“I…I was so afraid you wouldn’t be able to look at me again. He didn’t use any protection, and I needed to find out if I was pregnant. And I felt so ashamed! I was scared and confused and angry.”
I stumbled back a step. “Were you? Pregnant?”
“No! No, I wasn’t. But when I broke up with you, I didn’t know that yet.”
I pulled her into my arms again and held her. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say anything else. I love you, Bella. I wish you would have told me. I would have helped you. But nothing could ever make me not love you. Nothing.”
Sobs poured out from deep inside of her as she buried her face in my chest. I held her up when I felt her knees give out. All those years, she’d carried such a burden on her shoulders. I hated myself for not knowing. How in the hell could I not have known? Or had I known deep down and just never wanted to admit it?
“What’s his name?” I asked.
Bishop and Kyle both stood and walked over to Aiden. Bella drew back from me. Her eyes immediately went to my three best friends, all standing to the side.
They’d clearly told her not to tell me his name.
“Arabella—what’s his name?” I asked again.
She swallowed hard. “Why does it matter, Hunter?”
I let out a laugh that sounded void of any and all humor. “Because I’m going to track him down and kill him.”
Bella’s eyes went wide as saucers. “What?”
Jack clearly felt the tension in the room because he stood and walked over to paw at me, then looked at Bella.
Kyle walked up and placed a hand on my shoulder. “Hunter—”
I jerked away from him, then spun around and glared. “You all told her not to tell me, didn’t you?”
Jack stood next to me and barked. Kyle looked down at him and then back at me.
Aiden walked up and stood between me and Kyle. “Hunter, you need to calm down.”
Something inside of me snapped right then. The anger I felt in that moment was like nothing I’d ever experienced.
“You need to get the fuck out of my face, Aiden!” Turning back to Bella, I shouted, “What’s. His. Name?”
She jumped, and Abby moved to her side immediately, along with Jack. He sat next to Bella and stared at me as if I’d lost my mind.
My chest burned as I fought to hold back my own sobs. Sobs of anger, despair, guilt. Fuck, I wanted to hurt someone. “I want his fucking name. I need his name, Bella!”
Bishop put his hand on my chest. “Dude, you need to calm down. It doesn’t help that you’re upsetting her like this.”
Staring at him, I said in a voice so desperate I didn’t even know it was mine, “I want his name, Bishop! I’m going to kill him for taking her from me!”
Aiden pushed me back and got in my face, his teeth clenched as he kept his temper in check. “You’re upsetting Arabella, you need to calm down. Stop this.”
Jack jumped back up, and I heard him growling. I wasn’t sure if he was aiming it at Aiden or me.
“Jack, back,” Kyle said, but Jack wasn’t about to listen to another handler.
I quickly turned my head and saw Bella crying in Abby’s arms. I somehow found my voice. “Jack, down.”
Jack instantly laid down. I bent and gave him a few pets, then said, “Go to Bella.”
He jumped up and immediately went and laid at her feet.
“Let’s go outside for a minute, okay?” Kyle said, tugging at my arm. “Dude, come on.”
Nodding, I caught Bella’s gaze. I wanted to tell her I was sorry. That I loved her. That I would do anything she needed me to do. But all I could hear was her screaming during one of her nightmares.
Everything made sense now. Her nightmares. Her panic attacks when I was on top of her on the sofa. The way she flinched whenever I touched her.
It all made sense—and I had known it deep down inside but was too much of a coward to ask her.
When the cold air hit my lungs, I dragged in a deep breath.
I jammed my fingers into my hair and shook my head. “Oh my God. I think I always knew. I always knew deep down.” Tears blurred my vision and I placed my hands on my knees and tried not to get sick. I lost the battle and leaned over the rail and puked.
Kyle—or someone—was right by my side, rubbing my back. I puked two more times, until I had nothing left to throw up. I stumbled back and into a chair on the porch. Tears streamed down my face.
“Hunter, none of us knew,” Bishop said. “Hell, Abby was the only person Arabella ever told. She just now told her folks earlier today.”