, right?”
“Yeah, she told me that when I saw her today.” I shrug, the news coming as little surprise. I figured the baby would force her to have to take time off school.
“She had to get a restraining order.”
Time comes to a grinding halt.
The pause button hit on all my internal organs.
No breathing.
No blinking.
I think even my pulse froze. “What did you say?”
“He fucking tormented her, man.” He glares at me.
Still on pause. “What?”
“Clifford.” He throws his hands up. “Dude, are you fucking listening to a word I’m saying? He bullied the shit out of Axelle after you left. He put up naked pictures of her on all the campus boards…”
Lungs back online and pumping.
“…fucking tore her up on social media…”
Eyes blinking.
“…broke into her apartment and trashed the place…”
Pulse pounding.
“He’d make sure to catch her walking through campus so he could trip her and she’d fall flat on her face.”
Fury.
I push up so fast the stool crashes to the ground. My fists clench at my side as adrenaline bursts through my veins. “Why didn’t anyone fucking tell me!”
He jumps off the couch, seeming just as angry as I am. “I fucking tried! You were too busy being famous to give a shit!”
I fist my hands in my hair. “What the hell, Ry! You know I would’ve come home if I’d known this shit was going on!”
“We didn’t even know it was going on until it got so bad she couldn’t hide it anymore. Then she made us promise not to tell you.”
“Why the fuck would she do that?”
“Oh, I don’t know, asshole! Why don’t you pull your head out of your ass long enough to think about it?”
Think about it? I can’t concentrate on shit outside of breaking Clifford’s neck.
Unless… “The baby.” It had to be because of the baby, right? God, he tripped her when she was carrying his fucking child! Anger rips red hot through me.
“What baby?”
Annnd I’m back to pause.
“Axelle’s baby.”
His face twists in confusion. “Axelle doesn’t have a baby.”
Hold on. I rub my eyes and try to shake the feeling of being part of some sick practical joke.
“When I left”—I shake my head, trying like hell to make sense of all this—“she was pregnant when I left.”
“No…” He frowns, shakes his head, blinks, and then… “Oh shit.”
“What?”
He drops back down the couch and rubs his temple. “She got really sick a couple of months before she dropped out. They told me it was a stomach bug. When she came back to school, she seemed a little, I don’t know, depressed or something. I just assumed she was still feeling like crap. Then Clifford started messing with her and…shit. I didn’t know.” He peers up at me. “She must’ve lost the baby.”
“When? Do you remember when all this happened?”
“Yeah, it was the time I called you. I called her later that day to talk to her about what a piece of shit you were and…” He leans forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “Fuck.”
My chest feels like it’s about to explode through my skin.
He tilts his head and stares right through me. “She got sick on the phone. I had to call Blake and…damn, poor Axelle.”
“I should’ve been here,” I mumble to myself. “I never should’ve left.”
“Nothing you could’ve done, man.”
“She told me to leave and I listened. Why did I listen?” I pace the length of the room. “She needed me, and I didn’t even leave her a number to get in touch with me.”
“She had it.”
I freeze and whip my gaze to him. “What?”
“I gave it to her. She had it.”
“Why didn’t she—?”
He laughs, but the sound is more sad than happy. “She told me you’re too smart to give up your future for her.”
“She’s wrong.”
“That’s what I said.” He huffs out a breath. “Then she said, even if you’d tried to give it up, she’d never let you.”
“She didn’t. She made me go to London. I should’ve stayed in touch. Fuck! I should’ve grown a pair and stayed in contact.”