Never say forever (Never series Book 1) (28 page)

It kills me every day to walk in the house and nothing is the same. I feel as if I failed her. She looks miserable. I haven’t seen her smile in a while. I would do anything to bring that smile back to her face.

The day I felt the baby kick was the day I started getting hope again.
That was the first smile I had seen since the party. I was so mesmerized that I catch myself constantly putting my hand on her belly, hoping that kick will come again.

I have been working five to six days a week. I know it will give her
some space. As much as I want to be home, I think she needs some alone time. I don’t need the money right now but I should work until the baby is born and then cut my hours back.

I text Ben while at lunch.

Aiden:
Hey. Let’s hangout after work. We need to talk.

Ben: sure thing. Come on over when you get off unless you want to meet up somewhere

Aiden: Nah it’s cool. I’ll come over.

One thing I love about Ben is he knows when something is bothering me. He knows I need to talk but he doesn’t pry the details out of me. He knows to wait until I bring it up. He has been there for me for anything I have ever had to go through.

I finish up work by seven and shoot Serena a quick text letting her know I was going to Ben’s. Her only reply was okay. I’m saddened by this even though I probably shouldn’t be. Even if she texted okay, she would always text I love you or a smiley face and now I am being subjected to a text that is reserved for a friend. I hate this feeling and I need this to go away.

I arrive to Ben’s and he’s on the porch waiting for me. I take a seat next to him and he says nothing. He’s waiting for me to talk.

“
I don’t know what to do, Ben.”

He knows a little bit of what’s going on. He wasn’t at the party so
he doesn’t know exactly what happened, just the run down version from Abby.

“
I don’t know what’s going on but I’m here to listen if you want to drop it on me.”

He was always good at listening. I could talk for several hours and he wouldn’t say a word. He would just intently listen to me. When my mother died, I lost track of the time that he took listening to me. I would sit there for hours telling him stories he never knew about my mother and even as I cried telling the stories.

“
Ever since that party, Serena hasn’t been herself. It’s almost like she’s shutting me out. I try to talk to her but she barely talks back. We used to be able to sit outside and just talk for hours and now it seems like she wants nothing to do with me. Last night was the first time she got excited or smiled and that was because the baby kicked. I just don’t want to lose her. I had this whole future planned out for us and if she or the baby aren’t there, it means nothing.”

“
I know. You have to give her time. She will get over this. If it helps I can try to dig around the neighborhood and see if I can find something out. Abby mentioned something to me about it today. I’m not sure if I can find anything out since I’m four years older than you and they are people you went to school with but I’ll do my best,” he said.

“
Thanks Ben. I just feel defeated.”

“
No need to feel defeated. You can’t give up, that’s one thing you can’t do. Once she sees you giving up, she’ll think she’s not worth it.”

He’s right. I can’t give up but what else can I do right now? I will just have to try my hardest and live through the pain that I may lose the only person I’ve ever loved.

I finish up with Ben after rambling for about an hour and head home. I just want to go home, lay my head down on the pillow and snuggle with my girl.
If she will snuggle with me.

***

One Month Later

It’s been a month and I still haven’t heard anything about this Jackie girl. Serena is eight months pregnant now and she looks like she’s ready to have the baby. She could have the baby any day now. She’s still distant, although she seems a little bit better now since she is further along. I can see the discomfort she goes through when she wakes several times in the night to use the bathroom. I can see the struggle as she tries to rise from a seated position and it kills me every time. When I am at work, I worry. I worry about if she goes into labor, if she’s fallen, if she can’t move and I am not there to help her. I try my best at work to finish things quickly. I overload my stock load and overwork myself because it’s the only way to get past all the worrying thoughts that are flowing through my mind.

My shift finally ends and I grab my items and checkout. I look at my phone and there’s a text from Ben.

Ben: Dude get over here after work. I need to talk to you. It’s important. I have news.

Good thing he said ‘I have news’ because I almost panicked there for a moment thinking maybe something happened to Serena. I rush over to Ben’s house and ring the doorbell. Abby walks to the door and opens it for me. She embraces me in a hug.

“
Hey Aiden.”

She’s always cheerful which makes her and Ben a perfect couple.

“
Hey.”

I look over and see Ben. I am anxious to get to the bottom of this.

Ben walks over to me and has me sit down.

“
I had to do a lot of digging but I found something. Not a lot of people were talking and I don’t have many friends your age. But I told all the people I do know to keep a lookout and I just got a phone call from a buddy of mine, Grant.”

I don’t know a Grant so I’m not sure where he’s going with this.

“
Turns out that he has a sister that is your age named Lisa. Apparently Grant overhead Lisa gossiping to one of her friends. I was a little disturbed when Tara’s name was brought up.”

Tara? What the fuck does she have to do with anything?

“
Tara is behind all this?” I ask, rage building in my system.

