Never Told You

Chapter Fifteen

"Lauren...I don't understand. Are you upset about it? I...I don't know what to say." I sighed because I knew this would be the response I got out of him. Men like River never stepped when it came to things like this.

"That's it? You have nothing else to say? This is a big del River, and I don't know what I'm going to do. I need advice, or reassurance or something." A tear slipped down my cheek knowing that I probably lost everything with River.

"Lauren, I will always be here for you, no matter what you decide to do. And if you have this baby and keep it, I will be the best father I can be for it." A shocked expression rolled over my face after hearing River speak these words.

"Okay. Thank you. I feel a bit better." River sighed and looked down at his feet.

"At this point Lauren, I just want to fix us. I want you to forgive, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes. You mean so much to me, and I don't want to lose you or what we have. I've never felt anything this real, this natural. Every relationship I've had has been forced, by emotions, or feelings. With you, it's not that way at all." River sighed like he wanted to say more, but he stayed silent. This man had the strongest influence on me, and I could tell he was genuinely sorry for what had happened. He should've never hid it from me though. It makes me wonder what else he's hiding from me, if anything at all.

"You really mean that? You actually feel that way about me?" He vigorously nodded his head after I asked my question.

"Yes, Lauren. I am being completely real with you right now. I mean every word I said. Is it how you feel?" I laughed a little.

"Yes. It's exactly how I feel. I want to give us another chance, River. I really do. I'm just scared of being lied to again, or having more bets placed on me. If that happened again, I would die." I knew he felt horrible for lying to me, but it would take time for me to trust him again.

"What can I do Lauren? Please tell me what I can do."

"We just have to take things slow. Really slow."

"Absolutely, anything you need. Thank you for everything Lauren." I didn't know why he was thanking me. He had no reason to. I looked down at my stomach. How had this baby managed to survive everything in the past couple weeks that I put it through? Would it be a boy or a girl? Where was I going to live to support this baby and myself? I was gonna have to drop out of college. Out of nowhere, a female sounded through the room and sent chills down my spine.

"Lauren, why didn't you bother calling me and telling me you were finally awake?"

"Mom...I thought no one here was able to get a hold of you." She laughed then glared at River.

"They left thousands of voicemails on my cell. I was just waiting for you to call. Who is this....man in my daughter's room?" Her gaze never left River. River stood up as quick as he could, and held his hand out.

"Mrs. Grey, I'm River. It's a pleas-" My mom cut river off mid sentence.

"Please, call me Gloria, and the last name isn't Grey. That's Lauren's father's last name. Not mine." I scoffed at her.

"Lauren, I'm gonna go get some soda.." River darted out of the room. I knew he still had soda from earlier. He was nervous, and he didn't want to be in this awkward position.

"Why was there a man in your room Lauren? That is unacceptable." Her glare was so intense, I understood why RIver had to leave.

"Don't start with me, mom. He was the only to care enough to stay with me. Even though he had his job, and school to attend. At least he made time for me, unlike you." My mom scoffed and walked closer to me.

"Excuse me, Lauren. You do not get to talk to me that way, I am your mother." I glared even harder and sat up, even though it sent pain everywhere.

"You listen to me, mother. You don't get to waltz in here like you still control my life. You don't get to tell me how I can talk to you. You sure as hell don't get to tell me I'm not allowed to have River in my room. He cares about me mom, like I care about him. I love him, he's my boyfriend. He's also the father of the baby I'm going to mother in about eight months. I don't want to hear any of your opinions, and I don't want you to tell me to abort. You sure as hell know that's not an option." She smirked after my harsh words.

"Well, this is just like the same scenario with Hunter. He didn't really hurt you, did he? It was all mutual, because like your aunt, you're a little whore. What I can do, is just tell Hunter what room you're in and maybe he'll actually finish the job this time. Or at least take care of the baby." River then walked in the room and grabbed my mom by the arm.

"I think it's time for you to leave, Gloria. Lauren doesn't want you here anymore. Have a nice day." He shoved her out of the room and told the nurses not to let her in again. He then walked back into the room and hugged me.

"I'm sorry about her, River." He immediately nodded his head and shushed me.

"You have nothing to be sorry about. That was all her fault, not yours. I do have questions though. Like, where's your aunt and why did your mom call her a whore? What about the whole Hunter thing?" I wish he hadn't heard any of what my mom said. I didn't want to explain any of it to him, or anyone really. It was all something I wanted to forget about.

"Well..my dad and my mom's sister, they had an affair. But Aunt Marge always treated dad way better than mom did. I was never mad at dad when I found out. I was actually happy that dad found the one person who made him whole again. Before the affair went down, everything with Hunter happened. My mom..she never believed me, it was dad. He was my supporter and the one who helped my push charges. Even with the evidence, mom still believed I just got drunk and made stupid decisions. Which is somewhat accurate, it was stupid of me to go to that party. She likes to threaten me with Hunter because she's more on his side than mine. It hurts, but it's something I have to deal with." River nodded his head and sighed in disapprovement.

"Where is your dad now? You talk high of him, he must still be around."

"Haha, I did talk high of him, and I used to think everything of him. When the affair came out, mom threatened to kill him. Of course she didn't mean it, but she hit him and fought with him. She drove him to a point of madness where he just wasn't himself anymore. Of course that wasn't his fault, but he should've never changed towards his kids. I wish I knew where he was. I wish I knew where Aunt Marge was. They left together, after the divorce was successfully filed between him and mom. Never heard anything since. I don't even know if he's dead or alive. At this point, he's dead to us." River had a confused look on his face.

"Kids? You have siblings?"

"A sibling. A little brother. A year and a half younger than me. He's in a mental hospital for specific reasons, but I'm not ready to open up about that yet. Plus, I don't know very much about you, except for your mom." River nodded and sighed.

"It's just hard. I haven't trusted anyone the way I trust you. And thinking about opening up to you scares me because I feel like I'm going to scare you away." I grabbed River's hand and squeezed it.

"Nothing you tell me could possibly scare me away. I promise." He looked into my eyes, and I knew he was going to open up to me, I just didn't know when.