Ross shook his head. “I know what I heard. I heard her talking and you didn’t respond. Because you already knew. You had this big plan, you and your friend. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’m done with all of this. You’ll get your cheque every month. I’ll get my visitation rights. We’ll be civil to each other and that’s that.”
“No!” Teela stamped her foot like she did when she was younger, and someone punished her for something she’d never done in the first place. “I swear, I didn’t know. I- just because you didn’t hear what I said, doesn’t mean I didn’t say it. I was angry. I was hurt. I- I told Amy that I would never have done either of those things. I wasn’t in this for the money. I never was. If you truly think that about me then… you really don’t know me at all. I know it’s only been a few weeks, but seriously. If you can’t tell already, then you’re not the person I thought you were either. You’ve had some shitty experiences, I get that, but you don’t get to act all butt-hurt and take them out on me. Or this baby. I’m not some gold digger. I’m not a whore either. I- when we were together, I did that because I wanted to. It meant something to me. I thought it meant something to you as well. So… so you can either pull that stick out of your ass and grow up and realize that the entire world isn’t out to get you just because you dated a few assholes, or you can… you can do what you said and we’ll get on with our lives because obviously, if you think about me that way, this was never right in the first place.”
There wasn’t anything more to say so Teela whirled and stormed down the steps. She stalked across the grass, because she’d rather trample on the yard, like she wasn’t supposed to, then walk down the sidewalk. She nearly tripped over her own feet, mostly because she was concentrating so hard on trying to calm the burning in her sinuses and jam the tears back where they’d come from before they spilled down her cheeks.
By some miracle, half blind from her eyes pooling up with tears she was NOT going to cry, Teela reached her car. She fumbled with the handle before she remembered she’d locked it, because her parents made her paranoid and she always locked her car. She pulled her keys out of her pocket and managed to jam it into the lock.
She slid in, pounded the lock back in place and started her car.
The banging on her window nearly gave her a heart attack and she whirled to the side. Ross was there, in his bare feet. He looked sorry, but the doubt in his eyes was still obvious. He only half believed her. Maybe once upon a time she would have got out of the car and told him that she forgave him for acting like a child and hearing what he wanted to hear, which was really damn convenient to his the whole world is out to get me theory. Once upon a time, but not now.
Screw that.
She’d had enough assholes to last her a lifetime.
Guys like him were the reason she decided to stay single in the first place. Guys like him suckered her in, earned her trust and then hit her right when she was most vulnerable. Guys like him liked to kick a person when they were down. She wasn’t going to give him the chance.
He’d said they could be civil once the baby was born. Which meant she had a six months’ grace period, so as she pulled out, leaving Ross standing at the end of his driveway, she rolled down her window and flipped him the bird. Take that, asshole.
And no, she wasn’t the least bit sorry. Just like her heart didn’t hurt. Just like it didn’t feel like there was yet again, a huge gaping hole in it.
CHAPTER 23
Ross
It took a few days, but Ross realized he’d screwed up. Big time. In the most epic way possible. Teela called him on his bullshit. Bullshit he didn’t even realize was ruling his life. He was letting his fears and his past ruin his life. If he went to a shrink, they probably would have said that he had some major trust issues and they’d be right.
The truth was, he was scared. He was scared of being hurt again. He kept expecting it to happen and he went off at the first indication that something wasn’t quite right. He didn’t give Teela the benefit of the doubt. Just like before.
Even though he knew her enough to know that it wasn’t true.
Deep down, he didn’t actually believe what he’d heard. He didn’t want to think she’d conceived a child as a get rich quick scheme. She didn’t seem like she was the type, but he’d been burned so many times before he let that cloud his judgment.