Farm Girl Has Bad Boy (#3)

Chapter Twenty-Four

“I can’t believe this,” I sob, covering my mouth with my palm. I sit on the front steps of my porch, trying to figure out how this could have happened.

“Hey,” Daniel says softly, reaching to place his hand on my shoulder. “Don’t cry.”

“Don’t touch me,” I snap, swatting his hand away. He mutters something under his breath that I don’t hear as I figure out what to do.

As much as I want to confront Emery, I’m still angry with him and while I’m in this fuming and upset state right now, I’m scared of how I’ll react. Besides, he’s the father of my baby and I really don’t want to make things worse.

“I don’t know what to do.” I let my head fall into my hands and wish I was standing so I could bang my head against the door to get my thoughts to be quiet for a few minutes.

“Isn’t it obvious?” I peek out between my fingers to see Daniel staring at me with raised eyebrows. “All Emery does is hurt you and that’s not what you need right now, especially when you’re bringing a baby into the picture. Break up with him.”

As much as I hate Danny, his words make perfect sense. Slowly, I rise to my feet and take a deep breath, trying to steady my breathing. All Emery has ever done is hurt me, so what’s the use of him pretending to be my boyfriend if it makes things worse?

Daniel doesn’t say anything as I step towards the house and throw open the front door. It bangs against the side of the house and as I head inside, I make sure to slam it twice as hard.

I don’t even have to head towards the stairs when I hear bedsprings creaking. In a matter of thirty seconds, Emery appears in the living room. He looks slightly less hung-over but now cranky is added to his expression as he trudges towards me.

“You’re supposed to be resting, River,” he grumbles, scratching his hair as he yawns. “Are you trying to be noisy on purpose?” After he rubs his eyes and sees my facial expression, he realizes he’s in trouble and a whole lot of it.

“Tell me something, Emery.” I don’t even try to hide the anger and hurt that comes out through my voice. “Do you want to be in this relationship or are you only here for the baby?”

He narrows his eyes and shakes his head, telling me that he has no idea where this is coming from. “Of course I want to be. I love you, River.” He reaches for me but I step away.

“Stop lying already,” I snap, folding my arms across my chest. He opens his mouth to reply but I quickly cut him off. “If you are in love with me, you wouldn’t have kissed Alana last night.”

This whole time I’ve been holding back tears but now they finally spill over. My voice turns hoarse and I sob between words, doing my best to hold myself together but I start falling completely apart.

“River, you don’t understand.” His eyes are sad, pleading as they stare at me. “Just let me explain and we’ll fix-“

I hold up my hand and shake my head. “There’s no excuse for you hurting me. All you’ve done since the moment I met you is hurt me.”

“Please, I love you.” He tries to reach for me again but I take a step back, avoiding his gaze. A small part of me wants to run into his arms and cry, but as I wrap my arms around myself, I tell myself that the words he’s saying are just coming too late.

“I need to think about what’s best for me and the baby.” I don’t know what will happen afterwards. Emery might leave and never come back, and even though I’m not prepared for that, I still need to remember he cheated on me. Nobody deserves that. “I’m done being hurt by you, Emery. We’re over.”