Page 212 of Fame & Rhythm

My mouth opens, but nothing comes out. My thoughts are still trying to outrun each other, scrambling to rewrite everything I’d already accepted as truth.

“What?” The word barely exists, breaking apart as it leaves me. “W-what do you m-mean?”

“She told me she had the dates checked,” he says, steady and certain. “The baby was conceived three weeks after we broke up. We hadn’t even been together like that for a week before I ended things. It’s not mine.”

The room tilts.

“I think I’m gonna be sick,” I manage.

He doesn’t hesitate, lifting me and carrying me into the bathroom, dropping to his knees beside me as I barely make it to the bowl before everything comes up.

He holds my hair back and rubs my back as I retch.

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs. “I’m so sorry I let you get to this point.”

I barely hear him over the sound of my own breathing, my body purging everything… alcohol, food, emotion.

“I love you,” he says softly. “The only kids I’m ever going to have are with you.”

That breaks something open again, and I cry as I empty what’s left in my stomach.

Eventually, it stops.

I sag back, exhausted, wiping my mouth with shaky hands before he pulls me into his arms.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispers, pressing a kiss to my temple. “I never want to see you like this.”

“She’s really not pregnant by you?” I ask weakly.

“No, baby. I swear. And even if she was… it wouldn’t change us. I love you too much to lose you.”

I start crying again, softer this time, completely drained.

“Hey,” he murmurs, brushing my hair back. “You’ve done enough crying for one day.” He helps me up and guides me to sit on the edge of the bathtub. Then he crouches in front of me, pressing a gentle kiss to my forehead. “I love you, Annie.”

“You’re not lying to me?” I whisper.

“I swear.”

He stands, already reaching for the shower. “Let’s get you cleaned up, yeah? Wash this day off you.”

I don’t argue.

I don’t have it in me.

Aston undresses me slowly, carefully, as though I might break, and I stand there, letting him. My mind is foggy, my body heavy, everything inside me wrung out. He strips down quickly after, turns on the water, and then pulls me into the shower with him.

The warmth hits my skin, and I lean into him, resting my head against his shoulder as his hands move gently through my hair.

For the first time since the restaurant…

I can breathe.

“I’m so sorry, Annie,” he murmurs against my hair. “I left as soon as I sorted things out with Amber. The second I knew for sure it wasn’t mine, I came straight to you. You’re the most important thing in my life, and I never want you to feel like I’ve betrayed you like that again. Not ever.”

“I’m sorry I just… reacted,” I say quietly, my voice still weak. “The timing… it all lined up, and all I could think was that you were going to leave me. That you’d go back to her… to your baby. I couldn’t handle that. I just needed to get away.”

“I wouldn’t leave you for her, Annie,” he says firmly, his hand still moving gently through my hair, the other gliding up and down my back. “Even if it was my baby… I wouldn’t walk away from you.”