by T. Cobbin
Chapter 13
“Have you found them yet?” Xandor asked, sitting on Troy’s office couch.
“No, and it’s bloody frustrating. It’s been two, nearly three months. They did a runner from their shitty flat and haven’t been seen since. I’ve got lookouts everywhere, and someone watching their bank accounts. It’s harder to find that pair of pricks than it was to find Amy. She isn’t resting well at the moment, the whelp keeps her up a lot, it’s pretty damn strong. Not long now.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “She doesn’t need any fuss. I’m doing all I can, Pop.”
He rested his head against the glass wall, looking down in the heart of his club. It was day so only a cleaning crew and a few bar staff were working, restocking and cleaning.
“Pete or Dennenth are constantly with her when I can’t be. I can’t get rid of this feeling that something is coming.” He turned and sat at his desk, sliding papers around, trying to put his mind on something else.
“I have your back, son,” his dad said.
He looked up into his father’s eyes and smiled. “I know. Thank you. Now, let’s get started on this paperwork, or you and Todd will be left with a shitload of it when this child decides to come.”
* * * *
Amy stared out of the nursery windows, looking over the city below. When she had first started to live here, the glass windows frightened her a little. She was always afraid to go near them or touch them from fear that they might fall out and take her with them. But now they didn’t bother her. She loved them as much as Troy did.
She absentmindedly caressed her very pregnant belly. She felt a little lost today. Saphira had come and gone, and the housekeeper was pottering in the kitchen, making dinner. She knew Dennenth was sitting in the kitchen at his usual barstool, either talking poor Helen’s ears off or reading his never-ending newspapers. Troy had been busy at the club for a few weeks. He wanted to make sure everything was taken care of, because he was determined to have time off when the baby arrived.
The girls came down to visit every few weeks, partying at the club one night then maybe shopping and a meal before they went home. She missed their company sometimes. She missed going to the club during the day too.
The nursery was finally done. She had wanted to paint the damn walls herself, but Troy managed to get his way. The sneaky bastard had sent her and his mother off on a shopping trip, and when they returned, the walls were finished. She couldn’t be angry though. In fact, she had near wet herself laughing when she saw Xandor and Troy standing there with shit-eating grins on their faces and paint on nearly every visible bit of skin. She smiled as she remembered how she’d helped him wash it off.
The baby’s crib was all set up. It looked too big to hold a tiny little thing.
She had surprised Troy one morning as the sun rose. As she opened the door to the baby’s room, the room had filled with dancing rainbows, thanks to the suncatchers she had designed and had made. Each one hung on a piece of invisible wire that swayed when the air-conditioning vents above the windows came on. If she had ever seen Troy near tears, it was then. He had spent the rest of the morning showing just how creative he could be too, only in bed.
“You were projecting, my goddess.” Troy came up behind her, his hands going around her waist.
She sighed and leaned into him. “I’m sorry. I keep wondering what kind of parent I’ll be.” She turned around to face him, looking up into his beautiful green eyes.
“I have no doubt at all that you will be an awesome mother. Our child will adore you. We will make mistakes, honey, but all parents do, no one is perfect.”
“B...but what if I don’t feel—”
He stopped her, grabbing hold of her nape and slamming his lips onto hers. “Don’t think like that. I can feel the love you send our baby now, while it is still inside you. Don’t doubt yourself, honey. Believe. Anyway, you’ve already done it once, and Adam turned out well.” He placed a finger on her heart and held it there. “This heart already loves our baby, that won’t change when he is in your arms.”
Tears pooled and fell down her cheeks.
“You have me, my goddess. We will do this together.” He looked deep into her eyes, and she felt the warmth of his undying love through their bond. With a smile she rested her head on his chest and curled into his arms.
“I want to go put some flowers on Adam’s grave.”
“Whenever you want to, baby,” he said.
* * * *
When Adam died, Amy had scrimped and saved to make sure he had a decent burial and gravestone. She had picked a black marble headstone. His name along with the dates of his birth and death were carved out under the words Beloved Brother.
She would usually sit on his grave talking to him about what was going on in her life, but with only three weeks to go in her pregnancy, she knew getting up would be a pain in the arse. She laid the bunch of sunflowers down; he always called them clown flowers when he was a kid. She bent slightly to stroke his headstone. Tears flooded her eyes.
“I’m sorry I haven’t come in a while. The last few months have been pretty hectic. I did something on the spur of the moment, and then found myself not only married but pregnant too. He’s a good man though, looks after me, and treasures me. It was always me who cared for you, so it has taken some getting used to. You would have liked him, especially his dragon,” she whispered.
She paused, looking around her. She had picked a spot at the edge of the graveyard, a cherry blossom tree not far away. In the springtime the blooms dropped and fell like confetti. It was enchanting. Tears fell down her cheeks.
“I met her. Well, she bumped into me at Troy’s club. I didn’t even recognize her. She called me all sorts of names and said I wasn’t worth it. I probably would have believed her if it wasn’t for Troy. He also thinks I’ll be a good mother, says I’ve already brought one child up. We did well, didn’t we? Adam, I miss you!”
