Only With Me (With Me #2)(67)

"Okay. What happened, Nic? What did you do?"

"Nothing. How are things with you and Charity?"

"Nice change of subject. They're going. Every now and then I have a slight panic attack and wonder what in the fuck I'm going to do." 

"You do what you promised Charity you would do. Be there for her and then be a good dad when the baby comes."

He sighed. "That's a no brainer. But what about Charity?"

"What about her?"

"I like her, Nic. I like her a lot. But this is all moving so fast."

I chuckled. "Listen, I hardly think she expects you to drop on one knee and ask her to marry you. She just needs to know that for right now, you're there supporting her."

"Yeah. But I'm confused as hell. I never in my life thought I would be happy with one woman. Then she came rushing into my world and everything is turned upside down and the thought of her not being there scares the shit out of me. What the fuck shit is that?"

My chest squeezed. I knew exactly how he felt. "Love. That shit is love."

I stopped walking when I saw the cab pull up in front of the bakery.

"Yeah. That shit is fucked up."

Nodding, I said, "Tell me about it. Did Charity mention when Gabi would be getting home?"

"This morning."

Moving behind a tree, I watched as Gabi climbed out of the cab. She looked exhausted. My heart ached, and I fought the urge to rush across the street and take her into my arms.

When she wiped her face, my world felt like it had fallen apart all over again. She'd been crying.

"Did she say how she was?"

Cole remained silent.

"Cole?"

"She only said that Gabi sounded really upset, but that she would tell her everything when she got home. Nic, what's going on?"

"Gabi was cheating on me. I got the evidence I needed, so I broke up with her."

"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.