A Beautiful, Terrible Love by Lucky 97 (books for 9th graders txt) 📖

other's paths. There was something he was concerned about... something that he didn't want to tell me. I sincerely hoped it wasn't something bad. I hoped it wasn't something that would ruin our happiness.
"Why did you leave?" I asked the burning question once more, the one gnawing on me ever since I saw him. As I spoke, I immersed myself in him, into his comforting embrace. It was almost as if I was trying to use Dex as a shield from the very words that I asked to hear.
He froze, all warmth and comfort gone. I could feel the sudden icy cold ripping through his body, although his heart rate shot up a million miles. This cold... I quickly broke away from it.
"Business. I told you," he said, a little annoyed. This time, even more of his tone was streaked with fear, with bitterness. He stood, straight and upright, all movement and warmth gone.
"Why didn't you call me, then?" I asked a little angrily. I knew I sounded like a jealous girlfriend, but I was willing to risk annoyance for answers.
He looked at his shoes, withholding the answers I desperately wanted. However, his eyes filled with the deepest sadness, his emerald eyes almost turning blue from the iciness between us. A tear bubbled at the edge, ready to run down his cheek at any second. Incredulity filled my features. I had never seen a boy cry.
Carefully, he pulled me to him, brushing his fingers across my porcelain face, delving in for sugar sweet kisses that made my heart ache. They soon grew deeper, blocking out any train of thought, making my heart stop completely.
"Eve, please forgive me..." he whispered, finally breaking away. He stood before me, his stance of a defeated man, his eyes full of unshed tears. "I hate this, not telling you, but I'm afraid..."
I looked at his beautiful face, the confident man brought to such ambiguity. "Don't be," I told him, grabbing his hand, squeezing it lightly.
"You don't understand," he shook his head quietly, "you don't know just how terrible this is."
"Please," I begged. I became deathly afraid of his words, yet they were the words I needed to hear the most.
"I have-" he began, each tear studded word stuttering forth.
"He's ready," Mina appeared at the flap, her eyes widening when she saw our faces. "Was I interrupting something?" she cautiously inquired. I looked at her tired expression, and shook my head.
"I'm coming," I took my purse, Dex following right behind, and we slipped into the tent. An old fashioned TV was sitting by the door, its angle rotated so I couldn't see from the entrance. On the other end, Peter lounged on a bed, his knee bandaged heavily. His eyes were opened, though extremely groggy, his form tired and weary. He seemed to be glancing at the TV as if he was angry with it, his hand shaking a tiny bit.
I ran to his side. "Is he okay?" I asked Mina quickly, grabbing Peter's arm.
"Yes," she replied, "I woke him up, and I bandaged his knee, but he will be very groggy and not fully awake for a little while."
"The drugs?" I asked regretfully. She nodded.
"A dangerous habit for young people your age," she shook her head sadly, "try not to get sucked into it. It hurts you terribly."
"I know," I said softly. I rubbed my thumb over his hand, feeling the toughness of his palm and fingers.
Peter, his chocolate eyes unfocused and blurry, finally spoke. "Dex, that's you on TV," he reached up and pointed, his gaze on Dex only. "That's not fair," he complained, "you are on TV, you get to keep Eve, AND you are a rock star. Why can't I have that? All I get is an addiction."
Dex just looked at Peter, emotionless, although I could tell he had froze once again, his knuckles turning white. I looked to the TV, my heart rate stopping completely as I looked at the terrible words. And looked at them again. And again.
For I couldn't believe the awfulness before me.
I ran to Dex, pulling him out of the tent, my movements frenzied and robotic. I turned to his stricken face, full of sadness and terror.
"Tell me it isn't true," I demanded. Tears of my own began to run down my cheek.
Full of guilt, his face showed that he couldn't do so. "It is," he said softly, "I have a... baby."
My world crashed down around me, leaving nothing left except for the sadness.
The terrible sadness.
"Who?" I forced the probing words bitterly out of my system.
He looked down at his shoes, the sadness consuming him also. He began, "When I was 17, I was always hanging out with the wrong celebrities, doing things I hated to normally do. They convinced me to hang out with them because it would boost my popularity, but in truth it did just the opposite. On one terrible night that I would remember for the rest of my life, they made me take a swig of beer. After just that, I got incredibly drunk, and took advantage of a girl named Emilie, or at least everyone said I did. She was a rising star who wanted to be popular like me, who was also very pretty with a nice voice. After I did such a horrible thing, ruining such a nice girl's life, I never took another drink. When we discovered in the next few months that she was pregnant, I asked her to marry me, for a baby would ruin her career and I needed to take care of them both. She agreed,"
"What happened?" I asked in a breathless whisper. This was almost too much.
"I began to grow suspicious. Emilie was way too happy, although her entire career was ruined. I investigated, and found that Emilie's agent had actually told her to take advantage of ME when I was drunk, so that she would get more popularity as my wife. Furious, I called Emilie to tell her I had discovered everything, but then decided to keep it to myself. It wouldn't change anything. The baby girl was still mine, no matter how deceptive Emilie was. However, everything after that grew even worse."
I couldn't breathe. Why... was he telling me all this NOW?
"We were scheduled to get married two weeks after the baby, so Emilie could erase any baby fat she kept. Emilie had the baby right on time, and she was so beautiful," He smiled softly, "We named her Felicia. However, on the ride home from the hospital, we had a car crash. I managed to shield and protect the baby since I was holding her. Emilie, however... didn't make it through. Now I was left with a baby that would possibly ruin ME, and a terrible bitterness that consumed my heart."
My breath caught in my throat.
"That was the year I came to Jesus Christ," he looked at me, a determined look to his eyes, "I learned that my sins could be forgiven, and I could start as a new man. Eagerly, I became a Christian. Eve, I have regretted that awful day since the time it happened. It will ruin my career, for parents won't want their child to listen to me, and it's hurting Felicia even now. She is without a mother. On the day I left, Serena told me that if I wanted to keep this a secret, from you and from everybody, I had to go out with her. I broke our agreement by coming here, and so she told the whole world. But the only person I care about is you. Could you possibly find it in your heart to forgive me?"
I stared at him, shock and anger on my face. Quickly, I shot a glare at an eavesdropping Mina, making her scamper back inside the tent. Finally, after a pause, I spoke. "Dex, I can't believe you don't trust me," I accused.
"Yes I do! I-"
"NO YOU DO NOT!" I yelled, my voice echoing, vanishing in the crowd beyond, "You didn't think I would accept you, didn't you? You believed I would just turn you away without even trying to understand. That's terrible, Dex... an insult to me."
"I didn't-"
"You know what?" I vented, "I AM going to turn you away. Go back to Hollywood, rock star," I couldn't think, for anger was the only emotion coursing through me.
I saw his eyes crinkle in a wince at my last words. I could tell they bit at them. They bit at me too.
But they had to be said.
I vanished back into the tent, knowing that when I reemerged, Dex would not be there.

