Until Her (Sequel)

chapter eleven

I cried the entire way home, to the point where there wasn't a trace of makeup left on my face. When I finally walked through my door, I welcomed Bailey's kisses with open arms. I felt my body fall downwards against the wall, until I was on the kitchen floor besides Bailey. With her extra attention to people when she noticed sadness, she sat with me while I cried some more.

After a few minutes, I called for Carter. Not hearing any sign of him, I peeled off my heels and walked around looking for him. "Carter?"

Not in the shower, or the pool downstairs, or the balcony. He must still be at his press conference.

Without knowing what else to do, I showered, scrubbing this awful day from my body while Bailey patiently followed me around. Having her at my side made me feel safe, even if Warren was still locked up. I curled up in bed with Bailey, sporting fuzzy socks, cotton sweats, and an oversized Central sweatshirt I'd taken a pair of scissors to years ago.

An hour later, I heard Carter come through the door. I was so relieved to finally be in his arms again that I rose to my knees in expectation. He didn't walk into the room—he stormed in—fuming.

"What's wrong?" I begged.

He paced about the room, running his hands through his hair. "Adam. Adam Fucking James, that's who."

"Okay, slow down, Cart. Tell me what happened." I hopped out of bed to grab him, which finally got him to slow down. His hair was a mess from running his hands through it so angrily, his eyes were bloodshot and wide.

When he finally caught his breath, he looked down at me with guilty, concerned eyes. "Wait...no. Dammit, I'm sorry Chloe. This day is about you." He gripped my hips, waiting for me to patiently tell him about my day.

Tonight was not the night to tell him I was pregnant, this was not the moment. I would only stress him out more.

"It was okay. I'm okay." He held me to his chest, rubbing my back in circles.

"Thank God. I thought about you all day."

I gripped onto him, in hopes that we could comfort one another. "I'm not sure if my testimony was enough, but we'll see."

He leaned backwards to plant a kiss on my lips. "If it's not, you've got me. I'll protect us, Chloe."

A lump formed in my throat, knowing it wasn't just me he needed to protect.

"Uh... what happened tonight?" I ask, changing subject.

He proceeded slowly, making sure it was okay to talk about his night. I remained quiet, wanting to do anything but talk about my day. I would do it later, I promised myself. I would do it soon, when things calm down.

"Adam, he... he showed up at my press conference. Drunk," my mouth formed a perfect O. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Everything was going perfectly... I was so worried about you and I thought it was affecting the whole night, but it was going fine. Just when they wanted to do my exclusive, Adam storms in with big, red eyes, drunk off his ass. He yelled at the reporters, he put a finger in my face and said something about being his son. I don't know. I didn't make sense. None of it made sense!"

Why did Adam feel the need to ruin Carter's big night? What else could he possibly take from Carter?"

"He kept saying, you're my son. You're my son. Why didn't it stay that way... or something? It's all kind of a blur. I was so pissed I was seeing red."