Chapter 28
twenty-eight
Iwatch as Ashley storms out of the apartment, her face red. I’m still standing in shock at what he said. Hell, what she said.
Could it be true?
“Explain it all right now, Brett. Why could you press charges against her?” I demand, my emotions teetering on the edge.
He walks over to me, pulling out his phone. “Watch this.”
The same video from before comes on, but the audio is less clear. I strain to listen.
“No. Emery. I need Emery,” I can hear his voice mumble in a drunken tone.
My heart leaps in my chest.
“Go away,” he moans, trying to turn away from her for a moment before she pulls him back.
“I am Emery,” I hear her whisper.
That’s when all the fight leaves him, and the smile forms on his face.
“Emery.” Even in his drunken state, he says it so reverently.
The tears spill over as I watch the video.
“How?” is the only word I can manage.
“Colson is getting his degree in technology. I had him take a look at the video. It took him only an hour to pull the audio off the image, but restoring the original audio took him longer. He finally got it, though. I didn’t do it.
I didn’t even know who she was. She drugged me.
” He pulls out a piece of paper and hands it to me.
“This is from the hospital. It was Rohypnol. The date rape drug. She must have slipped it in my drink and then led me upstairs. Wyatt noticed something was off and followed us. He pulled her off of me and out of our room. When you texted me that morning, I was at the hospital. My next stop was to tell you everything that happened, but she got to you first. I swear, buttercup, I would never cheat on you. You are all my dreams come true. I would never chance that.”
I take a deep breath, my tone coming out shaky. “How do I know you didn’t alter the video?”
He gives me a small smile. “Colson can show you what he did, but if that’s not enough, the police have the doctored one and the original we pieced together. Their own tech wizards are going through it now to confirm what we found, but Ashley will likely be arrested in the coming days.”
It’s what I needed to hear. I needed to be sure. I hate that I questioned him, but I also didn’t know how to reconcile the man I thought I knew with the one being presented to me.
Stepping forward, I bury my face in his neck and let the tears fall freely.
“Shh. It’s okay,” he whispers.
“How can it be? How are you not mad at me? I doubted you. How can this work if I couldn’t even believe you?” I sob into him.
“She did a good job covering her tracks. Even I questioned myself after watching that video. I understand why you did what you did. You were protecting yourself and our child. I will never be mad at you for that.”
I let him hold me as I sob into his chest, the emotions from the last two days overwhelming me.
I missed him. I missed his daily texts asking me random things or telling me random facts about our baby. I missed sharing meals with him and falling asleep in his arms. I missed knowing that he was by my side.
Ashley almost ruined that for me. She almost ruined my life.
Pulling back, I smile when he wipes my tears away. How could I ever doubt the devotion of this man?
Pushing away my thoughts, I clear my throat. “Ashley can’t kick me out. I might not be on the lease, but there are still tenant laws here. She has to give me a thirty-day notice, and even then, I could fight it in court if I want to.”
“Do you want to?” he asks.
“No. I don’t want to ever see her again. I don’t know where I would go on short notice, though.”
He boops my nose before saying in the tone of the Trix commercial, “Silly girl. You’ll stay with me.”
It makes me giggle, and my chest feels lighter. It’s been two days since I have seen anything but darkness and despair. I never want to go back there again.
“We are about to have a baby, Brett. About five weeks or so from now, there will be a screaming baby keeping the whole house up. Are you sure the guys will be okay with that?” I ask.
“They are already planning to kidnap our child and keep them for their own. Seriously, they are so okay with it.”
“They are college guys. Why would they be?”
“It’s what family does. Speaking of, let me call them and have them come help move your shit out. You sit and tell me what you want moved,” he says, putting his phone to his ear. “Yeah, get the guys over here. Emery is moving to our place.”
When he hangs up, I stare at him, mouth agape. “Just like that? They are all on their way with one call?”
“They are. They want you somewhere safe where we can all take care of you and our little papaya. I know you don’t have siblings and you never really had friends to rely on, but these people are more than friends. They are the family I chose,” he tells me.
“Wyatt stopped by the past two days. He brought me food and took care of me,” I admit. “I thought it was weird at first, but I appreciated it. I might not have eaten had he not forced me to.”
He nods. “Wyatt is good like that. He is the rock of the group. You can always lean on him.”
“The girls called and texted, too. I found it odd that they never campaigned for me to believe you,” I add.
“Would you have listened to them or pushed them away?”
He makes a good point. My non-answer must be enough for him.
“They believed me, but they also knew you needed someone. Even if we are in a fight, our family will never take sides. They will be there to support both of us through it all. Well, bar cheating. They won’t forgive that, and had it come out that I really did cheat on you, my ass would’ve been grass, but they love you and they will take care of you fiercely just as I would.
” He grabs my hand, bringing it to his lips to kiss the back of it.
“Thank you,” I tell him.
“For what?” he asks.
“Not giving up on me.”
“Never, Em. I’ll never give up on you or our kid.”
Moving took far less time than I thought it would.
