by Watkins, CN
G xoxo
I immediately threw them away. I couldn’t go through this anymore.
I had just started cooking dinner when Stefan walked through the door. He spun me around and planted his luscious lips on mine. All the air left my body, and my mind felt as if it was spinning.
“I’ve been waiting all day for that,” Stefan whispered into my mouth as he grabbed my backside, squeezing me.
“And hello to you too.” I turned around and finished cooking dinner.
Stefan loosened his tie and took off his jacket, placing it over a chair in the dining room. He walked back into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and grabbed a beer.
“How was your day?” I asked.
He hopped up on the cabinet next to the stove and cracked open his beer. “Long. Very long.” He took a huge drink from the bottle, then ran his hand through his hair. “Have you heard anything else from your dad?”
My body stiffened, and my breath caught. “Why?”
“I’ve had Charles do some research. Jennifer, he’s here in town.” He sounded worried.
“Well, yeah. I figured that.” I continued cooking.
“Why does he want to get to you so badly?” Stefan asked as he took another drink.
“I told you. He blames me for Mom’s death, and he probably wants me to pay for it. He’s just a drunk.”
I rubbed my belly. What if he did something awful to me? Or hurt Annabelle? I would kill him. It was one thing to hurt me, but to touch my child, no, our child...I couldn’t allow that.
“Jennifer?” Stefan asked. I blinked and looked at him. “Where’d ya go?”
I shook my head, trying to clear the fog out of my head. “I’m sorry. Just thinking.”
“I was saying that Charles is going to accompany you everywhere you go now until I find a reason to put that son of a bitch behind bars.” He jumped down off the counter and threw his beer bottle in the recycling bin.
“Everywhere?” I asked.
“Is there a problem?”
“Nope,”
I turned the stove top off and grabbed the plates out of the cabinet. Stefan sat down at the barstool, and I set his plate down in front of him. A smile spread across his face.
“God, this smells delicious.”
I smiled as I took my place next to him. “Tortellini with Alfredo sauce.” I shoved a bite in my mouth right as Stefan grabbed my thigh with his hand, squeezing it.
“Could you be sexier?” he asked as he stared at me. “Fuck dinner.” He leaned in and licked the side of my mouth. “Christ, that taste so much better when I’m licking it off you.”
Oh no! I’m hungry!
“Stefan...dinner.” If he wanted to be on top of me, he would have to wait until after dinner.
“Oh, I plan on eating dinner alright.” Stefan got up and grabbed my hips, slightly picking me up to turn me around in my seat. “We both know how much better this is about to taste.” He had a devilish smile on his face.
I pouted. “I’m hungry!”
“Don’t pout,” he growled. He leaned down and kissed my neck, running his hot tongue across my skin and making it burn. He ran his hands up and squeezed my hips as he spread my legs apart, pressing against me. I felt his arousal push against me I was immediately turned on.
Everything in me was now hungry for him. I wrapped my arms around his neck and gripped on to him. He lifted his head and looked at me, his eyes burning with passion. My breath quickened as he slammed his mouth into mine, our tongues feverishly searching for the other. He pulled the bottom of my shirt and lifted it over my head, sending a chill through me, before returning our lips together.
He unbuttoned my jeans, pushing them off me, then leaned down and trailed kisses from my knees to my feet, pulling the jeans off each foot. He stood back up and stared at me, his hot eyes grazing over every part of my body.
“No panties?”
I shook my head no.
“Christ, You are going to be the most delicious dinner I’ve ever had.” A smug grin appeared on his face. He unhooked my coral lace bra and peeled it off, throwing it on the pile of clothes next to us. I gripped the sides of the barstool, trying to support myself as he spread my legs even wider.
He trailed his finger from the inside of my thigh up towards my sex, stopping at my clit. Instinctively I pushed myself closer to his finger, waiting impatiently for him to slip it inside of me.
