Page 15 of The Moment You Know

The word child hung in the air, hovering like a cloud. It took a long moment for it to really register and when it did, Paige actually felt like she’d been hit in the face with ‘Lucille’, the barb-wire covered bat from The Walking Dead.

David and Ashley had a child?

“And at the end of the day,” Ashley continued with a big smile, “having David’s child is better than having his ring on my finger. Way better.”

David shoved his hands in his hair and released an agonized sigh full of regret and rage. “Fuck,” he ground out, staring up at the ceiling.

Paige literally felt like she couldn’t breathe. Her chest was so tight that even shallow breaths were a challenge, making her breathing exercises impossible.

Ashley took a step toward a paralyzed Paige. “A ring sometimes only binds you to someone for seven years, isn’t that right?” She spoke softly, so David couldn’t overhear. “But a child binds you to someone forever,” she added, looking at Paige with supreme satisfaction, clearly enjoying the moment. “He gave me something better than a ring, so you can take your fucking ring and shove it up your ass.”

Paige didn’t know if she’d ever hated anyone more than she hated Ashley in that moment, until she turned to look at David. “You have a child,” she semi-wheezed and then pointed at Ashley. “With her.”

“Paige—” David began, only to stop, knowing what had started the moment he saw her was going to play out all the way and he couldn’t stop it; Ashley had made sure of that. “Yes.”

“His name is Jacob,” Ashley said. “He just turned three in January—”

David took Ashley by the arm, cutting her off and pulling her close; she was probably going to have a bruise, but at this point he didn’t care. It probably made him an asshole, but Ashley was being a total bitch and because of her, everything had turned to shit. “Shut the fuck up,” he hissed, his voice deadly. “You’re done talking.”

Then, none too gently, he let go of her so he could turn back to Paige. The look on her face was gut-wrenching and in that moment, he actually felt nauseous.

“You have a three-year-old named Jacob?” The words sounded like broken glass in Paige’s throat.

After a painful pause, he nodded.

“Jesus holy Christ,” she whispered, slightly dizzy, as she realized Ashley had apparently gotten pregnant three months into the relationship. Again, David hadn’t waited very long.

“Paige—”

She held up a hand to stop him, horrified to see it was trembling. She had one more question and it took everything she had to ask it. “It’s not Jacob David, is it?”

Ashley’s head jerked in Paige’s direction. “How did you know that?”

Paige’s breathing almost stopped, even though her heart was now thundering away like Secretariat on the final stretch at Churchill Downs. “No,” she brokenly implored David. “Please tell me you didn’t.”

Ashley turned suspicious eyes on David. “How did she know that?”

He ignored her and took a step toward Paige. “It’s not what you think.”

“What do you mean, it’s not what she thinks?” Ashley demanded.

“It’s not what I think?” Paige glared at David in disbelief. “So, you didn’t hijack the name we picked out for our son and give it to the son you had with Ash? Because that’s what I’m thinking, you son of a bitch!”

Ashley frowned, her gaze bouncing between David and Paige. “What is she talking about?”

“Fuck you, David, for putting me and our son behind you so quickly!” Paige said, her voice rising a little at the end.

“It wasn’t like that,” David protested.

“Fuck you,” she repeated and then turned to Ashley. It gutted Paige to think about Ashley experiencing the joy of a full-term pregnancy and the birth of a healthy baby boy, all with David at her side. Bestowing on her a look full of every ounce of hatred Paige felt for the hell that had been unleashed on her tonight, she told Ashley, “And fuck you too, you cunt.”

Utterly and completely done with both of them, Paige started to turn away.

“No one calls me a cunt. Especially not a fucked-up bitch like you,” Ashley bit out.

A second later, Paige felt Ashley’s hand on her shoulder, but before Paige could react in any way, Ashley was shoving her with surprising force. Thrown off balance, Paige tried to right herself by stepping back, but she was slightly twisted and her feet got tangled in the process. At the realization that she was falling, her arms went wide, but with nothing to grab onto she went down.

Hard.

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