Obsession (22 page)

I said nothing.

“Do you love me, Sophie?”

I opened my mouth, but I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t tell him what he wanted to hear.

Peter backhanded me across the face. Screaming, I went flying and landed on the floor.

“You lied about being raped, didn’t you? You have probably fucked a hundred men, haven’t you? Let them come inside you, every one of them.
No one has ever made me feel like this before,
” Peter mocked, recalling words I’d once said in the heat of passion. His nostrils flared with each angry breath he took. “You’re sickening. You disgust me. You fucked me but you didn’t love me. You’re a whore. A dirty whore!”

I was crying as I stared up at Peter. Who was this person? Why was he being so hateful?

I remembered that Marnie was on the line. At least I hoped she was. “Get out of here!” I yelled, hoping Marnie would hear me. “You can’t talk to me like this in my own house. You can’t hit me!” I grabbed a broken shard of glass. It cut into my skin, but I held it tightly. I would use it as a weapon if need be. “Get out!”

He didn’t move, but there was something dark and dangerous in his eyes. “You’re not fit to carry my child.”

I wondered if he was going to hit me again. Or worse, kick me while I was sprawled on the floor. Instinctively, I moved a hand in front of my belly.

But Peter didn’t kick me. He turned and stalked toward the door.

When he opened it, he faced me. An evil grin formed on his lips. “Ever find your cat,
bella?
”

And then he was gone.

Sobbing, I ran to the door and locked it. I looked through the window that bordered the door and saw Peter’s SUV peeling out of the driveway.

My neck hurting and my face stinging, I scrambled the short distance to the kitchen, where I sat on the floor beside the dangling receiver. I grabbed it and put it to my ear.

“Marnie! You still there?”

I heard the steady beep of a phone that’s been off the hook for too long.

I couldn’t muster the strength to stand, and stayed on the floor, my back against the wall as I softly cried.

What on earth had happened to Peter? Why had he changed from a guy who was totally into me to one who now seemed to hate me?

Because he felt used? I’d never made any promises to him. And fine, maybe he’d fallen in love with me and now felt like I’d used him. Most guys would call a girl a bitch and walk away.

Not backhand her.

Or kill her cat.

“Peaches,” I whimpered. Had he really taken her? Had he killed her?

My stomach lurched, and I barely made it to the kitchen sink before I threw up.

As I was rinsing the sink, someone pounded on the door.

My entire body froze.

“Sophie!” I heard.

Marnie.

Nausea still gripping my stomach, I hurried to the door. Marnie swept inside and pulled me into her arms. I cried against her shoulder.

“Is he gone?” she asked when we pulled apart.

I nodded.

“I raced over here as fast as I could. I was about to call the cops. Did that motherfucker hit you?”

I nodded.

“He’s lucky he’s not here. I brought my gun.” Marnie patted her purse. I’d been with her when she’d gone for her firearms license, and she’d encouraged me to get a gun as well. Not being a fan of guns, I’d declined.

“He freaked out, Marnie. And I think maybe he killed Peaches!”

Marnie wrapped a hand around my waist and led me to the living room, where she sat me on the sofa. “Tell me everything.”

So I did. But I left out the fact that I might be pregnant. For the moment. I told her that he hated me leaving his place, that he thought I was still screwing Andrew behind his back.

“I’m so sorry,” Marnie said when I was finished. “He’s insane, obviously. The kind of guy you don’t know is crazy until things don’t go his way.”

“You think so?” I asked. “Crazy crazy?” How could he be crazy and I not realize that? “Maybe he just went into a jealous rage. Trust me, I’m not justifying him putting his hands on me—and I definitely never want to see him again—but some guys lose it when a relationship ends.”

Marnie was slowly shaking her head. “He wanted you all to himself. I hardly heard from you, saw you even less. Because you were always with him—right where he wanted you to be.”

I was silent as I mulled over Marnie’s words.

“I know the sex was great…but did you really have more in common than that? What did you guys do that made you a couple?”

It was a good question. No, a great one. “We cooked together, watched movies, and…”

“And fucked.”

“It was an affair, Marnie.”

“I know. There’s nothing wrong with fucking. But…did a day go by when you guys
didn’t
fuck?”

I shook my head.

“Again, there’s nothing wrong with sex. Robert and I like doing it—a lot. But we also have great conversations. We argue, too. And we go out in public.”

