Off the Hook: Faking it #3

by Chloe Walsh

  "What's the matter?" The tone of her voice had me instantly on edge. "Is it Andi?" Christ, it was, wasn’t it? "Is it the baby? Is she in labor?"

  "No, god. She's not in labor, and baby's fine," Ivy said with a heavy sigh. "But she's a mess, Nate."

  Horrified, I listened as Ivy filled me in on Dallas's antics in the diner. "And then she just ran off," she choked out. "I've been calling and calling her, but she won't pick up."

  "Goddammit to hell!" I roared before tossing the cloth I'd been holding across the room. "Fuck!"

  Why was it no matter how hard I worked or how fucking careful I was, something always tried to sneak up and steal my happiness?

  Well not this fucking time.

  "Where is she?" I demanded, chest heaving. I was reeling. I was fucking raging. "Andi. Where the hell is Andi?"

  "She's at your place, but she wouldn’t open the door for me when I knocked," Ivy replied in a worried tone. "She was really upset, Nate."

  "It's bullshit, Ivy," I snarled. "God fucking dammit!" Stepping around Ivy, I grabbed the keys of my truck off the worktop and stormed outside.

  "Where the hell are you going, Nate?" Trey called out as I passed, but I didn’t stop to answer him. I didn’t think I could. I was about to explode in anger.

  "For what it's worth," Ivy called out as I climbed into my truck and cranked the engine. "I told Andi she was lying."

  "And did she believe you?"

  She didn’t.

  The look in Ivy's eyes told me she didn’t.

  I slammed my fist against the steering wheel. "Goddammit to hell."

  "She's pregnant, Nathan, and incredibly vulnerable right now," she shot back. "And Dallas put on one hell of a convincing performance."

  "This shit stops," I snarled. It had been going on too long already. "Right fucking now." My wife was heavily pregnant. She didn’t need the stress and strain Dallas's poisonous lies could cause her.

  "What are you gonna do, Nate?" Ivy called out nervously as she watched me reverse my truck out of its parking spot.

  "I'm gonna put Dallas fucking Holloway in her place."

  For once and for all...

  ****

  MY RAGE LEVELS HAD GONE way past the point of return when I pulled up outside Dallas's trailer a few minutes later.

  The rain that had been threatening to fall all week was now pouring heavily. Furious, and ignoring the loud clangs of thunder above me, I jacked the handbrake before killing the engine and practically throwing myself out of the truck.

  "Dallas!" Stalking up the steps to her trailer, I ripped open the door, not bothering to knock. I was too damn mad. "Dallas. Get your ass out here now."

  I'd been inside this trailer many times throughout the course of my childhood and teenage years, and even though I was only eighteen, those days felt like a lifetime ago.

  Back then, I had felt sorry for the girl whose momma was an even bigger drunk than mine.

  Now, I felt nothing but disgust.

  Storming down the empty hallway, I slammed my palm against the bedroom door I knew all too well. The door creaked inwards, like I knew it would, and I stalked inside. "What the fuck did you say to my wife?"

  "Well hello to you, too." Dallas was sitting on her bed in nothing but her underwear, painting her toenails. "Didn’t think to knock?"

  "Quit the shit." Reaching forward, I yanked the bottle of nail polish out of her hand and tossed it against the wall behind her bed. "What. Did. You. Say. To. My. Wife?"

  "Did she send you over here?" Dallas snickered. "Damn, Nate, she's a real cry baby." Fanning her toenails with a magazine, she added, "You really could do a lot better than that big-eyed baby. I mean, what the hell is wrong with her eyes?" She scrunched her nose up in distaste. "They freak me out."

  "One more word," I snarled, chest heaving. "Say one more word about her and I swear to god I'll –"

  "You'll what, Nate?" Dallas taunted. Jumping off the bed, she walked straight up to me. "You'll hit me?" She threw her head back and laughed. "Please. I know you'd never hit a woman. And I know why too." She was mad now. "Does she?" She wasn’t laughing any longer. "Does your precious wife know about how you had to watch your momma get beat on by whatever piece of scum tickled her fancy that month? Huh? Does precious, little Andi know any of that? Or how about all the times you let me crash on your couch when my step daddy had a little too much to drink?"

