Cherished (Wanted #4)(41)
Author: Kelly Elliott

“I need to get some fresh air. I won’t be gone long,” he said with a weak smile.

I grabbed his arm. “Scott…” I stopped in my tracks when I saw the tear roll down his face.

“The first time I knew I loved you, I pushed you away. I hurt you because I was afraid of my own feelings. I vowed to myself I would never hurt you again. This whole time we’ve been together, I feel like I’ve been trying to prove to you how much I love you. When you walked in and saw Chelsea and Bryce, you automatically assumed it was me. I never wanted that to ever happen. I never wanted you to ever think that I would do that to you. I wanted you to trust me and know in your heart how much I love you. I would never in a million years want to hurt you ever again.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t know it wasn’t you,” I said as a sob escaped my lips.

“But if I had just been able to show you how much I love you and that you are my whole world, you would have never had that doubt in your mind. You wouldn’t have run away, and you would have never met…him.”

I frantically shook my head, panic building in my body. “Scott! Please…I made a mistake by letting him touch me, and I swear to you, I was just confused and heartbroken. I thought you had…I thought you had…put yourself in my shoes! What would you have done if you’d walked into my bedroom and seen two people having sex?” I wiped the tears away quickly. “I love you. I’ve always loved you.”

He smiled at me and wiped away the tears still rolling down my face. “I won’t be the one who makes you hurt again. I won’t. I need you to be sure you are with me for the right reasons and not because we’re expecting a child together.”

I started crying harder. “I’m not. I didn’t even know about the baby before I called you. I love you…I love you.”

“I know you do, baby. But I think you need to make sure you don’t love him as well.” He turned and walked away from me.

I slowly felt myself falling to the floor. I buried my head in my hands and cried. In one moment, my whole world had changed. It wasn’t even the moment when I’d walked in on Chelsea in this very bedroom.

It was the one moment when I’d let another man into my heart.

“Make it stop!” Josh said as he reached for my phone and tossed it at me.

I let out a giggle and didn’t even pay attention to who was calling.

“Hello?” I said, trying not to sound like I’d just woken up.

Of all the mornings when the twins actually sleep in, someone calls and wakes us up.

“Heather?”

I sat up quickly. “Jessie!” I practically screamed. “Is Scott with you? Where are you?”

I heard her sniffle. Oh no. She’s crying. I flew up out of bed and went straight for the closet. I started getting dressed.

“I’m, um…home…at Scott’s house. I need to talk to you, Heather.”

“Yes! Oh my god, of course. Want me to come there?”

There was silence for a few minutes.

“I don’t want Scott to think I’ve left. Can you come here?”

“I’m on my way. It might be closer to an hour though.”

“That’s fine. Heather?”

I stopped getting dressed. “Yeah?”

“Please be careful, and thank you.”

“Always, sweets. See you in a few.”

I hit End and pulled a sweatshirt over my head. I ran back out into the bedroom and sat down on the bed.

“What’s going on? Jessie is back? Scott is with her, right?”

I quickly looked at Josh. My heart skipped a beat at how handsome he was, sitting there with his messy hair. I wanted to run my hands through it and crawl on top of him. I shook my wayward thoughts away.

“I’m guessing so since she’s at Scott’s house, but she’s upset. Do you mind?”

“Of course not. I think Will, Libby, and I will head out and get some breakfast with Mom and Dad.”

I smiled and crawled across the bed. I moved my lips along his neck. “Hmm…what I wouldn’t do to have your parents take the kids for a few hours.”

He pulled back and smiled. His dimple caught my eye.

“I might be able to arrange that,” he said with a wink.

“Perfect. I’ve got to brush my teeth and then get on the road.”

I kissed Josh good-bye and ran downstairs. I peeked into the twins’ room, and they were both still sound asleep.

As I made my way out to my car, I hit Ari’s number.

“Bitch, you better have a good reason for calling me so goddamn early, especially on the one day the kids sleep in.”

I let out a giggle. “Ari, code blue. Jessie. Scott’s house.”

Ari let out a gasp. “Motherfucker. I’m getting up and dressed. I’ll call Ells. What’s going on? Oh my god, I’m gonna kick Jessie’s damn ass when I see her.”

“I’m not sure. She was crying. Mentioned something about she needed me to come there because she didn’t want Scott to think she’d left him.”

Silence.

“Ari?”

“Um…Scott’s here. I hear Jeff talking to him,” Ari whispered.

“What?”

“Let me get dressed. I’ll find out what’s going on, and I’ll call you back. Be careful driving. See you in a little bit.” Ari hung up on me.

It had never taken me so damn long to get to Mason as it had this morning. I was about ten minutes from Scott’s house when my cell rang. I hit Answer on my screen.

“Hello?”

“Heather,” Ari said, her voice coming through my car speakers.

“What did you find out?”

“Ells is with me right now. We’re at Scott’s gate, waiting on you, but this is what I got from Scott. So, Jessie was in Belize, but we all knew that. I guess while she was there, she met some guy named Trey.”

My stomach dropped.

“He was there because his fiancée had left him at the altar. They were supposed to go to Belize for their honeymoon or some bullshit like that. I guess Jessie and this Trey guy became friends. They hung out the entire time she was on the island.”

“Doesn’t he work? Didn’t he have a job to go back to?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I didn’t ask. Scott was a mess. He just kept telling Jeff over and over that he thought Jessie loved this guy.”

“Oh no,” I whispered.

“Anyway, long story short, they messed around. They didn’t have sex, but I guess the guy felt on her. Here is the kicker though—Jess is pregnant.”