I Stopped Chasing Him and He Lost His Mind

"Toby, you think Zoe's gonna try dropping hints again tonight? How many times has it been now? If not ten thousand, at least 9,999?"

Toby's lips curled into a faint smirk.

"Doesn't matter how many times she hints. I'll just play dumb. She's useful for everything except being a girlfriend."

My hand froze in midair. I lost every ounce of courage to push that door open.

That was the first time I didn't clumsily try to hint at my feelings.

After the party ended, he was the one who seemed uneasy. He grabbed my arm and asked if I had something to say.

I shook my head. He took me to a hotel anyway, almost petulantly insisting he wanted a straight answer.

The next morning, he woke up, pulled on his clothes with a look of disgust, and cut me off completely.

A sudden brake yanked me back to the present. The car had stopped in an underground garage.

I thought it over and decided to tell him the truth about that night.

"Toby, that night we didn't actually—"

Before I could finish the words nothing happened, he shoved the car door open and walked away without looking back.

"Bella, don't worry, I'll be right there. Just wait for me."

He left without hesitation, leaving me alone, pounding helplessly on the windows for help.

Only then did it register. The name on his lips. Bella.

The only girl who had ever turned him down.

I waited. And waited. Until the small hours of the morning, when I finally understood he wasn't coming back.

He'd finally gotten his dream girl. Why would he let me ruin it?

I thought about calling Darcy.

But I was afraid Toby would think I was making a scene, that it would upset his precious Bella.

By the time I'd gone back and forth enough, the oxygen had thinned out and I blacked out.

……

When I came to, white walls and the sharp bite of disinfectant filled my senses.

Noise crashed in around me. May was tearing into Toby at full volume:

"Have you lost your mind? You knew Zoe was pregnant, and you left her locked in a car all night? If anything happens to that baby, you might as well stop breathing too!"

Mom was angry, but she still tried to smooth things over:

"Alright, alright, everyone's fine. He's still young."

I coughed twice, cutting them both short.

Mom rushed to the bedside, her eyes brimming with worry:

"Zoe, are you feeling any better? The doctor said your body's weak. They barely managed to save the baby. Promise me you'll stay out of danger from now on, okay?"

Every word, spoken or implied, was an indictment of Toby.

May's face stiffened with embarrassment, but she kept the smile plastered on:

"That's right, Zoe, you need to take care of yourself. I'll make sure this reckless boy of mine stays out of your hair."

The way she said it made it sound like I'd been the one chasing after her son.

I turned my head away weakly, but Toby cut his mother off:

"I'm the one who went after Zoe. Quit the passive-aggressive act."

He shuffled awkwardly to my side and held a bowl of soup to my lips.

I kept my distance and refused to swallow a single drop.

That set him off. He slammed the bowl down hard. "You won't drink it? If something happens to the baby, that's on you, not me!"

I almost laughed. He'd been insisting up and down that the baby had nothing to do with him.

Now this? What exactly was he playing at?

Behind him, May's expression shifted. A flicker of displeasure crossed her eyes as she looked at me.

I said flatly:

"The baby has a father. You don't need to worry about it."

His face darkened another shade.

"You're in your first trimester. I'm not going to argue with you right now. I got everything ready based on what I looked up online. Just take care of yourself."

I glanced at the side of the bed. Baby supplies were piled up in heaps, covering every surface.

Toby still had it all wrong.

Since everyone was here, I might as well clear things up once and for all. Save a certain someone the trouble of getting jealous and staking a claim.

Before I could get a word out, a slender, striking figure walked through the door.