“Fuck, you’re wet baby. God, I love it.” He rubbed his finger around my clit and stuck it inside of his mouth, sucking my juice off his finger. “You’re fucking delicious,” he growled and stuck his fingers deep inside of me. I cried out as my orgasm neared.
He kept pushing his fingers in and out of me, using his thumb to massage my clit in a circle pattern. He knew I wouldn’t last long like this, I never did. I closed my eyes and titled my head back, allowing my body to fall apart around him. I felt his hot tongue graze my clit, then slip inside of me.
That’s all I needed to push me over the edge. I cried and moaned his name as I gripped the side of the barstool and pushed myself into his mouth. Stefan didn’t slow down but worked me faster, moving his fingers and tongue in perfect motion with each other. My body tightened around his fingers as the orgasm ricocheted through my entire body. I let out a long breath as he withdrew his fingers and his tongue and unzipped his pants.
“Watching you fall apart in my mouth is one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen you do.”
“You are a god.”
“Oh, I plan on always being your god.”
He shoved his pants and boxer-briefs down and stepped out of them. His cock was long and hard as he positioned himself directly in front of my wet entrance. He pushed himself inside of me, and I cried out again as my body welcomed him. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and my fingers dug into his skin as he began thrusting inside of me, each time going harder and deeper.
“Christ,” Stefan growled as he pounded into me then stopped. He hooked his arms around my lower back, pulling me even closer to him so he could go deeper. I placed my hands on his biceps, squeezing them as my body took over.
“Come with me,” I moaned. I felt the tightening in my core, and I knew I was close. He unhooked one hand from my lower back and started rubbing my clit, sending me over the edge. We cried out together. When he finally stopped, I let out a long moan and titled my head back up, meeting his gaze.
Stefan picked me up, pulling himself out of me and hugging me into his chest as he hooked one arm under my legs and the other under the top of my body. He carried me down the hall into our bathroom. He sat me down next to the jacuzzi bath tub and started the water, adding some lavender beads. He picked me back up and placed me inside of the tub, then climbed in behind me, scooting me forward so I could sit between his legs.
He lathered the soap in his hands and massaged me all over, working out all the knots. After he washed my body, he unplugged the drain and got out, drying himself off. I stood to my feet as he dried me off, picked me back up, and carried me into the bedroom.
He pulled the blankets back and laid me on the bed, cuddling close and wrapping the blanket around us. I listened to the sound of his breath and heartbeat, mixing together to make the sweetest melody.
Stefan placed his hands on my eight month belly. I felt Annabelle kick, and Stefan laughed as he moved his hands around.
“My sweet Annabelle,” he said, looking at my belly. Annabelle kicked again, causing me to place one hand on the side of my belly. We sat there for a moment, laughing as Annabelle followed Stefan’s touch on my belly.
“I love you.” Stefan whispered, kissing the back of my head.
Our breathing became intertwined, and we both drifted to sleep.
Chapter Eighteen
When I woke up Friday morning, Stefan had already left for work. I went into the kitchen and fixed a bowl of fruit before going into my office to catch up on a little work. I was only working a couple of more weeks, and then I was going on mat
ernity leave. We had all the furniture set up in the nursery, but we still needed a few things.
After a couple of hours of working, I got up and took a shower and threw on a pair of jeans, a grey silk button up shirt, and my black boots. I went into the kitchen to make lunch when I heard my phone ring—text message from Stefan.
*I’ll be home late. Don’t wait up.*
As I was eating, my phone rang again, but this time someone was calling me. I didn’t even look at the screen as I pressed answer and put the phone up to ear.
“Hi, princess.”
My eyes grew the size of saucers as I stopped chewing and sat there motionless on the stool. “George?”
“Oh, Jenny. George sounds so...unfamiliar. I’m your father. You can call me dad.”
“What...” I swallowed the now huge bite in my mouth. “What do you want?”
“I think we both know the answer to that question.”
