Tyler remained surprisingly quiet. After about fifteen minutes, the pounding hadn’t disappeared, but it had lessened enough that she could finally open her eyes.
But she wasn’t sure she wanted to take that radical step.
“You were restless as you slept. Normally, you don’t move a muscle, but for the past couple of hours, you’ve been tossing a lot.”
“What are you doing here, Tyler?” she croaked out. “Nothing has changed from last night.”
She pushed the buttons on her bed, raised it to a sitting position, and reached for the water glass that was on her hospital table.
“I told you I’d be back so we could talk,” he replied.
She waited for him to add something to that, but he just sat there next to her bed, his expression showing her nothing. Why in the world was she expecting anything different? She’d expected this from the beginning.
Tyler Knight was still the boy who’d abandoned her as a child and then taken her virginity and walked away when she was twenty. She’d been nothing more than property to him and this was a perfect excuse for him to break ties. She wasn’t going to be such a sex goddess while sporting a pregnant belly.
With a sigh of frustration she threw off her covers and slowly edged herself out of the bed. It took several moments, and though her ankle hurt, she managed to stand.
“What are you doing?”
“Using the facilities,” she said, before staggering slowly into the bathroom and firmly shutting the door.
Her first glimpse in the mirror made her wince. She looked like hell in a handbasket. Her hair was a mess, with pieces sticking out in every direction, probably from her running her fingers through it five thousand times, and her face was colorless and sickly. Damn. She’d been hoping when their relationship ended that she would at least look great.
Ugh!
When she came out of the bathroom, Tyler was right there, offering his arm. “I’ve got this,” she told him, terrified of feeling his fingers on her right now. She needed to stay strong.
If he touched her, that wasn’t going to be possible.
Her progress was slow. And once she managed to climb back into bed, a nurse came in with her breakfast and checked her vitals. Elena didn’t mind the interruption.
“The doctor will be making rounds in the next hour, but your blood pressure has gone down significantly. I don’t see a problem with him releasing you today.” The woman breezed back out.
“Elena, it’s time we talk.”
“Fine. What exactly do you need to know?” she asked, pushing aside her breakfast. Nothing looked appetizing at the moment.
“I think you know the answer to that,” he said quietly.
“You know I’m pregnant, Tyler. So do you want me to say it out loud? Yes, the child is yours, though I’m insulted that I’d even have to tell you that.”
He studied her the way a child with a magnifying glass might look at an insect.
“I don’t believe you.”
Elena stared at him in complete shock. After a few heartbreaking moments, she composed her features and waited to reply until she was sure her voice would come out clear.
“Why don’t you believe me, Tyler?”
He paused as he gave her another once-over. “I think it’s a ploy to gain a wealthy husband.”
Elena fought tears. How in the world could she have fallen in love with this pitiful excuse of a man?
“Why don’t you tell me exactly how you feel?” she said, and she didn’t try to hide her sarcasm.
“I’m just calling it as I see it. Do you have any better explanation for what’s going on?”
“No. I don’t. I guess you figured me out, Tyler.”
She turned away, unable to look at the man she’d given her heart to.
“Dammit, Elena. I’m trying to understand. If you gave me even a small reason to trust you, then maybe …” He trailed off.
She might as well tell him it all now. What did it matter anymore?
But it wasn’t easy to speak, because she had a lump in her throat the size of a softball. “You used to be my best friend, Tyler.”
He’d been about to say something, but her remark stopped him in his tracks. He gazed at her with mistrusting eyes and waited for her to say more.
She stayed silent; she wanted her words to have time to truly sink in.
“Explain now!”
“Do you think that yelling at me or trying to intimidate me is the way to get me to talk, Tyler? Seriously!”
“I’m frustrated. Just tell me how we knew each other.”
“You called me Lanie. You dumped me when I was ten because I didn’t apparently kiss you the way a real girl does.” Wow, so much bitterness. Maybe she wouldn’t be feeling it now if it weren’t for the rigid way he was standing there, or the hostility shooting from his eyes.
“Lanie?” he finally said, his brow wrinkled as he thought back to his childhood.
When he repeated her nickname, it tortured her, and a few tears slipped from her eyes.
“I think I’ve made a mistake,” she choked out. “You aren’t that boy I once knew, and I’m not Lanie anymore. That little girl faded away a long time ago.”
He was silent for a while longer, and then the look he sent her made chills travel down her spine. He seemed to despise her in that moment, and she didn’t think there was any possible way for her heart to break any further than it had.
“You sought revenge on me for something I did as a stupid child?”
“I was drinking, and it just happened,” she said.