Second Chance Rival

Because at the end of the day we couldn’t move forward.

When the past kept staring us in the fucking face.

Chapter 24

—Tristian—

I walked into to our bungalow, suddenly panicked by the sight before me. It looked like someone had broken in.

“Belle!” I hollered. My heart was in my throat as I rushed around the room trying to find her. “Kitten! Where are you?”

In the corner of the kitchen, I found her sitting on the floor with her back against the wall and a pregnancy test in her hand. Looking back and forth between her and the test, I waited for her to say something, anything.

“Did you take it?”

She nodded.

“I thought we were going to do it together?”

“You took too long, but that’s what you’re good at.”

I spewed, “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

“You couldn’t have waited an hour?”

“I’ve waited twenty years. What’s another hour, right?”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “What’s it say?”

She didn’t reply. Instead, she grabbed the bottle of bourbon I’d bought at the liquor store and chugged it down.

Seeing the aftermath of her meltdown, I crouched in front of her, sitting on the balls of my feet. “Kitten, we have our whole lives to try for a baby.”

“I’m thirty-seven. That’s not exactly young to try for a baby.”

“Bel—”

“Why are you pretending like you’re not disappointed?”

She handed me the test.

NEGATIVE.

A word I hadn’t expected. Instead of giving in to the disappointment I felt with every bone in my body, I stayed strong for her.

“We can keep trying.”

“Ugh,” she scoffed out, abruptly standing. “Why are you like this?”

I stood with her, cocking my head to the side. “Care to elaborate?”

“You’re always like this. Hiding your emotions like you don’t feel anything.”

“Is that what I’m doing?”

“Don’t patronize me.”