Cowboy, Stay with Me

Chapter Thirty: Cat's Out

Lucy was striding down the corridor of the lodge. She wasn't even sure where she was headed exactly; she had vague plans of hiding in the bathroom again.

Suddenly, however, a powerful hand was wrapping around her arm and she was being turned sharply and steered down a different hallway.

"Hey!" She shouted.

"I swear to God, woman." Sean growled to himself, but Lucy heard him just fine.

When he got to his hotel room, he slid his key card and was about to muscle her straight through the door when she whirled on him and kicked him swiftly in the shin.

She hadn't even really meant to, it was simply a reaction to being manhandled.

Sean gritted his teeth to hold back the string of curses that wanted to burst forth. "Dammit, woman, if you weren't pregnant, I'd throw you over my shoulder right now." He informed her in a growl, then he gripped her by the shoulders, spun her around, and forced her forward through the bedroom door.

He released her when he slammed and locked the door behind him.

She stumbled back from him a few steps. "Sean, what're you doing?!"

"You can't just drop that on me and walk away!" He prowled towards her and she instinctually retreated from him.

He loosened his black tie in an impatient fashion and for some reason, that simple gesture made her panties wet.

"Sean-!" she tried again.

"No!" He said, quite forcefully, too. "I'm so sick of you running away from me! As soon as things get complicated-!"

"Me?!" She said, godsmacked.

"Yes, this whole time, you never stopped to ask me how I might actually feel on the matter!"

"You've made it pretty freaking clear! Kids terrify you, you don't want them-!"

"I said I wanted to take it slow!"

"Yeah, well, now I'm pregnant!"

"I can see that."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

He visibly stopped himself in his tracks and drew a deep breath. "Nothing. I'm sorry, we're getting nowhere this way. I just...I just can't believe it. How-how did this happen? I mean, I thought the last test you took was negative."

She flushed hot in the cheeks, but she held her ground, her hands fisted at her sides in defensive mode. "It was. Sometimes tests fail, you know."

They held and searched each other's eyes for a moment.

"I'm aware." He said in a flat voice. "But are you sure it's really mine, is what I'm saying. Could it be possible that Jake is perhaps the real father? I would just hate for you to play favorites."

Lucy wished she could say that she was more surprised by these cruel and usual words coming from him. But she knew Sean and he clearly hadn't changed all that much from when they'd been young and in love.

When Sean felt trapped; threatened or caged in any way, he tended to lash out and then bolt for the nearest exit. She knew this from painful personal experience.

That didn't make it any easier to take, however.

Before she was even fully aware of what she was doing, herself, she reared back and slapped him, as hard as she could.