Hands wrapped around Amy’s waist, pulling her into a hard, muscled body. She turned around and curled into Troy’s chest. Finally letting go, she sobbed.
Chapter 14
The baby was due in a week, and Amy was more than frustrated. Her belly was huge. She hadn’t seen her bloody feet in weeks. The girls were coming down and she was more than ready for company. Troy was driving her bonkers. She knew he was only being protective and careful, but it was getting to be too much.
Amy had rung Saphira earlier in the morning, telling her about Troy and how she felt smothered. His mother offered to get Troy out of the house for an hour or two, giving her a break. Once that was sorted Amy rung Wendy, hoping to convince her to help get Pete out of the way. He was the one currently on guard duty.
“Come on, Wendy. Please do it. We need to get out, go shopping, or just for a burger, anything. I need to get out before I go crazy.”
“Okay.” She sighed. “But you owe me.”
“Yes!” she cheered.
Wendy must have convinced Pete somehow, because half an hour later he rushed out of the penthouse, leaving her all alone. After counting to a hundred, Amy grabbed her bag and left herself.
Squeezing into the front of Wendy’s car, she hugged her friend.
“What did you say? He left rather quickly.”
“I, umm, told him I had broken down on the dual carriage way and wasn’t sure who to call.”
“He is so going to kill her when he finds out it’s a lie,” Melanie said from the backseat where she was sitting with Sarah. “I’m sure that bloke has the hots for her!”
“Sneaky! And don’t worry, I’ll take the blame,” Amy assured her. “He won’t say anything to me. Troy would eat him for dinner. So where are we going? I’d love a burger. Troy’s been feeding me healthy shit all week, and I want something greasy and bad for you.” Excitement rippled through her.
“Greasy it is.” Nodding, she pulled away from Amy’s building.
A little while later they all sat in a restaurant eating burgers with everything
on them, along with huge servings of fries.
“Oh my God, this is frigging awesome,” Amy muttered around a mouthful. She let out another meaningful moan. The girls watched in amazement as she devoured her food. Amy just shrugged her shoulders. “I was so sick of rabbit food, give a girl a break. This baby is just like his dad, a lover of meat.” And with that she took another bite, grease dripping over her chin.
* * * *
Troy could feel Amy’s excitement through their bond. What was she up to? He was on the way back with a gift his mother had called him to collect. That was rather suspicious too, because she could have just brought it over any time. He placed a call to Pete, a funny feeling Amy was definitely doing something she shouldn’t.
“Pete, are you with Amy?”
Pete paused then growled. “No, and when I get hold of Wendy I’m going to spank her arse ’til it’s bright red.” He went on to tell Troy about the phone call he’d received from Wendy saying she needed his help, but when he had gone to the place she claimed to be, she wasn’t there, and now her phone was turned off.
“Bloody devious women,” Troy rumbled. “Give me five minutes and I’ll text you where they are.”
What Amy didn’t know was he was damn sneaky too. After the incident with her mother he’d had a GPS tracker placed in her phone. He could, of course, trace her through their now pretty strong bond, but it would take longer, and he had a feeling he didn’t have time for that.
Five minutes later both he and Pete were on their way.
* * * *
“You’ve put more away in the last five minutes than I’ve ever seen you eat before. Where the hell did you put it? Especially with that bump.” Melanie pointed. “There’s no room to put anything let alone what you’ve just eaten.”
“Bugger off.” Amy laughed around a mouthful of banana waffles.
“She’s right,” Sarah agreed. “You look like you’re ready to drop, and you’re only what...six months?”
Amy shrugged, unsure what to say. How could she explain she was about to give birth and only six months pregnant?
Suddenly, she was overwhelmed with feelings of annoyance, anger, and frustration. Oh shit, she had totally forgotten about the bond. She guessed Troy had just found out about their little stunt. She knew in that second he was on his way.
Scraping the last of the waffles from her plate, she thought fuck it, it was totally worth it. She thought of the love she felt for Troy, sending it to him, a warm caress through their bond, hoping to placate him a little.
“Come on, girls, we better head back. Troy is going to be a dragon for the rest of the day.” She giggled.
The girls paid their checks and left. Sarah placed her arm through Amy’s and walked back to the car at Amy’s waddling pace.
When they reached Wendy’s little red beetle two shadows dressed in black with stupid clown masks on stepped out from behind a van parked next to it. She could tell by their body shapes one was female and the other was male. Yet again the blood rushed to Amy’s feet. She watched as each of the figures clubbed Wendy and Melanie on the back of the head. Both of them slumped to the ground in untidy heaps, not even knowing what hit them.
“Drop your purses and get in the van,” the male figure ordered, his voice muffled and gruff behind the mask.
Amy wasn’t sure where the other figure had gone until the van shook as one of the front doors closed. Dropping their bags, Amy and Sarah climbed into the van. On the floor was a double mattress, the bedding strewn across it. In one of the corners were several plastic bags full of clothes. It looked like the pair were living in the van.
“Do what they say. Keep your head down, don’t stare at them, and most of all keep quiet. Otherwise it could just antagonize them,” Sarah whispered.