Emery didn’t want to take anything from the kitchen except her stuff to make tea.
Since we already had furniture, she let the bed and couch stay, even though she technically paid for them.
She considered being petty and dropping it off at a donation center, but decided that she would take the high road.
She said she doesn’t want to waste any more of her energy on Ashley.
Within a couple of hours, we had her room packed up and ready to go. Wyatt drove her car so she could ride with me. I held her hand the whole five-minute drive.
I can’t believe I have her back. That she forgave me.
I won’t lie. I was worried that even with evidence, she wouldn’t be able to let it go, but it turns out she believed in me all along.
She felt guilty for having doubts, but somewhere inside of her, she knew I was telling the truth.
She just didn’t know how to trust it when the evidence was so damning.
It doesn’t matter. I have her back, and that is all I care about.
The guys all unload the boxes into my room as I make Emery something to eat.
When I slide across from her, she smiles at me. “You take such good care of me.”
“It’s my job. Now eat. Do you want to unpack today? Or would you rather leave it for tomorrow?” I ask her.
“Honestly? I want to lie in bed with you for a while. I haven’t really gotten any sleep, and it’s catching up to me. Will that affect anything? Don’t you have classes?”
“I do, but I have excused absences. I went ahead and took care of your classes for you, too. You have make-up work, but they all hope you feel better. It helps that you are visibly pregnant.” I smirk at her.
“Yeah, like a bloated whale,” she hisses.
“No, like a majestic fertility goddess. You are positively glowing, buttercup. It’s going to take real effort not to fuck another baby right back into you.”
She gasps, her mouth no longer chewing as she stares at me.
I shrug. “What can I say? I think when it comes to you, I have a breeding kink or something. The idea of keeping you pregnant has me hard as a rock.”
“Gross, Brett. You aren’t alone in this house,” Grace says as she walks into the room. “How are you doing, mama?” She takes the seat next to Emery. Emery finishes chewing before she turns to Grace.
“Good. Great, now that I know the truth. I hate what Ashley did, but I guess it shows her true colors.”
Grace pushes back a piece of hair on Emery’s face, frowning at what she sees.
“You have dark circles under your eyes. You need some rest. I’ll get the guys out of here and back to class. Call me if you need anything. Cora is at work, but she said she can come over, too. Peyton is at her estate and offered you a room there if you need. We have your back.”
Emery smiles at Grace, tears in her eyes. “Thank you. I think I’ll finish this and then head up to bed.”
“Good. I’ll stop by and check on you tomorrow.” Grace stands, pressing a kiss to the top of Emery’s head as she sends me a look telling me to watch her.
As if she needs to tell me. My eyes have been on this woman for years.
When Grace heads out of the room, I stand and move to Emery’s side.
“I’ll go get the room ready,” I tell her.
She nods, going back to her simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich I made her.
When I get to my room, Wyatt is still in there, rearranging things.
“What are you doing?” I ask him.
He looks over at me. “Making sure everything is accessible. These are her clothes boxes. These are the things that were already boxed up in her closet. I’m taking this one downstairs to put with our kitchen stuff. I’ll make sure to have tea for her in the morning.”
I shake my head. “You’re a good man, Wyatt. Whatever girl nabs you will be lucky as hell.”
“If she ever leaves the douchebag,” he mumbles.
Usually, I would push, but I let him have his softly spoken words today. Whatever he has going on, he will tell me when he’s ready.
“I’ll leave you to it then. I’m going to get to my last class of the day,” he tells me, leaving the room in favor of his own.
I look around, happy with how it turned out.
The last two days, I haven’t been sitting on my hands.
While everyone else did what they could to clear my name, I fixed my room up to be ready for a baby.
In the corner, the crib that Wyatt bought us sits put together.
Inside, stuffed animals that won’t be able to stay there when the baby comes, but it is a good storage place for them now.
In the corner is the changing table Clay and Grace got for us, stocked full of the diapers and wipes everyone else supplied us with.
The whole left half of my room is a nursery, while the right is stacked with Emery’s boxes.
I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“When did you do this?” Emery asks from behind me, making me spin.
“I don’t know tech stuff, and the cops said I couldn’t do anything else, so I threw myself into this.
I wanted a safe place to bring the baby in case you didn’t take me back.
Now I guess it’s the place we will both live,” I tell her.
“At least until we find a place of our own, which I already have a realtor looking for.”
“Really?” she asks.
“Really. This little papaya is going to need room to move. I graduate in the spring, so we can stay here until then, but after that? We need a place nearby to raise our kid. I’m thinking a little starter house.
Nothing too big. Maybe a spare room or two for the aunts and uncles that will come to visit.
We can alternate holidays with your family and down at Clay’s mom’s house.
Our kid will get to know all of his or her grandparents,” I tell her, cupping her cheek.
“I want that,” she whispers.
“You’ll have it. You can have it all, Buttercup. I’ll make sure of it.”
“I love you, Brett.” She leans closer, her lips touching mine.
“I love you, Emery. More than you will ever know.”