The Wolf Who Owns My Heart

5.

Grizz clenched his teeth and looked like he wanted to slap the kid. “And now I get to pay to replace seven f*****g windows. Your gonna work your ass off to pay for this.”

Reck’s eyes flashed over to us standing behind them. Grizz saw the look and turned to see what his brother was looking at. He blinked in surprise seeing me standing there. “Zoey? What the hell?”

Kim tugged at my shirt. “Hey, maybe we should come back later.”

I shrugged her off and took a step toward Grizz. “We need to talk.”

I sighed and gestured toward his brother. “Can it not wait? I’m in the middle of something here.”

“No it can’t wait,” I shouted. Why wouldn’t he just let me get it out.

Grizz sighed and waved toward the door. “Reck get the hell out of here. We aren’t done. I’ll talk to you more about this later.”

Reck walked toward the door rolling his eyes. “Whatever.”

Grizz gritted his teeth in anger, and peeled his eyes off his little brother and looked at me. “What is it Zoey?”

“Um…” I didn’t know how else to say it, so I decided to rip the Band-Aid off and lay it out. “I’m pregnant.”

Grizz stared at me for several long seconds before speaking. “What do you mean you’re pregnant?”

I let out a sigh of irritation. “I mean I’m pregnant. What do you think I mean.”

He winced and ran a hand across his face. “So…the really important thing you had to tell me, that you interrupted me for, was to tell me you’ve been f*****g someone else?”

I felt like I’d been slapped across the face. I shook my head. “What? No. No, it’s your baby Rhett.”

His face went dark red, and he looked ready to scream at me the way he’d been screaming at his brother. I took a tiny step back, bumping into Kim.

“Zoey. I’m not sure if you know how this works, but humans and shifters can’t have kids. It’s, like, biology one-oh-one. Which means if you’re pregnant you had to have had s*x with someone else.”

My head was shaking back and forth, rejecting his explanation. “No. You’re the only one I’ve been with. It has to be yours. Don’t you believe me? Please. You have to believe me.”

He held up a hand. “Enough! I’ve heard enough. Get out. We’re done here.”

“Wha…what?” I could almost hear my heart breaking. Was he throwing me out? Was he breaking up with me?

“You heard me,” He hissed. “Get out. I don’t have time to deal with crazy. I hope you find whoever knocked you up. I really do. But,” he looked pained and disgusted as he gestured toward the door. “Get the f**k out, Zoey.”

“Grizz… Rhett… you can’t do this,” Tears were flowing freely across my cheeks. It felt like he’d punched me in the chest.

“Let’s go, Zoey,” Kim said. “You don’t need this asshole.” She tugged at my arm again, but I wrenched my arm out of her hand.

Grizz still looked angry as I took a step toward him. I put my hands out in a pleading gesture. “Please? I can’t do this without you. I’m…I’m scared.”

He curled his lip. “Then maybe you should have thought about that before you spread your legs for someone else.”

My breath hissed out like I’d been kicked in the stomach. He didn’t believe me. Not even for an instant. As crazy as it was, I’d truly thought he’d believe me. Did it make any sense? No. Was it supposed to be possible? No. But I thought what we had was deep enough that he could see I was telling the truth. I took a shaky step backwards, wanting to put distance between us. Until ten minutes ago I thought he loved me as much as I loved him. It was like my entire world was falling apart.

Grizz shook his head, and pointed at the door again. “Please get out. I’m trying to be cool about this, but you need to get out. Don’t come back.”

I didn’t have the strength to say anything else. Kim wrapped an arm around my shoulders and flipped Grizz off. “Screw you,” she spat. “You can go to hell.” She led me to the door and slammed it behind us.

I stumbled down the hallway, numb. At the stairs I saw Hutch, his arms crossed, looking both ashamed and angry.

“I told ya not to bother him, didn’t I? I told ya! It’s just —”

“f**k off,” Kim said, cutting him off.

Kim drove me back to Aunt Patty’s house. She tried to talk to me along the way, bad-mouthing Grizz and Hutch. Tried to apologize for ever introducing me to them. All I could do was stare at the floorboard the whole ride home.

Aunt Patty knew something was wrong as soon as we walked in. I fell apart, sobbing, and told her everything. Grizz, the s*x, the baby, everything. She never shamed me or scolded me either. She just let me cry and told me everything was going to be all right.

After I’d calmed down, Kim asked, “What are you going to do, Zo?”

My tears dried and I clenched my jaw. “I’m keeping the baby. I’ll do it on my own, I don’t need Grizz.”

“Girl, you aren’t alone. I’ll do whatever I need to do to help you out,” Kim said.

Patty hugged me again. “Well, Zo, one thing is for sure. As poorly as this trip has ended, you’ve found a true friend. And those are way more important than some man who doesn’t want to take responsibility for what he’s done.” She met my gaze. “Are you ready to call your parents?”

I took a deep, steadying breath, and nodded.

The call was long and not as torturous. Lots more tears, but no shouting or angry words. Mom and Dad told me they would help me get through anything. We made plans for school, getting home, and all that would come after. They were here for me, they promised, and their love made my tears fall faster. I was right, I didn’t need Rhett “Grizz” Allen in my life. I would raise this baby as my own, and if it was a boy, I would raise him to be a better man than his father.