Tempting Her Best Friend's Father (10 page)

When the smoke cleared Mona stared at Marcus,
who wore a grin as big as the Cheshire Cat’s. “Come on, Kara. Let’s go inside.”

“Run along inside, little girl. Let the grownups
have their fun.”

Marcus’s taunting words had Mona’s face feeling
like it was on fire.

“Unless you want to join us.” He wagged his
brows and licked his lips.

Kara scrambled out of the car. Her shirt was
half off of and her lips were so swollen and red they looked painful. Mona
didn’t wait any longer. She grabbed Kara’s hand and turned with her to go back
into the house. Before she made it three feet Marcus’s taunting words had them
both stopping and turning around.

“If you go, Kara, don’t bother calling me again.
I don’t date whiney ass princesses that are cock teases.”

Mona glanced at Kara, saw more tears streaming
down her face, and pulled on her hand to get her moving again.

“Are you okay?” She turned to Kara, saw her
friend’s watery smile, and regretted saying anything at all. Kara burst into
tears and Mona immediately wrapped her arms around her. It was clear they
needed to talk about this, because Mona had a feeling this wasn’t the first
time something like this had happened.

After hours of talking and crying, Mona sat
across from Kara, stunned speechless. The drugs, alcohol, and physical and
emotional abuse were only the tip of the iceberg. Apparently, Marcus’s
reputation wasn’t nearly as bad as how he was in real life. Marcus had scared
Kara so badly that she had been afraid to even leave him.

“We can’t let him get away with this, Kara.”

Kara seemed to mull her statement over, and
before she even responded, Mona already knew what her answer would be.

“I can’t. I just want to forget about him.”

Mona could have countered that when the
situation with her parents had happened. Kara had been gung-ho on letting the
police know, but Mona knew now was not the time to bring that up. Her friend
was scared and traumatized, and what she really needed was a hug. She moved
closer to her and wrapped her arms around Kara.
 

“I’m so glad I have you around. I can always
count on you not to break my heart.”

Kara’s words made Mona feel even more like shit.
If only Kara knew what a horrible friend she really was.

Chapter Thirteen

The next morning Mona woke to the sound of
shouting downstairs. The first thing that came to mind was Marcus and Kara. So,
without thinking, she got out of bed, wearing only a tee-shirt and panties, and
ran downstairs. When she reached the landing she realized it was Isaac and Kara
fighting.

“I can’t believe this.” Kara looked defeated as
she sat in the chair next to Holly.

Mona hadn’t even realized Holly was in the
kitchen.

“Kara, honey, please calm down.” Isaac’s voice
was slightly raised and he paced the length of the kitchen.

“I just don’t understand how this happened.”
Even though Kara’s voice wasn’t raised, the redness in her face attested to how
upset she really was.

“Well, Kara, when a man and woman care about
each other…”

Kara held up her hand to stop Holly from
continuing. “Spare me the details.” Sarcasm laced Kara’s words.

A moment of silence filled the room and Mona
debated whether to turn and sneak back upstairs or let her presence be known.
She decided escaping was the best option, but when she turned to do that,
Kara’s voice stopped her.

“Mona!”

She turned around and forced a smile on her
face.

“You are not going to believe the bomb that was
just dropped.”

“This probably isn’t the best time for me to be
here.” Mona was feeling increasing uncomfortable as all three of them stared at
her. When she turned her attention to Isaac she could see the uneasiness
pouring off of him in waves.

“Holly’s expecting,” Isaac said those two words
almost too quietly.

“Expecting what?” Mona was honestly clueless for
about thirty seconds until it finally dawned on her what he was talking about.
Her mouth involuntarily dropped open. The room was eerily quiet as Mona tried
to comprehend what was truly happening.
Holly
… Expecting a baby … With Isaac?
It was as if the world had dropped beneath
her feet and she was falling into the abyss. Without filtering her thoughts,
Mona’s next words spilled out.

“How far along?” If Isaac got Holly knocked up
while Mona had been sleeping with him it would be that much more devastating.
Here Mona thought Isaac truly cared for her, but if it turned out he was
fucking them both at the same time, Mona’s heart would crush and everything she
thought could happen between them would have all been nothing more than a silly
girl’s fantasies.

“I’m about six weeks along.”

She breathed out. Holly had gotten pregnant
before Mona started sleeping with Isaac. That small detail was a slight relief,
but it still didn’t make her feel any better about the situation.

Holly’s smug smile was directed right at Mona,
and she knew that the bitch was pleased to no end at what would most likely be
the outcome to the situation. Isaac was a stand-up man, and Mona knew he would
stand beside Holly and take care of her because that was the type of man he
was.

Mona turned her gaze at Isaac and saw him
watching her intently. His expression was hard to read, but Mona knew hers had
to be pathetic. When reality finally came back to her, she looked down at
herself and mumbled almost absently, “I should put some clothes on.”

“Mona?”

She heard Kara say her name, but a ringing noise
started in her ears and she turned and made her way up the stairs. When she was
in her room, she stood there for what seemed like forever until her mind cleared
and the ringing stopped.

“Mona? Are you okay?”

She heard Kara behind her and turned around. “I
hadn’t heard you enter.” Was that her voice? Almost distant and forlorn?

The expression on Kara’s face lead Mona to
believe her best friend had just realized how much she truly cared about Isaac.

“You care about him, don’t you?” Kara shut the
door behind her and took a step forward. That one sentence had Mona breaking
into tears. Her legs gave out but luckily the bed was right behind her and
caught her as she crumbled into a withering, pathetic mess.

Kara was right beside her, holding her and
telling her everything would be alright.

“I do love him, but if you knew the truth you
would hate me.” Everything became eerily quiet.

