Chapter 10

Ava’s POV

I stopped talking when I had noticed that he wasn’t listening to me anymore. He had some faraway look on his face and his grip on my arm wasn’t so tight anymore. I tried to get up and leave but his eyes snapped to me. I flinched and scooted back on the couch.

What had possessed me to say I was pregnant? I was just so angry, and I thought telling him I was pregnant was going to get him to let me go. I was very wrong. He looked at me dead in the eye when I tried to escape from his grip and the look in his eyes made me stop.

“You’re pregnant,” Logan said. I didn’t respond because I didn’t think he was expecting a response. I just looked at him warily.

He had gone through a 180 change. First, he was looking at me like I had done something terrible, and not going to lie, I was really scared. The hostility was no longer as present in his eyes now. For that at least I was glad.

“You told me you were on the pill. Or did you lie?”

I almost rolled my eyes, but I didn’t want to make the man even more angry than he already was. He looked dangerous, and even though he had not hit me since I got in here, I was scared.

“I was on the pill. The doctor says it fails sometimes.”

There was silence. I didn’t know what it meant. Was he processing it? I mean, I guessed that was normal. I didn’t expect him to jump with joy at the news. But I didn’t expect the next question that came either.

“Is it mine?”

I turned surprised eyes on him. Was he seriously asking me if the baby was his? We both knew he was the first man I had ever had sexual relations with, unless he had conveniently forgotten that tiny detail.

“I was a virgin when I met you, if you don’t remember.” I wasn’t going to lose my dignity over this man. If he didn’t want to believe me, then I was going to do this on my own. It was going to be extremely difficult. But I was going to manage. Just like I always did.

“You could have had others when you left me.”

My mouth almost dropped open at the implication. If he didn’t want the baby, it was fine. But insult my character and make it seem like I was a slept with anything that moved was just despicable.

“It’s fine if you don’t believe me,” I said in a quiet voice. “But I am not going to sit here and be insulted.”

To his benefit, he looked chagrined for a moment. But I was certain that I had just imagined the look because it was gone as soon as it came. He had the grace to apologize though.

“When did you find out you were pregnant?” Logan asked.

“About a week ago,” I answered.

“And you only just decided to tell me.”

He was getting me angry with all his stupid remarks.

“I wasn’t even sure I was going to keep the baby!” I exclaimed, feeling like I was pushed to the wall. It was not a very pleasant feeling. I had told myself I wouldn’t allow anyone to boss me around or degrade me, and it didn’t matter that this man was extremely attractive, he wasn’t going to have the opportunity to do either: I wasn’t going to let him.

“You wanted to abort my baby?”

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. If it went on like this, I was going to give in to my most basic instincts and hit this man. I wasn’t a violent person, but he was testing my patience.

First, he had manhandled me like I was some kind of object, treated me like I was nothing. I could actually see track marks where he held me on my arm. Then he had proceeded to be disrespectful and degrading, calling me princess in that condescending way. He was an asshole and I regretted that I had even come here to tell him about the baby.

“You still won’t let me leave?” I asked, ignoring his stupid question. So what if I had thought of aborting the baby? Did he know how badly I had been affected when I found out I was pregnant?

“Not until I am satisfied by all of your answers,” he said then shrugged, like whatever he was doing was completely justified.

“Hold on a minute! I came here, trying to tell you the news in a peaceful way. But no, you rough handled me, bruised my arm, screamed at me, and left me with some bear of a man. Now you want to listen to what I have to say? I don’t feel like talking anymore.”

I sat there in silence. I could be extremely stubborn. And he was going to learn that today. I hated disrespectful and condescending people. And today he had been both.

“I don’t give a flying fuck if you don’t feel like talking anymore. You’re going to tell me everything about that baby, and you’re going to do it right away.”

I pretended he hadn’t spoken, looking down at my bag. I was tempted to remove my phone and start texting Hana, but I had a strong feeling that if I did that, I would find the device shattered in one million pieces of the room. I wasn’t willing to take that chance.

I heard him chuckle. But I didn’t look up.

“You don’t want to talk? That’s fine by me. But you should know that I wouldn’t let you leave until you tell me whatever I want to know.”

I weighed the options and sighed. I wanted to continue being stubborn and pretend like he wasn’t staring at me, but I was hungry and tired, and I wanted a good home cooked meal, a long bath and some rest. None of that was going to happen if I did not tell him whatever he needed to hear.

“What do you want to know?” I asked, crossing my arms and staring at him.

His expression was smug, but in his defense, he didn’t gloat; not physically anyways cause his expression told me everything his mouth refused to.

“How far along are you?”

“About a month.”

Logan stared at me without acknowledging my response or asking any other question. I was getting madder by the instant. And what made me the most frustrated is that he literally had me by the neck here. I couldn’t do anything. Truly.

“Where are the test results?”

“Are you going to keep asking me unrelated questions then not acknowledge me when I answer them? ’Cause you are getting on my nerves,” I said crossly.

“Are you trying to stall ’cause you don’t have proof that you actually are pregnant?” His tone was condescending, and it was annoying the shit out of me. I wasn’t dumb. I knew he would have doubts about the pregnancy before I came here. So I had come prepared.

I opened my purse and removed the copy of the test results I had made, twisted it and shot it in his face. I could tell it took him by surprise and he probably wanted to do something. The murderous look on his face gave him away.

