Chapter 20

Donnie checked his cell phone. Again. What the hell was wrong with Teghan? He’d been so worried about her he hadn’t eaten or slept in days. Alex and Annabelle had been to see her and had assured him that Teghan was doing okay, but until he saw her with his own eyes, until he held her in his arms again, he wouldn’t have any peace.

If he’d only gone with her that night. If he’d been there, he might’ve been able to do something. Like what, he had no idea. And the reason he had no idea was because no one would tell him what was wrong with Teghan. But Donnie hadn’t gone with her. It’d been stupid. Teghan had needed him and he hadn’t been there for her.

More than once he’d found himself driving past her parent’s house, debating whether or not he should barge in and demand to see Teghan. Although he was pretty sure that would do nothing but land his sorry ass in jail. Rob was a prick like that.

He unlocked the door to his dorm, dropped his bag on the floor, and nearly dropped dead from heart failure. “Teghan?” His eyes widened and his mouth hung slack jawed.

“Hi, Donnie,” she said softly. “Alex let me in.”

“My, god,” he gasped, pulling her into his arms and kissing the breath from her. She felt like heaven. “Are you okay? What happened? Is the baby okay?”

Teghan drew a shaky breath, tears glistened in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Donnie. I should’ve listened to you. I never should’ve gone there. Oh God!”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. Shh.” Donnie held her head to his chest and waited for her to calm down enough to speak. A feeling of dread slowly seeped into his pores. Something was very wrong.

“I, I, I’m so sorry.”

Donnie sat on the bed and pulled Teghan onto his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him, sobs shook her shoulders. “Sorry for what, babe?”

“I lost the baby,” she whispered.

Her words shocked him to his core. His entire body went numb except for the wrenching pain in his chest. “How? I mean, uh, what happened?” She must’ve misspoken. The baby was fine. Teghan was fine. He’d just heard her wrong. That was all. They were fine.

“My father slipped something into my drink. It knocked me out and then he took me,” she swallowed visibly, “he took me to some doctor who gave me an abortion.”

“He did what?” he hollered. Seething hot anger didn’t come close to what Donnie felt. He wanted blood. More specifically he wanted Rob’s blood.

“I didn’t know…if I’d thought he would…I’m sorry.”

Donnie took her face into his hands and brushed her tears away. “This is not your fault, Teghan.”

“I feel like it is.” She stood. “If I had just listened to you and not gone there.”

“He would’ve just found another way to do it,” Donnie said standing. He ran a hand through his hair. “We can’t let him get away with it.”

“He already did, Donnie. It’s done. There’s nothing we can do about it.”

“Bullshit!”

Teghan winced at the harshness of his voice and he wanted to kick himself in the ass for being such an inconsiderate jerk. She’d been through hell and he hadn’t been there for her. He’d never forgive himself.

“He told me I’d miscarried, but I know the truth. I remember all of it. He’s my father. How could he do this to me?” Her tears had subsided and her voice became angry.

“I don’t know, Teghan, but we have to confront him. We have to let him know that we know, and then we have to go to the police,” Donnie said. He wanted Rob to pay for what he’d done to Teghan and their baby. A life sentence at a maximum security prison where he’d be forced to eat horrible food and get ass raped on a daily basis would be a start in Donnie’s opinion.

“No.” She shook her head. “I don’t want to see him ever again.”

“What? So you’re just going to forget about it? Act like it never happened?”

“I’ll never forget it, Donnie, but what good is it going to do to confront him? He’ll just deny it. And going to the police is a joke. We have no proof,” Teghan said.

“We have to do something.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know.” Donnie sighed with frustration. He couldn’t believe Teghan was being so calm about this. She should be screaming and yelling. Crying, sobbing, demanding revenge. Well if she wasn’t willing to do anything about it, he would. “But don’t you want to know why?”

“Why what?”

“Why he did it?”

“He did it because he’s a controlling bastard who couldn’t stand the fact that I wasn’t going to do exactly as he demanded,” Teghan said.

“I get that your father thinks the world should bow to him, but drugging his own daughter and forcing an abortion seems too far even for him.”

