Juilliard or Else (48 page)

I was desperately searching for it that I didn't hear a door open, and then softly click shut. I mean I heard it, but it didn't make sense for me to register or respond to the noise. Alex broke away from me and looked up over my head as my eyes tried to meet his. I turned around to see Tucker's face, red and angry, his fist were clench together at his sides.

"Gabs," Tucker whispered. Just the sound of his voice pierced my heart and what he just caught me doing. Kissing Alex, his one mortal enemy.

Explosion hit the room faster than I thought possible. Tucker took an angry step forward, Alex shot up from my side on the couch and they were in each other's faces.

"Who the
fuck
do you think you are?!" Tucker yelled. "Comin' in here, putting your mouth where it doesn't fucking belong!"

"I'm trying to protect her from you. You are nothing and just belong out on the street with the rest of those dogs you call friends! She deserves better than you," Alex screamed back. Tucker shoved at Alex's chest and he stumbled back. This wasn't good.

"You can't just swoop in here, wave your fucking money around and try to take what's mine!" Tucker yelled again. I stood up and faced Alex, placing my hands on his chest. I'd seen Tucker mad and I didn't want that for Alex. Plus, I'd had enough; I was about to blow up.

"Alex, don't, you'll just make it worse." Then I faced Tucker. "And you," I said as I pushed at Tucker's chest with my finger and he stepped back from me. "How can you just
swoop
in here and pee all over me, like you're marking your territory. Where have you been the last two weeks? Huh?" I stepped up to Tucker who was clearly pissed off. "While Alex has been trying to talk me into being with him, proposing to me, wanting to take me to Paris after the semester is over. Where the hell have you been? Have you been dealing again? You haven't called; you haven't done anything to be near me. Did you know I went to the doctor today? Did you show? NO! I sent you two texts to let you know where I would be and you didn't show!" I stomped my foot and shoved Tucker's chest. "You don't care!"

"How can you say that? I've been trying to cut ties with everyone I know so they won't put a hit out on me, so I can be with you and our baby!"

"You've been gone just to do that? Cut your stupid ties with your stupid friends? I don't believe you!"

"You should. I changed my number and everything after I went and talked with Ethan. That's why you didn't hear from me. I called your phone about thirty minutes ago and you didn't answer. Now I fucking know why."

"Don't use Alex as an excuse for me not answering a phone call. The fact is that you have been gone for two weeks, with no contact, I didn't know if you were dead or just ran with your tail between your legs. You left me at the police station, alone! I'm heartbroken, Tucker, and…"

"So you just want him then? He can take care of you and give you all that shit that I can't."

I stopped. "What?"

"You heard me." Tucker stepped closer to me and raked his hands through his hair that seemed longer than before. "You said he's been here, trying to convince you to marry him, to take you to Paris. That's what you want – money? To be taken care of financially? I told you before that I can't give you that. If that's what you want, I can't be the person to give it to you."

I took a deep breath, but that didn't stop the tears from sliding down my cheeks.

"You obviously don't care for Abigail if you're still hanging around those trailer trash friends of yours, and it's obvious you can't give her what she needs," Alex said from behind me, then placed his hands on the tops of my shoulders.

"Don't you touch her!" Tucker lunged towards Alex and I backed up into his chest, trying to keep the peace between them, but it wasn't working. I put my hands up in Tucker's face. That made me mad. I could no longer control what came out next.

"You don't get a say. You've been gone. GONE! When I needed you the most, you weren't there! You left me in the police station an hour after I told you I was pregnant. You didn't even look at me." I burst into angry tears from my rage. I covered my face with my hands and cried into them as if they were shielding the craziness from my life right now.

"Gabs," Tucker softly said to me and I heard his feet take a step on the plush carpet.

"Just go," I told him, my hands still covering my face. "Do what you're good at and leave me like you always do." I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't look at him anymore.

"What?" Tucker asked.

"You heard her, she said to go." Alex's hands on my shoulders kept me still as a brick wall. I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything but cry.

"Gabs."

My hands came down, my eyes completely wet. "Leave!"

Tucker stopped and didn't say anything to us as I watched his angry footsteps stomping away from me, and then he slammed my front door. I fell into the couch, covering my face again to cry some more. Alex sat next to me, rubbing my leg; I could tell he was just trying to comfort me, but it wasn't working. I kicked Tucker out because I was mad and I
was
really mad. Seeing him brought back all those alone feelings I'd felt for the past month with being by myself. Jade was the one being by me as I threw up from morning sickness. I wanted what the article said when I was in Dr. Walters' office. The woman who was so sick, her husband took care of her, held her hair back. I wanted that so badly. Could Alex do that for me? I looked up at him and he just stared into my eyes. His blue eyes were sad, but he tried to give me a side smile.

"Alex, I'm pregnant with Tucker's baby. You could deal with raising another man's child?" I thought of Carol put in the same situation with me and my dad. Could Alex love this baby like his own? Or would this innocent child be neglected and get hurt like me?

His eyes moved to the floor, and then he nodded. "I could, but I can't do it by myself. I need you there with me. I think we could be good together; it could be a great thing, you and me. Come to Paris with me when the semester is over and I'll prove it to you. You don't have to give me an answer about the proposal, but come with me and let me prove to you that I am a good guy. I can take care of you."

