She hated that.
Staring at the door, Teal didn’t know what she was waiting for. Her heart was broken. She carried a baby. Jaxson’s baby. She didn’t want to be in love with him anymore. No more. But she couldn’t stop the way she felt.
Placing a hand on her stomach, she knew it was too early to even feel it kick, but a part of her wanted to feel that. To feel her child moving around inside her.
She couldn’t help but wonder what Jaxson was doing right now. Had he already moved on? Was there another woman? Was there a student at school who captivated him?
Teal pressed her hands to her face and squeezed her eyes shut. That thought didn’t do him justice. He had promised her that there was no one else. That he prided himself on never falling for a student. There was no one like her. She was his first and only. He didn’t lie about that.
She sat up, suddenly annoyed with herself. Why was she doing this? He was just a guy, and she didn’t have to fall apart over this.
So, her heart was breaking.
So, she was pregnant with his child.
So, he was the first man she had ever fallen in love with.
She pushed off the bed and then stopped. But that was the point. She loved him, completely, with all her heart and soul. Nothing was ever going to change that. Tears filled her eyes once again.
Jaxson. Her soul mate.
She didn’t give a fuck that he was older than her or that he was once her teacher. Some people would see him as taking advantage, but not her. Teal wanted him.
Clenching her hands into fists, she refused to do this. There was no way she was going to fall. No way at all. She now had a baby on the way, and she needed to be strong.
Taking a deep breath with a newfound sense of focus, she released her breath, glanced toward the door, and decided she would make a plan with her mother. She would have to tell Jaxson she was pregnant. She’d need to find him. Even though they weren’t together, he still had a right to know she was pregnant with his child.
Teal stepped out of her bedroom and walked down the corridor, heading toward the main sitting room, and as she did, she came to a stop.
There, on the sofa, opposite her mother, was Jaxson Rebel. The man she loved more than anything, the father of her unborn child. He was there.
Her mother saw her first and stood. “Teal.”
Jaxson stood and turned. He had more than a day’s stubble on his chin.
“Jaxson,” she said.
He didn’t look so good. In fact, she would have to admit he looked terrible.
He didn’t say anything. She watched as he rounded thesofa, and then in a few steps, he was in front of her. Teal didn’t say anything, not even as he pulled her into his arms and held her tightly.
All she could think about was that it was about time he showed up.
****
He tried. He freaking tried. That was all Jaxson could think about.
He knew he should have left her alone, but the truth was, he was dying inside, and it was only getting worse.
The love he felt for Teal wasn’t going away. He didn’t believe in the cursed houses, nor did he care about them. What he did believe in was the here and now. He was done waiting another moment without Teal by his side.
Jaxson had been trying to find the contact details for Teal when Bethany arrived at his home. She had located him just yesterday. She had told him straight that even though she was angry he’d been with her daughter and there were many rules that were broken. As a woman who had fallen in love with an older man and knowing what it was like to be apart from him, she wasn’t going to cause any trouble. Teal had been through enough.
She had also told him that Teal was pregnant. That she was going to see a doctor to have it confirmed and that, little by little, she was dying inside. He didn’t want his woman dying. He didn’t want her feeling anything but love and devotion.
Holding her in his arms, finally, after so long apart, he pressed his face to her neck and breathed her in.
“Jaxson, what are you doing here?”