Embrace Me (A Shatter Me FanFiction)

Chapter Three

All color has drained from his face, he's looking around like there's somebody else I'm talking to, like it's some kind of mistake, like it's a dream he's waiting to be woken up from, and it's only when I say his name that he regains enough composure to even meet my eyes.

"I don't – no, I just – I don't understand," he's saying over and over again and I realize he doesn't know he's doing it.

"Aaron, plea-"

"No, no, we-" he's gesturing back and forth at the air between us, "we used- we used," and he laughs a cold, hard laugh like he believes this is some kind of joke.

"I know," I say, my voice breaking. I look down at my hands. "But those don't always work."

I stare at him staring at the floor for what feels like an eternity. Finally I break the silence.

"Aaron, are you okay?" I say timidly, already afraid to hear the answer.

He looks up at me like he forgot I was there, like he's surprised that I'm still here, wondering why I haven't just vanished into thin air by this point.

I'm kind of starting to wonder the same thing myself.

He opens his mouth like he's about to say something but then closes it. He shuts his eyes and takes a deep breath. I need him to say something. Anything. The anticipation is excruciating.

He opens his eyes. Bright, emerald green. "Love, how am I supposed to be okay?" he asks as he runs a hand down his face. He looks like he's pained. "I mean-" he begins to say. "What does this mean for us?"

Of course. The one question I have no idea how to answer. And I know he senses this too when I'm thinking for so long about how to respond but come up with nothing.

He lowers his voice just enough so that I can barely hear him. "Last time we had any conversation, you said you didn't know if you had feelings for me. After everything that happened that night."

I cringe, trying my hardest not to think back in too much detail about what I said to him. I feel like a horrible person for leading him on like I did.

Especially after he told me he loved me.

"Aaron," I say hesitantly, "I already explained that my feelings are just...complicated. It's not that I don't think you're a really great guy, it's just that..." my voice trails off. I stare out the window, at the rays of sunlight filling the room. I can feel his eyes on me, feel him thinking.

He looks at me, hard. "Kent." One word.

My head snaps back in an instant to look at him, my eyes wide. "Excuse me?"

He looks crazed. "I can't believe you're still devoting so much time to thinking about that idiotic, undeserving, cheating moron-"

My defense mechanism kicks in. I don't know why I choose to defend Adam, but I do. "Hey," I snap, "you have no right to talk about him like that!"

Warner scoffs. Looks away. "I can't even believe you're defending him," he says. "After he cheated on you. He doesn't deserve you, love. Why are you settling for someone like him when there are so many other people who would love you enough to be loyal-"

"Oh, like who?"

He glares at me, as if waiting for me to answer my own question. "Don't play dumb with me. You know what I'm talking about."

A long pause. "You still love me." It's not a question, it's a statement. A fact.

He doesn't respond to that. Instead, he leans back in his chair and says, "What is Kent going to think about all of this?" as he narrows his eyes and makes a circling motion with his hands as to reference whatever this is. "You do realize you're going to have to tell him that you're pregnant with my child."