He didn’t say a word as we made our way up the oversized staircase to the bedroom.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as he closed the door behind us, putting my hands on his chest. He glanced down at my hands but didn’t step back or attempt to remove them.

“I didn’t know they were coming. We can leave right now if you want, get a hotel room?” He ran his hands through his hair.

“Who?” I asked, growing scared by his sudden behavior.

“My parents.” His eyes locked onto mine.

“Oh” I let my hands slide off of his chest. He didn’t want his parent’s to know about me. It was like being punched in the stomach. I had finally convinced myself that we could be a normal couple and all of the air was sucked out of my lungs at once. “Just take me home.” I whispered, truning away from him so he wouldn’t see how badly he hurt me.

“Hey!” He grabbed my arm, forcing me to turn back and face him. “I didn’t mean to upset you.” I pulled my arm back from him, unable to hold back my anger.

“If you didn’t want anyone to know about me, why did you bring me to your home?” I asked, my jaw clenched tight.

“I didn’t know they would come. My father is supposed to be in Ireland on set for the next few weeks.” He looked confused by my sudden outburst. I crossed my arms over my chest. “It’s not that I’m trying to hide you, Emma. I just didn’t want to subject you to my father. He’s not a good man.” I looked him up and down. He looked scared.

“William?” A man called from below and his body went rigid.

“I love you , Emma. I’m not ashamed of you.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the room onto the landing that connected the staircases.

“There you are.” He laughed deeply. A man stood in the center of the foyer. He looked like an older version of William.

“Dad” William nodded his head.

“Who is your friend?’ His father asked. William’s hands were gripping my waist painfully tight.

“This is Emma, my girlfriend. Emma, this is my father, Gerald Honor.” A light clicked in my head as I heard his father’s name. I had heard it and seen in printed on movie posters. He was an extremely successful director.

“Pleasure to meet you.” I nodded and smiled.

“I’m sure it is.” His chuckled and I realized what William was trying to warn me about.

“Well, come on down and greet your mother. She will happy to see you.” Just then an older woman with short curly hair stepped in from the front door.

“William!” She yelled and held out her arms for him. We made our way down the giant staircase and he gave her a long hug. I stood awkwardly off to the side, ignoring the fact that Gerald was looking me up and down.

“Who is this, dear?”

“Mom, this is my girlfriend, Emma. Emma, this is my mother, Martha.” I smiled nervously and held out my hand.

“Pleasure to meet you, Emma.” She smiled sincerely at me and I felt a little more at ease.

“Enough of this. Let’s go eat dinner.” Gerald said, walking away from us. I glanced up at William who shot me an apologentic look. I grinned, trying to ease his worry.

We sat at the oversized table in silence as servers brought us our food.

“This looks amazing.” I smiled at the woman who had placed a plate in front of me. She smiled back, but her face went blank when her eyes caught Mr. Honor’s.

“That will be all.” He said coldly to her and she looked to the ground as she quickly made her way back into the kitchen. He shot me a glare and I looked down at my plate.

“So, who did you two meet?” Martha asked, as she took a sip of wine from her glass. William slipped his hand under the table and rubbed my knee.

“At Kippling.” He responded. His father held his glass at his mouth for a moment before taking a drink and setting the glass down forcefully.

“Well, I think that is nice. Don’t you, Gerald?” Martha was silently pleading with him to be kind. His eyes danced back and forth between us.

“I guess I should get the checkbook.” He said coldly and began to cut his steak. I felt the blood rush from my cheeks as William’s hand gripped my knee tightly. I felt sick. I slipped my hand on top of his and rubbed it soothingly. He muscled flexed under his jaw and I knew it was only a matter of minutes before he lost control.

“That won’t be necessarry Mr. Honor. I, unlike some, don’t put money over love.” I smiled at William who looked positively thrilled I had stood up for myself.

“Playing hard ball, are we? What will it take, two…three million.” He grinned and my blood began to boil. I laid my napkin on my plate and pushed my chair back to stand.

“I apologize, but I need to excuse myself. Mrs. Honor.” I nodded at William’s mother before walking out of the room. I heard William yelling and it echoed off the walls as I stormed up the stairs to get my things.

“Emma” William opened the door and rushed to my side.

“Get me out of here.” I was shoving my things in my bag as tears started to roll down my cheeks. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest.

“I’m so sorry.” He rubbed over my hair as he rocked back and forth. A small knock came at the door.

“Please don’t leave like this, William. We haven’t seen you in years.” Martha begged. She looked on the verge of tears herself.

“She’s not Abby.” He said, squeezing me tighter.

“I know.” His mother smiled, but her eyes full of sadness. “My William is a special boy. Please take good care of him.” I nodded and she turned to leave, pulling the door shut behind her. William ran his thumbs over my cheeks to wipe the tears away.

“Let’s get out of here.” He said quietly, kissing me on the forehead.

We rode in slilence as we made our way to the hotel. I stared out of the window, watching the lights flash by me. William was in a much better mood, considering his fight with his father. I could only assume that part of him had still been worried I would take the money and run without giving it a second thought. I hoped after tonight, that he wouldn’t doubt my feelings for him again.

Crawled onto the bed and curled up in a ball. I was exhausted and my lunch hadn’t set well with me, not to mention I didn’t get the chance to enjoy my dinner. William slipped in behind me and kissed me softly on the shoulder.

“Are you alright?” He asked, his lips against my skin. I nodded and bit my lip.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, pulling me back so he could see my face. He was so concerned, so caring.

“My stomach.” I sighed as I rubbed my hand over my belly. His eyebrows pulled together as he scanned my face.

“I’ll run to the store and get you something for it.” He kissed me on the forehead and left the room before I could protest.

“Emma” William whispered in my ear, jarring me from my dreams.

