Only With Me (With Me 2)

“What? That’s fucking insane, Nic. Gabi would never.”

I laughed. “Yeah, well I didn’t think so either, but I saw it with my own eyes. I’ll tell you about it in a bit. I’ve got to go.”

I watched as she walked over to the door that lead up to her place. She stopped and looked over her shoulder, as if looking for someone.

“Are you sure? Maybe you misunderstood something.”

My breath caught when I saw the look on her face. It wasn’t sadness. It was fear.

“Listen, I’ve got to go, my mom is due at my place soon. Like I said, I’ll fill you in later.”

Not waiting for his response, I hit End and looked at Gabi.

No. That was definitely fear on her face.

Utter fear.

THE SUITCASE SAT on my bed as I stood there and stared at it. A part of me wanted to run again. Leave Colorado Springs and start over somewhere else. Antonio didn’t waste time when I got back from my walk. He had me on a private plane heading back to Colorado Springs. I barely had time to pack up my suitcase.

Something was off, but he wasn’t telling me what it was.

“Gabi? What’s going on?”

Turning, I saw Charity standing in the doorway to my room.

I swallowed hard and wiped my tears away. Her eyes widened in surprise before she rushed over to me.

“Gabi, what happened?”

“He left me.”

She looked at me with a confused look on her face. “Nic?”

I nodded as I let out a few sobs before saying, “I don’t know what happened, Charity. He went back to Scarlett.”

“Who in the hell is Scarlett?”

“Scarlett?”

My eyes swung over to see Cole standing there. “Cole, I didn’t know you were here.” I quickly said. Wiping my tear soaked face, I dragged in a deep breath and forced a smile.

He stepped into my room, his expression looking sad. “Nic isn’t with Scarlett. And trust me when I say that he is a mess right now. He thinks you cheated on him.”

I nearly stumbled back.

“W-what? Why would he think that?”

“Oh no. Damn it, Nic!” Charity said before looking back at me. “He overheard you talking on the phone. I tried to tell him you were probably talking to family in Italy and I thought he dropped it,” Charity said barely above a whisper.

My mouth dropped open “Why didn’t you tell me? You never said a word about it! Why wouldn’t you tell me something like that?”

She chewed on her lip. “I didn’t really think it was that big of a deal. And I’ve kind of had other things on my mind, Gabi.”

I let out a gruff laugh. “Oh, really? What could possibly be on your mind that you wouldn’t think to tell me Nic was questioning his trust about me?”

Cole walked over to Charity and wrapped his arms around her. It was the first time I’d actually seen them together since their hook up that one afternoon.

“I’m pregnant, Gabi.”

I gasped. “What?”

She smiled slightly and I couldn’t help but notice that Cole smiled even bigger.

“You’re going to have a baby?”

With a light giggle, she nodded. “Yep. You’re gonna be an aunt.”

A million different emotions swept around me. I was happy for Charity, sad for me, angry that she didn’t tell me about Nic, and confused about the small amount of jealousy I was feeling towards her. And then finally the last emotion. Fear for her and the baby’s safety.

Cole cleared his throat. “Nic would kill me if he knew I told you this, but he went to Italy, Gabi. He said he had a reason to believe you were cheating on him and he said he saw it with his own eyes. That’s all I know right now.”

My hands came over my mouth as I tried to steady my heartbeat.

It felt like someone had punched me in the chest. Every ounce of air in my lungs was gone. I stumbled back and hit the bed. Slowly sinking to it, I whispered, “It was him. I knew that was him.”

“Wait. Cole, why didn’t you tell me Nic went to Italy?” Charity asked.

“He literally told me earlier this morning. Then he called just now and said he fucked up by lying to Gabi. That he hurt her because she hurt him.”

Charity looked at me. “Gabi, you told me you weren’t meeting anyone there. You said you were going to feel closer to your parents. You lied?”

Placing my hand over my stomach, I attempted not to get sick. I looked at Cole “He said on the phone he was meeting Scarlett, then I saw a picture of him hugging a woman.”

Cole pinched his brows together. “He was at the airport waiting to fly out. He was pissed, Gabi. He thought you were cheating, so he said the only thing he knew to say to make you hurt the same way he was.”