Hitch Pepper

5.3 | Lied

**this chapter may be upsetting to some***

"I LIED TO you. Something did happen that night. Something awful, and I wish I could go back and stop it from happening, but I can't."

I stood still, waiting with bated breath for her to continue.

She couldn't even look me in the eye, her eyes on anything else but me as she said, "Stanley was there that night—Stanley Gibbs. And he—and he—well, he made me—he was there when I got out of the bathroom, and he—oh, Jules." She put her head in her hands, voice thick with emotion when she said, "He made me cheat on you."

"What?" I felt sick.

"I—I didn't want to, honestly, but he—he just—ugh. I'm so sorry, Jules. So, so sorry. I didn't want it to happen."

I stared at her. "Hitch, did he . . . force himself on you?"

She dropped her hands, wrapping her arms around her torso as tears streamed down her cheeks. "Yes, kind of. He made me—made me—oh, I don't wanna say it." Her hands were back over her face.

I reached forward and pulled her to me, pressing her against my chest. "You don't have to say it, Hitch. You're fine."

She pulled back. "I'm not, though! I didn't fight back or anything! I just—I just let it happen! I froze up and let it happen! But I didn't want it to happen!"

I watched her as she swiped at her eyes and sniffled. "Is this why you left? Because you 'cheated' on me?"

Hitch nodded. "Yeah."

"But you didn't cheat," I pointed out.

"Jules, I didn't stop it. I let it happen. And—and there's more stuff that goes along with it, but I can't get into all that right now. I don't like talking about it, and I'm worried I'll put stress on the baby."

I nodded, gently reaching forward to pull her into my arms again. "That's fine, Hitch. Come here."

She stilled in my arms, frowning up at me. "You're not mad at me?"

"No. The only person I'm mad at is Stanley. And myself. I should've been there for you. I should've been there to stop him."

"No, I should've stopped him—"

"Hitch, I don't think you can stop guys like that. At least not without getting yourself hurt." I shook my head to myself and pulled her closer to me. "You didn't need to leave how you did, Hitch. I would've understood if you explained everything. None of this is your fault. You shouldn't feel bad about something like that happening to you."

She sighed, dropping her forehead to my chest. "There's more, though. I haven't told you the full story yet. When I do, you'll know why I did what I did—why I'm not good for you."

"Don't talk like that."

"You'll understand one day." I just sighed and rubbed her back. "And I'm sorry about Byron. I never thought you'd see us together." She wrapped her arms around me. "I was only with him because I needed a place to crash, and I didn't like him like I made it seem. He was just someone to keep my mind off of everything, and I was always so drunk or stoned that I hardly even remember being with him. Not until we got into a big fight right before I found out I was pregnant. I left him after that, and have been crashing at Reggie's ever since."