Love Song Series Box Set (13 page)

Jase

Julie hasn’t come back down to the party, but Jenny is too busy with her friends to even notice. Kristen, Bethany, and Angie keep going upstairs to check on her. All three women look concerned, and so am I. I want to ask if Julie’s okay, but I don’t have the balls to. I’m afraid they may mention that son of a bitch’s name, and I can’t think about him right now. I’m too fucking angry.

Parents start showing up to pick up their kids, a
nd the party starts to die down. I help clean up, and then I climb into the bouncy castle where Jenny is still playing, but she’s not playing anymore. She’s curled in a little ball in the corner, sound asleep. I make my way to her and pick her up. Slowly, I crawl out and take her to her room. As soon as I lay her down, she opens her eyes. “This was my best birthday ever.”

“
I’m glad, Sweet Pea.”

“
It was so good ‘cause you were here. You are the best daddy in the whole world.” She’s out as soon as the last word leaves her mouth. I bend down and give her a kiss on the cheek then leave the room. As I step out in the hallway, I see Kristen and Matty standing down the hall. I know they’re waiting for me.

“
What?” I ask as soon as I reach them.

Kristen pulls me to her and gives me a hug.
“I’m so sorry, Jase. I’m sorry for everything. She wanted to tell you as soon as she found out she was pregnant with Jenny, but I talked her out of it.”

“
It wasn’t just you. It was all of us,” Matty says, pulling Kristen from me to him. He wraps his arms around her. “We should’ve just stayed out of it.”

“
No, you don’t understand. Julie didn’t want to even go out with Dean. I forced her to. I wouldn’t leave her alone about it. Then when he asked her to marry him, she said no. She told me she couldn’t love anyone except Jase. I kept on until she said yes,” she says pleading with Matty to understand.

“
This is no one’s fault but my brother’s,” Bethany says as she walks around the corner. “I have been blaming myself for his actions for years, but it doesn’t do any good. All we can do now is pray the baby isn’t his.”

“
It’s not,” I say firmly. Everyone looks at me with questions in their eyes. “If someone says any different, I will kick their ass.” I walk away without giving an explanation for my words.

I drive straight to Pop
’s, knowing I’m gonna need my old man. As soon as I walk in, he hands me a beer. “Tell me what in the hell is going on.”

We sit at the kitchen table
, and I tell him about the baby and what Dean did to Julie. I still cannot get the image of him raping her from my head. “What am I going to do if the baby’s his?”

Pop stands up and places his hand on my shoulder
s. “We’ll kill him. Then we’ll bury him so deep that no one will ever find him.”

I look into Pop
’s eyes; they’re filled with determination. I swallow hard and nod my head in agreement. I’ve never thought about killing someone before, but if there’s ever a man that deserves to be dead, it’s this bastard. Pop and I don’t talk anymore. He finishes his beer and heads to bed. I go to my old room and crawl into the bed I slept in as a child. I just don’t want to go home to my lonely apartment tonight.

Chapter 15

Julie

I
’m at the doctor’s office, waiting to get called in for my ultrasound and fidgeting more with each minute that passes. Bethany and Kristen wanted to come. Even Jase left a message, saying he would be here if I needed him, but I felt like I had to do this on my own. Now, I wish I had taken them up on their offers.

One thought keeps running through my brain; w
hat if this baby is Dean’s? What will I do then? I’ll have to run, but what about Jase? He’s a good daddy to Jenny. I can’t take her away from him. Can I? No, I can’t.

“
Ms. Walker,” the nurse says, breaking me free of my thoughts.

I follow her to one of the exam rooms, where she takes my blood pressure and hands
me a gown and a sheet to cover up with. I’m just finishing tying on the paper gown when the doctor walks in. “I was told that you requested I do your ultrasound, instead of the technician.”

“
I need to know the exact date I got pregnant, at least as close as you can get.” I do my best to explain the situation without crying. “My ex-husband... he, well, he um…”

I can
’t find the words. “I need to know if the baby is his.”

The doctor cocks his head to the side, contemplating his next words.
“Is there anything else you would like to tell me? The more background information I’m given, the better it is for you and your child.”

I finally just blurt it out.
“He raped me, so there’s a chance the baby is his.”

He walks over to me and places a hand on my shoulder.
“If you can, tell me the exact date you were assaulted and the date that you had consensual sex.”

“
I was admitted to the hospital on July 12
th
. He raped me the night before, or it could have been really early that morning. I don’t really remember much of it.” I take a second to think of the date of my welcome home party. “I was with Jase, had consensual sex, on August the 9
th
.”

The doctor nods and walks over to the
ultrasound machine. “That’s four weeks. There shouldn’t be any trouble determining the father.”

He motions for me to get up on the table and helps me get the sheet situated to cover my legs.
A minute later, he squeezes the cold jelly on my stomach and places the probe onto my barely noticeable baby bump. He starts to move it around, making a few adjustments to the screen. It only takes a few seconds for a grainy image to appear.

“
See that right there?” the doctor says as he points to the screen. “Do you see that mass there?” I nod, looking at what appears to be a blinking blob.

“
That’s your baby.” He starts pushing buttons, and numbers appear on the screen. He pulls the probe from my stomach and pushes a few more buttons. He then hands me a CD. “Those are pictures of your baby. Next time, you’ll have a 3D ultra sound. It’s kind of like a little movie. It’ll almost be like you’re looking right at the baby.”

The only thing I care about right now is whether this is Dean
’s baby or not. “The father?”

“
You are right at sixteen weeks. There’s no way this baby was conceived in July, so this is definitely not your ex-husband’s child. I was almost certain of that before we even started, but I didn’t want to say anything until I knew for sure. After you were brought to the hospital, you would have been given the morning after pill. It’s standard procedure after a sexual assault.”

