I watched as Gunner and Ellie pulled away for their honeymoon. I was so happy for them I could hardly stand it. Ellie had looked so beautiful and so fucking happy. I shook my head at the idea of my baby sister getting married. I guess it was my turn next. The thought of Rebecca and the baby popped into my head. I fucking knew there was no way that kid was mine. I was not drunk that night, and the condom was not broken. At least I swear it was not broken.

Jenny walked up to me with a huge smile on her face. I felt in my left pocket to make sure I still had the engagement ring. Ari felt it once in my pocket while we were dancing, but I told her it was the box for Ellie’s ring.

“Hey, Jeff, the cabin is completely ready for you and Ari. I kept it simple just like you asked.”

“Thanks, Jenny. I’m not exactly like that over-the-top fucker best friend of mine.”

Jenny laughed and gave me a hug.

“Thanks, Jenny, for everything you did for me and for Gunner and Ellie. The wedding was beautiful.”

Jenny smiled and patted my arm. I watched her walk away as I saw Ari walking up to me with a wicked smile on her face.

“Hey, you. Feeling a little lucky tonight?” she said as she kissed me and bit my lower lip. I let a small moan escape and she smiled.

“I am indeed. I have a little surprise waiting for us back at the cabin,” I said as I pulled her closer to me. God, she smelled so fucking good.

“Well, then, I think now that the bride and groom have left, the best man and maid of honor can leave as well.”

“Best fucking thing I’ve heard all damn day, baby.”

We turned to leave and were stopped dead in our tracks by Ari’s dad, Mark. Fuck me!

“I think we need to talk.”

Ari looked at her dad and gave him a confused look. He looked over at me, and I swear if looks could kill, I would have dropped right then.

“Um, Dad, is it something that can wait? I mean we’re both exhausted.”

“No, Ari, I have been waiting to talk to you since yesterday. I didn’t want to ruin Ellie’s wedding, but now that she and Gunner have left, we have a serious problem.”

Holy fuck, what the hell was going on?

“Daddy, you’re starting to scare me. What has happened?”

“My office received a restraining order against you yesterday from a Rebecca Moore.”

Holy fuck. I felt all the air leave my body in one second flat.

“Who the fuck is Rebecca Moore? I don’t know anyone by that name, Daddy, I swear.”

Just then it must have hit her. She turned to look at me, and I’m sure my face was pale as a ghost.

“Tell me that that’s NOT the same Rebecca that you fucked!”

Holy shit! I cannot believe she just said that in front of her dad!

“Jesus, Ari! Really?” I said as I looked over at her dad.

“Listen, Jeff, I don’t know what the hell is going on. Two weeks ago you were standing there asking for my daughter’s hand in marriage and telling me you planned on asking her to marry you the night of Ellie’s wedding. Then there is some nutcase girl claiming that she fears for her life from Arianna. What the hell is going on?”

I threw my hands in my hair and dragged them down over my face. What the fuck? He totally just told her I was planning on asking her to marry me tonight. This was NOT fucking happening.

“Wait! What? You were going to ask me to marry you tonight? Oh my God!” Ari screamed as she jumped into my arms. Then she turned to her father.

“Why the hell would you just ruin that for me, Dad?”

“Do you want me to tell her, Jeff?”

I shook my head no. I thought I was going to throw up.

“Then start talking.”

Ari looked back and forth between both of us. She looked confused, and I wanted nothing more than to just take her away from all of this.

“Jeff? What the hell is going on?”

I looked up at her dad and then back at Ari. Here went nothing. I was not sure how she was going to react when I told her. Fuck, I just wanted to find out if this was true or not before I even said anything to her. Spare her the hurt. I had no choice now.

“I got a call the other night when we were at Brad’s parents’ lake house. It was from Rebecca. She just busted out and told me that she was pregnant and that the baby was mine.”

Ari stepped back away from me and threw her hand up to her mouth.

“Oh my God, you cheated on me . . . with her!”

What?

