TMI-Deleted Scenes

TMI - Deleted Scene - Chase hates Meg's story

Jesus. Chase's mouth dried up. Of all the things he’d worried about, this one hadn’t even made the list. He tried to think of something comforting to say but she just stared at the bandage on her hand like he wasn't even there. He cursed under his breath and rubbed his stomach but it didn't soothe the knot of nausea coiled tightly in his gut.

"My parents never wanted kids. I was a surprise. My mom says it took a while to sink in, but eventually, she totally fell in love with the idea of a baby." Meg rolled her eyes like she didn't believe it. "But my dad—um—had some problems. He—well, he didn’t much like the idea of a baby until he met me."

Chase's nausea increased. Fuck, what did that asshole do to her? He held her closer and she lifted her face with an apologetic smile.

"He was a great dad." She shut her eyes and smiled. “The best. I was spoiled and pampered and adored them both.”

Chase clenched his jaw and wished she’d come to the point already. Meg shifted on the sofa and pulled up her legs. He tugged the blanket so it was covering her, too.

"But he wasn’t ready to be a parent. Kids are expensive and he was still on his way up the ladder. I needed stuff like clothes, medicine, a crib and a car seat. Day care. When the money got tight, he tried gambling to stretch the gaps.”

Chase entertained thoughts of resurrecting her father’s dead body just to kill him again.

“He owed a lot of money to a lot of people."

Her voice was flat, like she was reading him a grocery list. Somehow, that made him feel her pain.

Abruptly, she went stiff under his arm. "And then, he died.”

He swore his heart stopped. There was more to the story. She was leaving something out. He could feel it in his chest, static and ice cold. Chase shifted closer, curling Meg into his side. She covered a yawn but did not fight him.

"The bills and the debts piled up. Mom got two jobs. You know, she wanted to be a designer but she quit school to be with him. After he died, she couldn't get a good job without a degree so she took the crap ones. I’m not a baby anymore but money's still tight. There's no insurance. She always says she wouldn’t be in this mess if she hadn’t loved my father. But the money and jobs — that’s not what she means." Meg laid her head back on the sofa pillows and lifted a shoulder. "She means me."

She sounded so fragile and hurt that he wanted to haul her onto his lap.

"She cries at night — when she thinks I'm asleep." She burrowed deeper. "I have to get into Cooper Union, Chase. If I don’t — God, Chase, if I don’t, I’ll end up just like her.” She tried to hide a sob.

"No." Chase's voice sounded like sandpaper scraping on wood to his ears. He swallowed, tried again. "No, Megan. I'd take care of you. We could be happy."

"Yeah." Meg laughed once and turned dark bleak eyes up to his. "That's exactly what my dad told my mom."

She put her head on his shoulder and a moment later, her deep breaths told him she was asleep.

Shit. 

He blew out a long, slow breath and refused to let go of her, part of him acutely aware sleep was the only time she'd let him be this close. He sat and held her, frantically plotting out ways to make her listen to him, desperately trying to ignore the part of him painfully aware he'd already lost the argument.