Chapter 29 Devon
DEVON
“You’re pregnant.”
I stare at the nurse in front of me as she rocks back and forth on a small, rollable stool, and laugh. “Excuse me?”
“You didn’t know?” She looks up at me through her bangs, then sweeps them to the side with a flick of her head.
“I—no, there has to be some sort of mistake. I was here yesterday because I was feeling under the weather and the doctor took some samples because she suspected a kidney infection. What do you mean, I’m pregnant?”
“It’s common to check to rule out quite a few things,” the nurse continues. “I’m really sorry, I thought you knew.”
“Knew?” Bolting up from my seat, I walk away from her to the other side of the room. “There has to be some kind of mistake. I can’t be pregnant. I’m on regular birth control.”
“When was your last period?”
“I don’t get them ever since I went on the pill. It gave me weight and took away the bleeding, which I’ve been happy about since I was sixteen. You’re wrong. I’m not pregnant. I can’t be.”
“Have you had sex in the past six months?”
I freeze.
This is a bad dream.
It has to be.
I have only just let Kairo into my life.
I let down my walls and invited him into my bed.
We had the most incredible night of my life and I face the chance of a real, honest relationship with a man who seems to actually want to spend time with me.
A baby?
No.
This is nonsense.
It can’t be real.
I can see his mother’s face in my mind already, accusing me of getting pregnant on purpose to trap Kairo.
What if he thinks the same?
What if he thinks I’ve done this so that we can’t divorce?
Trapped with a baby the day after we decide to make our relationship real?
“Oh, God…” With my head in my hands, I sink to the floor. “This can’t be happening.”
“Devon?” The nurse approaches cautiously. “We can take a test. And I can take some blood to confirm, but you’re definitely pregnant. Around six weeks.”
My heart pounds as I gaze up at her. “Give me the damn test.”
Three hours later, I sit on a frozen park bench and gaze out at the frost-covered ground, my mind racing like a hamster on a wheel.
I last saw Kairo yesterday after he dropped me off at the clinic to get some painkillers and find out why I was feeling off kilter.
My doctor was lovely and agreed that stress was a strong factor, so I gave her my urine so she could run some tests.
I was only coming back today for a blood test.
Pregnant?
The pregnancy test came back properly, but part of me still doesn’t believe it so I’m waiting on the blood test results to confirm it.
I can’t be pregnant.
The pill has never failed me. It gave me excess weight so it better not have failed me.
But Kairo… so much happened when we were together. How is it going to look if I suddenly tell him I’m pregnant?
If that doesn’t scare him away, it definitely looks like some twisted form of entrapment.
My leg bounces against the cold, and I clap my gloved hands together, studying the ice that’s swept up the nearby light pole.
Kairo saw my scars and didn’t care.
I saw his and didn’t care.
Something about them changed him in my mind and taking that step, following my feelings right into his arms, felt like the scariest and best thing I ever could have done.
I’m not ready for more.
Not a baby.
Not like this.
Closing my eyes, I replay the options the nurse presented and then dig in my pocket for my phone.
I’m scrolling through my contacts looking for my mom when a call suddenly lights up the screen from an unknown number.
It must be the clinic.
“Hello?”
“Devon. Long time.”
Time stops around me.
The world grows quiet and I sit frozen to the bench, unable to move.
That voice.
It cuts through me sharper than any blade.
It settles in the back of my mind and wraps hands around my throat until I can barely breathe.
My heart gives one single powerful beat that feels like a punch, and when I speak, my voice sounds alien to my own ears.
“Axel?”
“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten me already?”
“How—how did you get this number?”
No. No, no! How is this happening?
Did I die on the way to the clinic yesterday and wake up in some horrific nightmare?
I ran from Axel.
I left him behind and buried myself.
He shouldn’t be able to find me and legally, he can’t come near me, not that I feel protected with his voice in my ear.
“I’ve been looking for you for a long time, Devon.”
He speaks through gritted teeth. “Imagine my surprise when your picture appears online. You on the arm of some snot-nosed cunty little rich boy. Didn’t take me long to track you down after that.”
A picture?
My stomach falls right out of my ass with a dreadful realization.
The gala pictures.
I didn’t even think.
I thought those were private pictures, not something that would end up online.
“You left me, Devon.”
“Leave me alone,” I snap.
“I can’t do that. What kind of man would I be if I did that, Devon?”
“No!” Bolting up from the bench, I glance around as the air around me grows thin. “You’re nothing to me, you understand? You leave me alone! I’ve moved on. You need to do the same. And if you come near me, they’ll lock you up!”
“I’ve been near you,” comes his icy threat, and my body trembles so violently I nearly overbalance as I rush out of the park.
“I’ve been near you and no one arrested me. So the next time I drop by, you'd better be fucking thankful I’m in a good mood. See you soon.”