On a whim, I nodded. "Okay," I agreed, and it was done. I believed that Alex deserved that much from me. I think he deserved a chance from me. It took a lot for a man to admit that he was willing to take care of a child that wasn't his. He wanted to prove to me that he could be by my side, even though it wasn't his.

Alex stood up, pulling on my hand to follow him. "I've got to make arrangements for our trip." All I could do was nod as we walked hand in hand to the front door. Alex stopped and cupped my face again as he leaned down and softly kissed my lips. I kissed him back, but there was still no spark. I had to admit, I was hoping there would be something there that time.

"I'll call you." I nodded again, biting my lower lip, and he left.

My back was up against the front door when I heard a loud clump down the hallway.

I jogged down the hallway and into Jade's room where she was throwing everything of hers into an open suitcase on her bed. Her dark band posters were stripped from the walls and ripped to pieces. Jade was in her closet throwing shoes, causing the banging I heard earlier.

"What are you doing?'' I asked, walking in and almost getting hit in the face with a black boot.

"Get out, Gabs. I don't want you in here," she told me as I continued to walk in the room to make my way to her bed.

"Jade, what's going on? Why are you so upset?"

That got her attention really fast. She came bursting out of the closet with an armful of more black boots threaded with black clothes.

"I was asleep on your bed and my phone woke me up. It was Tucker, looking for you; he said he wanted to talk. He was right outside the building, so I told him to come up, you were here and just to come in. I figured you fell asleep on the couch or something. So, I came out to the living room to see Alex so close to you, it was sickening!" She stormed past me and tossed the clothes in the suitcase. "Then he kissed you. At first, I was thinking, "Oh, it's no big deal." then I watched you pretty much make your way into his fucking lap to kiss him back!"

"You knew Tucker was coming, didn't you? You knew he would see that when he walked in."

"Yeah, I knew. He had to know that you had your tongue down someone else's throat while pregnant with his baby!"

"He's been gone. I didn't know I would even see him again, Jade."

"Poor you and your pity party. And stop making excuses. Plus you knew that money talk irritates Tucker. You know how badly he wished he had money to take care of you. That probably hurt him more than anything." Jade zipped up her suitcase and headed out of her room.

"This isn't about the money! Where are you going?" I called after her.

"I can't stay here. I'm going to my dad's."

What? Jade hated being there. She couldn't leave me here. I grabbed her arm, trying to stop her. "Jade don't go, you can't leave me here."

"Sorry, Gabs, I can't stay here with you if you're going to be with Alex. You know it's because of your dad's firm, right? He's using you. Tucker loves you. So pull your head out of that rich snob ass of yours and do the right thing." She wrenched her arm away from my hold, and stomped out the door.

And once again, I was left alone.

More days went by and I didn't hear from Jade. I texted her countless times, but she never replied back to me. I knew that I messed up things with Tucker. Big time. I shouldn't have made him leave that day at my apartment when Alex was over.

The next day after Jade left, I ended up at my old house. Carol was ecstatic to see me and my little bump that barely showed. My dad just kinda grunted at me all night and didn't speak to me during dinner. Alex ended up coming over about an hour later and, as it turned out, he bought tickets for my dad and Carol to join us in Paris. That was just great and the last thing I needed in my life was to have Carol breathing down my neck and put more pressure on me about marrying Alex.

At dinner, I told them that I hadn't given my choice about whether or not Alex was the right choice of a husband. As we sat together in the living room, my dad said he wanted a word with me in his office. He'd never done this before, but I wasn't dumb; I knew that he wanted to talk about Tucker and what was going on. He knew I didn't even really like Alex, either. My dad knew something was up.

I eventually had enough nerve to walk into his office and sit in the leather chair across from his desk. He looked tired, taking his glasses off and pinching the bridge of his nose and rubbing his eyes, then letting a big breath out his nose.

"Abigail, tell me what's going on between you and Alex with no lies, young lady."

"Alex is a great guy, Daddy; I decided to let him take me to Paris after the semester is over."

"What about Kyle?" He sat his glasses down on his desk.

"Tucker came over yesterday to talk, but he walked in while Alex was over and we were kissing," I said, ending with the word kissing in a whisper. My dad just looked at me with nothing in his eyes. Just straight forward stared at me.

"Does he know about the baby?"

I nodded, "Yeah, he does."

"Do you want to handle this in court? I'm sure I can represent you so that you have full custody. Given Kyle's background, I'm sure it wouldn't be a problem."

I shook my head, "I don't want that. If he doesn't want to be around, then that's his problem. I'm not going to force him into being a dad, and if he doesn't want to be with me, I'm not going to force him on that either."

My dad cleared his throat, "And if he wants to be with you?"

I cast my eyes to the floor. I wished deep down Tucker would have stayed last night and I sent Alex away. It was too late now. I couldn't take it back.

"I wouldn't want anything more than for him to want to be with me."

My dad smiled at me and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his desk.

"Then don't you think you should go to him? Fight for him? I think he deserves that."

I thought about chasing him down after Jade left, but I was shocked that Jade packed up and moved herself out of the apartment. Tucker did deserve to be fought for and I was going to do it. Right now.