Semua Bab Noiseless Wet Dreams of You: Bab 121 - Bab 130

I pushed him away with a force that surprised even me. My chest was heaving, the air in the room suddenly too thin to breathe. "How could you say that to them!!!"Drake stumbled back a step, but he didn't look remorseful. If anything, he looked energized. "Why? I thought that was a cue from you to finally own up to our feelings. You were the one who stood there and told Mom you were against the marriage, Aubrey. I just gave you a reason that wouldn't kill her.""Drake, you saw..." I lowered my voice to a fretful whisper, pointing toward the door. "Drake, you saw me with your father. You saw us in the parking lot. Why are you going to act like you didn't see anything? Why would you claim me after that?""Because I didn't see anything, okay?" He stepped closer, his eyes wild and desperate."He coerced you into something you shouldn't do. I’m going to think like that. I’m choosing to believe that. And now that I’ve told them, I’m going to be open about how I feel about you from now on. I

"You think I wouldn't know?" she continued, her calm finally snapping. "When it's so obvious that you're pregnant? When it's so obvious that you're trying so hard to ruin your life! Whose baby is it!"I shook terribly. I felt small, cornered, like a deer caught in high beams. I took a step back, the chair scraping harshly against the floor. I looked at Jake. He was perched at the end of the table, his eyes wide and eager, waiting for the final outburst. He was terrified, yet he was watching me to see if I would blow his world apart or shield him one last time."Don't tell me it's Drake," Mom said, a small, hysterical panic rising in her throat.The truth sat on the tip of my tongue, bitter, sharp, and ready to destroy everything. I wanted to scream it. I wanted to look her in the eye and tell her that her husband, the man she was currently building a nursery for, was the father of the life inside me. But at that moment, looking at her fragile hope, I lacked the conviction. My courage

  What am I hearing? Were the first questions to leave my head. What am I hearing from my mother? "He's not at home at the moment," Mom continued into the receiver, "And there's no trace of that woman he's cheating on me with. I have three guesses, three women in his circle who look at him with that hungry gaze but I have chosen to let that go for now. He’s so committed to us now. The news of the baby changed everything. It’s fine. As long as he comes home to me, it’s fine." Anger began to surge into me, hot and prickly, starting from my chest and radiating to my fingertips. Mom isn't pregnant. She lied. She stood there in the living room, clutching her stomach, shedding tears of joy for a sibling that didn't exist, all so she could keep Jake tethered to her side like a leashed animal. It was unbelievable. The sheer, calculated deception of it made my head spin. I tried to turn

Not much talk happened throughout the night. The silence in the house was thick, almost physical, pressing against the walls as I lay awake staring at the ceiling. Even when Jake finally returned with Drake, there were no explosive shouts, just the heavy, muffled sound of footsteps and the closing of doors. The entire house remained in that uneasy stasis until the next morning.I was halfway down the stairs, the cool wood of the banister beneath my palm, when the silence was finally punctured by Jake's sharp, authoritative voice echoing from the living room."You're going to have that interview and settle your score with Brendan," Jake commanded. I could hear the familiar snap of his patience. "Both of you need to make up. For Christ's sake, Drake, you just had a debut. Your career hasn't even fully taken flight and you're already trying to ground it with a street brawl.""We all know why that fight happened, and why am I the only one getting blamed for it?" Drake fought back, his vo

"So you really love him?" Stephanie asked. She wasn't shouting. She was just... observing.I couldn't meet her eyes. I just nodded."It took a lot for you to tell us, didn't it?" Stephanie sighed, leaning back. "At least I know one thing, if we weren't important to you, you would have taken this secret to your grave. You wouldn't have risked us hating you if you didn't trust us." She reached across the table and took my hand. "But Aubrey, what is he saying about all of this? Is he just going to let you hide? Is he going to keep pushing you into the shadows while you carry this burden alone?"I looked up at her, my eyes welling with tears."You have to take a step forward," Stephanie continued, her voice gaining strength. "Don't shrink yourself. You’ve already made your choice. You’re in it now. Own it shamelessly, even if it feels like the world is ending. I don't know the full story...I probably never will...but I know that you shouldn't let him hide you. Don't give him the room to