Page 128 of Outlaw Heartstrings
My knees give out and I collapse against the side of the car.
No. No. No.
Footsteps slap the ground, scampering in my direction. Then, Alba is at my side. “Easton? What’s wrong?” She gently grips my arm.
Thunder sounds in the distance. I shake my head, feeling like I’m reliving a nightmare all over again.
“Easton?” Alba calls, her worry visibly mounting.
I squeeze my burning eyes shut as the words get clogged in my throat. My shoulders fall under the most crushing defeat I’ve ever known. “I’m not his father, Alba. The hospital says I’m not Jagger’s father.”
46
ALBA
Easton is devastated.
His eyes are blurry with tears that refuse to fall as we continue the drive back to Fairy Bush. His massive hands grip the steering wheel so tight, I’m almost afraid he’ll snap the thing in two.
“You sure you don’t want me to drive?” I ask quietly from the passenger seat.
Blinking hard against his tears, he shakes his head. “I don’t…I just…I don’t understand. How could this be? I…I…”
“Pull over, Easton,” I command softly.
He gives his head another shake. “I’m okay.” The first tear streaks down his face. And then another.
“You’re clearly not okay. Pull over,” I insist.
He stares at me for a long moment. Then, on a ragged exhale, he finally does as I requested.
Right there, on the side of the highway, I jump out of the car.
“Alba!” Easton shouts my name, looking alarmed as he does the same. “Alba, what are you—?”
We move toward each other. My body crashes into his ina hug that we both need so desperately. I begin sobbing. I can’t control myself, and Easton’s body shakes with sobs, too.
Raya. Fucking Raya.
This girl’s ability to spread chaos and havoc needs to be studied. How is it possible for a person to be so, so terrible? To wreck so many lives?
“I don’t…We can’t…What are we going to do…?” I hiccup into Easton’s shirt.
“I don’t know, Alba.” He tenderly strokes my hair. Then he gently eases me back so that we can look into each other’s tear-filled eyes. “But this doesn’t change the way I feel about Jagger, or about you. For what it’s fucking worth, the way I feel hasn’t changed.”
I nod slowly, not sure how much weight his declaration holds. All I know is, the happy ending we were dreaming about just moments ago seems all but impossible now.
Easton holds me in his arms, collapsing against the side of the car. His heart beats ferociously and I drown in his familiar scent, taking all the comfort I can get.
We stay like that way too long. I think I may want to stay like this forever. I want to bury my face in his T-shirt forever so I don’t have to face the cruel world that’s closing in on us.
So I just hold him, and I don’t pull away until I feel the first droplets of rain hitting my bare arms.
Easton tenderly cups my cheeks in his hands and whispers one more ‘I love you’. I force myself to smile when I say it back.
By the time we get back to my house, it’s dark and it’s pouring rain. Easton cuts the engine and climbs out, grabbing my suitcase. My heart gives a hopeful thump when I see him sling his own duffel bag up his shoulder.
He’s staying the night.