“God, no, Ari! I swear to you, I have not been with anyone but you since Thanksgiving. I swear to God!”

“Then how the fuck is she pregnant with your baby, Jeff?”

I ran my hands through my hair again.

“She told me she was seven months pregnant. I ran into her at Rebels, the weekend before Thanksgiving and we, we, um . . .” I looked up at Mark and he was glaring at me. Fuck.

“You fucked her, Jeff? How many other girls are going to start showing up saying you got them knocked up! You promised me that you used protection! You promised!” Ari screamed so loud it caused me to jump.

“I did, Ari! I did use a condom, baby. She’s claiming it broke, but I was not drunk when it happened, and I would swear on my life the condom did not break. Ari, I swear on my life!”

Ari stepped back away from me. No . . . no, God, please no.

“Why didn’t you tell me you got a call from her? You must have gotten the call right before we came over. Why didn’t you say anything?” Ari shouted at me.

“Ari, I was going to tell you, I swear to God, but I wanted to talk to Rebecca in person. To see if she was even telling me the truth, because I didn’t want to hurt you unless . . . unless . . .”

“What, Jeff? Unless it was true? Well, now I know. I think we need to step back and take a break.”

Fuck no. No way I was going to let her walk away from me again! Goddamn it, I was going to fight for her with everything I had.

“No! Ari, this does not change the way I feel about you, baby. I love you, Ari. I want to marry you. I want to have kids with you, I want—”

Ari started crying and shaking her head. She put up her hand to get me to stop talking.

“Do you know I was just talking to Ellie about this just the other day. I was telling her how excited I was to know that one day . . . one day . . .” Her voice was breaking. Motherfucker. I fucking hated Rebecca Moore with everything I had right now.

She took a breath and continued. “One day, I would be able to tell you we were expecting a baby. I wanted to see your face. I wanted to be the one to see your fucking face when you were told you were going to have a baby! Would you want a boy or a girl? Would you even care? I just wanted to be the one to tell you that.”

“Baby, I do want to have kids with you, more than you will ever know!” I walked to her and reached out for her.

“Don’t touch me! I will never be the person who had your first child, because you got some fucking whore knocked up. She gets to be the one who has your first child, Jeff. Not me!”

I looked over at Ari’s father, who was standing there looking torn. He looked at me with almost pleading eyes. What the fuck was I supposed to do?

“Ari, I swear to you, I’m going to find out if this baby is mine. I really don’t think it’s my baby. I will get it taken care of, I promise you.”

“Well, it looks like you’re going to have to wait a few months to find that out now, aren’t you? Until then, I don’t want to see or talk to you.”

“What?”

“Now, Arianna, don’t do something based on your emotions right now, sweetheart. Let Jeff talk to this girl before you do anything rash.”

I could not believe Mark was on my side. If that was my daughter, I would tell the fucker to leave and never come back.

Ari turned to her father and glared at him. He took a few steps back and turned to walk away a little.

She turned back to look at me. I could not lose her again. I wouldn’t lose her again!

I dropped to my knees in front of her. “Ari, please don’t do this to me. Please don’t leave me again . . . I beg of you!” I felt the tears running down my face, and I didn’t give two shits. I was pretty damn sure we now had an audience.

Ari was crying as she looked down at me.

“I love you, Jeff, more than anything, but I can’t handle this right now. I need time. I need to be alone and away from you while you work this out. I’m not leaving you . . . I just, I just need to be away from you.”

“Ari, please. Tonight was supposed to change everything. Please.”

“I’m going back to the cabin. Please do not come there. I’m going to ride home with Amanda and Brad tomorrow. Please just . . . just . . . just leave me alone for a while, Jeff. If you love me, you’ll just leave me alone.”

She turned and walked away from me. I fell over, buried my head in my hands, and just lost it.

I felt someone trying to get me up. I heard Brad and Josh telling me to stand up. I could barely move. Once I got up, I saw Ari getting into the Jeep and driving off to the deer cabin.

Motherfucker. Not again. She was leaving me . . . again.