The Visitor: Alien Hunger Special Edition (19 page)

She still wasn’t feeling a
hundred percent, but it was a definite improvement over the way
she
had
been
feeling!

She was almost inclined to think it
was food poisoning rather than the stomach flu, but it was hard to
dismiss the fact that it hadn’t seemed to affect Garryk and he’d
eaten pretty much the same things she had.

And to get back to work, finally, and
discover the old bat in the office suspected she’d been sand
bagging!

Despite her anxiety, she didn’t get
summoned to the office for an interrogation. Relieved, still
feeling wrung out from being sick for days, she trudged homeward
after work, more depressed because she didn’t even have company to
look forward to. Garryk would be working both jobs since it was
Thursday and she wasn’t likely to see him unless she sat up until
all hours—which she actually couldn’t afford to do when she’d
already missed three work days herself. If she stayed up, she’d be
half dead the next day.

The significance of the next day
didn’t hit until she woke up from a nap and got up to look for
something to eat. Actually, it didn’t hit her until Larry called.
She almost broke her neck to get to the phone when she heard him
calling out to her on the answering machine.

“
Larry?” she gasped a
little breathlessly. “Hi!”

“
Hi,” he said coolly.
“Look, I just called to tell you not to pick me up
tomorrow.”

A dozen thoughts and emotions collided
inside her at the same time. She’d forgotten she was supposed to
have him for the weekend! How in the world could she forget
something like that? What on earth was she going to do about
Garryk?

“
You still
there?”

“
Sorry.” She cleared her
throat. “When did you want me to pick you up?”

“
I don’t. Dad said I
didn’t have to go over there anymore.”

Blinding anger abruptly ousted
everything else from her mind. “That isn’t his decision,” she said
tightly, struggling to get her anger under control, and then added
in a placating tone, “I haven’t seen you in a month, baby. I was
looking forward to this weekend.”

“
I’m not a baby. And Dad
says I don’t have to go anymore and he’ll take you back to court if
you don’t watch your ass!”

“
Larry!” Chelsey snapped.
“I don’t appreciate you talking to me like that, young man! I
happen to be your mother!”

“
Dad’s gonna marry Lila.
She’s going to be my mother from now on.”

“
Stepmother,” Chelsey
managed tightly. “I’m your mother.”

“
Whatever. I gotta go. Dad
said to call you and tell you not to come.”

He hung up before she could say
anything else. The impulse to call right back and demand to speak
to his father was so strong she was shaking with it. She hung the
phone up instead and moved to the couch, trying to think, trying to
calm herself.

She realized after a moment that she’d
done the right thing. She wasn’t in any frame of mind for a battle
with Lawrence. She needed to think.

She discovered it didn’t actually take
much effort to understand the threat.

Lawrence had found out about
Garryk.

That had to be it. Wrack her mind
though she might, she couldn’t come up with another thing that he
could possibly think would give him the leverage to oust her
completely from Larry’s life. In any case, it was what she’d feared
from the start.

The question was, did he
know
all
about
Garryk? Or just some of it? How far back into Garryk’s background
would he check? Or did he just figure it was enough that he was an
exotic dancer?

Angry frustration filled her, bringing
her to the verge of tears—again, but she was more angry than
anything else. There was nothing wrong with the way Garryk made his
living, damn it! It wasn’t as if he would be strolling around the
apartment naked—or dancing! Of course he did, but that was when it
was just the two of them and there was no reason to worry about
it!

She’d just begun to feel like Garryk
was actually interested in a relationship. He’d been so sweet to
her when she’d been sick, running to the store to get all sorts of
things he thought she might eat! He’d taken care of her.

Lawrence hadn’t done
things like that for her and he’d been her
husband
! Actually, just the
opposite. Not only had he not helped her when she was sick, he’d
complained if she ‘laid in the bed’ and didn’t do her
chores!

And he’d made that remark about her
being his woman, too!

Well, not actually. It had
been a sort of vague reference to the way he’d feel about his woman
being an exotic dancer, but he’d said it in a way that had
suggested
he meant
her!

Well! Lawrence could just go fuck
himself! He wasn’t her husband anymore and he damned well didn’t
have a right to dictate who she could see and who she couldn’t! She
could’ve seen a judge siding with Lawrence if she’d been living
with Garryk, but she wasn’t—not really. He still had his own
apartment—she was sure he did.

Besides, he’d already said
he was going to quit dancing soon. And she sure as hell didn’t
think he was likely to be a bad influence on Larry if his
father
wasn’t!

Unfortunately, she wasn’t the judge
and she couldn’t completely convince herself that she could
convince the judge—if Lawrence took it that far, and she was sure
he would! Any excuse to make her life hell!

She was sitting on the couch, staring
at nothing in particular, feeling curiously empty when Garryk came
in. She lifted her head and stared at him in surprise. “I thought
you had to work at the club tonight?”

He frowned, studying her. “I do,” he
said slowly. “I thought I’d come by and check on you first,
though.”

She smiled with an effort. “That’s so
sweet! I hope it wasn’t far out of your way. I’m fine.”

He moved to the couch and dropped down
beside her, curling an arm around her. “You don’t look fine. Is
there a problem? Are you sick?”

Chelsey sighed and leaned against him,
enjoying the sense of security she felt with his arm around her.
“No. No problem. I was just thinking.”

“
About what?”

She lifted her head and looked at him.
“Actually … uh … I guess I wasn’t really thinking about
anything.”

“
And this nothing made you
look like someone took your last cookie and you cried about it?” he
murmured, turning to pull her more fully against his
chest.

