Say It Ain't So (SWAT Generation 2.0 9)

Chapter 11

Drink some water, you beautiful and capable dehydrated bitch.

-Sammy to Hastings

Sammy

“I’m staying with you tonight. No arguments whatsoever,” I ordered shortly.

I was seriously hoping that she wouldn’t argue with me. Because I needed to make sure that she was okay.

My heart was still racing at the remembrance of what had happened that night.

The fact that she hadn’t complained about me not leaving her side since the incident had happened was making my heart feel full.

It also made me feel like an asshole, mostly because the fact that she wanted me here made me realize that I hadn’t read her correctly.

Days ago when I’d come over, pissed as hell because she wasn’t answering my phone calls, I’d left thinking it was because she didn’t want me around.

But the fact that I was standing in her living room right now made it more than obvious that she didn’t want me around not because she didn’t want me there, but because she didn’t want to force me to stay.

The clinic in town had been uneventful. Short of going to the ER to get a full workup, something which she was not, under any circumstances, willing to do, my hands were tied. The clinic in town wasn’t equipped to handle a pregnancy. Though they could do a urine test to confirm one, that was about all they were able to do.

Other than giving her a thorough look over, they’d sent her on her way with a recommendation to go to the ER if anything changed.

Hopefully that wasn’t going to happen.

But if it did, I’d be here.

“I’m not going to argue,” she said softly as she walked into her kitchen and filled up a red plastic cup next to the sink with water.

Once it was halfway filled, she turned the sink off and immediately downed the entire contents.

I watched as her throat moved and her hand clenched on the edge of the sink in front of her.

I waited until she was finished before saying, “Can I have some?”

She jumped, startled to find me directly behind her, and nodded her head mutely.

When she went to grab another glass, I halted her progress. “I’ll just use that one, if that’s okay?”

Eyes wide, she nodded her head. Seconds later, she was filling the cup and handing it to me with shaky hands.

She didn’t fill it halfway up for me like she did for herself.

No, it was so filled that she sloshed some over the side in the transfer.

I didn’t mind, bringing my mouth down to the cup instead of the cup up to my face.

Once I drank it down some, I lifted my head and chugged the glass much like she’d done before handing it back to her.

“Thank you,” I said softly.

Her eyes flicked to mine before she took the cup and made herself busy at the sink washing her hands.

I waited until she was done washing them before I said, “I’m an asshole.”

Her shoulders jerked back as she whipped her head around and stared.

“I was pissed off that you’d ignored me for a month. Even more pissed off that despite talking to you and telling you I was interested, you’d blown me off. And now I’m not talking to my sister.” I paused. “When I found out about the baby… I just kind of snapped. There was nothing that you did wrong. And I’m sorry for leaving when I should’ve stayed.”

Her eyes took me in, studying my face before she smiled slightly. “I can’t say that I was in the right frame of mind, either.” I paused. “To tell you the truth, I’ve learned to protect myself.” She grimaced, causing her face to scrunch up in an adorably cute way before she said, “I’ve had three boyfriends.”

I waited, not sure what to say to that.

“All of them have left me. All of them have treated me wrong. And, I guess when I saw you, I thought, I’ll protect myself. I’ll be super careful not to let you close, that way when you inevitably stopped talking to me, it would be on my terms,” she murmured quietly, her eyes downcast.

I touched her on the shoulder, and she jerked slightly.

“I’m not going to hurt you. Ever,” I told her.

She smiled sadly at me. “None of them ever intend to.”

I stiffened and squared my shoulders. “I won’t, Hastings. I’m not going to.” I paused. “When I saw him body slam you from across the room—and trust me, I’d been watching you all fucking night—I nearly lost my shit. That baby that I’ve been trying really hard to not think about all week? The only thing I could think about in that moment in time was the baby. I… I didn’t realize how badly I wanted it. It’s been a fucking week. A week.”

Her smile went up a bit at the corners of her mouth, almost showing her beautifully straight teeth.