  "What the fuck has that got to do with anything, Dallas?" I shook my head and gaped at her. "What the hell are you bringing up the past for?"

  "Because it's our past, Nathan!" Dallas screamed, knotting her hand in my shirt. "Ours, Nate. Mine and yours. Not hers." Tears filled her eyes then. "We were supposed to be together." Her voice cracked. "You were supposed to marry me."

  "You need to get over this, Dallas." I took a step backwards. "You and me? We're done. We've been done for a long time now." Backing out of her bedroom, I swung around and walked up the hallway, needing to put some space between us.

  "Only because you went and knocked her up," Dallas hollered, following me into sitting area. "If she hadn't gotten pregnant, you and I would be back together by now."

  "Have you lost your damn mind?" I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. "Us breaking up had nothing to do with Andi and everything to do with you sleeping around behind my back."

  "I was wrong, okay. I see that now, Nate. I do." Wrapping her hand around my arm, Dallas hissed, "Please. Just gimme another chance."

  I shook my head. "It's too late, Dallas."

  "Please, Nate?"

  "I'm married," I replied as I tried and failed to shake her off me. "You need to let this go."

  "It's just paper, Nate," she continued to say.

  "I love her. Do you get that? I'm in love with my wife." Finally freeing myself from her grasp, I ran a hand through my hair and hissed in frustration. "Christ, I don’t know what other way there is to say it, Dallas. I never loved you like that. Never. Not even a little."

  "Why are you saying that?" she cried.

  "Because it's the truth!" I felt like an asshole, but this had to stop. "Now, I'm sorry if that's hard for you to hear," I added as I walked over to the trailer door. "But you need to get it through your head that you and me are never gonna be a thing again."

  "You're serious, aren’t you?" Dallas whispered in a horrified tone. "You really do love her."

  "Goodbye, Dallas." I turned and opened the door to leave, only to halt in my track when my eyes landed on Andi standing at the bottom of the steps with tears streaming down her face. "Andi."

  She wasn’t looking at me.

  No, her focus was on something behind me.

  And then awareness dawned on me; it hit me like a fucking hurricane.

  Dallas was half naked.

  "Andi, wait!" I roared, but it was too late.

  She was already running away from me.

  ****

  Andi

  AFTER SPENDING THE REST of the evening moping and crying in bed, I'd slowly come around to Ivy's way of thinking.

  She'd been right.

  Nathan wouldn’t do that to me.

  He just wouldn’t.

  Dallas had to be lying.

  Feeling braver, and with my newfound resolve, I wiped my tears and let myself out of our home before walking down the path towards Dallas's trailer with every intention of telling her to back off.

  The sky had decided to open above me, but I didn’t let a little thunder storm stop me from finally standing up to that girl.

  However, when I reached Dallas's trailer, the sight of Nate's truck parked out front caused me to halt in my tracks.

  The moment my eyes landed on that old Chevy, I felt as though I'd been bled dry.

  My heart hammered in my chest, the fear of my worst nightmare being true was making it harder to breathe.

  My feet shook as I walked towards the battered steps.

  And then the door flew open…

  "Andi."

  My faith
dipped to a new low as I gaped in horror at a half-naked Dallas standing behind my husband.

  Evidence hit me full force in the face.

  It was true.

  He really was with her.

  What was I supposed to do now?

  My whole life revolved around the boy who was standing in his ex-girlfriend's trailer.

  The sob that tore from my chest was harsh and haunting.

  "Andi, wait!" Nate called out, tone laced with panic.

  But I didn’t wait.

  Feeling weak to the bone, I turned on my heel and ran through the rain.

  ****

  Chapter Fourteen

  Andi

  ADRENALIN COURSED THROUGH MY veins as I ran through the rain, desperate to get as far away from what I'd just seen as humanly possible.