Chelsey swallowed with an effort as a
knot rose in her throat and managed a halfhearted chuckle. “It’s
nothing, really. I don’t know why I’ve been so weepy lately. It’s
probably just my pe … riod.” A wave of cold washed over her, making
her stumble over the last word. Panic followed it as she struggled
to remember the last time she’d had her period and discovered she
couldn’t.

Garryk felt her tense, realized it had
just dawned on her that she hadn’t had a cycle since they’d been
together. He wrestled with the urge to prompt her and an equal urge
to distract her. The latter seemed the safest bet at the moment,
but he couldn’t think of a damned thing because his own mind was
fixed firmly on the subject she’d brought up. He brushed a kiss on
the top of her head, fighting the sudden desire to retreat, and
cleared his throat. “You didn’t get bad news or anything? Trouble
at work?”

Chelsey sent him a wide eyed, hunted
look. “No,” she said quickly.

Her face was paper white despite the
denial and Garryk couldn’t decide if it was just her sudden
realization that she might be pregnant or if there was something
else. “You sure you’re ok, baby?”

“
I’m fine!” she said
quickly and pasted a fake smile on her lips. “Don’t worry about me!
You should probably go. I know you don’t want to be late for
work.”

There was enough panic in her voice to
kill Garryk’s craven urge to retreat. “I’m not worried about it. I
was planning on quitting soon anyway. If they fire me, I don’t give
a fuck.”

“
Yes, but I do! You said
you needed to work at least another month … and there’s no sense in
risking the job when I’m just fine.”

“
I’d be more convinced if
you looked fine,” Garryk said, an edge to his voice. “What’s going
on with you, Chelsey?”

Chelsey stared at him a long moment
and looked away. She’d been doing her best, damn it! She wasn’t
going to tell him about Lawrence’s latest stunt—because she was
afraid he might be tempted to do something she would regret! And
she sure as hell didn’t want to talk about the idea that had popped
into her mind! “I think I’m just really tired,” she said
finally.

His arms tightened around her.
“Alright, baby. I’ll quit bothering you.”

“
You aren’t bothering me.
I’m glad you came. I’ll probably be asleep when you get in … uh …
you were coming back tonight?”

“
I come back every night,
don’t I?”

He had been, she realized
abruptly—every single night since that first night he’d come—even
when he only curled up next to her and went to sleep.

Did that constitute living with her,
she wondered?

“
Did you eat?”

She thought about it. “I was going to
… uh ….” And then Larry had called and she’d been too upset to give
it a thought since. “I got side tracked.”

“
Well don’t eat anything
too heavy. It’s late now to be eating, but you’re liable to be sick
in the morning if you don’t.”

Tipping her head up, he kissed her and
got up. “I’ll be late.”

Chelsey nodded, but he’d already
strode into her bedroom. He returned a few moments later with the
bag he usually carried with him. She smiled with an effort when he
paused at the door and turned back to look at her. “Be
careful!”

She resumed her posture of before when
he was gone, propping her elbows on her knees and cradling her face
in her hands. Her head was throbbing with the effort to jar
memories lose that might be helpful and she still only had a vague
recollection of thinking she must be about to start—a week ago?
Two? Three?

She couldn’t for the life of her
remember. She couldn’t think of any other memory to tie it to
beyond the fact that she’d worried that it might interfere with her
fun! “Oh god! Oh my god! Garryk is going to totally freak!” She was
probably going to get to see just how fast he could run!

Chapter Eleven

Whether it was the fear
that she was right or the desperate hope that she was wrong,
Chelsey decided to dash out for a pregnancy test almost as soon as
Garryk left, even though it was far later in the evening than she
would’ve ordinarily considered safe for gallivanting. She realized
as soon as she started cruising the streets in search of a store
for a test kit
why
it was a bad idea. There didn’t seem to be a damned thing
open! Even the damned ‘all night’ pharmacy was closed! And if that
wasn’t outrageous enough, she was informed when she called their
emergency number that pregnancy test kits didn’t fall under the
definition of ‘emergency’ to them!

“
It might if you
thought
you
were
pregnant, you asshole!” Chelsey growled at the man and hung
up.

After sitting in the parking lot for a
few minutes, drumming her fingers nervously on the steering wheel,
she finally decided to try a convenience store. She was in luck!
The first one she stopped at had one!

The box was dusty it was
so damned old! She couldn’t find an expiration date, though, so she
decided to fork out the outrageous sum they demanded and drove home
again. Slamming the door behind her and locking it, she dashed to
the bathroom and tore the box open, scanned the instructions and
then flopped on the toilet and tried to hit the little stick.
Fortunately, she didn’t have a shortage of piss at that moment
because she had a
hell
of a time ringing it. They couldn’t make the damned test
strip a little wider and longer for what they charged? Honest to
god! It was like trying to hit a toothpick at fifty
yards—blindfolded!

Feeling a little relieved—actually a
lot once she’d emptied her bladder—she set the test down on the
counter and stared at it for several moments before she remembered
the instructions she’d tossed in the trash. Digging them out, she
scanned the paper again until she found the wait time. Dashing to
the door, she craned to see the clock and note the time and then
put the lid of the toilet down and sat down to watch. When she was
convinced ten minutes had passed, she got up and checked the clock
again. Two minutes.

Her stomach growled. Remembering
Garryk’s warning, she decided she might as well grab something
while she was waiting. The suspense was killing her! She needed a
distraction anyway. “Light. Something light,” she chanted while she
searched the refrigerator and then the cabinets and finally went
back to the fridge. There was absolutely nothing to appeal to
her.