Chapter 26
twenty-six
Ihave spent the last two hours crying my eyes out to the point that I made myself puke.
My stomach feels gross, and I know this isn’t good for the baby, but I have no idea what to do.
I tried taking one of my medications, but I couldn’t even keep that down.
My body is stressed to the point that I feel tense all over.
To make matters worse, I don’t even have anywhere to escape.
My one safe haven is the place he lives.
I wish I knew how to make myself feel better.
I don’t have a fix for a broken heart, though.
I truly and honestly let myself fall head over heels in love with Brett. I gave in to every single emotion flooding my system and let it overtake me. I dreamed of that future he promised me. I wanted it more than I wanted anything, even that gold medal.
Only for him to betray me.
I think back to the video, trying like hell to come up with an explanation for it. For the words that he spewed. It sounded just like him. I would know his voice anywhere. I recognized his room. I have spent more time there than my own.
I don’t want to believe that he would do this to me, but when your eyes are seeing it, what can you do? Even if he were to say it wasn’t him, I saw him in that video.
What hurts most is that I could have been there last night. He offered to take me to the party, but I wanted to stay home. I wanted him to enjoy time with his friends.
One night was all it took to shatter everything.
Pulling up his contact, I shoot him a text.
Me
We need to talk. Come to my place.
He doesn’t answer, but I see that it has been read. It takes another hour for him to show up, but when he does, he looks hungover. It only has the dread settling in my stomach.
“Buttercup—” he starts, but I cut him off.
“What is this?” I ask, holding up the video Ashley so graciously sent me after I asked her to.
He takes my phone, watching the video, his eyes growing wide.
“I trusted you. I loved you. I gave you everything. Broke every rule for you, and this is how you repay me?” The tears start to fall freely.
“Baby, no. This isn’t what it looks like.”
“Brett, don’t start lying to me now. That is your voice. Your face. Your room. You can’t deny that.”
“I can because it’s not. Ashley set me up. She did something to copy my voice. I don’t know, but I know that’s not me, at least not all of it.” He steps closer to me, but I step away.
“I want to believe you. God, I want to so badly. I wish this was all a nightmare. You promised me a future. I started to believe we could have it, but then you went and did this. Maybe you don’t remember it happening.
You look pretty blitzed in that video, but those words you said?
I don’t know how to reconcile those words with the man I thought I knew.
I’m starting to wonder if I knew you at all. ”
“Emery, you need to believe me. I didn’t say those things. I would never. Baby, you are all that I have in this world. You and that child are the only thing that matters to me.”
I shake my head. “I can’t do this with you. I won’t be one of those women who believe in the lies when the truth is staring her in the face. I can’t be and I don’t want to be that example for our child.”
He sighs, running his hand down his face. When he looks up at me, I see the tears on his face.
“I didn’t do this, but I get it. I get why you would believe I did.
I wasn’t a saint when we met, but ever since I fell in love with you, I have been devoted to you.
I don’t know how she did it, but I will prove that I never said those things.
All I need is a little time. Please. Can you give that to me?
I know I have no right to ask, but let me prove to you that I am the man you fell in love with. ”
My heart wants to believe him. I want to cling to his promises, but I don’t know how. Not when I heard and saw him for myself.
I suck in a breath and nod to him. “Take whatever time you need. No matter what, I’m still the mother of your child, and I won’t keep you from this baby, but I don’t know if I can be with you. Not after this.”
He lets out a noise in his chest that almost sounds like a sob. It takes him a minute before he is able to speak again.
“Whatever you need. I’ll always be whatever you need me to be, even if it’s the villain.”
With that, he turns and walks toward the door. When he looks back at me, I see the devastation all over his face.
“I didn’t do it, and I never would. I love you, Emery. Only ever you.”
When the door snicks shut, I collapse onto the floor. I have no idea what just happened, but I feel like he tore my heart out and took it with him.
I don’t know how, but I want him to be able to prove me wrong. I want him to come back and show that somehow Ashley manufactured this all to be cruel to me.
You know what they say about hope, though. It’s the poor man’s bread, and you’ll starve to death if that’s all you dine on.
Pulling myself together, I go to the bathroom and slip out of my clothes.
Stepping into the shower, I let the water wash away my tears and the fragments of my heart left shattered.
There are two things I know to be true:
I love Brett with everything I have.
I have no idea how I’m going to survive without him.
Seeing Emery so broken snapped something inside of me.
I have no idea what Ashley did to me, but she will pay for it. I went to the hospital and got the blood drawn. They even called a police officer so I could create a report. Now with the video, I know I have proof she did something to me. I need to prove it now.