Chapter 23
Dex

I wanted to stay and beg, but that wouldn't help.
Eve's face, streaked with tears, made me want to pull her into a hug. However, the sad thing about it was that I couldn't. If I tried, it would only make things worse.
I knew my secret was strange. The most popular man in America, a 21 year old single man, with a 3 year old toddler who he is taking care of on his own? No one in the entire country could have guessed that, and many by now are thinking I'm a terrible person. I felt like punching those sort of assuming people, people that just thought that I was a player because I made one mistake.
Well a lot of mistakes, but still.
I didn't tell Eve the whole story of Emilie, Felicia, and I, but I did tell her enough so that she would get the big picture. Leaving out the parts where Emilie was bossing me around, stealing money out of my wallet, and going to clubs and never coming back was necessary. It was my mistake, even getting into that mess in the first place, and I didn't want to give Emilie too much of the blame, so I would seem like an innocent man. For I wasn't. I was just as guilty as Emilie.
In the very beginning, it was bearable.
Emilie was a beautiful girl, with blonde hair and hazel eyes that was almost pure gold. She had an amazing figure, her voice nice but not amazing, with all the makings of a future star. I felt myself to be lucky to accidentally take advantage of a girl like her instead of a street rat. Her personality was hidden beneath layers and layers of superficial sweetness. We had fun, for a little while.
Then she became this paranoid girl who couldn't leave me or my money alone. She had to bury herself under wigs, cheap clothing, and weird makeup so she couldn't be recognized, or else everyone would see she was with child. She hated every minute of that, every second of anonymity. Soon, that hate began to wear on her, and she began to let her true personality show. I had let her move in at about five months into her pregnancy, and regretted it the day I let her bring in her ten suitcases. She got mad at my cook for the smallest things, flirting with the gardener until he had to resign. Stealing money out of my wallet, she would run off to a nightclub, while pregnant, and get drunk. I tried to tell her that it wasn't good for the baby, but she wouldn't listen. She didn't care. And at that time, I believed I would be stuck with her forever, for I didn't believe in getting divorced when there was a kid involved. I came from a divorced family, and I didn't want to inflict the same fate upon my child.
Then, about three weeks before the baby was born, I overheard Emilie talking to her agent. I