Death of a Waterfall (The Hayden Falls Saga) (26 page)

Chapter Twenty-one

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 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 he hadn't gone with her. It had 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. The two times he had caved and done it, Rob had threatened him so he'd had no choice but to leave. He unlocked the door to his dorm room, 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 glistening 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. They were all fine.

"My father slipped something into my drink. It knocked me out 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, and Donnie wouldn't rest until that's exactly what he had.

"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." Several ideas raced through his mind all at once: cutting the brake lines on Rob's car, beating him until he bled to death, poisoning him, shooting him in the head.

"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, babe, but we have to confront him. We have to let him know that we know 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. Although the thought of dealing with Rob himself was appealing too.

"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." He couldn't believe she was even suggesting this. There was no way in hell he was going to let his go. Rob had crossed the line, and there was no coming back from that.

"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 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 pulled her into his arms. "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. This was not a conversation he wanted to have right now. "I had something to do for one of my classes." At least that was partly true, and it would have to suffice for now, because telling her the truth would devastate her. Teghan had been through enough. She couldn't handle anymore, and he sure as hell didn't want to be the one to push her over the edge. Besides, if he told her, she would more than likely leave him and they needed each other right now.

"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. 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. Damn it, that hurt!

"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?" A plan formed in his mind, and he needed to make sure no one knew anything if it was going to work. Robert Jacobs would pay for what he'd done.

"Okay."

Donnie simply held Teghan as she cried. He'd thought growing up without a father was the worst thing in the world. He had been wrong. Having a father like Robert Jacobs was so much worse. Donnie stroked her hair. "What can I do, babe? What can I do to help you?" God, he had to do something. He'd never felt so helpless in his life.

She sat up and looked at him. "I just want to forget all about this and move on. I want to try to get back some level of normalcy."

He didn't fully agree with her wanting to forget about what happened, but he would do whatever he could to help her through this. "Okay, there's a fraternity party this weekend. Do you want to go?"

"Yeah, I think I do." She smiled weakly. "Annabelle asked if we wanted to double date with her and her new boyfriend. Are you okay with that?"

"Sure. The party is Saturday night, so maybe we can do the double date on Friday?"

Teghan nodded. "Thank you."

Donnie smiled and slid his hand into her hair behind her ear, his thumb stroking her cheek. "I'd do anything for you, Teghan. Don't ever forget that." He brought her mouth to him and kissed her softly. In that moment, he vowed to do anything and every in his power to show her just how far he was willing to go for her.

~ * ~

The following day Teghan sat in the dining hall surrounded by Logan, Harmonie, Annabelle, and Annabelle's new boyfriend, Carter. They were all talking and laughing. Teghan tried to get involved in the conversation. She tried to show an interest in the jokes they were telling, but her heart wasn't into it. She stabbed at her salad with her fork and sighed. Her cell phone vibrated. It was a text from Donnie. For the first time that day, she smiled a genuine smile.

"That must be Donnie," Annabelle said with a wink.

"Yeah," Teghan said with a nod. "He's just checking to see how I'm feeling." The story was she'd been sick with some sort of undiagnosed virus. Only she, Donnie, and her father knew the truth. Teghan desperately wanted to tell Annabelle, but Teghan had promised Donnie she wouldn't just yet, so she stuck to the ridiculous story her father had concocted.

"Aww, how sweet." Annabelle giggled and nudged Carter with her shoulder. "You could take a lesson or two from that guy."

Carter laughed. "Is that the guy who showed up at the stroke of midnight and proclaimed his love for you?" he said to Teghan.

Teghan wadded up her straw wrapper and threw it at Annabelle. "I can't believe you told him that." She laughed. It seemed like it had been ages since she'd laughed. It felt good.

"Are you kidding? That's a great story, Teeg." Annabelle smiled.

Teghan rolled her eyes even though she was still smiling. New Year's Eve had been pretty incredible. That was the night Donnie returned and told her how much he loved her, how much he wanted to have the baby…the baby…her smiled faded and she fought back tears. Teghan cleared her throat. "So, what are the plans for Friday night?"

"We were thinking it might be fun to go bowling," Annabelle said.

"That does sound like fun," Teghan agreed. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been bowling--it was probably that time she'd gone in high school with Annabelle, Trevor, and Alex. "Should we get something to eat first?"

"We can just grab a pizza there."

"Okay." Teghan smiled. She was really looking forward to it. "Well, it's been fun, but I have to get to class." She stood, said goodbye to her friends and left. Due to her 'illness' she had missed the first two weeks of the semester and was now playing catch up. It sucked, but it kept her busy, which meant she had less time to dwell on the whole thing with her father. Not that it mattered much. Thoughts of her baby and what happened crept into her mind at the most random times. She was doing a good job of pushing them away though.

~ * ~

Teghan sat next to Donnie and watched as Annabelle took her turn. Annabelle held the bowling ball up in front of her, lined it up, swung it back, and rolled it down the lane. Teghan watched the ball make a perfectly straight line down the lane and knock down all of the pins. Annabelle jumped up and down and squealed with excitement. Teghan laughed. She didn't know why Annabelle was so excited. It was like the tenth strike Annabelle had gotten since they started bowling over two hours ago.

"You didn't tell me she was so good," Donnie said, putting his arm around Teghan's shoulders.

"Yeah, I was hoping maybe she would've lost her touch." Teghan laughed. It was obvious that hadn't happened.

"At this rate we might have to start cheating," Donnie teased. "Maybe plug the finger holes on her ball, or grease it up so it slips out of her hands."

Annabelle laughed. "Don't even think about it." She plopped down on Carter's lap and planted a juicy kiss on his lips.

Teghan smiled at how happy Annabelle looked. Annabelle always took care of Teghan and the rest of their little group, so if anyone deserved some happiness, it was Annabelle. And Carter seemed like a great guy. He doted on Annabelle.

"Hey, you okay?" Donnie whispered and nuzzled her neck.

His lips curled around her earlobe and Teghan closed her eyes, leaning into him. She loved it when he did that. It always felt so good. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little tired. It's been a long week."

"Want me to take you home?" His voice was suggestive.