Page 58 of Renegade
She doesn’t know what to say and quickly checks me out. I grab the receipt from her and walk out the door with Will tailing me. The bus is right in front and I just get on and sit down, waiting for everyone else. My stomach is in knots with every passing minute, but it jumps into my throat when Nate and Fitz walk on.
“Hey, Brooklyn,” Nate says with a small smile.
Fitz on the other hand, just goes to walk past me and I grab his arm. He looks down at me and I see the sadness in his face. I also notice that he is wearing Nate’s clothes and I realize that he left the hotel room in nothing.
“I need to talk to you,” I say.
He turns to face me, crossing his arms. “Talk.”
Ouch. “In private,” I suggest, nodding to the bedroom.
“I’d rather hear it right here. If it wasn’t for Nate, I wouldn’t even know what the fuck was going on right under my nose,” he hisses at me.
“Fuck you, Fitz, maybe if you had stuck around this morning you would know exactly what’s going on,” I yell, standing up.
“Oh shit right. It took a phone call from my friend for you to be fucking honest with me. What if he didn’t call Brooklyn? It’s all so fucked up,” he shouts. It brings tears to my eyes because he’s never been pissed at me before. “Oh Christ, here we go with the tears. Well it’s not going to work this time. You fucking lied to me.”
“I didn’t fucking lie,” I yell as the tears escape.
“You weren’t honest with me and that’s the same fucking thing,” he yells.
“What the fuck is going on?” Ethen yells, coming onto the bus with Ralph.
Great, perfect. I was hoping to have this fight in front of everyone. I wrap my arms arou
nd myself and shake my head.
Poppy comes on the bus and looks around, taking it all in. She drops her suitcase and everyone looks at her. “Fitz, you really need to learn how to listen to your woman,” she starts and walks over to Nate. “I wanted to talk to you in private, but considering how this is going down, I have no choice.” She looks at me and then to Fitz. “Brooklyn isn’t pregnant,” she looks at Nate and swallows a few times. “I am.”
Everyone is frozen in place. There is not a sound in the bus and I notice Poppy starting to go down. “Poppy,” I scream as Nate grabs ahold of her. “Lay her on the couch, this is too much stress for her,” I say, grabbing a water out of the fridge.
“Brooklyn,” Fitz whispers, grabbing my elbow as I walk toward the couch. “I’m so sorry.”
“You know what Fitz, I don’t care,” I say and pull away from him.
After getting Poppy to drink some water, she feels better and her and Nate go off to the bedroom to talk. I sit down at the table and watch the blur of cars passing by. I feel Fitz sit next to me and he places his hand on top of mine. I turn my head to look at him and he shakes his head. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
“I don’t know what hurts more, that you didn’t believe me or wouldn’t give me a chance to explain. You just assumed I was lying to you,” I say and turn my head back to the window.
He squeezes my hand and links our fingers together. “Brooklyn, you’re right. I was the biggest asshole and I handled the whole situation wrong. If I could go back I’d do it all differently.”
I turn my body to look at him and pull my hand away, folding my arms across my chest. “You are always saying to be honest, so I will be. You ran because you didn’t want to face what the truth might be. If that’s how it’s going to be, I might as well just stay in California. I’m not moving to New York, moving in with you if you are going to run when you are scared of what the truth might be.”
“I’m sorry, I fucked up. You’re right I was scared, but not for the reasons you think. I was scared that you were going to leave me,” he says, with such pain in his voice.
“Why would I leave you if I was pregnant?” I dip my brows in confusion.
“I thought you were second guessing us, second guessing me. I was scared you’d walk away and take my child with you. It was like the fucking Earth stopped spinning.” He rests his hand on my leg and rubs his thumb along it. “I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you,” he whispers.
Feeling his pain, I lean over and wrap my arms around him. He does the same to me, and holds me so close it’s hard to breathe. “Fitz, I’m not going anywhere and I sure as shit wouldn’t hide it if I thought I was pregnant. If this is going to work, you can’t walk out when you get scared or angry.”
He releases me, just barely and kisses my lips. “I swear it. I’ll never walk away from you again no matter how I feel.”
I look up like I’m considering it and snap my eyes to him when he whispers my name. Grinning, I say, “Alright.”
He closes his eyes, relief washing over him before he hugs me close again. “I’m so sorry, Brooklyn. I love you so much.”
“I love you too.”