Page 35 of Together

“How’d he take it?”

“It was an interesting conversation. At first, he was panicking that the baby is his, then I reminded him he hadn’t had sex with me in a while and he relaxed a bit. Pretty sure he has a pretty low opinion of me now,” she murmurs. “It was enlightening, I guess.”

Pretty low opinion? Because she got pregnant or for another reason? The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and I stand up, pacing around the bedroom. “Enlightening how?”

“He brought to light the fact that I wasn’t who he thought I was when we were together. I’m a fake and a liar.”

I stop moving and say lowly, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He says that I cat-fished him, and maybe he’s right. I guess I kind of pretended to be this perfect person and he felt like he couldn’t compete with me.”

“When did a relationship become a competition?” I growl, the tension heating my skin and prickling the back of my neck. This fucker sounds like the biggest dick on the planet.

“I missed that memo, too.”

Not being able to stand still, I march out of the spare bedroom, barely glancing at Josie and Dean who are watching me storm through the house. I slip my feet into my Hey Dudes shoes and throw on a stocking hat and step into the frigid temperatures, pacing around the small area behind the house that we’ve shoveled already so it’s clear of snow.

Once I’m outside, not giving a shit about the cold weather, I feel like I can breathe a little deeper. “What’s this about being a liar and fake?”

“That part might be a little true,” she admits.

“We might not know each other all that well but I disagree with you being fake.” The inflection in my voice is impossible to miss. I know she didn’t fake those orgasms with me. There’s absolutely no way. But more than that, I know she didn’t fake her personality.

“Not to you,” she adds. “And not the way you’re thinking. Though, I did inform him of that part. He was unimpressed. Or, I assume he was because I hung up on him before he could say anything more than ‘what the fuck’.”

That’s my girl.The immediate thought has me sucking in a sharp breath that I quickly cover up by laughing. I watch a squirrel scamper up a tree, and shiver a little when a gust of wind blows around me. “I take it he wasn’t aware of the fact that he needed a road map to make you come?”

“Clueless.”

“Well, that much is obvious.”

Her light giggle takes at least some of the tension off my shoulders. “I can’t believe that you just said road map to make me come in a sentence.”

“Got you to smile, didn’t it?”

“How do you know I’m smiling?”

“Are you?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” she flirts.

“Why yes. Yes, I would. Call me on FaceTime so I can be proven right,” I flirt back.

“You’re ridiculous,” she jokes.

“Get used to it, baby. So tell me… what made you decide to you call your ex?”

She sighs, it’s heavy and exasperated. “Can’t we just call this one of my many mistakes I’ve made over the last month?”

“Am I one of those mistakes?”

She stutters, floundering and trying to cover her wording. I grin, loving that I can get under her skin. Even though I admit that I do wonder if she does consider me that way. A mistake. It would hurt if she did, and yet that night was kind of a mess.

“Relax, Ashley. I’m just teasing you.”

“Phew. But that’s not how I see that night. Or you. It was a mess, but not a mistake and I’m sorry if I hurt you. That wasn’t what I meant.” She voices my thoughts. Huh. That’s never happened to me before.

“You okay?”

---