I’m not mad at Emery. I can’t blame her for believing the video. It’s a damn good one. Sounds just like me, even if I never said those things. Even in a drugged and drunken state, I would never speak about Emery that way. I love the girl too much.
Flying into the house with tears still in my eyes, I scream, “Code Red. House Meeting. NOW.”
Within seconds, doors fly open and footsteps sound on the stairs. Then Kellan, Wyatt, and Colson come into his view.
Wyatt sees my tears and walks over to hug me to his chest.
“What did she do?” Wyatt asks.
“Who?” Colson asks.
“Ashley,” Wyatt answers, pulling me back. “Tell us everything.”
I pull up the video that I sent to myself from Emery’s phone.
“She sent this video to Emery. It sounds just like me, man, but it’s not. I would never,” I say, unable to keep my emotions in check.
“Of course you wouldn’t,” Kellan says as he and Colson move closer.
“How could she have done this? I was there. I saw the kiss, which is when I dragged her naked ass out of the house, but she hadn’t fucked you. I’m sorry, bro, but I checked. You were flaccid as fuck with no indication that she had even touched you,” Wyatt tells me.
That brings me some sort of relief. It had started to bother me that I couldn’t remember anything from last night.
“Thanks, man. You’re a true friend,” I tell him. “I called the testing center. They are rushing the orders with a big donation from me. I should know what she used to drug me in a few hours, but I need to figure out how she altered the video.”
“AI,” Colson says.
“What?” Kellan asks.
“AI. You can make anything. You would need to know what you are doing, but it can be done. Let me go get my laptop, and I’ll see what I can figure out.”
He runs into the other room as the other two guys stand with me.
“What can we do?” Kellan asks.
“Get the girls to check in on her. Tell them not to mention me. She needs their support. I’m also worried she won’t eat.
Have food delivered to her. I’ll cover the costs.
I can’t be involved, though. I don’t want to hurt her any more than she already has been, and right now seeing me will do that.
I just need to know she’s okay,” I tell them.
“Done. I’ll go call Cora and get her and the girls on it,” Kellan says, lifting his phone to his ear as he walks away.
“I’m on food duty. Give me a list of what she likes, and I’ll make sure she has it. I’ll check on her every single day. I won’t ever say a word about you, but I will find out if she’s doing okay. We have her,” Wyatt promises me.
I shake my head. “I don’t deserve any of you.”
He laughs. “You’re the glue that holds us together.
I saw it within my first ten minutes of meeting you guys my freshman year.
Trust me, this group needs you. She needs you.
She will come around when she finds out the truth.
Right now, I can tell you that she loves you, so she doesn’t want to believe what she saw, but it’s hard when the video is that damn good. Let us work on it and figure it out.”
“What if she never forgives me? I mean, this could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. She’s never been totally sure about me. What if this is what she needs to buy into those insecurities and push me away forever?” I ask him.
“Then you be in that child’s life and you be the best father you can be.
You can’t make her love you, man, but that doesn’t mean you can’t love that kid.
You know as well as I do that kid needs you in their life.
I know this is killing you right now, but even if you lose her, you will never lose that kid. ”
He’s right. I don’t want to lose her, but I can’t make her stay. What I can do is make sure she reaches her dream while I make sure our child has a great life.
“Thanks, man.”
“Anytime.”
Colson comes back into the room with his laptop and sets it up at the coffee table as he sits on the floor.
“Email me that video,” he tells me.
I do as he asks.
He opens it up and starts playing it again. Hearing those words from my voice hurt me, so I can’t even imagine how it felt for her.
I’ll never get her back at this point. Even if we can prove it, those words will be in her head. She will hear them in my voice. How can I compete with that?
Ashley is smart. She went for the thing that would hurt Emery most. Me.
Why, though? What is her motivation? She already got Emery’s spot on the team.
“All right, yeah. There is something here. It’s not going to be easy. I’m still in the early classes for this stuff, but I think I can separate the AI audio from the video. It’ll take time, though.”
“How long?” I ask.
“A day or two, maybe? I’ll see if any of my buddies can help it go quicker,” he says, turning back to his computer.
“Thank you, Colson. I won’t forget this.”
He gives me a smile over his shoulder. “It’s what family does, right? Besides, I like Emery. She’s always been nice to me, even before you were a thing.”
Of course, she was because even with everything she has going on, Emery has always had a heart of gold. I only hope she can keep that heart together a little while longer while we figure this out.
Don’t give up on me, buttercup. Not yet.