by Marian Tee
"Shut the fuck up," he grated out against my lips, "and stay still."
In complete defiance of his command, I deliberately squeezed his cock with my inner muscles instead and was rewarded with the sound of his harsh groan.
"Goddammit, Story—-"
"Then say it," I coaxed. "Just say—-"
I cried out when he suddenly bit my lip. "That hurt!"
"It's going to hurt even more," he warned, "if you don't do as I say. You need to just shut up and don't move a fucking muscle because right now..." His fingers clamped around my waist, and a moment later I felt him surge up inside of me to release one last powerful wad of cum. "The heir of the Crown Prince of Najma—-"
I stared at him, stunned.
"—-is about to be conceived inside his mama's womb."
The last secret, I thought dazedly, and the sheikh's way of saying—-
I was different.
Not just because he loved me back.
But because he trusted me, too.
Verification of Pregnancy Test
This is to officially confirm that the pregnancy test taken by Ms. Story Teller in our clinic has registered a positive result. Please feel free to contact us for any inquiries or concerns.
Chapter Sixteen
"How about we name her Ella," I asked mischievously two weeks later, "in honor of her future godmother?"
Raj actually blanched at the suggestion, and it had me laughing so hard that the other couples in the waiting room started looking at me like I was crazy.
In the past few days, he had been opening up more and more about his life - voluntarily, too, mind you - and one of the first things he shared with me was how he had grown up alongside another crown prince.
Khal, he told me, was his best friend. The guy was the thoroughly disciplined sort and was everything a prince was supposed to be...until a year or so ago, and Khal had ended up marrying Ella, a rather "rebellious" American girl who - in Raj's private opinion - was an even bigger headache than I had been. From almost the onset of her royal life, Ella had set countless tongues wagging with the way she unknowingly violated court rules and almost got herself engaged with yet another crown prince. She had also gotten herself nearly kidnapped, nearly mauled to death by vicious dogs, and the list - according to a faintly disapproving Raj - just went on and on and on.
She is good for Khal and loves him truly, Raj had reluctantly opined, but I would definitely not want any daughter of mine to take after her.
Remembering this made me grin, and when the sheikh raised a brow in askance, I said innocently, "I was just thinking of more baby names."
"Not Ella," he rejected right away.
"No, of course not," I answered obediently. Or at least, it wouldn't be the kiddo's first name, but he hadn't said anything about second names, had he?
Once outside the clinic, the sheikh motioned me to stand behind him and used his large powerful frame to shield me from the harsh sunlight. A pair of pregnant women on their way inside saw this and let out rather dreamy sighs...right after glaring at me like I didn't even deserve to kiss the sheikh's feet.
They probably thought I was spoiled rotten, the way I seemed to take the sheikh's "devotion" for granted, but honestly that wasn't the case at all. The sheikh's ridiculously overprotective gestures secretly had my toes curling each and every time, and while Raj might not have said the actual words, these little gestures of his spoke volumes. Even my own OB had remarked at how "devoted" he was to my well-being, with the way he had asked a gazillion detailed questions about my pregnancy.
And under normal circumstances, I would've gushed in agreement.
But nope.
Instead, I told my doctor she was most assuredly wrong, and that the sheikh was nothing but an incurable asshole under his tall, dark, and handsome guise. I had to, you see. If I let this piece of sheikh realized how happy and cherished he made me feel, I'd bet my life Raj would start being perverse. Like, push-me-out-into-the-storm-and-hog-the-umbrella-to-himself kind of perverse, and since that would just be unnecessarily annoying, I think it was better this way.
He can act as nice and sweet as he wanted, and I'd pretend to never notice.
Our Uber arrived moments later, and this time I knew better than to open the door for myself. The last time I tried doing it, I had paid for it dearly, with the sheikh tongue-lashing my pussy for what seemed like an eternity before letting me cum.
We didn't do much talking once inside the car, not because we were busy or anything, but more because Raj had this thing about never saying anything about our private lives in public. This was non-negotiable, apparently, now that both of us had committed to make things permanent between us.
Honestly, I thought I knew all there was to keeping a low profile, but learning about the lengths Raj took to protect his privacy just made my whole life feel like a joke. Imagine a group of secret tycoons investing millions and millions of dollars just to buy themselves their own little town up in the mountains of Wyoming, make its GDP artificially low to discourage potential investors, and deliberately jam signals so no one within town could access the Internet.
And then there's me, whose brightest idea was to keep my name out of social media.
Our Uber dropped both of us at uni: Raj was going to meet up with Professor L and her husband at the former's office, and I was set to join them once I was done finalizing my leave of absence. After much discussion, both of us had agreed it would be better if I left Miami and spend the rest of my pregnant days in Hartland.
My phone started ringing just as I finished signing the last page of documents, and I didn't know what to feel when I saw Johnny's name flashing on my screen again. A part of me wished I could simply ignore the call, but since that would be impractical...
"Hello?"
"Hey. Where are you?"
"I'm—-"
But Johnny was already speaking again, his tone sounding a little too jovial - almost as if it were fake - as he added in a rush, "Dahlia and I are here at your dorm, but the guy at the desk tells us you've moved out almost two months ago?"