  I couldn’t feel my toes.

  Blisters were forming on the heels of my feet but the image of Nathan and Dallas pushed me forward.

  Breathless and panting, I forced myself to keep going, and even though I didn’t have an ounce of energy left inside of my body, I continued to put one foot in front of the other.

  My hair clung to my face, my clothes were molded to my skin. I was shaking from head to toe, but my heart was roaring inside of me, driving me forward, screaming at me to get away from them.

  I ran until the muscles in my legs began to spasm and seize.

  I ran until my lungs felt like they'd been doused in petrol and set on fire.

  Finally, when I couldn’t take a single step more, I collapsed on my knees on the sidewalk at least a mile or two from the trailer park.

  Rain continued to drench me, unrelenting, and I welcomed the sting.

  It hurt far less than the pain in my heart.

  "Andi?" Nathan called out to me in the darkness. "Andi!"

  I'd known he would follow me.

  It was why I'd ran around in circles like a lunatic.

  I'd been trying to lose him.

  Apparently, I hadn't done a good enough job because I could hear him calling out my name in the distance.

  I wanted to get up and go, but I didn’t have the heart or the energy left inside of me to move.

  I could hear him running towards me, the pounding of feet on the concrete getting louder and louder.

  "Leave me alone, Nathan Cole!" I screamed at the top of my lungs seconds before he came into sight. "Just go away."

  "Are you fucking crazy?" he roared back as he ran towards me. "You are nine goddamn months pregnant and running around the streets like Usain fucking Bolt!"

  The moment Nate reached me, he dropped to his knees in front of me and cupped my face in his hands.

  "Jesus Christ, baby, you're fucking soaking." His eyes searched my face almost frantically. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

  I shook my head and pushed his hands away. "Just my heart." My whole body shook violently as I looked up at his face. "You h-hurt me, Nate." Sniffling, I whispered, "My heart's b-breaking."

  "Baby, you've got it all wrong," he choked out, brown eyes burning into my soul. "I haven't touched Dallas. Not fucking once." He exhaled a ragged breath and wiped the rain from my face with his thumbs. "She was screwing with you –" his words broke off and he looked up to the sky and then back at me. "Me, Andi. She was screwing with me, baby."

  "I saw you, Nate." I choked out, batting his hand away again. "You were in Dallas's trailer, and she was in her bra and panties!" I heaved loudly at the thought. "I…oh god…"

  "I went to Dallas's trailer to confront her for upsetting you!" he interjected heatedly. "Ivy, she came and found me at the shop – told me what happened in Daisy's." He exhaled heavily. "I went over there to tell her to back the hell off and leave you alone."

  I trembled as I listened to my husband speak.

  "She was in her underwear when I got there," he added. "I didn’t take any notice because I didn’t fucking care. I was too caught up with telling her to leave my wife alone! And she did proposition me," he choked out. "And I told her no. I told her I loved you. I told her it would never fucking happen ever!"

  "She t-told me to ask you where you really go on Monday nights?" I sobbed. "And she s-said she kissed your ta-tattoo."

  "She's lying," Nate snarled. "And you know where I go. To work. For you. For our family." He ran a hand through his hair and sagged forward. "I'm not lying, Andi."

  "No?"

  "No." Recapturing my face between his hands, Nate knelt on the ground in front of me and forced me to look at him. "So you listen here and you listen real good, Andi Davis." His voice was shaking. "I know I made some bad fucking mistakes when I was younger, and those mistakes have hurt you."

  My heart was racing so hard in my chest I feared he could feel it.

  "But that all changed the day I realized the girl I have been in love with since I was six years old loved me right back," he choked out hoarsely, voice pained and thick with emotion.

  With one hand knotted in my hair, Nate used the other to clutch my chin, tipping it upwards. "You, Andi!" He pressed to his forehead to mine and exhaled heavily. "You mean everything to me." I could hear the sincerity in his voice. "You are all I've wanted for my whole life." I could feel the truth behind his words, and in the way he held me close. "I would never risk what we have together." He was shaking too, his clothes soaked through. "I would never do that to you, Andi. Fucking never. And if you knew how important you are to me, you'd never even doubt it." He exhaled a ragged breath and looked up to the sky before looking back at me. "Do you believe me?"