“What? Want to rough handle me some more?”

I was walking on thin ice here. The man had shown me earlier that he had no qualms with getting violent. And I was taking a huge risk here by talking to him rudely. But it was my only way of retaliation.

I let out a little sigh of relief as he picked up the twister paper and opened it up. He scanned it for a few seconds and looked up at me. I expected him to refute my claims—actually, after what had happened and tell me to get out. But he didn’t do that. Just stood up.

“Wait here. If you try anything, Bear will not be as gentle as the first time.” That was all he said before leaving me there.

I looked over at the man Logan called Bear and shuddered a little. He looked even more terrifying with that murderous look on his face. And it told me that if I tried anything, he wasn’t going to hesitate this time.

I swallowed the tears of frustration that were coming up and sat in the chair. There was nothing I could do, and I knew it. I hated it. I wished I had never thought coming here to tell him he had gotten me pregnant. I wished I had never even met him and slept with him.

Logan was still as attractive as the first day we met. And my hormones were going haywire trying to make me take notice of that fact. But it did not matter. He was a Grade A asshole. He had managed to hide it well enough. I would never have had anything to do with him if he had turned out to be an overbearing asshole.

Or maybe I’m just lying to myself. I would have probably looked past the attitude and come back home with him. The had I known’s were not my style. It was of no use lamenting. Whatever had happened had already happened. I just had to deal with whatever life had to throw at me next.

I don’t know how or when I slept off, but I woke up to someone carrying me. I almost thought I was dreaming so I clung to him and sighed when I was placed on a soft and comfortable bed. The person wanted to leave so I placed a hand on his arm and said, “Stay,” in a whisper.

After a little bit of hesitation, the person slid in behind me. I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. I had always been the type of person who slept better with someone else in bed, no matter who it was. And when I woke up, I felt well rested, a feeling that had been hard to find since I discovered that I was pregnant.

I woke with someone’s arm around my waist. I stiffened. This bed didn’t feel like mine. And the arm around my waist definitely wasn’t Hana’s. It was too big, too large, too heavy. It felt good. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that the hand was on my fucking waist.

I threw it off and sat up in bed, looking around. I recognized it vaguely from that morning I had left from here. It was Logan’s obviously, and he was the one who was in bed with me.

I looked down at him and he was staring at me levels. I flinched and screamed.

“Why are you in bed with me?” I asked shrilly. I hated how I sounded like a nag. But this was a strange man, the man who had gotten me pregnant and had had no qualms treating me with no respect at all.

“You asked me to stay,” he said simply, sliding out of bed and stretching.

I widened my eyes as his shirt rode up a little, exposing his navel and some of his abs. I looked away quickly. I wasn’t going to get intimidated by his obviously great body. That was the last thing on my mind.

“I would never ask you to stay in bed with me. For excuses, that’s a weak one.”

“You asked me to get in bed with you when I wanted to tuck you in.”

“I did not—”

“Look, I’m not going to fucking argue about this. What you’re going to do now is get your ass out of bed so we can go to the living room and discuss what the way forward is. Am I clear?”

Logan didn’t wait for a response. He just stalked out of the room. My heart was beating so hard. At his tone, my heartbeat had accelerated. Even though I was trying hard not to accept it, I had to admit that him speaking in that tone was hot. But then again, that was the least of my issues.

I got out of the bed completely and straightened my clothes, hoping that I didn’t look too much like a disheveled mess. I went to the bathroom and stared at my reflection for a few seconds. I didn’t look any different. You would never guess that I was pregnant, and that I was butting heads with the father of my baby. But then again, appearances were not the best thing to base ourselves on.

I washed my hands and got out of the bathroom. Then I headed downstairs. Little by little, snippets of what I had asked him to do came to mind and I felt like dying. I knew being pregnant required a whole lot of work, but just falling asleep on his couch? That was terrible. This man had been so disrespectful to me, and he had made me question all the decisions I took concerning the baby. As far as things went, he was the enemy. And I needed to start treating him like one. I wasn’t going to fawn over him. Never.

He was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. I went down slowly, trying not grimace as my sore body protested. I had not been sleeping very well and these were the results.

It seemed I did not hide my pain very well because Logan came up to me and helped me down. I was surprised but I didn’t say a word. We moved to the living room in silence and sat on the couch opposite each other. While I could feel his gaze on me, I avoided his.

“Look…” he started, then he trailed off. “What’s your name?”

I felt that red hot feeling of embarrassment take over me. It came back to me. How I had asked for his name, and he hadn’t even bothered to return the favor. How I had pined for a man who didn’t even know what I was called.

But now was not the time to be bitter.

“Ava. Ava Summers,” I bit out, staring at him straight this time around. No matter how dominant he was, I wasn’t going to back down.

“Ava,” he said, testing the name, and I hated myself for blushing. There was just one stupid rush of heat that came over me when he said my name like that. “I would like to apologize for my behavior this afternoon. I was rude and disrespectful. I will be honest, I still have my doubts about the paternity of the baby—” I bit my lip to stop myself from giving a scathing reply, “—but all that can be resolved later. I will take you to my personal doctor and he will be in charge of you from now on. You will call me before every appointment, and if I can’t be there, you will notify me of everything that is going on. Is that clear?”

Wow, how the tables had turned.