“Are you trying to kill me? Is that what you want?”
“No, no. I mean, at first I thought about it. After what you did to your mother and all.” There was no stress in his voice.
“You know damn well I didn’t kill Mom. You drove that knife in her, not me. And then you made me leave and told me if I ever told the police you’d kill me, and I’ve kept my end of the bargain.” I tried to calm my rapid breathing.
“Like I said, that’s what I wanted to do first, but then I found out you ran off and got knocked up and married to a millionaire, so I figured you could do something to help out your poor father. You know, I’d probably have more money if your mother were still alive...”
“What do you want, George?” I dragged his name out a little longer to stab the knife deeper in him. He wasn’t my dad, and he would never be my dad.
“Money can make me go away. A good chunk of money.”
“Rot in hell!” I yelled. “Stefan would kill you before he gave any money to you.”
“Stefan doesn’t have to know, Jenny.”
“Jennifer!” I corrected him. “I’m no longer your Jenny, or princess, or whatever you want to call me. I’m Jennifer.” I cringed. “Anyway, I can’t get access to the bank account without Stefan, so I’m sorry, but your barking up the wrong tree.”
“Oh I’m sure you could get something figured out, dont’cha think?”
Silence.
“Listen, if there’s one thing I know about my Jenny, it’s that she can do anything she sets her mind too. So if she wants to get something, she will.”
Silence.
“Alright, how about this. I’ll give ya a week to get me two hundred thousand dollars, or I promise, you’ll regret it.”
“Goodbye, George.”
“You have my number. Call me when you get it figured out. You’d hate to put my grandchild, or son-in-law, in jeopardy.” He hung up the phone.
I hated him! I hated him more than anything.
I sat there, feeling violated and staring at my blank screen of my phone, letting everything that just happened run through my head. How dare he? How dare he pull this shit on me!
I turned my screen back on and pressed the number he called me from. I was sick of doing whatever he wanted me to do, hiding in fear all the time. No more!
“Calling me back so soon?”
“Actually, I called to tell you two things. First, I’m sure when I tell Stefan about this, he won’t be happy. He will probably try to kill you and guess what? I’ll let him! Second, and most importantly, you can go fuck yourself!” I hung up the phone not allowing him to say anything back. Man, it sure felt good to say that!
I grabbed my keys and my purse and walked out to my car. I was going to tell Stefan that he had called—maybe we could track his number and find out exactly where he was.
I thought about taking the highway to Stefan, but figured the back way would be way faster. I weaved in and out of traffic, not paying any attention to the speed limit. I pulled onto the same road Long Publishing was at and really let the Mercedes open up. I have to think Stefan for buying me this thing.
Just when I was in the middle of this long stretched road that led me directly to Stefan, I saw a black SUV appear out of nowhere. I slammed on my breaks and jerked the car trying to avoid the SUV. I felt the Mercedes roll and roll, banging me around like a rag doll. After a moment, the car stopped rolling and slowly rocked back and forth on the hood, leaving me hanging upside down.
This was it. Everything in my life had led to this— the end. I would never get to meet my daughter. I would never get to grow old with Stefan and see our grandchildren. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream and yell, but everything inside of me was numb. I thought about Kennedy and how much I wanted to thank her for everything she’d ever done for me. I needed to tell her how much I loved her and admired her.
My head started pounding, and I knew it wouldn’t be long until I was gone. I was trying to hold on...to let them save Annabelle. That was all I cared about. I just needed to stay conscious long enough for the paramedics to get me.
“Jenny.” I heard his voice next to my ear. I couldn’t move my head, but I knew exactly who was talking to me. “My sweet Jenny. That phone call was not what I was expecting, but everything comes with a consequence, good or bad. Hope this is what you wanted. Personally, I think money would’ve been an easier way.”
I heard him walk away as my body gave up.
This was the end of everything in my life.
