I Never Thought

Chapter 39

Chloe's POV

"Please say something," he pleaded almost silently, taking in the tears that had started to stream down my face. They dripped down my neck as I sat still in his passenger seat, scared that if I moved, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from breaking down into hysterics. Over the last few days, I hadn't had much control over my emotions which means that almost everything under the sun had some impact on me. From seeing a puppy on the TV to Starbucks being out of matcha powder for my latte. One could only imagine how this news from Chase was affecting me; I wanted to curl up and disappear.

What do you want me to say to that? I wanted to ask him. You chose my brother over me. When you said that you had it under control and that you wouldn't let what we have affect your friendship, this wasn't what I had in mind.

"Chloe," he urged and attempted to hold my hand but I pulled away involuntarily. He seemed to have been taken aback by my rejection but recollected himself and placed his hand back into his lap.

Giving up on trying to get me to talk, he said with a strain to his voice "I really hope you understand why I had to do this. Believe me, it was the last thing I wanted to do but it is the right thing. I'm sorry for wasting your time."

With my knees turned away from him, I rested my head on the window as he began to drive. I couldn't shake the utter shock that my mind, body, and soul were in. Did I just get broken up with by the father of my unborn child? We weren't even together yet, but he broke up with me? Would he change his mind if he found out? The thought of just blurting it out crossed my mind but I decided against it. I needed more time to process everything.

Out of all the times that he could have done this, he chose the moment before I started my first day at my new job. Chase was good at a lot of things, but timing wasn't one of them. I finally moved by lifting my arm to wipe my damp cheeks and he glanced at me for a short second before turning his eyes back to the road. I could tell that he wanted to say something else but he knew better because I wasn't going to participate in a conversation with him.

I wanted to be away from him, as far away as possible. By the time we were fifteen silent minutes into the drive, I was itching to be out of his car. My knee bounced up and down as he inched his way through traffic.

Between me trying with all my strength to not cry again and fighting the urge to completely curse him out, I found myself succumbing to an overwhelming wave of nausea. My palm grasped my stomach and I sat up straight in my seat. Trying not to think about throwing up, a low groan came my mouth and I slapped my hand over it. Chase noticed and glanced at me again, a concerned look spread across his face.

Don't throw up, don't throw up, I chanted in my mind, taking advantage of the mind over matter idiom. How unfortunate would it be if I threw up in Chase's car? As much as I wanted to pettily vomit on his floor in return of him hurting me, I decided against it.

With my hand squeezing tightly over my mouth, I felt the uncontrollable twisting and turning of my insides. I wasn't going to be able to stop it, it was coming.

"Are you o-"

"Pull over," I told him through my fingers, my eyes wide and alert.

"What? why?"

"Stop the freaking car," I demanded in a louder tone, grasping the door handle while my knees continued bouncing up and down.

Not questioning me again, he immediately pulled over into the breakdown lane of the freeway. With no hesitation, I pushed the door open and hauled myself over the seat before projectile vomiting onto the asphalt.

"What the hell, Chloe are you alright?" I felt the warmth of his hand against my back.

My eyes squeezed shut as I continuously gagged, my body dispersing the contents of my breakfast. I was barely aware of his hand rubbing large, comforting circles over my sweater as I strained to stop myself from hurling even more. This continued for another two minutes and when I finally was able to stop, I collapsed back into the seat, exhausted breaths heaving from me.