“I don’t know,” she whispered, tears falling from her eyes again.

“Come here,” he said, pulling her into his arms again. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you, babe. You know I love you, right?”

Teghan nodded. “Why weren’t you?”

“Huh?” He held her at an arm’s length and searched her face.

“Why weren’t you there, Donnie? What was more important than me and our baby?” Teghan stepped fully from his reach and crossed her arms over her chest.

He cleared his throat. “I had something to do for one of my classes.” At least that was partly true.

“And it couldn’t have waited?”

“No. Teghan, you have to know that I wanted to be there for you, but—"

“Save it. I don’t care,” she snapped.

“Why are you getting angry with me?” Donnie asked. She should be pissed at her father.

“I’m angry with everyone, Donnie. You, my father, my mother, myself. Everyone.”

“I told you not to go.” No sooner than the words were out of his mouth he regretted them. Teghan’s hand cracked him across the cheek. “Shit,” he said, clutching his face.

“You’re such an asshole.”

“God, I’m sorry, babe. I didn’t mean that.”

“Yes you did. You’re angry because I went and you told me not to. And I’m angry because you weren’t there with me. At least be man enough to admit it.”

“Fine,” he said through clenched teeth. “But that doesn’t mean I don’t love you, and it sure as hell doesn’t mean I’m going to let him get away with this.”

“For Christ’s sake, Donnie! It’s already done. Let it go.”

“I can’t.”

“Well you have to,” she shouted.

“Okay, okay, calm down. Turning on each other isn’t going to solve anything.”

“I just want the pain to go away.”

“I know, I know.” He cupped her face and kissed her softly on the lips. “Have you told anyone about any of this?”

“No, but Annabelle is getting suspicious. She can tell something is going on.”

“We can’t tell her. Or Alex. Or anyone for that matter.”

“Why not?” She pulled away from him.

“I just need you to trust me, okay?”

“Okay.”

Donnie simply held Teghan for two hours before she decided it was time to go back to her dorm. He’d practically begged her to stay with him, but she’d refused saying she wanted to be alone. Maybe it was for the best. It would give him time to take care of a few things. Once her car disappeared from his view, he dug out his cell phone.

“Rob Jacobs.”

“Hello, Mr. Jacobs,” Donnie said coolly.

“What the hell do you want?” Rob snapped.

“I just had an interesting talk with Teghan. She’s very upset with you, Rob. So am I.”

“Quite frankly I don’t give a shit how you feel about me. Now I’m going to give you exactly thirty seconds to tell me why you called and then I’m hanging up.”

“You’re a sick son of a bitch.”

“Twenty five seconds…twenty four…twenty three…”

“I love Teghan more than anything else in this world and you hurt her. You betrayed her because of some displaced hatred you have for me.”

“First of all, I have no idea what you’re referring to. And second of all, I can assure you that my hatred toward you is not displaced.”

“Cut the shit, Rob. We both know what you did. Teghan remembers everything,” Donnie said, his voice full of satisfaction.

Silence.

“So,” Donnie continued. “I have a proposition for you.”

“Go on,” Rob said.

“I don’t want to be the reason Teghan gets hurt again. So I’m willing to get out of her life. For good.”

“What’s the catch?”

“No catch, just a couple of conditions.” Donnie started to walk toward his car, kicking pebbles along the way. “First, I want a hundred thousand dollars in cash.”

Rob snorted. “I should’ve known.”

Donnie ignored the disgust in Rob’s voice. “I want it tonight and I want you to deliver it to me. Then I’ll go back to Pennsylvania and you and Teghan will never see me again.”

“Why should I believe you?”

Donnie chuckled. “You probably shouldn’t, but if you care about your daughter at all then you will.”

“If you’re lying to me I will make sure it’s the last lie you ever tell,” Rob said.

“I have no doubts about it.” Egotistical, rotten, prick.

“Very well then. There’s an empty warehouse on VanDung Street. Use the side door and I’ll meet you there in two hours.”

Donnie smiled, flipped his phone closed, and climbed into his car.

***

“Are you drunk?” Annabelle asked Teghan.

