Made for You by Kelly Elliott
“Did we even have sex that night?”
She jetted her lip out. “No. You couldn’t get it up no matter how many times I sucked you off.”
Sick. I felt sick.
“The baby. It wasn’t mine?”
A look of shock moved across her face as she covered her mouth and took a few steps back. “I’m so sorry, Holden. I never meant for you to find that out. I went to such lengths to keep the truth from you. Daddy paid the doctor and the nurse to lie to you about how far along I was. He would do anything to make me happy, you know.”
“Did you know you were pregnant the night you drugged me?”
She nodded. “Rich told me you were planning on staying home over Thanksgiving. It didn’t take much to convince him to throw the party and get you there.”
Pushing both hands through my hair, I wanted to scream. It was an overload of information I was looking for, but wasn’t prepared to hear. “Who … who was the father?”
Her eyes looked sad. “He told me he loved me. He promised we would have a life together. So the night he showed up at my apartment, I thought maybe things would be different. After all, you had your precious girlfriend. I could have Chuck. He made love to me all night. We made that baby. Things were going to be different, but when I woke up the next morning, he told me he thought he could do it, but he couldn’t. He left me all alone, but what he didn’t know was I was pregnant. His baby was growing inside of me. I’d have a piece of him forever.”
“That’s why you were so depressed when you lost the baby. It was because you lost a piece of this guy?”
Tears fell from her eyes. “I couldn’t do it alone. When I found out I was pregnant, I knew I had to somehow make you believe the baby was yours. I thought it would be hard, but you made it so easy. You totally broke things off with Emylie and ran to my side.”
Pushing off the counter, I paced back and forth. “Wait. The DNA test.”
“It was altered. Daddy paid to have it done.”
No wonder her father was so pissed. He had gone above and beyond to help her with this scheme.
“Jesus Christ, this is fucking insane. You’re insane, Daphne. Do you realize you fucked up my life because you wanted me to help you raise some other guys kid, but you made it so I would think it was mine? You belong in the nut house.”
She shot me a dirty expression. “It would have all worked had you not brought us back to this God-forsaken state. I knew I had to keep you from her because the moment you saw her, you would know how much you loved her. But you needed time to love me.”
Disgust filled every inch of my body. “You’re sick. You need help, Daphne.”
She shook her head. “No. I know if you work harder on us, we can make this work.”
“I can honestly tell you I would have never fallen in love with you. The only woman I have ever loved and will ever love is Emylie.”
Burying her face in her hands, she cried. “Don’t say that, Holden.”
“I think you need to get your shit from my house and leave. Don’t even think of going back to our place in LA. If you do before I get there and retrieve my things, I’ll let the news know about your crazy little stunt. I’m sure that won’t be good PR for Daddy’s new movie.”
“No one will believe you,” Daphne said with a short, evil laugh.
The bathroom door pushed open and Becca walked in with her phone in her hand. “Oh. My. Gawd! I’m pretty sure I could get on Entertainment Tonight with this stuff!”
Daphne glared at Becca. If looks could kill, Becca would be flat on the ground.
Turning back to me, Daphne narrowed her eyes and gave me the evilest look. “You tricked me. You knew I wasn’t pregnant.”
I slowly shook my head. “No, I didn’t know.”
Her mouth parted open, but nothing came out.
“The pregnancy test? You had me take it.”
“I had a suspicion, that was all. You pretty much confessed to everything, Daphne.”
She shook her head. “Why would you trick me?”
“Why did you lie to me?”
A look of pure hate washed over her face. “I don’t need you. I’ve never needed you. I should have known that little bitch was going to come between us.”
“It was never going to work because I never loved you. All you wanted was a puppet to boss around. Not anymore, Daphne. It’s over.”
Squaring off her shoulders, she shot me the most hateful look I’d ever seen. “Fine. If this is the way you want it, but I promise you, Holden, you’ll regret this day. I promise you that.”
“I doubt it.”
She smirked and said, “You turned out to be a terrible fuck anyway. It took everything I had to get through each time we were together.”
With a slight laugh, I shook my head. “If you’re trying to hurt me with your words, it’s not going to work.”
Pushing past Becca, Daphne left the bathroom. I dropped my hands to my knees and dragged in a few breaths. Leaning over to talk into my ear, Becca whispered, “How does it feel knowing you lived with a psychopath? Dude, you had sex with that?”
I frowned as I lifted my gaze up at her. “Seriously, Becca?”
Standing, she shrugged. “I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking a restraining order is the first thing I’d be doing when I got back to Cali.”
“The first thing I’m doing is getting my boss to change the locks on my apartment, and then putting Daphne’s ass on a plane and out of Texas.”
“And then?”
Standing up straight, I stared her in the eyes and smiled. “Then I’m going after Emylie.”
THE RIVER MEANDERED alongside of us as Carter drove. It was the most peaceful sight I’d ever seen.
“It’s beautiful here,” I softly said.
“Yep. Growing up here wasn’t a hardship, I can tell ya that.”
With a lighthearted laugh, I glanced over to him. “Are you nervous?”
