Free Unsung by Shannon Richard Page A

wasn’t going to happen.
    “I’m pregnant,” she whispered, thinking that if she said it aloud she’d believe it.
    Nope. Not the case.
    It had been five weeks since Nashville. Five weeks since she’d walked into that bar and gone home with a man she’d just met. Five weeks since she’d spent two nights having the most mind-blowing sex of her life. Five weeks since she’d run away. Five weeks since she’d left a sleeping Liam in his bed. Five weeks since she’d turned into a coward.
    She thought about him daily…multiple times a day in fact, and every time she did it hurt like hell.
    She didn’t get it. She hadn’t even spent forty-eight hours with him and she missed him more than she’d ever missed Brad.
    How? How was that even possible?
    She’d gone over it all thousands of times. Replaying it in her head and trying to figure out if she could’ve done things differently.
    But what other choice did she have? Two days with him and he’d had more power to destroy her than anyone else ever had before.
    That last night with him, she’d lain there for hours memorizing the moment. Memorizing him . His arms wrapped around her body, his steady deep breaths on her skin, his lips on her shoulder.
    When she’d pulled away from him it had been physically painful.
    But she knew the pain was nothing to what it would be if he was the one to walk away from her. So in the long run what she’d done was best…
    Or at least that was what she kept telling herself. What she had to keep telling herself. But really it was a big lie. A massive lie.
    She’d driven to her aunt’s, letting the numbness overtake her because as soon as she started to really feel things, she was going to lose it. Celeste had been home, asleep on the sofa with a marathon of her favorite cooking show lighting up the otherwise dark living room.
    The second the door had closed behind Harper she’d started sobbing. To Celeste’s credit it had only taken her about thirty seconds to go from asleep to fully aware of the situation. It was well into the morning before Harper had stopped sobbing. By the time she’d gotten a hold of herself she’d been desperate to get out of Nashville, needing to put as much distance between her and Liam as possible. If she didn’t, she probably would’ve found herself on his doorstep again.
    And that could not happen.
    Celeste was the only one who knew what had happened with Liam. All of her friends and family were under the impression that her current state of mind still had to do with Brad.
    They were all incredibly wrong.
    She’d been forcing herself to function over the last few weeks, thinking it was going to get better. Turned out she was just biding her time, denial her greatest friend.
    She’d ignored the fact that her period had been late…one week running into two and then turning into three. And then the morning sickness had set in two weeks ago.
    Morning her ass.
    She was nauseous all the freaking time. She’d kept telling herself that she was coming down with something.
    See, denial.
    But the proof was sitting on the counter behind her. This was the third morning in a row that she’d looked at those positives. There was no more hiding. Reality had just caught up to her.
    The corner of her eyes prickled, that familiar constricting sensation taking over her throat.
    You are not going to cry.
    You are not going to cry.
    You. Are. Not. Going. To. Cry.
    These were your decisions. You went home with him. You slept with him…half a dozen times. You got pregnant.
    She closed her eyes, taking deep steady breaths through her nose, trying to calm down her now rolling stomach. Or stop the steady stream of tears tracking down her face.
    Neither of them went away. So she just sat there and continued to pet Luna.
    These were your decisions. You cannot go back and change things. This is how it is. How it is going to be.
    Deal with it.
    And deal with it she would…just as soon as she got off the