Your sister texted me.
She says you're pregnant?
Message received at 1201h from Dad
Chapter Seventeen
Stay calm. Stay the fuck calm. The sheikh told me he'd take care of this, and I believed him. I had to believe him. Otherwise, we were fucked, so damn fucked, now that hormonally imabalanced Dahlia had seen for herself how not bad my life was.
We were in the sheikh's apartment, with Raj having graciously agreed to take a rain check on his business lunch with Damen and say yes to Dahlia's admittedly charming plea for "our" company. Afterwards, he had asked my sister if she had any place in mind, and of course she had a ready answer for this: a fancy-schmancy rooftop steak restaurant, and one so expensive that the only thing on the menu below $100 was a bottle of water.
Obviously, Dahlia had wanted to see if the sheikh would baulk at the prices, but he didn't of course. Instead, Raj had simply acquiesced with a bland smile, and afterwards, when Dahlia had continued to very sweetly insist on having her way, the sheikh had once again agreed to her request.
Can I see where you guys live, she had begged, and so here we were now, having coffee next to the sparkling waters of the sheikh's private pool. It was also here that I saw Dahlia's eyes gradually hardening as she took in the quiet luxury of our surroundings and when she finally looked at me?
That split-second flash of murderous rage in her eyes nearly had me jerking. It was a given she'd be mad, and while I'd have been an idiot to expect Dahlia to be happy for me, I certainly had not expected she'd be so freaking furious she'd be inclined to kill me.
I had asked my therapist once, if she had any idea why Dahlia seemed to hate me from the moment we met, and Dr. Payne's answer had been patently and frustratingly simple.
Some people had issues with themselves that they had difficulties confronting, and the only way for those people to get over such issues w
as to find a fake resolution for it. And according to Dr. Payne, I was likely to be that fake resolution for Dahlia. For as long as her personal devils tormented her, my sister would always want to torment me in return, and right now?
That was exactly what she had in mind, with the way she flicked this evil little smile in my direction, and damn if I couldn't hear her sultry voice whispering in her mind, I'll steal him, too.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
I opened my mouth to tell her to fuck off once and for all, but then I saw the way her hand covered her noticeably rounded belly at the same time, and I forced myself to swallow the words back. The bitch was pregnant, I reminded myself doggedly, and however evil my twin was, I had to remember that and keep the baby's safety in mind.
The sheikh had finally returned to join us after taking a business call in the study, and I couldn't help making a face at the way Dahlia immediately started talking to him in a sweet, shy voice. "You have such an incredible place, sheikh." A tiny pause, and then her lips formed this provocative little moue as she asked, "Do I really have to call you that?"
"Yes."
"Don't tell me Story calls you that, too?"
"She does."
"Even...in bed?" My teeth gnashed at the way her eyes suddenly went wide and playful, and I had to clench my fists against the urge not to strangle her from daring to flirt with Raj in front of me.
"I'm afraid that's private."
My annoyance vanished when I saw the way Dahlia blinked in confusion. She had obviously expected the sheikh to play along, and I nearly snickered. This was probably the first time in her entire life that she had come across someone as close-mouthed as the sheikh, and when I saw the way Raj's eyes gleamed in amusement as our gazes met...
I quickly looked away, but not quickly enough apparently, with the way anger once again flashed in my twin's eyes.
Shit.
And just as predicted, Dahlia went on to double her efforts to win the sheikh over, flattering him to no end, and when that didn't work, she tried seducing him outright, with the way she'd practically shake her boobs every time she spoke. But this didn't work either. None of it worked, to the point that I could see Johnny was feeling just as embarrassed as I was, at the way Dahlia was working so hard to impress the sheikh.
"Sorry about this," Johnny muttered under his breath when Dahlia finally managed to get Raj to give her a little tour of the second floor.
"Dahlia's used to being the center of attention," I opted to say diplomatically.
"That's one way of putting it."
An awkward silence followed, and despite everything, it still made me feel sad that things had so drastically changed between Johnny and me. But honestly, looking at him now...it wasn't that Johnny became less attractive in the past two months. He hadn't changed at all, really. Rather, I was the one who changed.
Because of Raj.
I've been so stupid, I acknowledged to myself with an inner grimace. A part of me had half-expected, half-dreaded seeing Raj eventually fall victim to my twin's charms. I mean, it's not that far-fetched. Johnny had known me for years, and he had still ended up betraying me.
But obviously, I was wrong.
Or so I thought.
Once a naïve fool, always a naïve fool, and I had been so focused at worrying about Raj being attracted to Dahlia that I had forgotten how deviously good my twin could be at making trouble. Idiot that I was, I thought that everything was fine now, and Dahlia could never come between us. And while I was right on that score...
"I promised the sheikh I'd prepare my special brand of mocktails for us," Dahlia was saying as she and the sheikh came back. "How about we do it together, so you and I can have some sisterly bonding time?"
"Um..."
"Pretty please?"
I nodded reluctantly, not seeing any graceful way out of this. But the moment we were alone in the kitchen, I lived to regret it right away.
