Bound By Her Bump novel Chapter 24

The drive home was very quiet as Annie and Eric were drowned in their thoughts. She stole glances at him on many occasions but she could not tell if he was angry because his expression was plain.

Eric had been acting strange since they had dinner. He didn't talk much and when he was asked questions he gave a one-word answer.

She could not help but wonder if Eric was mad at her because he somehow discovered the truth. Tears welled up in her eyes at the thought of him being angry at her because of the foolish decisions she made in the past.

As soon as Eric pulled up in the driveway, she did not wait for him to open the door for her. She got down and walked as fast as her leg could carry her into his bedroom. She reached for her backpack and started packing her things. She knew she had promised to stay till the next day but she couldn't stand his silent treatment; She couldn't bear him not talking to her.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she folded her clothes in the bag. She knew it was all too good when Eric confessed how he felt about her. She was always screwing up, now her past had come to invade her happiness.

"What is going on here?" A concerned voice asked and she stood still, her back turned to him.

Eric took quick steps to where she was. His heart broke when he saw her in tears. The more she wiped the tears away from her face, the more they kept falling. For once, he felt as if he had offended her and he started getting mad at himself.

"Annie, please tell me what's wrong. You know I don't like seeing you cry." He pleaded, taking her hand in his.

"Do..don't make it worse, Eric. I will leave if you want me to but I can't accept this silent treatment from you." She said in tears.

"What do you mean?" He asked, confused.

"I know you are angry at me for what happened this evening. I know you know the real story but I assure you I'm not a murderer." She whisper-yelled; plopped down on the bed, buried her face in her hands and cried harder.

Eric sighed, took a seat beside her and tried to calm her down but nothing helped as the tears kept falling.

"I don't know the whole story. I know family comes first but in a situation like this, I believe you over Lucia."

She raised her head to look him in the eye. She could see he was being sincere. "So you're not mad at me?" She asked, kind of relieved.

"No, I'm not." He whispered, tucking some stray strands of hair behind her ear.

"Then why didn't you ask me anything? I owe you an explanation right?"

"You don't have to explain anything if you're not ready." He cupped her face with his palm. "And I know you're not a murderer. Don't ever call yourself that." She bit her lip and nodded.

"But I want to tell you everything."

"Are you sure?" He asked and she nodded in affirmation.

"How about you take a shower first? I'll fix you a quick snack then you can tell me everything." He suggested.

Annie's face was not in the best state right now and a headache was already building up on the right side of her head.

"Okay." She whispered.

Eric kissed her forehead before exiting the room. As soon as he shut the door behind him, she made her way to the bathroom. She cleaned up and changed into one of Eric's shirts.

Eric walked in a few minutes later with a tray of cookies and a glass of orange juice.

Annie noticed he just took a shower too. She could smell his body wash and besides he had changed his outfit into his regular sweat pants and shirt.

He placed the tray on the nightstand then took a seat beside her. He took her hand in his and kissed it.

"I'm sorry if I made you feel like I was giving you silent treatment. It's just that I don't like making conversations when I'm angry."

"As you know, Dad and I were going over some paperwork in the study room, we were interrupted by the noise coming from the living room so we came to see what was going on. I was devastated when I saw you in tears. I wanted to ask what was wrong but I didn't want to put so much pressure on you."

"I couldn't help myself which was why I asked my dad what had happened and he told me everything. How Lucia misbehaved and called you names. Angry would be an understatement to describe the way I felt. Honestly, I had wanted to go to her room and talk some sense into her but I stopped myself because I didn't want to do or say something to her that I was going to regret later on"

He looked into Annie's eyes, her eyes were heavy with tears. "I understand if you no longer want anything to do with m...." She said but was cut off.

"I've grown so attached to you and I'll be the most foolish person if I let you go. Hell, I don't even believe a thing of what Lucia said. Sometimes I wonder why she's different from my siblings and I." he said the last part in a very sad voice.

"Why did you say so?" She asked, sniffling. "I don't want to come between your relationship with your family."

"Trust me, Annie, you haven't broken our relationship with Lucia. She has always been like that. Jealous, witty, proud, you name it"

It took a while for Annie to start talking but she did anyway.

"My life was a mess. I couldn't walk on the street without being criticized. I locked myself indoor, praying hard that Jordan makes it and I confessed to my mom that if he doesn't make it, I would kill myself. My mom had to work from home just to monitor me so I wouldn't do anything stupid. She already lost my dad and she didn't want to lose me too."

"Fortunately, Jordan's mom came knocking on my door one day and told me Jordan was out of Coma and wanted to see me."

"Of course you could tell she didn't want me around her son but I couldn't blame her."

"I got to the hospital, I saw Jordan and we cried, asked each other for forgiveness and agreed to become friends again. He told me he woke up two days before and had to do a lot of begging for his mom to allow him to see me. He also told me they were moving to another state where they transferred his Father for work."

"I spent the whole day with him, I made sure he gave me his new contact and we've been in touch till now, Just as friends."

"Of course it was only after that I was able to move on. I went back to school, ignored all the gossip and focused on what I needed to focus on. The truth was that as far as Jordan forgave me and we were on good terms, I couldn't care less of anyone's opinion. But Lucia still called me a murderer, saying it was because of me he tried to kill himself, ended up in Coma and moved to another state which made her lose him."

Eric made Annie sit on his lap and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that."

"Sometimes I wish I did things differently; hearing Lucia talk about it brought sad memories."

"I've always wanted to ask why you opted for insemination," Eric asked.

Annie sighed, "My relationship with men has been nothing but a nightmare. They either wanted me for my body or for the little money and tiny fame I had. Geoffrey was the last guy I dated. I liked him and I thought he liked me too. That was until he started misbehaving. I wanted us to work so I went out of my way to do things for him. I surrendered my body to him, what I never did for the previous guys I dated. I would plan surprise dates for us and he wouldn't even appreciate it. One day he came clean to me, telling me he was in love with another girl."

"I was broken. It took me a while to move on and I concluded love wasn't for me. That was when I came up with the idea, having a baby without the father in our lives."

"It's okay if you don't want me anymore." She swallowed painfully. "I know I have a horrible past which you wouldn't want to associate yourself with."

"I don't care about your past and I'm officially telling you you're stuck with me because I'm not letting you go. I love you, Annie and we are going to raise our baby together."

His statement made her tear up again. She buried her face in his chest and cried.

"Please don't cry. I don't want you to get sick. You've been crying all evening." He pleaded, stroking her hair.

He was able to calm her down a bit and then she spoke. "I like you too, Eric. Please don't break my heart. I don't think I'll be able to survive another heartbreak."

He raised her chin so she would look into his eyes. "I won't break your heart, I give you my word."