“
Yeah, she is behind the whole thing. Jackie actually doesn’t know you but she was Tara’s muse. She does everything Tara tells her to do because she wants to be popular. I seriously don’t get these teenage girls. I’m glad Serena is in a whole different ballgame than they are.” He laughs at that.

“
Why would Tara do that?”

Tara is an ex-girlfriend. We broke up right after my mother died. We were together for about a year and we did have a pregnancy scare. She thought she was pregnant and it turned out that she wasn’t. She was disappointed. I think she was trying to tie me down or something. When my mother died, all she cared about was having sex. She was my first. We were young and just experienced it. She couldn’t deal with the fact that I didn’t want her because I was devastated that my mother died. She caused a big fight and I broke it off with her because she couldn’t care about me enough to be there for me. She just wanted what she wanted and that was it.

“
According to Lisa, she got word that you were having a baby and got jealous. She said, this is supposedly in Tara’s words, ‘That bitch is going down! She won’t want him when I’m finished with him.’”

Seriously? How pathetic!

“
So let me get this straight. She was jealous that I have a baby on the way? What, because it wasn’t hers? And now she’s trying to destroy my relationship? How did she know I was going to be at that party?”

“
Apparently she’s sleeping with someone on your team.”

This shit is just crazy. I’m only seventeen and I have a psycho crazy ex after me. I’m glad to find out what all this was about because now hopefully Serena and I can put this behind us. I thank Ben and look up Tara’s phone number and leave Ben’s house. I call Tara but I block my number so she can’t call me back. She doesn’t know my cell number and I don’t want her to have that information. She seems stalkerish now. I hear the phone ring a few times and I hear her pick up.

“
Listen here, bitch! Stop messing with my family. We were done over a year ago, deal with it. Don’t let me catch you or your attention starving whore friends anywhere near my house, my school, my family or I will make your life a living hell.”

“
Aiden, you called. I’ve missed you baby. Are you tired of your pregnant girlfriend already?”

Did she not just hear what I told her? This bitch is crazy.

“
I am not tired of her. She is my fiancé. We are getting married. Let that sink in! We have a baby on the way. You have nothing to do with anything. You were nothing to me. You were just a cheap lay, just a way to get experience. You were just a body to use. I never saw a future with you and I never will. Stay out of my life or you will regret it. I mean it Tara!”

I hate being so blunt like that and I didn’t mean to be too harsh but I need her to see that there will never be anything between us. I start hearing sobs on the line so I know I got my point across. I hang up the phone without further words. I’m done with this. I am still angry about all this but I hope this washes away soon. I call Serena to tell her everything and she picks up the phone.

“
Baby, I found out the answers we needed from the party.”

She tries to answer me but I can tell she’s in pain.

“
Baby what’s wrong?”

“
I don’t know. My stomach is tightening and I can feel a little bit of pain. I don’t know what’s happening. This hasn’t happened before. Is this normal? I’m freaked out. Where are you?”

“
I’m on my way home. Ben found out information but that’s not important right now. This doesn’t sound right. Call 911 and I will meet you at the hospital.”

She hangs up and I rush as fast as I can to get to this hospital. Fuck! I think she might be having the baby but it’s still early. I hope to God there’s nothing wrong but

something
isn’t sitting right.

Chapter 18

Serena

When my stomach started tightening, I freaked. My mind is reeling with thought of the baby possibly being hurt. Aiden called
when it all started. I know he was trying not to freak out but he told me to call 911. When someone tells me that, my body goes into panic mode. I freak out. My hands are shaking uncontrollably as I reach for the phone. My body is in shock.

A 911 operator answers the phone, “911. What’s your emergency?”

I stumble on my words, “I’m pregnant and my stomach is tightening and I can feel pain. I think something’s wrong.”

“
We’ll send dispatch out. Stay on the phone with me until they arrive. What you’re describing sounds like contractions. How far apart?”

“
I don’t know. I didn’t count.” I’m trying to figure it out but can’t because I have a sickening feeling that won’t pass. What if something is wrong? I sit here and listen to this operator as I mentally pray that my baby is alright.

“
Okay. If you can try to measure the length of time in between each contraction, do so. Someone should arrive any moment now.”

I lie here answering questions that don’t even seem relevant when the ambulance pulls up. The paramedics come into the house and put me on a stretcher even though I told them I could walk. It must be standard procedure. They roll me out of the house and into the back of the ambulance. They start checking all my vitals and my eyes begin to tear. My mind goes straight to Aiden in hopes that he will get here soon. I don’t want to do this alone. I don’t want to be alone if I have to find out anything bad that has happened to the baby.

I haven’t even called anyone to let them know I would be in the hospital. I didn’t really have time to. I’m assuming maybe Aiden called someone on the way here. We pull up to the hospital and they rush me into a room. A doctor comes in and fully checks me out. She places a heart monitor on my
stomach to measure the baby’s heart rate. I hear the beating of the heart and I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding.