One More Time (6 page)

“Nope, not yet. What else?”

“Ummm, ew, gross.” I watched her turn up her cute little nose at the book and smiled.

“So far, most of this has been gross,” I informed her. “Please continue.” We were sitting downstairs on the sofa eating popcorn. Sally was reading “What To Expect When You’re Expecting’s” fifth month synopsis to me.

“Increasing whitish spunk coming out of your twat.” She made a gagging noise.

I laughed and almost choked on my popcorn. “It does not say that. Let me see!” I tried to grab the book from her but she held it out of my reach.

“Close enough. This and constipation, heartburn, indigestion, flatulence and bloating.” I bugged my eyes in shock and she laughed. “This book has officially cured me of ever wanting children.”

“I thought my throwing up every day for the past four months did that?”

Sally waved her hand in the air as she took a sip of her drink. “Oh, most definitely, but you add all this other stuff in, and I am locked up tighter than Fort fucking Knox down here.” She pointed to her crotch.

I was about to ask about the stud eyeballing her at work the other night when the doorbell chimed. Brutus shot up from the floor at our feet and charged to the door, barking his head off.

“I got it,” Sally said. “Boo, shut it, you big overgrown lunk head!” she shouted and opened the door.

“Where is she?” I heard Jimmy ask and my pulse spiked. Ever since I had started showing, I had managed to avoid him.

“Wait! You can’t just barge in here!” Sally shouted. I turned to bolt from the room.

“The hell I can’t! I just found out my girlfriend is carrying my child. I can damn well do anything I want!” Jimmy shouted back at her.

I froze in my tacks.
He knows
.

“Your girlfriend?” Sally scoffed. “Wow, that’s rich. What happened to boobirella? Did she pop an implant and become damaged goods?” She slapped her hands dramatically on her cheeks and gasped. “Oh! Let me guess, she got her period and was suddenly too old for you!”

“Nice to see you’re the same old bitch, Sally,” he snarled.

“Nice to see you’re the same old douche,
James
,” she mocked.

“Enough!” I exclaimed and both sets of eyes shot to me.

Jimmy did a full body sweep before settling on my baby bump. His eyes widened in obvious surprise. “It’s true,” he said, staring at my belly. He took a step toward me and I took a step back. “You’re pregnant.”

Sally scowled at him. “You always said he was observant,” she sarcastically remarked.

“Fuck off, Sally,” he snarled.

“Enough,” I told her again. “And don’t speak to her that way,” I directed at him. He stepped back and shut his mouth. When Jimmy and I were together I never spoke harshly to him. It wasn’t in my nature. I had learned a few things since then.

“Were you ever going to tell me I was going to be a father?” he snapped.

“Not to state the obvious, Jimmy, but you cheated on me….plus, you hate kids.”

“That’s beside the point. You are carrying my child in there.” He pointed to my belly. “I have rights.”

“You have rights?” I asked, trying not to laugh. It was so tempting to tell him about Dillon, but I knew what would happen if I did.
He’d lose his ever loving mind.

Back when Jimmy and I were together, Sally and I decided to stay out drinking after work one night, instead of coming home like I told Jimmy I would. At the last minute, Sally decided to go home with John, our co-worker. It’s a good thing she did because she missed the horrible scene Jimmy caused when I got home. He was so angry he made me sleep on the floor and, when I made a move to get up and go to the bathroom, he threatened to tie me to the bottom of the bed. I remember lying there all night on the cold, hard floor needing to pee. Jimmy could be really scary, especially when he was angry.

“Damn right I do,” Jimmy stated. The smug look on his face was beyond infuriating.

“You have nothing, Jimmy. You cheated on me. I know it was more than one time. You claim it was because I wasn’t giving you what you needed but you and I both know that’s not true.” I pointed to my stomach. “This baby is mine. I’m the one carrying it. I’m the one who will deliver it and I will be the one who decides who gets to be a part of its life. Not you. Are we clear?”

His face turned twisty and mean, an expression I had seen often when we were together. It was the, I’m-about-to-say-or-do-something-vicious look that used to scare the hell out of me. Somewhere along the way, it had lost its power. Jimmy’s anger seemed almost…silly. I smiled and he answered with a mean sounding growl.

“You forget I’m a lawyer, Bella. I know people. I know judges who owe me favors. My hands may be tied for the moment, but from the looks of it,” his gaze raked across my stomach, “the moment is almost up.” At this point, his face was four shades of red. “That is
my
brat inside there,” he spat. “
My brat,
Bella, and he or she will have
my
last name or so help me God, the second you deliver I will file for sole custody and, trust me, I will get it.” With that being said, he stormed out and slammed the door behind him.

“Oh God,” I whispered, turning to Sally. “He’s going to try and take the baby from me.”

“He can try but it’s gonna be kind of hard,” she said.

I gave her a questioning look and a smile spread over her face. She held up her phone, punched a few buttons and Jimmy’s voice filled the room. “That is my brat inside there…”

My jaw dropped. “You recorded it?”

“Damn straight. Now, I say we find out where to go to file a restraining order. It’ll serve the fucker right.”

Ten minutes later, we were out the door.

*     *     *

Three Months Later

The baby is
restless tonight
.
Maybe she will settle down if I take a bath.
As I ran the bath water, I thought about how the past couple of months had flown by. Jimmy called once after being served the restraining order to chew me out. Thank goodness Sally showed me how to block his call. I hadn’t heard from him since.