“What?” I asked, rubbing my eyes.

“Get up” His voice was low and commanding. I waved my hand at him and buried my face in the blanket.

“I’m not in the mood.” I whined. His hand grabbed my wrist and squeezed as he pulled me up.

“Get up now.” His voice was steady but low and I could tell he was not in a good mood. He pulled me towards the bathroom of the hotel and flicked on the light. It was insanely bright and I had to cover my eyes from the harsh intrusion. William set something down on the countertop. It made a loud slap as it hit the stone, causing me to jump. He didn’t look at me. I glanced over to the counter and back at him.

“What is that?” I whispered. I was beginning to get scared.

He rubbed his hands through his hair and over his mouth. “It’s a pregnancy test.” My stomach began doing summersaults.

“But I’m not…I mean…I can’t be” My memory was going thinking of all the encounters I had had with William. My heart sank as I realized we hadn’t always been safe when we got caught up in the heat of the moment and William was blaming me. I bit my lip and stared at him, unable to form words.

“Now” he hissed, his eyes darted to mine and back to the wall behind me. I jumped at his angry tone and grabbed for the stick on the counter. I was mortified. Pregnancy had never crossed my mind. I reluctantly took the test and sat it back on the countertop next to him. My eyes overflowed with tears as I pushed passed him with my shoulder. I began to frantically gather my things wanting desperately to get as far away from all of this as possible.

I glanced behind me towards the bathroom before dragging my things out the door. William didn’t try to stop me. I fumbled with my phone as I made my way to the sidewalk in front of the building. I was in a strange city thousands of miles from everyone I knew with no where to go. I hopped into the first cab that pulled up.

“Where to?”

“A hotel, something inexpensive…but safe” I choked out between sobs. The cabby nodded and pulled away from the curb. We drove for about ten minutes before pulling up outside of hotel.

“Thanks” I said, whipping my tears and handing him some money from my bag. I dragged my things into the hotel, paying with an emergancy credit card.

My phone never rang that night. The next day the I awoke feeling like I had been ran over by a truck. I flipped through the phone book and got the number for an airport to schedule my trip home. I could barely breath, barely think. My heart sank as my thoughts automatically went back to William. I needed to get out of this place before I lost my courage and went running back to him. I scheduled a flight for a few hours away and set off to wait at the aiport. The time flew by and before I knew it I was on my plane headed back to Florida. I slept away the entire trip after spending the night before awake and sobbing.

Chapter Thirty-Two

The plane landed and I stepped out in to the airport. I wrapped my arms around myself and waited for my bags as I stared off into nothing. I gathered my things and stepped out onto the sidewalk. I had nowhere to go. My aunt was not expecting me home for days. I grabbed my phone and looked the screen. I had no missed calls, no messages. I sighed as I scrolled through the small list of numbers on my phone.

Can you do me a favor?

I clicked send and waited for a response. A few minutes later my phone rang and I smiled nervously as I answered.

“Hey, Jeff” Everyone else I knew was on vacation celebrating graduation. Jeff had mentioned that he would have to stay behind. We talked for a few minutes.

“Thanks, I really appreciate it.” I sat down on the curb and waited for Jeff to arrive. I slipped a flat orange container from my purse and pushed a tiny pill through the foil and popped it in my mouth. I realized that I was on the sugar pill week of my birth control, but I took it anyway to keep routine. My stomach was twisting in pain. I closed the pack as I thought of William. If he had known I was on the pill he wouldn’t have flipped out the way he did, but in a way I was glad it happened. He had turned cold and heartless at the drop of a dime. I couldn’t be with someone like that. Jeff’s car pulled up to the curb and he grinned from ear to ear when he saw me. I smiled back, trying to look happy. He jumped out of his seat and quickly took my bags, loading them into his trunk.

“That should do it.”

“Thank you, Jeff. You really helped me out here.” I smiled. He gave me a one armed hug. I almost pulled back from him but it was nice to have someone care for me. I turned up the radio as soon as we got in the car to avoid the awkward conversation as to why my eyes were puffy and red and I needed a place to stay.

“This is it.” He said, pushing open his apartment door. It was small and dark but he kept it clean.

“It’s nice” I smiled. He scratched the back of his head.

“My roommate is gone for vacation, so if you want you can take his room he won’t mind.” I nodded my head as I looked down the hallway.

“Thank you, Jeff.” I drug my back back to the room and sat it on the bed before walking back into the living room.

“So…” He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked at me.

“I’ll explain it over a beer, okay?” I held up my hand, not wanting to let my thoughts linger on William.

“Deal” Jeff flashed me a smile and grabbed two beers from his fridge, making sure to open my bottle before handing it to me. I chewed on my lip as I pulled my legs under me on the couch. I took a long sip as Jeff stared at me.

“So?” He said, trying to get me talking. I explained my situation, leaving out certain details like names and sexual habits.

“Wow” His eyes looked down at the floor.

“yea” I sighed, afraid to look him in the eye. He pushed off the couch and made his way across the room. He returned a few seconds later with a bottle and two small glasses.

“We are going to need something a lot stronger.” He smiled and I immediately relaxed. I had judged him a little too harshly when I had first met him. He was going out of his way to help me and make me feel better.

“Thank you” I said, my eyes pressed shut as I gasped. The liquor burned my throat and for a minute I thought it was on fire. Jeff laughed and drank back his. “So, what about you?” I asked, watching him pour another round.

“I really liked a girl once, but she was busy carring on a secret romance with some ass**le who broke her heart.” His eyes flashed up to mine. I smiled nervously and took the glass from his hand.

“To ass**les and the idiots who fall for them.” He bumped his glass against mine and we drank them down. My phone rang and I froze in place, my eyes wide as they locked onto Jeff’s. He shook his head and grabbed the phone from my hand.