The next day, Paul finally showed up at the hospital with Eleanor in tow, both of them looking thoroughly satisfied.
Without a word, he slapped me across the face and wrapped his hand around my throat. "Jessica, you really were screwing someone else behind my back?"
My cheek burned, but that pain didn't amount to a thousandth of what was tearing through my abdomen.
——
He didn't let go until my eyes rolled back and I couldn't breathe.
My vision swam as I stared at his neck. A bright red hickey. I let out a cold laugh. "Funny. Which one of us is the cheater here?"
Paul faltered for a split second, then tugged his collar straight. "It was just a dare. A party game. Besides, Ellie's like a sister to me. You really think something could happen between us?"
Then he turned it back on me. "Now talk. Whose bastard did you just lose? Who's the man?"
Two years of dating. One year of marriage. And all it amounted to was this: he didn't trust me.
I sat there, face white as paper, my voice scraped raw. "One of the side effects of emergency contraceptives is ectopic pregnancy."
Two weeks earlier, Eleanor Lambert had returned from studying abroad. Her family and the Fletchers went way back.