I heard sirens, and people running and screaming. I felt my body being pulled and placed on a hard slate, then something around my neck. I wanted to tell them to stop worrying about me and worry about Annabelle, but I didn’t have the energy to tell them. I didn’t have the energy to open my eyes, to scream, or cry.
Maybe I was already dead?
I heard a lady mumble about a baby...was she talking about Annabelle? I heard the sirens again and felt myself rocking back and forth with vibrations underneath me. I needed to tell them to call Stefan. I needed to tell him what I knew, but I couldn’t.
I heard them talking again, and I tried to listen, but I couldn’t make out anything they said. I felt a poke in the bend of my arm. I needed to open my mouth to scream to tell them to stop, but I couldn’t. My jaw was too heavy, and the words were stuck in my dry throat. After a moment, my body relaxed and my mind turned fuzzy before finally turning off, drifting to happier times.
I tried to open my eyes, but darkness surrounded me.
I tried to cry out, but the words got stuck in my throat.
I tried to move my hands, but they ached and weighed me down.
The voices were muffled, and I couldn’t make out anything they were saying. Where was Stefan? Was Annabelle okay?
I felt them lift my body from the hard slate to a cold metal slate. The cold metal wobbled back and forth—they were pushing me somewhere, fast. I tried to move my head, but something held it in place. Cold liquid shot up my arm again, spreading like a wild fire through my entire body.
My mind grew black again, and as much as I tried to fight the consuming darkness, eventually I had no choice but to give in and let it sweep me away.
Would I ever find light again?
I laid on the beach with Stefan, our toes in the sand, small, playful pecks being placed all over our bodies.
“Jennifer!” he cried out.
I looked at him, confused.
“Please, baby. Please wake up! Oh God, Jennifer.”
He was crying. I tried to reach my arm out to console him, but I couldn’t move. I tried to speak to him, to tell him I was okay, but no words came out.
He slowly started walking away, not turning back to look at me. I tried to scream his name, to tell him to come back. I needed him. Please don’t leave me! Please stay!
My mind slowly came out of the darkness that surrounded me. I heard the mumbling around me and the beeping of all the machines. This wasn’t my paradise. I felt the cold liquid purging through my veins making it’s way straight to my heart. Slowly, St
efan and my paradise came back into reality. I could stay on the beach forever with him, right here in our own little world with no problems.
I let the liquid possess me as I slipped into the black haze.
I felt Stefan’s head on the top of my hand. His hand was underneath him, his fingers entwined with mine. I tried to squeeze his hand, but I couldn’t...I still couldn’t move.
Stefan’s head lifted as someone else came into the room. The voice was high pitched— mousy— but I couldn’t make out exactly what she was saying. I heard another male voice...Charles. It was Charles talking to Stefan. I tried to concentrate, but the beeping machines made it hard for me to pay attention to anything.
I tried again to move my fingers. Maybe if I concentrated and put all my energy into it, they would move. I couldn’t stay like this. Stefan needed to know I was okay, and I needed to find out what happened to Annabelle. I thought about holding Stefan’s hand, about running my hand across his body...maybe that would get my hand to move.
I felt the cold liquid move up my arm again. Why couldn’t they just leave me awake long enough to get my mind out of this black hole? I could do it! I know I could!
But I drifted off...again.
“Baby? Sweetie! Oh my gosh, I missed you! My baby girl...”
I felt her presence in front of me.
“Mom!”
The tears sprung to my eyes. I jumped on her, gripping her in a tight bear hug. I sobbed uncontrollably into her shoulder, letting out years and years of tears. I couldn’t believe she was standing here in front of me, hugging me!
She pulled me away, holding me at arms length. My God, she was just as gorgeous as I remembered her. Her long brown hair fell down into big, loose curls around her face and her rosy cheeks glowed with her smile, making her green eyes pop.
“My baby. How are you?”
“Mom,” I sobbed, trying to control myself. “I’ve missed you so much.”