“Yes, I think I am,” Teghan said with a silly grin. “Want some?” She held out the bottle. Okay, so she was far from being drunk, but that really wasn’t any of Annabelle’s business.

“It’s three o’clock in the afternoon, Teghan. Did you even go to any of your classes today?”

“Nope.” She chugged from the bottle of liquor and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

“What the hell is going on with you? You haven’t been to a single class in over a week, you’re drinking all the time, and you’re hanging out with an entirely new group of people that you used to hate.” Annabelle propped her hands on her hips and glared at Teghan.

“Don’t forget about this.” Teghan lifted her shirt and revealed a navel piercing.

“Are you kidding me, Teeg? A belly ring? Next thing I know you’ll be getting a tramp stamp.”

“You sound like my mother. Lighten up.” Although that wasn’t entirely true. Teghan hadn’t spoken to her mother since she left their house, but she guessed if her mom actually cared that’s what she’d sound like. Of course her mom would have to call her first and Mommy Dearest hadn’t.

Annabelle grabbed the bottle from Teghan. “It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.”

Good god, Annabelle could be a downer at times. She was always such a good girl, so smart and level-headed. It annoyed the crap out of Teghan.

“What about Donnie?”

“What about him?” Teghan asked. She talked to him daily, but she hadn’t seen him since she’d told him about the baby. That was almost a week ago. Every time he tried to make plans to see her, she’d give him an excuse. Some of them were pretty lame and the fact that he bought them kind of pissed her off. She was starting to believe that maybe Donnie did blame her for losing the baby.

“You’ve been acting crazy ever since you came back from your parent’s house. Are you sure you’re over whatever it was you had?”

Yeah, right. Like she could ever get over it. “I’m fine. Now can I please have my drink back?”

“No and if you don’t tell me what’s going on with you right now, I’m going to turn you in to the RA for having alcohol in the dorm. Then I’m going to call your father,” Annabelle threatened.

Teghan snorted. “Like he’d care.”

“Goddamnit! What is the matter with you?”

“You wanna know what’s wrong with me?” Teghan shouted and stood from her bed. “I’ll tell you what’s wrong. Donnie told me not to go to my dad’s that night, but I didn’t listen to him. Rob and I argued. I was upset and stressed out and I had a miscarriage.” Aw, crap. She wasn’t supposed to tell Annabelle. She’d promised Donnie.

“A miscarriage? You were pregnant?” Annabelle cupped her hand over her mouth and gasped. “God, Teghan, I’m so sorry sweetie.”

Teghan chewed on her bottom lip as more tears fell from her eyes. She’d cried so much since it’d happened she didn’t think it was possible to cry anymore. “I think Donnie blames me.”

“I doubt that. He loves you.”

“It doesn’t matter. I blame myself enough for the both of us,” Teghan said, wiping her eyes.

“Why didn’t you tell me? I could’ve helped you.”

“How?”

“I don’t know.” Annabelle shrugged. “I could’ve gone with you to your dad’s or…”

“It hurts, Annie. It hurts so much I can’t stand it.”

Annabelle hugged Teghan. “Have you talked to anyone about this?”

“No.”

“Locking yourself in this room, drinking the day away isn’t helping. You need to talk to Donnie and you need to get on with your life. And you need to stop blaming yourself,” Annabelle said releasing her.

Before Teghan had a chance to respond her cell phone rang. It was a text message from Donnie.

*meet me @ Pappys in 20 min. urgent.*

Teghan rolled her eyes. That’s the last thing she wanted to do tonight. She was physically and emotionally depleted. The only thing that appealed to her was climbing into bed, pulling the covers over her head, and forgetting the world existed.

“Who is it?” Annabelle asked.

“Donnie. He wants me to meet him at Pappy’s.”

“You should go, Teghan. You two need to talk. I’ll drive you if you want me to.”

“No, that’s okay. I only had a couple swallows from that bottle. I’m fine,” Teghan said, grabbing a sweater and pulling it on. “Do me a favor, Annie. Please don’t tell anyone what I told you. Not even Alex.”

“Sure, of course.”

“Thanks.” Teghan clutched her keys in her hand, smiled weakly, and left to go meet Donnie.