Skila

I turn into Kiptyn’s drive, and the anxiety I have so far kept at bay comes flooding back, turning my stomach into a swarm of nerves. I feel the bile rise and fight every instinct to let it up and out. I’ve got to hold it together and follow this through. I came here for answers, and I refuse to leave without getting them, one way or the other. It's the least he owes me after the way he pursued me relentlessly. Not that I regret letting him win me.

I don’t.

Swallowing repeatedly, I follow the circular drive and come to a stop beside the flowing fountain in the center, parking in the same spot my car was in yesterday before I fled. Chris’s car is still here where it was last night, and I wonder for a second where Kiptyn’s is. Closer to the front is another black car. It looks like a Honda, but I don’t know cars that well, so it could easily be a Lamborghini. Maybe Chris got someone to give him a ride to pick up his car. God, I hope that’s what it is, even though I’d rather not have an audience here for this conversation.

I check the rearview mirror, adjusting my lipstick and tucking a stray curl behind my ear. I’m procrastinating and I know it, but now that I'm here, I'm starting to second-guess myself. What if the blonde is still here? What if they're upstairs together right now? Surely she wouldn’t be. I mean, worst case scenario, even if he did sleep with her last night, he always got rid of them before morning light, right?

I rub my hand along my stomach, and the contact gives me the boost of confidence I need to get out of the car. I glance in the mirror one more time, noting the steel determination in my eyes. You’ve got this, Sky. It's now or never.

I wipe my hands along my jeans, trying to dry the constant moisture, but it only works for a second and then they're soaking wet again. I’m at the steps now, and it has just occurred to me that I don’t have a key. I left without anything last night. Hopefully, the door is unlocked. Taking a deep breath, I reach forward and grasp the handle and turn. The door swings open.

My heart is beating so loudly that I can't hear anything past the beating in my ears. I swallow again, choking down the ball of nerves, and shut the door behind me with a gentle click. I pause at the base of the stairs, dreading what I may find up there. I’m afraid to walk up the stairs, to the one place that brought me so much happiness and joy in the past month, fearful that he shared it with another woman. This is no way to live my life.

From this day forward, I refuse to ever have to worry about this again. I'll tell him how I feel and pray he can accept it, but I'll make certain he knows I’m not anyone’s fill-in. He can either choose to be faithful to me or leave me to go on my way. I refuse to warm his bed until he finds someone else he wants.

I hear voices coming from the kitchen. Not just one, but two at least, and now my anger spikes again. If that bitch is still here, I’m gonna kill him.

My heels click down the hall, and I count the sounds to calm my raging pulse—ten, eleven, twelve. “Kiptyn,” I call out and hope and against hope that he will welcome me with nothing to hide. He doesn’t.

“Oh shit. Sky, wait,” I hear him call to me, and my heart sputters in my chest.

That bitch is here. I knew it. How could he do this to me? I know he’s coming for me to try to intercede, so I cut through the dining room and enter the kitchen from the other side, expecting to catch them off guard.

I wish I hadn’t.

I wish I had just stayed home this morning and left all this alone.

Nothing I said to myself could have ever prepared me for the sight before me right now.

Sitting at the bar, staring toward Kiptyn’s back, is my child’s father, Camryn, sitting at the bar not even five feet from me. His back is still to me, but he senses when I come into the room. I know, because he swivels around and stands so fast he blurs before my eyes, or maybe he blurs because of the tears pouring down my face.

His eyes widen a fraction. I try to say something, but nothing comes out. Stars dance across my vision. I hear Kiptyn calling my name, but I can’t call out to him. Camryn just stares at me. He doesn’t move. His eyes don’t leave mine. I see a thousand things pass behind them before he closes them down completely, and my heart shatters for him. I can't even begin to fathom what he has been through these past few months, and now he comes home to this.

Oh my God.

Every single emotion I have felt over the last year comes crashing back into me like a freight train, and I lose it. Charging after Camryn, I swing at him, hitting him with everything I have in me. I punch and kick and slap and claw at him. I’m angry and hurt and sad and happy. I can’t believe he’s back, and I’m pissed he ever left.

“Why?”

“Why did you leave?” I swing, hitting him across the face. He doesn’t try to stop me. He takes every strike like he feels he deserves them as much as I feel the need to give them.

“I hate you. I hate you. Why did you leave? Why didn’t you call? Why?” I scream at him, lashing into him over and over and over again.

Kiptyn runs into the room and wraps his arms around me to pull me from Camryn, and that’s when Camryn comes alive. As soon as Kip touches me, pulling me back, Camryn stands and swings at Kip. Kip twists me out of the way, and I barely avoid being hit by Cam’s fist, but Kip isn’t so lucky. Now the two brothers are fighting, and I can’t stand it.

“Stop it. Let him go!” I scream at Camryn, hitting him on the back as he leans over Kip, trying to get a good hit on him. For a second, I think he forgets where he is or what’s going on, because he turns to me and shoves me backward. I fly across the room. My back hits against the island in the kitchen before I slump to the floor, unable to move.

The darkness closes in around me, claiming me as its own. It’s comfortable here. I’m not lying in the kitchen floor of my boyfriend's house while his dead brother’s baby grows inside of me. In the darkness, it's just me and it. It carries me and coats me and loves me. Nothing can touch me here. Nothing can hurt me. I want to stay here forever.