“More like scared shitless he’s going to slam the door in my face.”
Reaching over, I took his hand in mine. “He won’t, Carter. You’re his son and he loves you.”
He forced a smile. “It’s been awhile since I’ve been home.”
My stomach lurched. It sounded almost exactly like Holden. Except Carter had stayed away because he joined the military. He didn’t get some girl pregnant.
Turning down another road he drove for a bit more before stopping at a long driveway. “This is it.”
His voice sounded shaky.
“Let’s get out of the truck for a minute. Stretch our legs and take some deep breaths.”
He nodded and followed my lead. It didn’t take long before Carter was pacing back and forth. His hand running over his buzz cut more times than I could keep track of.
“This is stupid. I shouldn’t have come back.”
I leaned against his truck and let him get it out of his system. Another truck pulled up and came to a stop. A blonde jumped out and yelled out Carter’s name. Spinning, he came to a dead stop. If I thought he was scared before, now he was just plain frightened.
Smiling, I watched as the girl ran and jumped into his arms. I tilted my head and watched the scene play out.
“Tori! What are you doing here?” Carter asked when they finally let each other go.
“I moved back home! As much as I swore I couldn’t wait to get out of here, something was pulling me back. I’m working at the hospital.”
“Nurse?”
She nodded with excitement. “Yes! I’m loving it.”
I knew she hadn’t seen me and the moment she did, she would get the wrong idea. Clearly these two had a past together with the way they were looking at one another.
Carter stared at her in the most loving way. It made my heart drop.
Well, I might as well get this over with now. Pushing off the truck, I walked up to the two of them. They were completely lost in one another.
Carter’s gaze drifted up as he saw me approaching. With a
“Tori, I’d like to introduce you to Emylie.”
She spun around and forced a smile. Okay, I could see it all over her face, she had a thing for Carter. I was going to question him about this Tori girl.
“Hi, Tori. It’s a pleasure meeting you.”
She nodded and seemed to be trying to find the words to speak. “I’m a friend of Carter’s. He offered to taking me fly fishing. I hear this is the place to be for that.”
With a nervous chuckle, she said, “Um, yeah. We have some great fishing here.”
I smiled bigger. “That’s awesome. I’m looking forward to it.”
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know you had someone with you. It’s just I saw you and was surprised and had to say hi. I’ll let ya go.”
Peering up at Carter, I waited for him to clear up that we were only friends. He just stood there, like an idiot.
“Oh heck, you don’t have to leave on my account. I had a cramp in my leg and Carter stopped to let me stretch it out.”
He lifted his eyebrows in surprise. I hadn’t thought that one through since he had been the one pacing when she pulled up.
“Carter is a great friend. I have a degree in Agriculture and life science and also in wildlife and fisheries science. So I’m in heaven right now. It’s an open classroom!”
Tori chewed on her lip as she looked between us. “Are you in the Marines as well?”
Throwing my head back, I let out a roar of laughter. “God, no! Our best friends are dating. That’s how we met and became friends. Just friends.”
I was hoping she would catch on to the stress I put on the word friend. I gave her a look that asked if she was picking up what I was hinting at. She smiled bigger, and I was glad to see she was.
“Oh, I see.”
She turned back to Carter. “How long are you in town for?”
“I’m ah … I’m not sure.”
She pressed her lips together and began rubbing her hands over each other. “I see. Well, I hope maybe we can grab a cup of coffee or something before you leave.”
I wanted to scream out, “Yes! He will grab coffee, lunch, dinner, whatever you want.”
“That would be awesome.”
Tori’s face lit up. Oh yeah. This girl had it bad for Carter, and he seemed to be at a total loss of words. “Cool.”
“Cool,” Tori replied as she turned back to me. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Emylie. I hope to see you again before you leave.”
“Same here, Tori.”
As she headed back to her truck, I looked at Carter and hit him on the arm. “Do you have her number?” I asked in a whispered voice.
“What?”
Giving him a what the hell look, I asked again, “Her number, Carter? Do you have it to call her?”
“Um … I think.”
“Tori!” I yelled, causing her to come to a stop.
“Yeah?”
“Carter lost his phone.” Glancing over my shoulder at him, I said, “And it appears his voice. He needs your number again.”
“Oh! No problem.” Reaching into the truck, she grabbed some paper and quickly wrote her number down. Walking up to us, she handed the paper to Carter. “I put my work number too, just in case.”
Taking it from her hand, he nodded. “Great. Perfect. This is good. Okay.”
My eyes widened as I stared at him.
Who is this man?
Tori giggled. “Okay. See ya later.”
“See ya soon. Looking forward to it.” Carter said with a drop-me-to-the-ground sexy smile.
Ah. There he is.
Taking a few steps back, the poor girl attempted to pull her stare off of him. Glancing over at me, she gave me the sweetest smile. “Thank you, Emylie.”
With a knowing expression, I said, “Call me, Em.”
She reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze. Good, she realizes I’m not a threat.
I watched as she practically skipped back to her truck. When she drove off, I turned to see Carter watching her drive down the road.