Relief crashes through me, and I
start to cry. “Thank God.”

The doctor continues to talk for a bit
, but I’m too emotional to focus on his words. When he finally leaves the room, I rush to get dressed. I quickly pay and make my way to my car. As soon as I’m behind the wheel, I call Jase.

“
Julie.” The sound of his voice sends me into tears again. “Don’t cry, baby. Everything will be okay. I already told you it doesn’t matter to me. I’ll take care of the baby either way. That bastard will never lay his hands on it.”

I start to laugh through my tears.
“It’s not his. The baby’s yours.”

Jase is quiet for a moment then I hear
him whisper my words from earlier. “Thank God.”

I hear my phone beep and see
Kristen’s number pop up. Glad to have an excuse not to finish the conversation, I say, “Kristen is calling. I need to answer it. I was supposed to call her as soon as I got done, but I wanted to call you first.”

I click over without giving him time to respond. I wanted him to be the first to know, but I
’m not ready to talk about us yet. I’m not sure I will ever be ready.

“
What happened?” Kristen asks without giving me time to say hello. I can hear Bethany in the background asking questions.

“
Jase is the daddy!” I say through tears.

She screams with joy. I
can hear Bethany shouting in the background. They’re both talking, and I can’t understand a thing that’s being said, so I hang up the phone without saying goodbye. The phone immediately starts to ring, but I ignore it. I lay my head on the steering wheel and let out the breath I’ve been holding since Jenny’s party.

Jase

“Fuck, yeah!” I shout out as I place the phone in the front pocket of my overalls. Julie and I are having another baby. I’m gonna be a dad again. This time, I will be there from day one. Ecstatic doesn’t even come close to describing the way I feel. All the guys in the garage turn to look over at me as I throw my head back and let out a happy whoop.

Pop comes out of the office
to see what all the commotion is. “What the hell is going on?”

“
The baby’s mine!” I shout.

Relief runs through me as the words leave my mouth.
I would have been the father to that child either way, but knowing the child is mine is great fucking news. The thought of Julie being pregnant with that bastard’s child nearly killed me, and I know it tore her to pieces.

Pop lays
his hand on my shoulder. “Congratulations.”

He
pulls his hand away and walks back into his office. Seconds later, he brings out a few beers. “Let’s celebrate the news, boy!” he says, passing me one.

Popping the top, I take a deep pull of the cool beer.
“I can’t believe I’m gonna be a daddy again.”

“
I knew it would work out, son.”

I nod.
“It sure in the hell did. I have Jenny, now a new baby on the way, and soon, I’ll have Julie too.”

“
Let’s hope,” Pop agrees before turning his head toward the door of the garage that just flew open.

Looking over, I see
Becca walking toward us.
Shit!

“
You better get rid of her, Jase. None of us are going to turn a blind eye to that shit again,” Pop says with a scowl.

“
There’s nothing going on between us. I have no idea why she’s here.”

“
I don’t want to hear it. Just get rid of her ass.” He narrows his eyes at me before turning toward his office.

I don
’t move. I let Becca come to me, sneering at her as she steps in front of me. “Why are you here?”

“
I thought we could talk?” she says, making it sound like a question.

“
Talk about what?”

She looks to the side, lowering her head.
“We need to talk about what happened between us after your mom died.”

Oh, hell no.
“That shit’s not happening again, so there’s nothing to talk about.”

“
I know that, but there is something I need to tell you.”

Shaking my head, I take a step back.
“Listen to me, Becca. Whatever we had is over, way fucking over. You need to get that shit through your head. You also need to leave me the fuck alone.”

“
I’m sorry. I’ll just leave,” she says and walks out without another word.

I watch her walk away, seeing her shoulders slump and her steps become a shuffle.
She looks totally dejected and lost. Another time, another place, and I would have been there for her as her friend, but not now. No fucking way. I’ve always had female friends before, but after this mess, I’ve decided to just stay clear of them all. It’s not that I’m worried my dick won’t stay in my pants; I just want Julie to know she can trust me.

Pop walks back in as soon as she leaves.
“What in the hell was she doing here?”

“
I don’t know. She said she wanted to talk, but I ain’t going there again.”

Pop stares at the door for a second.
“I always liked that girl. She was such a sweet kid, but her parents are two of the biggest douche bags I’ve ever met. Did you know her parents didn’t want her around Julie?”

“
What? Why the fuck not?” I cannot imagine any parent having an issue with Julie being around their children. She was a fucking perfect kid. She was smart as hell, always on the honor roll. She didn’t drink and run around like all the rest of us did. Hell, she didn’t even date anyone until me.

“
I know you probably don’t remember, you were just a kid yourself, but Kristen and Becca have been friends since they first started school. They were always running back and forth between each other’s houses, but when Julie and Brandon moved in, Becca quit coming over. Kristen wasn’t invited to her house anymore either. Finally, Angie went over to talk to Becca’s mom. The old bitch said they didn’t want their daughter associating with orphans,” Pop finishes with a disgusted shake of his head.

“
Shit! That’s just wrong. Julie and Brandon couldn’t help what their mom did. Hell, my woman never did anything bad back then,” I say, defending Julie.

“
No, they couldn’t, but Becca’s parents were always uptight like that. They had to have complete control of her life. I felt sorry for that little girl. As much as I hate what happened between you two, I feel sorry for her still,” Pop says, then smiles toward me and repeats my words back to me. “Your woman?”

I nod.
“Julie has always been my woman.”

“
Yeah, I guess she has been,” he agrees, and then walks into his office without saying anything else.

I hate that
Becca had a fucked up life, but I can’t let that worry me now. Julie and our children have to come first.