I flashed a mock-scowl at Marnie.

“Seriously, Soph, when you think about it, is it normal to spend most of your time with a guy in bed?”

“The sex was great, what can I say. And in so many ways, it felt like more than sex. Like a spiritual experience. I know, you’ll say I’m nuts—but I mean it.” I paused. “Peter said he fell in love with me the first minute he saw me. Maybe if Andrew hadn’t still been in my heart, I would have fallen in love with him, too.”

“I think he’s obsessed with you,” Marnie said bluntly. “He’s confusing his sexual obsession for love.”

Marnie’s words stung. I don’t know why.

But perhaps she was right. I don’t know why Peter and I connected so powerfully in the bedroom, but possibly we’d both gotten hooked on our sexual chemistry. Confused it with something more.

“I guess I was a bit obsessed with him, too,” I admitted. Even now, thinking about the sex with Peter, I still felt the stirring of desire. Like an addict craving something she knows is bad for her.

“At least he showed his true colors now rather than later.”

I felt a bout of nausea again, and quickly ran to the kitchen, where I threw up in the sink.

I puked not only what I’d eaten earlier, but kept dry-heaving until I started vomiting bile.

“Jesus,” Marnie said.

“Marnie,” I said softly, facing her. “I think I might be pregnant.”

I’m not sure I would have had the courage to go to the drugstore without Marnie. We perused the various pregnancy tests, and I trusted her opinion on which one I should buy.

“You really think you’re pregnant?” she asked when we were back in her car.

“Last week, I realized that I hadn’t started my period when I should have. I didn’t dwell on it though, because I’ve never been very regular. And all the stuff with Andrew, plus I’ve been so worried about Peaches.” The thought that my cat might have met foul play at the hands of Peter made my throat clog with emotion. I didn’t want to believe that Peter would hurt a harmless cat. “But I kind of noticed that some smells make my stomach feel a little woozy.”

“Oh, sweetie.”

“Then last night, when I was in bed with Peter, I also noticed that my breasts seemed extra-sensitive.”

“Oh, boy.”

“But I still think I might be late. Stress can do that, can’t it? I’ve been so worried about Peaches…” I stifled a cry.

Thinking about my cat was preferable to thinking about the fact that I might be pregnant. The more I thought about it, the more I doubted that Peter could have hurt her. He didn’t even know what she looked like.

Or did he?

Had he driven by my place on more than one occasion, perhaps seen Peaches on the front step?

Was Marnie right about Peter, that he was insane?

And if he was insane, just how dangerous was he?

Back at my place, Marnie held my hand while I waited the three minutes for the pregnancy stick to change color. Or not.

It did.

“A pink line,” Marnie said softly when she returned from the bathroom. I hadn’t had the guts to check the test. “That means—”

“I’m pregnant.” I let out a soft sigh.

The phone began to ring as Marnie sat beside me on the sofa. It had been ringing pretty much nonstop since the moment we’d arrived. The caller ID had shown Peter’s number the first few times I’d looked, and I was certain he was the one who continued to call every few minutes.

“Jesus,” Marnie said. “Can’t the man stop calling?”

His incessant calling only validated my decision to not see him again. His behavior was overboard. Unnatural.

Obsessive.

I would do anything to make you happy,
bella.
Anything.

I got a chill remembering Peter’s words. Did his doing anything to make me happy mean trying to kill Teddy for harassing me the night we’d met?

I pushed the thought out of my mind. I didn’t want to think about what Peter had or hadn’t done, because what mattered now was my predicament.

“I can’t believe I’m actually pregnant,” I said.

“I don’t know why, but I thought you overreacting or something. I mean, you and Peter were careful.”

I said nothing, just stroked Onyx, who had climbed onto my lap.

Marnie’s eyes widened as she regarded me. “Sophie…tell me you were careful.”

I couldn’t face her. Suddenly, I felt enormously stupid. I’d let my passion stop me from using my brain, and that was inexcusable. “We were careful,” I began. “Most of the time…” My voice trailed off, ended on a groan.

“Oh, Jesus,” Marnie said. “Sophie, this isn’t like you. You made Andrew use condoms even though you were on the Pill when you weren’t ready to get pregnant.”

“I know, I know.” I buried my face in my hands. “I’m a complete moron. For this to happen to me at my age? I know better.”

“Well, you can’t change it now.”