  Did I?

  Reaching up, I wrapped my arms around his neck and nodded, not bothering to wipe the tears from my cheeks. "I'm s-sorry." I was shaking so badly I could hardly get the words out. "I b-believe y-you."

  "Thank you." His arms came around me, and it felt just like I remembered. I was cocooned in his embrace, cloaked in his love. "I love you, Andi Davis. I don’t see anyone else." He held me tight with one hand and stroked my hair with the other. "I've only ever seen you."

  "C-Cole," I mumbled, teeth chattering, as I buried my face in his neck. "It's Andi Cole."

  ****

  Nate

  IT TOOK A FULL HOUR OF standing in the shower with the water on full heat to stop Andi from shivering. Of course, I hadn't minded one fucking bit. Standing in the shower with my wife sure beat chasing her around in the rain.

  Christ, my heart was still racing in my chest. I'd been terrified something bad was going to happen to her or the baby.

  I had them home now; safe and sound.

  "Are you warm enough?" I asked, having placed an extra blanket over her. She was curled up in our bed, looking like a dream come true.

  Walking around to my side of the bed, I drew back the covers and climbed in.

  Turning on her side to face me, she whispered, "I feel like a fool, Nate." She bit down on her bottom lip. "I overreacted so badly when I should have gone to you." She shook her head and groaned. "I'm so embarrassed."

  "You're not a fool." Reaching out, I stroked her cheek with my hand. "You're pregnant. Last time I checked, pregnant women were allowed to overreact."

  "But we could have broken up over this," she choked out. "We almost broke up."

  "Nah." I drew her closer. "Not even close."

  "Nathan, I ran away from you."

  "And I ran right after you," I told her. Christ I was so in love with her. It was hard to keep my breathing regulated when we were together like this. "I'm never gonna let you leave me, Andi baby."

  "You promise?"

  "I promise." Reaching my hand up, I cupped the back of her head and pressed a kiss to her lips. "The closer I get to you, the more I want," I whispered against her lips. "I'm drowning in my feelings for you. It's always been that way. My whole damn life. I'm in over my head with you and I love it. I love you."

  ****

  LATER THAT NIGHT, when I was moving inside my wife, I made sure not to hurt her or put too much of my weight on her.

  My wife reminded
me of a rare flower that had to protected from the wind at all costs.

  Even though she was heavily pregnant, Andi was still fragile and frail.

  She needed to be handled with care…

  She set me on fire.

  It was fucking torturous, being with her.

  Nothing seemed to be enough when it came to her.

  And I knew that no matter else happened, I would always want more.

  ****

  Chapter Fifteen

  Andi

  I WAS STANDING IN FRONT of my locker after last class the following day, wrestling with the door and fighting down a nasty attack of Braxton hick's contractions, when I felt something hot and wet sweep across my neck.

  Milliseconds later, familiar lips pressed against the skin just covering my racing pulse. "Christ, I've missed you."

  Releasing a low moan, I tilted my head to the side, giving him access. It felt so good it should have been illegal. My husband had lips that felt like heaven and a tongue that did sinful things to my body. "You saw me this morning," I moaned, my breath hitching in my throat when he bit down on my skin. "When you drove us to school."

  Turning me in his arms, Nate pressed me up against my locker. Immediately, his hands went to my bump. "How's my baby?"

  "Pressing on my bladder," I replied with a sigh. "I've peed eight times since third period, Nate. Eight."

  Nate grimaced in sympathy. "I'm sorry for breaking your bladder with my baby."

  "That's okay," I chuckled. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I stretched up on my tip-toes and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. "I think I can forgive you – if you can forgive me for my meltdown last night."

  "Andi baby, quit apologizing." I could see the love in Nate's eyes as he looked down at me. I could hear it in his voice when he spoke. "It's done with."