Stripping off my robe, I stared into the mirror. My body had drastically changed with pregnancy. I had only gained nine pounds, but by the looks of my hips and breasts, you would think I’d gained twenty nine pounds. Dillon, up on his forearms, pounding into me flashed through my head.
Damn these pregnancy hormones
. I had managed already to burn out one vibrator and my second one appeared to be on its last leg. Sally had kindly offered me hers. She’d purchased it from some on-line sex toy company and named it Big Roy. I felt the name was appropriate because, well, it was freakishly huge. Surprisingly, when she offered it to me, I was able to suppress the urge to vomit all over her. I’m all about sharing, but this was a bit much. I turned off the water and carefully lowered myself down into the tub.

Once the morning sickness had passed, I actually felt pretty good. The doctor said I was measuring around thirty-six weeks. The toughest part had been telling Uncle Charlie about the pregnancy. I knew he thought this was Jimmy’s child. I also knew if I told him it wasn’t, I’d have to explain what happened with Dillon and I wasn’t ready to do that…at least, not yet.

Brutus barked from the front of the house as the doorbell rang. Since Sally was at work, I was the only one home. I lay there hoping whoever it was would get the hint and go away. A minute passed and he finally stopped barking. I relaxed back into the warm bath and closed my eyes. The vision of Dillon moving deep inside me flickered through my head again. His silver-eyed stare pierced through me right before he tossed his head back and growled out his release. The beautifully intricate fish tattoo inked across the left side of his chest rippled with his taut muscles and looked as if it was actually swimming. Needing release, I slid my hands over my protruding stomach and down between my legs.

“I sure hope it’s me you’re fantasizing about,” Jimmy said from the doorway.

“Shit!” I loudly exclaimed. I reflexively covered myself with my hands and accidentally splashed water everywhere. “Go away! You can’t be here! Wait! How did you even get in here?”

He smiled and waved the key back and forth in the air. “You forgot you put this above the front door, didn’t you?”

Damn!

“Please leave.” I calmly said.

In typical Jimmy fashion, he replied with a, “No thanks. I think I’ll stay and see how my baby is coming along.”

Gritting my teeth, I reached down beside the tub and grabbed the robe from the floor. I stood and attempted to put it on, which proved to be difficult with me being soaking wet. When I finally managed to get it situated, it clung obscenely to me. As I stepped from the bath, water dripped all over the floor but I didn’t care. All I wanted was to get this man out of my house as quickly as possible.

“Wow, you sure chunked up,” Jimmy rudely stated.

Pretending his words didn’t bother me, I said, “You need to leave, Jimmy. Not only is this highly inappropriate, but you are violating the restraining order.”

“What is inappropriate, Bella, is you not telling me you were carrying my child. Not to mention, your poor decision to keep me away with a piddly restraining order…as if that could stop me.” He let out a maniacal sounding laugh and my heart stuttered in my chest.

“I have a recording. And I have a judge on my side who agrees with me and that piddly restraining order, I’ll have you know,” I informed him.

“That’s what you think,” he said, leering at my breasts. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to march your fat ass down to the courthouse tomorrow and tell the judge you want to rescind the order. Tell him you want to ‘work things out’ with me. If you don’t, the second that child is born, I am coming at you with both barrels raised.”

“You’ve lost your mind!” I screeched. “I have a recording, Jimmy! I have proof that you are a jackass of epic proportions!”

“Yes, but you also have a drug addiction,” he calmly said.

Ice cold dread slithered up my spine. “That’s a lie and you know it.”

His eyebrow quirked. “Really? I’ve got it documented, Bella. I’ve also spoken with several lawyer and judge friends about my beautiful fiancé who is pregnant and, I’m afraid, has fallen off the wagon again.”

Fear like I’d never known raced through my veins. “You can’t do that.”

“I already have, sweetheart. First thing tomorrow, you will rescind that order. By the end of the week we are moving in together. We’ll have a quick wedding before the baby is born and we’ll raise it together. All will be just as it should.”

My heart galloped and my belly painfully tightened, which forced me to suck in a deep breath of air.
What do I do?
Without thinking, I blurted the first thing that came to mind. “She’s not yours!”

Jimmy’s face paled. “What did you say?” he quietly asked.

“I said the baby is not yours.” He blinked and I explained. “The weekend you went to New York. I met someone. We slept together.”

He interrupted before I could get the rest out. “Nice try, but I know better.”

Ignoring him, I kept on. “I swear! We had unprotected sex. This is not your child, Jimmy.”

“You’ll say anything, won’t you? I knew you were pathetic but to keep my own child from me? That’s crazy, Bella. Just-like…”

I didn’t let him finish. “Think whatever you want, Jimmy, but it’s true. Now, you need to leave.” I slid past him into the bedroom and snatched up my phone. “Or I’m calling the police.”

“This isn’t over. I know you, Bella. The last thing you would do is have unprotected sex with some random guy. That baby is mine.”

“No it’s not and I have proof,” I blurted.
Why did I have to tell him that? Because I’m desperate, that’s why.

“Yeah?” he challenged. “Well, you’d best be able to produce this so-called truth. You see, I think you’re lying. I think you’re desperate and grasping at straws. Get ready for the fight of your life,” he snarled. Then he stormed down the hall and out the front door.

Locking the door behind him, I immediately called Sally.

“Come home now,” I told her. Completely shaken by Jimmy’s surprise visit and at my wits end, I made my way back down the hall to my bedroom. My bathroom was now a total mess. As I stepped in to clean it, I hit a wet spot on the tile floor and, before I could stop myself, I was falling. As I went down, I threw my hands out to break my fall, but was too late. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my head and then….nothing.

Dillon

‡