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“I couldn’t do it,” she sobbed. “I just couldn’t do it.”
“You do not need to explain yourself to me or anyone else. Let’s get you home.”
They continued to the elevator, Meka’s arm protectively draped around Samantha. They didn’t speak the entire ride down, and she breathed a sigh of relief when the doors opened to the lobby of the building. She wasn’t sure she could handle being in close proximity to anyone else besides her best friend. Keeping her head down, they stepped from the elevator and briskly made their way to the exit.
Her eyes cast downward, she could see the bottom of the doors when the sound of her name yanked her from her trance. Whipping her head around, she looked in the direction of the voice. Bryce stood a few feet away, his facial expression unreadable. The only feeling she was able to put a label on was relief. She wasn’t sure how or why he was there, but the need to fall into his arms was overwhelming.
“Bryce,” she croaked. “What are you doing here?”
Chapter 29
Bryce took in the scene in front of him and failed to come up with words. Samantha looked terrible. Her eyes red, and swollen, peered through heavy dark circles. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days. Her lip trembled, and it was obvious she was holding on by a thread.
“I’m sorry I’m late. I got here as fast as I could.”
Samantha looked at him in confusion as Meka took a few steps back, likely giving them some semblance of privacy. He took a step forward, and before he could offer a better explanation, she fell into his arms. She’d always had a slim build, but she felt frail in his arms. He held her tight, rocking back and forth as she cried into his chest.
“I know you have Meka with you, but I didn’t want you to have to go through it alone. I should have been there waiting for you to come out. I should have walked you in,” he continued to explain.
“How did you know I was here? Did you come here to stop me?” Samantha demanded.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise that she wanted to know how he knew to show up, but he didn’t have an answer prepared. The truth was an option, but he didn’t want to cause any problems between Samantha and her friends. She needed her friends.
“Just tell me,” Samantha said with a sigh after pulling back to study his face. “I’ll only be pissed if you lie to me.”
“We shouldn’t be going through all of this with you on your feet. Why don’t we go somewhere to talk? Or have a seat on one of these benches,” he suggested.
He didn’t know much about the procedure, but he knew she should be taking it easy and avoiding stress. Standing there in the middle of the lobby having a serious conversation was the opposite of that.
“Tell me.”
“Don’t be mad at Meka. I demanded she tell me. You wouldn’t take my calls or return my text messages. I was so fucking worried about you,” he admitted. “She told me you were fine, but I wouldn’t accept that as an answer. I didn’t leave her much choice. I said if she didn’t tell me, I was going to show up at your place and refuse to leave until you talked to me.”
Samantha stared at him in shock. He hated to reveal that side of himself, but she had left him with no choice. He would never do anything to hurt her the way Brandon had hurt her, but not knowing if she was okay literally made him crazy.
“So, you came here to stop me? It’s my body.”
He took a step back at her accusation. Didn’t she know him better than that? At no point did he try to influence her decision. He’d been surprised to hear that she decided to end the pregnancy, but he would never try to tell her what to do. It wasn’t up to him.
Moving closer again, he spoke just loud enough for her to hear him. “I just wanted to be there for you. I know how hard this is. I know how much you want a family. That’s why I’m here.”
“You weren’t hoping to swoop in here and change my mind?”
He started shaking his head before she even finished her question. “No. I wouldn’t do that. I just can’t have you shutting me out.”
With his arms still loosely wrapped around her, he was able to feel her sag with relief. Tears welled in her eyes before overflowing and forming steady tracks down her cheeks.
“Please don’t cry,” he whispered against her ear. “Are you in pain? What can I do?”
This time, she began shaking her head before he finished his questions. “I didn’t do it. I couldn’t.”
Those were words he hadn’t expected to hear. The way she’d ghosted him, going as far as to ignore each one of his messages, he figured she had her mind set. And he knew that once her mind was set there was no changing it.
“Let’s get you out of here,” he suggested. “I paid for parking. Meka? Are you coming?”
“Are you going to take care of her?”
He let the insult roll off his back. “For as long as she allows me to.”
