Trade Off by Cheryl Douglas

Author:Cheryl Douglas [Douglas, Cheryl]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-11-04T04:00:00+00:00

Aiden walked into his childhood home, still feeling shell-shocked from the bomb his former girlfriend had detonated. He’d driven around for hours, past their old school, the lake where they used to park and make love under the stars, and the little home she shared with her parents. He was tempted to knock on their door, but he was still too raw to face them.

“Hey, what the hell happened to you?” Brianna asked, looking up from the textbook in her lap. “You look like you just lost your best friend.”

“That’s what it feels like, kid.” He sat down in the oversized armchair across from his sister and closed his eyes. When he moved back home, he wanted to put the past to rest, but he never expected to learn that the girl he loved most of his life wasn’t the person he believed her to be. She felt like a stranger to him now. Not only did he feel as though he didn’t know her anymore, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the woman she’d become.

“Does this have anything to do with Sela?” Brianna asked, setting the book down beside her.

“What makes you think that?”

“I remember the highs and lows back when you two were together. When it was good, you were on top of the world, but when y’all were fighting, it was like someone ran over your dog. I hated seeing you like that.”

He found it interesting he seemed to have erased the bad times his sister remembered. During the past eight years, whenever he thought of Sela, he’d recall her beautiful smile, infectious laugh, or the way her eyes lit up when she was aroused or excited. Now, he wondered if he would ever be able to think of her without feeling bitter about the son she never wanted him to know.

“I guess I let myself forget about all those arguments.” He tipped his head back and closed his eyes. He’d rather fixate on the bad times now. It would help fuel the fury burning in his gut.

“Did you have a fight today? Is that what put you in this mood?”

He and his sister had always been close, but he didn’t know if she could relate to how he felt. As a woman, it may be easier for her to put herself in his ex-girlfriend’s position. “I don’t know if I’d call it an argument exactly. Let’s just say she told me some things about the past, and now I have to figure out how I’m gonna deal with it.”

“You wanna talk about it?” she asked quietly, pulling her legs up to rest her chin on her knee as she wrapped her arms around her legs.

He’d been trying to make sense of it on his own for hours, to no avail. Maybe getting someone else’s perspective would help. “Sela found out she was pregnant shortly after I left Nashville.”

Brianna gasped. “Oh my God, are you serious? Is that why she married Neil? Was the baby his?”

“No, it was mine.

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