Marnie gave my back a comforting rub, and we fell into silence. The seriousness of the situation weighed heavily on me.

“You think the test could be wrong?” I asked.

I knew I was grasping at straws, but I wanted Marnie to tell me that the test could have given a false positive. That perhaps when a person was stressed, her body gave off hormones that could be confused with pregnancy.

“I wish you weren’t, sweetie,” she said. “But you are, and you can’t run from this. You have to decide what you’re going to do.”

Words I didn’t want to hear. “This is the worst possible thing that could happen. The worst.”

The phone rang again. Marnie bolted to her feet and charged into the kitchen. “Listen, you crazy asshole. Stop calling here. The police know you’ve been harassing Sophie, and if you don’t stop this shit, they’re gonna arrest your ass.”

“Thank you,” I said, as she made her way back into the living room.

“Hopefully that stops the asshole,” Marnie said. “Crazy or not, no one wants to get arrested.”

It was as Marnie was sitting back down that she suddenly said, “Hey, what’s this?”

“What?”

She gestured toward a table behind the sofa that rested in the corner between the bathroom and master bedroom. A card envelope was propped up on the vanilla-scented candle that sat on the table. In my distraught state, I hadn’t noticed it.

My stomach fluttered. “It can’t be from Peter. He couldn’t have gotten into my house.”

Marnie reached for the envelope and offered it to me. I recognized Andrew’s handwriting.

I opened the envelope, pulled out the card and read.

By the time I finished reading the note, I was crying. Subconsciously, I pressed my hand to my belly.

Andrew wanted our marriage.

But would he still want it if he knew I had another man’s child in my belly?

“I think you should call him, Sophie,” Marnie said. “I’m sorry I tried to steer you away from Andrew. He loves you. He made a mistake—a big one—but he’s not Keith. He’s a good man.”

I thought about Marnie’s words, and wondered why she was so convinced Andrew was good for me when she’d made him for a player.

If I had a husband who could hit on my friends, then he definitely wasn’t the right man for me. But if Marnie had somehow misconstrued Andrews words and actions…

“Marnie,” I began slowly, “you didn’t think Andrew was such a good man a month ago.”

“I know, and maybe I was wrong about that.”

“You didn’t want to tell me what Andrew said when he hit on you…but will you tell me now? It’s important.”

Marnie nodded, drew in a deep breath. “Remember your twenty-sixth birthday party? How Andrew had a bash for you in the backyard?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, Andrew put his arm around my waist and told me that I was a very sexy woman, that any guy would be lucky to have me. He’d never really done that before, and…” She shrugged.

I pondered her words. “That was right after Keith filed for divorce.”

“Yes.”

“And you were feeling down,” I went on, remembering. “I told Andrew to give you a compliment because you needed a bit of a morale boost.”

“Oh, God.” Marnie closed her eyes.

“I told him to say something that would make you feel better.”

“You know.” Marnie sighed. “I always wondered if I’d read him the wrong way, but after Keith…”

“After Keith was such a dog, you jumped to the wrong conclusion about Andrew.”

Marnie nodded as regret flashed across her face. “Who’s the moron now?”

I gave her hand a squeeze. “I’m glad you told me. Because yeah, Andrew was wrong to cheat, but it makes a difference that he
didn’t
hit on you. That—I couldn’t forgive.”

“Call him, Sophie,” Marnie said. “Work it out.”

“I’m pregnant, Marnie,” I said. “How can I call him now?”

The phone rang again, and I screamed in frustration.

Marnie answered the phone again, saying, “Call here one more time, Peter, and the police will be heading to your place to arrest you. Leave Sophie the hell alone.”

“Maybe I should just ignore him,” I said when Marnie had slammed down the receiver. Pissing Peter off could be bad. But perhaps if I ignored him forever, he would eventually go away.

What wouldn’t go away was his child—our child—growing inside of me.

“I don’t like that he won’t leave you alone,” Marnie said. “He’s going to come back.”

“I think you’re right.” In fact, I knew she was right.

“You’re going to need my gun.” Marnie withdrew it from her purse and gave it to me. “And don’t be afraid to use it.”

“Marnie, I don’t like guns.”

“I’m not going to stand by and watch another man hurt you,” Marnie told me. “Take the gun. Put it in your bedroom, because that’s when Peter’s going to show up. When it’s late, and you’re in bed.”

“I don’t know.”