“Did I do something?”
“I don’t know. You tell me Summer, did you?” His voice dripped with sarcasm as the muscle in his left jaw twitched from being clenched so tight.
The atmosphere was thick with tension. Summer quietly eased over to the sofa, sat down, and braced herself for the storm. This is it. I’m tired. I want this over once and for all.
With that resolved the next question she asked was the impetus which made all hell break loose. “Is there something you want to know Nick?” Summer said with a hint of an attitude boosting her confidence a little bit. Shoot, she was tired of Nick’s mess.
Nick rose from the chair. Taking a few long strides he planted his large frame on the coffee table in front of the sofa. Leaning forward on his elbows he came into Summer’s space intimidating the hell out of her.
Here we go again, Summer thought to herself.
Seconds ticked by as they stared at each other. Summer was determined to meet his stony stare. I’m going to stand up to him this time.
If she just held her stare, kept her eyes locked with his, she’d be all right. She dropped her gaze the moment Nick’s features became distorted. Her resolve to stand up to him crumbled even further when he spoke.
“Yeah, Summer, I want to know why you didn’t tell me you were pregnant.”
Summer whispered, “I wanted to.”
“Speak up! I can’t hear you!”
“I said I wanted to tell you, Nick.”
“Why didn’t you Summer, huh?”
“I didn’t tell you because at first I was going to have an abortion.”
“Why?”
“Because you didn’t want to be with me anymore and if you didn’t want me I figured you wouldn’t want a baby either.”
“Did I ever tell you I didn’t want children?”
“You told me never to find myself pregnant by you. You said if I did you’d tell me to flush it.”
The pain was evident in her quivering voice as she replayed his words back to him.
I did tell her that. He remembered the very night he had told her. “What happened, why didn’t you get the abortion?”
Tears slowly ran down her cheeks. He really wanted me to kill our baby. Wiping tears away with the palm of her hand she silently wished she could wipe the pain away just as easily. “I went to the appointment with every intention of ending the pregnancy but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.” Slowly she pulled her gaze up to meet his. Nick’s demeanor was unmoved; her eyes drifted from his gaze to the floor.
“Summer, I’m still not getting why you never tried to contact me.”
“I thought if I had told you early on that you would have made me have an abortion or deny that the baby was yours.” Summer took a deep breath then added, “And when I wanted to tell you it never felt like the time was right.”
He didn’t argue with her on the point about the abortion, she was right. Hell, he would have driven her to the appointment and waited to make sure the deed was done. Honestly, he may have even denied the kid given his history with Veronica.
Nick was never one to hold back, he spoke his mind regardless how blunt or abrasive. “Yeah, well you’re right. I probably would have told you to get an abortion. But nevertheless I should have had a say so in the decision. Thanks to you, that never happened. And what is this lame excuse about the timing not being right? What happened to when you turned three, four… hell, five months pregnant! You could’ve told me then. Instead I come to your house to find you seven months pregnant, Summer! Seven damn months!”
Anger was fully consuming him as he bit out every sharp, piercing word. As each word exploded from his mouth his body propelled in Summer’s direction, making her extremely uncomfortable.
Summer cringed with every word. Backing up and shifting to the left, attempting to put some distance between them because he was getting angry again and flirting with being out of control. His left eyebrow began twitching involuntarily, signaling he was reaching his boiling point.
Summer’s efforts to put space between them only infuriated him. He grabbed her by the shoulders with a firm hold. “Stop moving and answer me damn it!”
The moment he put his hands on Summer the confrontation escalated to a whole new level. Nick had crossed the line. All of his ranting, raving, and yelling was one thing, but this touching stuff while angry was something else. Every fiber she used to maintain her composure shattered. “Nick you promised…you promised you wouldn’t hurt me or the baby.”
Quickly Nick released his hold as she misinterpreted his gesture. “Summer, I’m not going to hurt you or the baby. I just want some answers. Please just tell me why you hid your pregnancy.” So far nothing she said made since to him.