“Holy shit. That was some serious eye-fucking going on between the two of you!” I said with a laugh. Carter looked back at me and rolled his eyes.
“Shut up.”
I pointed to him and shook my head. “You totally have it bad for her. Who is she? Did y’all date before? The way she ran into your arms I’m going to say there is serious history there.”
He glanced down at the number before folding it and putting it in his pocket.
“Yeah. There’s history there. Come on, let’s get this over with.”
My hands dropped to my side, and I was pretty sure my jaw was on the ground.
“Wait. You seriously are going to leave it there? That’s it? No history lesson on you and Tori? Carter! I saved you back there. You were going to let her walk away and I got her number for you.” Walking up to him, I wiggled my brows. “If you’re lucky, you may be getting lucky.”
He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “You don’t understand, Em. That’s all water under the bridge. The past.”
A lump formed in my throat. “Was she the girl who cheated on you?”
“No. She was the girl I thought was my future. But life doesn’t always go by our script. You of all people should know that.”
“But we have the ability to re-write the script, Carter. If we want to.”
He let out a fake laugh. “Do you want to? Because if you did, you wouldn’t be here.”
My hands went to my hips. “That is why I’m here. To try and re-write mine. I have no idea of knowing what lies ahead of me, but I know what I just saw. Two people who clearly have feelings for one another. What I felt between the two of you wasn’t in the past. If I felt it, I sure as hell know you did too.”
“Not now, Em. Let’s tackle one problem at a time. Please.”
The sadness in his eyes reminded me of Holden. It was the same look he gave me after Daphne said she was pregnant. His eyes were filled with so much regret and sadness.
I nodded and softly said, “Okay. Let’s deal with your dad first.”
“Then fishing.”
Heading back to the passenger side of the truck, I jumped in and buckled up. Without looking at Carter, I waited for him to turn down the driveway.
“Right. Dad. Fishing. Then we’ll talk about Tori.”
With a frustrated groan, Carter hit the gas and went faster. I knew he wasn’t in a hurry to see his dad. He might be to go fishing. But I had a suspicious feeling he wanted to dial that number on the piece of paper in his pocket.
Smiling, I started figuring out the plan in my head.
When we pulled up to the log cabin, I caught my breath. It was beautiful. It wasn’t too terribly big, but it was large. The landscaping around the house was simple. A few flower beds with bright flowers planted in each. Tall pine trees surrounded the house all all sides.
“What an adorable house,” I said as I went to open the door. Carter grabbed my arm.
“Wait. I don’t think I can do it.”
Glancing back at him, I smiled. “Yes, you can. Take a deep breath and get out of the truck and start walking toward the door. I’ll be by your side. I swear.”
It was strange to think two days ago I had no idea Carter even existed. Now, it felt like we were all we had to help each other through the craziness of our lives.
Fate brought us together, there was no doubt about that at all.
“Where did you come from?” Carter asked with a smile.
Winking, I replied, “Texas.”
With a laugh, he got out of the truck and I followed. We met each other at the bottom of the steps. Reaching out, he took my hand in his.
“Let’s get this over with. The sooner he tells me to leave, the sooner we’ll get up to the cabin and get some fishing in.”
I knew he didn’t mean what he said. He would be devastated if that happened. With each step I prayed that his father wouldn’t turn him away.
He dragged in a deep breath and went to knock.
“Wait!” I said. Pulling my hand from his, I smiled. “We don’t want to give them the idea we’re together.”
Pinching his brows together, he stared at me for a second then looked back at the door and gave it three quick knocks.
Less than ten seconds later, the door opened and an older version of Carter stood before us. His eyes instantly filled with tears.
“Hey, Dad.”
Carter’s father stood there staring intently at him. I wasn’t sure what was about to happen. I could see it though. He was glad Carter was here.
“I um … I wasn’t sure if you would want to see me or not.”
I heard a gasp and glanced over Carter’s father’s shoulder. An older woman stood there with her hands covering her mouth. Tears rolled down her cheeks. Pushing past the dad, she wrapped Carter up in her arms and cried harder.
Not realizing I was holding my breath, I slowly let it out. When Carter’s mom stepped back and looked him over, she shook her head. “I’m so glad you’re home, baby.”
All eyes landed on Carter’s dad. I was stunned by what I saw next.
He closed his eyes. When Carter’s father looked back at him, he held his arms open while a few tears rolled down his cheeks. “You’re finally home.”
When they embraced, I covered my mouth and tried to contain my sobs.
His mother embraced both of them as she cried harder. “My baby! You’re home! Carter’s home!”
I took a few steps back and walked over to the rocking chair on the front porch. Carter didn’t need me. He was already on the path of re-writing his script.
Smiling, I wrapped my arms around my body and closed my eyes. Holden invaded my thoughts. Pulling my phone out, I pulled up his name and typed out a text.
It was time to start working on my future. The first thing I had to do was admit that a part of my past would never truly be let go. Not a love that strong. I could still see the love in his eyes before I walked away from him a few days ago.