Amy looked at her with questioning eyes. Then she remembered Sarah’s abusive husband. Amy nodded and did exactly as Sarah instructed.
“Let’s go!” the bloke shouted, climbing in after them and slamming the door.
Amy and Sarah gripped hold of each other as the van pulled away.
* * * *
Troy was suddenly hit with overwhelming fear. Amy was in trouble! After his phone call to Pete he’d told his driver where to go. If he’d been driving right then he certainly would have crashed. He couldn’t concentrate, and his heart pounded against his chest. He picked up the phone and rang Pete.
They arrived at the parking lot at the same time. Pete had stopped and picked Dennenth up on the way. Seeing the girls lying on the ground, they rushed over to them. Pete picked Wendy up, his phone already ringing the police and ambulance. Troy looked around for Amy but only found her purse thrown on the ground. Stretching his neck out, he roared!
“Stay with them,” he ordered. “I have to find Amy.”
“No way! I’m going with you.” Dennenth grabbed his arm, holding him briefly. “She’s mine, just doesn’t know it yet.”
With a nod of understanding they both climbed into Troy’s SUV. Unable to use the GPS to track them, since Amy’s phone was in her bag that was currently on the car park floor, Troy used their bond to find her, constantly sending her reassuring emotions.
Chapter 15
Amy clenched Sarah’s hand as pain rippled through her belly. The rough terrain the van was driving over was torture. She couldn’t help the silent tears that streamed down her face.
The van slowed down and pulled to a stop. She wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but she knew this was where things were going to happen. The person driving turned and stepped into the back of the van. Both of them pulled off their masks, looking at her with sick grins on their faces.
No way! This couldn’t be happening. She was sure she would have passed out if another ripple of pain hadn’t shot through her.
“Oh God, it hurts,” she cried.
“The bitch is in labor!”
Amy looked up into the sunken eyes of her parents. She could see deep shadows under her mother’s eyes, her skin slightly jaundiced. Her father didn’t look much different. Both of their clothes looked too big for them, like they had dropped a lot of weight in a short time.
“How did you know where I was?”
“We’ve been watching you for weeks, ever since she...” He pointed at his wife. “...bumped into you at the club. We had to shift our arses and get out of that shit-hole, knew that big wig would look for us. Been a fucking trial waiting for you to be alone, thought the only time we’d get you was when you had that.” This time he pointed toward her belly bump.
“Why?” she asked, ignoring the warning squeeze from Sarah. “We never asked for anything, we stayed out of your way. Once we left we didn’t bother you again.” Tears fell as she remembered what she and Adam had gone through.
“You are going to get us what we deserve,” he said, waving the gun again. “Yeah, if we hadn’t had you brats, our lives would have been a shitload better. You fucking ruined us, and now it’s payback!”
“Deserve?” She cried out in disbelief as another pain ripped through her. “Please let us go. I’ll get you whatever you want. You can see I’m in labor.” She leaned her head back against the van wall, praying that Troy would find her.
“Don’t worry about the little bastard. When we get what we want, we’ll kill you both and sell the brat. Extra fucking bonus!”
Amy lifted her head and looked at her mother. “How can you be so callous? Why did you have children if you never wanted them?”
Her mother snorted. “You were nothing but a fucking mistake. If we knew then the people we know now, we would have sold you too.”
Amy paled, wondering where she and Adam would be now.
“Grab her chain, Terry, that looks like a pretty nice sparkly on the end of it. And get that ring too.”
Amy gasped as the fine gold chain with a pink diamond set in a gold key was ripped from her neck. Troy had given it to her on their one month anniversary, telling her she now had the key to his heart. Her father tugged at her engageme
nt ring that Troy had the dragon’s tear set into but with her swollen fingers it wouldn’t budge.
“I’ll do it,” she begged in pain.
He released her hand, and she jerked the ring hard, finally managing to get the damn thing off. She dropped it into his waiting hand as the next contraction tightened her belly. With this one a gush of water came out from between her legs, pooling on the filthy mattress she was sitting on.
“For fuck’s sake, get her outside,” her mother wailed.
A glimmer of hope shot through Amy. Outside was good, they could be seen. Sarah helped her stand. Once she was out of the van, her hope was shot down. They stood in a very big and very empty field. They were in the middle of nowhere.
“You can’t make her give birth in a field,” Sarah argued. Amy was quite shocked and really proud her friend had spoken out.
“We can do what we want!” her father shouted, whipping the gun across Sarah’s face.
Sarah stumbled and fell to the ground. The right side of her face was now gashed and bloody, a bruise forming.
“I should just shoot you now. But you can help her have that fucking baby so we don’t have to get our hands dirty.”
Sarah rose to her feet, wiping her dirty hands down her skirt. Amy leaned her back against the van and squatted down as another contraction hit.
“Oh God, I want to push,” she moaned, sweat pouring off her brow. She reached out to Troy; he was near, so close now, their bond humming with their combined emotions. With her friend between her legs, Amy pushed.
* * * *
“Stop!” Troy shouted at his driver, throwing the door open and climbing out of the car before it had even stopped moving. Dennenth wasn’t far behind him as they ran into the field.