…Emmie…

I wasn’t sure how long I cried. An hour, maybe even a full day. My head was throbbing by the time my tears dried, and I fell asleep for a few hours. When I woke up, the headache was a dull ache but my heart was still hurting. I let out a shaky sigh and glared off into space.

I had thought I was over the whole Nik and Gabriella thing. Of course with my hormones in ten different directions thanks to being pregnant I had made a liar of myself. I wasn’t sure if I would ever fully get over Nik having slept with Gabriella.

I could still see the look in that little bitch’s eyes as she walked toward me the year before. I could still hear the amusement in her voice as she had said the words that had been like a physical punch to the stomach.

“You should have told me Nik was so talented with his tongue,” the beautiful Italian musician had said, her brown eyes alight with laughter. “He really takes care of his women.”

Up until that moment I had been undecided if I liked Gabriella Moreitti or not. I had watched her for a while and noticed both positive and negative things about her that could have tipped the scale either way. She was talented, could rock hard, and didn’t back down from anything. All pluses. She was also vain, vindictive, and a snob. Not pluses. But I had promised Axton that I would reserve judgment for a while because he had liked her.

I was sure all women had a sixth sense when it came to another woman’s weaknesses. I had four, and only one of them could actually break my heart into a million pieces. Gabriella must have known that and had shattered me almost completely the day she told me how good of a lover she found Nik to be.

In that moment Gabriella Moreitti had become public enemy number one in my book. I hated that bitch with everything inside of me. If Jesse hadn’t come along and stepped between me and the little Italian violinist, I was sure I would have scratched her pretty eyes out of her beautiful face.

I couldn’t understand how Nik could be so upset over a little kiss between me and Axton, a man that was nearly as close to me as Jesse, Drake, and Shane. He had no right to try to put up walls between me and Axton when I should have been the one doing that so he wasn’t around Axton’s girlfriend so often.

Rubbing a hand over my tear-stained and swollen face I headed into the bathroom and showered. It was dark outside, telling me I had slept for more than seven hours. The steam from the hot shower made me feel just a little better, but I was also starting to feel stupid. I had no right to be mad a Nik for something he had done when we weren’t even together. He said he loved me now, and that was all that mattered.

I dressed in a pair of sweat pants and one of Nik’s shirts. My stomach was growling and the craving for a bacon sandwich was making my mouth water. When I walked downstairs I could hear Jesse, Drake, and Shane talking in the living room. A Boston Red Sox game was on and they were losing. Shane wasn’t happy.

Not feeling up to facing them after my humiliating outburst earlier, I bypassed the living room and took the long way to the kitchen. To my surprise there was some freshly fried bacon in a bowl, the grease draining onto a folded paper towel. Not questioning my good luck, I grabbed the bread and the jar of mayo from the fridge.

I stuffed a crispy piece of bacon into my mouth as I added some sliced tomato to my sandwich. My mind was completely on making my sandwich, eager to satisfy the baby’s cravings.

“How are you feeling?”

I jumped at the sound of a voice I definitely hadn’t been expecting. Frowning, I turned to find Axton standing by the back door. “What are you doing here?” I demanded with a smile.

“Nik asked me to come.” He shrugged, leaning against the wall by the door, watching me with that sly grin of his. The thing I loved most about Axton was that I never knew when he was being serious or not. That was also the thing I hated most about him. You had to truly know him before you could figure out his tells. He seemed laid back and carefree, but I knew that he was just the opposite.

Over the years, as we had become closer friends, he had told me a little about his past. He came from a crazy rich family that had never supported his love and passion for music, especially rock. His mother had had her own plans for him. Axton would become a lawyer, take over the family business, and marry a girl that his mother thought was appropriate. Not the type of person to just let someone dictate his life, Axton had simply told her to go fuck herself and had signed on with Rich Branson the very next day with OtherWorld. I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t think that Axton had talked to his mother since.

I wiped some of the bacon grease from my fingers, trying to digest what Axton had just said. Nik asked him to come? But Nik had been completely against Ax coming at all. “Where is Nik?” I hadn’t heard him in the living room earlier.

“Sitting out on the beach, drinking a beer.” Axton took a step toward me. “So Brie slept with Nik. Not.”

I blinked, confused by what he had just said. “What?”

He grimaced. “He didn’t sleep with her. Brie doesn’t even like Nik, as far as I know. Besides, Brie isn’t the type for one night stands. It took me freaking forever before she had sex with me. She’s old school Italian like that. Well, I guess not old school. She wasn’t a virgin waiting for her wedding night, but still.”

“Ax…”

“Nik loves you, Emmie.” His jaw tensed as he said the words. “More than anyone else ever can or will. I’m not telling you this because he asked me to. He did, but that’s not why I’m doing it. I’m telling you because you are probably my best friend in the fucking world, and I want you to be happy. Nik didn’t have sex with Gabriella. She’s a bitch, and I’m not sure why I even put up with her. She lied to you because she thought that I was into you, and that made her mad. So she hurt you to pay you back for something you never did.” Axton grimaced, running his fingers through his hair in a very un-Axton kind of way. Ax didn’t get frustrated to the point that he started tugging at his hair often.

The ache in my heart eased a little. “They really didn’t have sex?”

“Nope, I don’t think they have even been alone together.”

Tears filled my eyes and I turned away from Axton before he could see them. I wasn’t sure why I was crying again. Maybe it was because I felt like my heart had had a deep crack healed by Axton’s words. Maybe it was just because I was on some kind of hormonal overload because I was pregnant. Either way I hated crying, but that was all I seemed to be able to do!