Saving Her Billionaire

I felt like I was talking to somebody who would understand me for some odd reason, I felt like I was talking to somebody who would be able to get what I was trying to say and would not make assumptions about me based on what I told them. I don’t know, I guess I got the vibe that you were a very empathetic person, and over the course of the night I found this to be completely true. I talked to you because you helped me feel better, I swear that was the only reason, and that doesn’t mean that once I felt better I wanted to leave. I wanted to stay.”

“Then why did you run off?” said Phoebe. “After we had had s*x, why did you run off like that?”

“Once we were done,” said Nate, looking down. He did not speak for a moment. He sighed and his shoulders heaved as he did so. Phoebe was suddenly concerned. This man had lost his father a month ago. He had lost the most important person in his life based on how he was talking. She did not want to be so callous as to force him to tell her what she wanted to know. She didn’t want to force him to explain himself to her because she knew what grief was like, she knew how difficult it made it to become coherent. Having to explain all of this to her was probably a very tough experience for him.

Phoebe opened her mouth to tell him that he didn’t have to explain himself to her anymore, that he could do it when he was feeling better, that this was his counseling session and he only had to talk about things that would help him better understand what it was he was going through, but just as she opened her mouth to tell him these things Nate began to talk again.

“Once we were done, it was like the floodgates had opened,” said Nate. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but being with you had created a dam of sorts in my mind. The dam made all of the emotions that I was trying not to feel stay away from the center of my mind. It made me feel like everything I was trying to avoid did not matter and… and when we were done I felt all of those emotions come crashing back into me. I remembered that my father was dead, and I started to feel so guilty about the fact that I was having s*x with a beautiful girl mere hours after I had been told he was dead. I realized that I was the one that had to handle these things, I was the one that was supposed to take care of my family now that my father was dead. I realized that my mother and sister were alone, they were very scared and upset and I wasn’t there to take care of them. All in all, I just felt like I was being extremely irresponsible and that was what made me panic so much and run away. I shouldn’t have reacted like that. I had just gotten so emotionally intimate with you, I had just started to feel like I was getting connected to you, and now I was running away like none of that mattered. I should have talked to you and explained myself. I should have been more open with you. I’m sorry, Phoebe. I am so, so sorry.”

Phoebe was silent for a time. She honestly did not know what to say to him. She did not want him to feel so bad, of course, she didn’t want him to feel like he was a horrible person. She knew that he had been drunk, reeling from an emotional trauma. She knew that he had been acting rashly and irrationally, that he had not really known what he had been doing. She wanted him to feel better, wanted him to feel like what he was doing was normal because it truly was. It was something that anybody would do in this situation. It was normal behavior. It was unacceptable, but normal is very rarely acceptable so that was absolutely fine.

She looked at him. This was the father of her child. The realization hit her. She did not know how to feel for a moment. She did not know what to think. This was the father of her child, the man whose sperm had impregnated her. He was going through so much. She didn’t want to add to it by telling him that she was pregnant. She didn’t want him to have to deal with this as well. However, the child in her womb was his child. The child inside her was his and it was his right to know. She decided that she wouldn’t put any pressure on him to raise the child. She wouldn’t make him feel like he would have to support the child in any way, because at the end of the day she had already decided that raising this child on her own would be the best thing for her.

“I’m pregnant,” she said simply. She did not know how else to phrase it. She didn’t know how to cushion the blow. Such things were better done quickly, like a bandage that was ripped off of your skin. She didn’t know if she had done the right thing, but this lack of knowledge could be forgiven. She was, after all, going through something rather stressful herself, she wasn’t going to be prone to making the best choices at this point in time.

“What?” said Nate, his brow furrowed. “You’re… you’re pregnant?”

“I am,” said Phoebe. “I’m pregnant. It’s definitely yours. I hadn’t had s*x for months before you and I haven’t had s*x since.”

“Oh fu*k,” said Nate. “I hadn’t been wearing a condom. I… you weren’t on the pill either. Fu*k I should have asked. Fu*k I am so sorry…”

Phoebe was taken aback. She hadn’t expected him to own up to the fact that he should have been careful as well, simply because men too often put the blame on the woman because they were unwilling to take on the responsibility of a child. She was impressed that he was mature enough to own up to his mistakes in this manner.

“It’s okay,” said Phoebe. She decided that she wasn’t going to give him a hard time about this. She didn’t want to be uptight anymore now that she knew the whole story. Him running off had been a di*k move but it was understandable given his mental state at the time. She had not wanted him to go, of course, but she could forgive him for it. He had come inside her, but he was owning up to his mistake. Since he was being so mature about it, Phoebe should follow suit and be mature about it as well. She decided that they could settle this amicably, and that would be best for both parties.

“It’s okay,” she said again. “I was the one that told you to come inside me, I was the one that told you I wanted it. We were both drunk. I should have made you put a condom on, I should have told you that I wasn’t on the pill. I mean… we were both a part of it, weren’t we? It wasn’t just you, after all. You shouldn’t be the only person that’s blamed for this.”