“What are you talking about?” Kara pushed back
and they stared at each other for several moments.

Mona didn’t even know where to start, so she
simply started from the very beginning. When she was finally done spilling
everything, Kara’s mouth hung slightly open. Mona hadn’t sugarcoated it and
hadn’t left anything out.

“I love him, Kara, I really do. I’m so sorry I
kept this from you, but you have to understand how scared I was to tell you.”
Kara stood and walked over to the window. She didn’t speak, which only made
Mona even more nervous.

“You know,” Kara said as she turned around and
crossed her arms over her chest. “I wouldn’t have even cared if you told me how
you felt about my dad. What really pisses me off is that you continued to do it
knowing how this would make me feel.” Kara walked to the door, but before she
left she turned around again and stared at Mona. “I thought we were best
friends, Mona. You deceived me and I don’t know if I can ever forgive you for
that.” Kara turned and left.

All Mona could do was cry. She cried for the
situation she got herself into, she cried for the way things turned out with
Isaac, and she cried as she watched Kara disappear from her room and most
likely from her life.

Chapter Fourteen

Mona sat on her bed in her one room apartment
and flipped through her English comp homework. It had been a few months since
the pregnancy announcement and her revelation to Kara. When everything had gone
down, the fall school semester had only been a couple of weeks away. Those last
weeks had been the hardest she had ever dealt with, even worse than when she
had been living with alcoholic parents.

Kara had avoided her at all costs, even going so
far as to leave for school earlier than scheduled. The uncomfortable feeling
she got whenever she was around Isaac hadn’t lessened with the passing days. Of
course he tried talking to her about it all, and she let him, to a point. She
could still hear their conversation in her head to this day; it was one she
reflected on a lot.

“I’m so
sorry for everything, Mona.” He ran a hand through his hair, causing the
strands to stick up in every direction. The stress was evident on his face, but
Mona refused to respond.

“I swear,
if I could change things I would, but I have to take responsibility for my
actions, and that means providing for Holly and the baby.”

Mona
couldn’t fault him for stepping up and doing what was right. She just wished it
wasn’t Holly that carried his child. When their relationship had flourished,
Mona hadn’t been able to think about anything else aside from her life with
Isaac. It had been stupid for her to put all her eggs in one basket, so to
speak, but she loved him, damn it, and she thought he had loved her too.

“I really
don’t know what to say, Isaac.” She kept her voice low and even, because even
though she hurt inside, she didn’t want him to know.

“I still
love you, Mona, but I don’t know how to give you what you deserve right now.”
She heard him breathe out deeply and glanced up at him. He took a step toward
her and then fell to his knees, right in front of her. “I love you, so fucking
much. I don’t know what to do, Mona.”

Tears
welled in her eyes but she forced them back. His head was in her lap, and it
was so strange to see a big and powerful man like Isaac crumpled before her
like he was broken. She lifted her hand, wanting to run her fingers through his
hair, but squeezing her hand into a tight fist before she made contact. With
Holly pregnant, a relationship with Isaac would never work, because Holly
wouldn’t allow it. This had been her way to secure his attention and affection.
He would always be there for her now, just like Holly had always wanted.

“I love
you too, Isaac.” He lifted his head and she saw the raw anguish reflected back.
“Things have definitely changed, haven’t they?” She smiled a watery smile and
took a deep breath. “Our lives have just decided to take us in different
directions.” Without waiting for him to respond, she pushed him away and left
the house.

That same day she had found a place to live,
close to campus, and knew that starting her life over without him would be hard.

It was still so fresh in her mind, and at times
she found herself wishing she hadn’t left him on the floor in her bedroom. She
hadn’t heard from Kara since that one day she revealed everything, and more
times than not she found herself picking up her phone and aching to call her
best friend. Always at the last minute she chickened out. She had kept her
distance from Isaac, which proved easier said than done. If she could have
chosen another college, one farther away, she would have, but of course her
financial situation stopped her. She had been lucky enough to get a few grants
and student loans to help cover the costs of her tuition, and any money she
made went for her living expenses. It had been sheer luck that she had found
this apartment, albeit tiny, for next to nothing. Mona had about dropped dead
when her landlord, an older gentleman, had told her the rent. She would have
been stupid to pass it up.

She glanced around the one room apartment. It
wasn’t the prettiest thing in the world, but it worked for her. She stared down
at her sheets, the same ones that she had been intimate with Isaac on. Ugh, she
hated herself at these moments, when every little thing reminded her of him.
Trying her hardest, but failing miserably, she thought about what he was doing
at that moment. No doubt Holly was getting big and pregnant with his child.
Just thinking about her had Mona’s heart rate increasing. She wasn’t stupid
enough to think that Holly hadn’t planned this. She was surprised the she-devil
hadn’t done it sooner.

It wasn’t the time to dwell on the past and
something she could and would never have. Even if Isaac came to her right now,
expressing how much he loved her, Mona couldn’t be with him. Not just because
he had a child with Holly, but because she had deceived her best friend. In the
blink of an eye Mona had lost the two most important people in her life.

****

As the days turned into weeks and the weeks into
months, Mona was trying to move on with her life. Aside from changing her name,
she had tried to start over. For the most part she was thriving in this new
role, but she missed Kara and Isaac with a ferocity that scared her. The fall
semester was coming to an end, and Christmas was fast approaching. If she had
her way she would stay at home and spend the holidays by herself, but with her
mother now out of in-patient therapy and harping her on coming home and
spending Christmas with her, Mona knew she needed to try for her mother’s sake.
Her father was still locked up, and she didn’t know if or when he would ever
get released. The counts against him were too monumental, but Mona knew he was
right where he needed to be.