"You bitch!" Gone was the innocent Dahlia of earlier, and in its place was someone so bitter and spitting mad I couldn't help laying a protective hand over my womb. Unfortunately, Dahlia saw this, too, and it seemed to enrage her even further that she actually took a sudden step towards me, her hand already lifting up as if to strike me.
"Don't!" I didn't want to get into a fight and risk having my baby hurt. "If you leave a single mark on me, the sheikh won't let you get away with it. You know that."
Several moments passed, and then Dahlia finally lowered her arm. "You think you've had the last laugh, don't you?"
I shook my head. "This isn't a competition—-"
"I bet you cried and fed him all kinds of bull about me," she spat. "But tell me, big sis - is it worth it, throwing away your precious principles," she sneered, "just to get back at me?"
"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about—-"
"DON'T BOTHER PRETENDING," she snapped. "I obviously made a mistake by missing out on marrying your sheikh, but I bet you're still willing to trade places with me. After all, Johnny is the love of your life—-"
"I don't love him," I denied right away.
"Johnny seems to think differently," Dahlia taunted. "And let's face it, sis. Goody-two-shoe types like you don't just fall out of love right away, and as much as it disgusts me to say this - I know you're not with the sheikh for the money. So it can only be one thing—-"
Yes, I thought. It could only be one thing—-
"The sheikh is your rebound guy, isn't he?"
And that was...what?
"It's true, isn't it?"
I shook my head. "You have it completely wrong—-"
"Do I?" Dahlia let out a humorless laugh. "Then why doesn't he know about Johnny? Guys like your sheikh would have acted possessive and territorial if he knew what Johnny means to you, and he obviously doesn't. So the question is...why haven't you told your sheikh the truth about your one true love?"
Unbelievable. Just un-fucking-believable. After all the shitty things she had done, how the fuck did this woman have the gall to accuse me of...of...hell, I don't even know what exactly Dahlia was accusing of, but whatever it was, it was definitely something more up her alley than mine, and I was just tired...just fucking tired of becoming her fake resolution to her personal issues.
I'm done.
I'm done trying to make Dahlia and Portia love me.
I'm just fucking done, and for the first time in my life, I felt free.
I pointed to the door. "I think it's time for you to leave."
"Aww. Cat got your tongue, bitch?"
"I never want to see you or Portia again after this. I hope you and Johnny will be happy—-"
"How the fuck can I be happy with that wimp," Dahlia hissed, "now that I know I could've had all this? All this—-" She gestured angrily at her surroundings. "—-should have been mine! Mine!"
"The sheikh would never have wanted you—-"
"Because you fucking lied to him about me!"
This woman was insane. Clearly fucking insane, and the sooner I got rid of her, the better. "Think whatever you want." I pointed to the door again. "I just need you to go—-"
A wild, crazed look suddenly entered her eyes. "Why don't we trade places right now?"
Insane, I thought again.
"We can style our hair the same way," Dahlia added eagerly, "swap clothes, and no one will ever know. You can have the boy you've secretly loved for years, and I can have the sheikh—-"
"I'm not going to ask you again," I cut in flatly. "If you don't leave this instance, I'll call security on you."
Hey.
I'm sorry about what happened earlier. Can we talk?
Message received at 2246h from Johnny
Chapter Eighteen
The sound of the door opening woke me up, and I rubbed my eyes groggily even as I pushed myself up to a sitting position. I switched the lights on just as the sheikh entered the bedroom, and when I glanced at the bedside clock, I was surprised to see it was already four in the morning.
"Hey." It was rare for him to work this late, but before I could ask him about this, I noticed the way his lip curled at the sound of my voice, and I went from semi-sleepy to slightly confused in an instant. "Is something wrong?"
Instead of answering, he reached for my iPhone and handed it to me, saying, "Your brother-in-law—-"
"They're not married," I corrected absently as I took my phone from him.
There was a slight pause, and then the sheikh said coolly, "My apologies. Johnny texted. He says 'hey', too."
Okaaaaaay. I totally didn't get why he'd have to mention that. Was it some kind of dig about my lack of formal conversation skills?
"Aren't you going to read it?" he prompted.
"I'll read it later." I finally noticed the shadowy edges of his face and the unusually brooding tone of his voice. "Is something wrong?" I forced myself to ask the question a second time even though a part of me already knew whatever this was, it definitely had to do with Dahlia.
It always did, every time something in my life went wrong.
I watched the sheikh walk towards the balcony doors and turned his back on me. "It was rather awkward earlier, habibti."
Awkward?
"Your sister's boyfriend and I thought we'd join you, just to make sure you two didn't accidentally kill each other. Imagine our surprise..."
Shit.
"Let's just say...it was not pleasant for him to hear his wife offering to trade places with you."
SHIT.
I could feel my blood turning cold even though I knew I hadn't really done anything wrong. "How much have you heard?"
"Everything."
SHIIIIIT.
"I'm sorry for not telling you about—-" My voice faltered when the sheikh turned to look at me in surprise.
"What are you apologizing for?"