by Candy Crum
He laughed. “Yeah. That would be my luck, wouldn’t it?”
Matt did as asked. He quickly printed off the photos and handed the camera to Bri for her to delete them herself. He wanted her to have that comfort. Though it was a small gesture, it was a thoughtful one and she appreciated it.
While she was deleting the pictures, Matt left the room. When he came back only a few minutes later he was holding a plate with Double Stuf Oreos her medication, and a glass of milk.
“That was really sweet. You didn’t have to do that,” she said, smiling and reaching for the cookies and milk.
His brows furrowed. “I didn’t. These are yours,” he said, handing her the pills. “And these are mine.”
“Surely you wouldn’t deprive a pregnant girl chocolate?” She began batting her eyelashes.
He smiled. “No. But I would lie to one. I got these for you. But I couldn’t carry another glass. So when I steal a couple cookies, you’re sharing your milk. Deal?”
She nodded and returned the smile. “Deal! Thank you.”
“No problem. Meds first. Treats after.”
She had no problems giving in to that request. She quickly downed the meds, grateful for the thickness of the milk to help carry them down. After, she and Matt sat in silence as they shared the cookies and milk. Like a gentleman, he let her have the last one before taking the plate and glass and sitting it on his desk.
“Lie down,” he said, putting his arm under her to take away some of the strain. He didn’t put as many pillows under her this time, and she was grateful for that. She couldn’t wait until she could sleep on her sides again, or even on her stomach, though she knew that one would have to wait until after pregnancy for sure.
“Thank you for all your help,” she said.
“You’re welcome. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you.” He tucked her in and stalled. There was something on his mind. He sat down on the edge of the bed. “Are you planning to go to school tomorrow?”
She figured this would come up sooner or later. “Yes. I do. Why?”
“Stay home. Please. Look, I have a plan that will keep Mike off you for a while. Ever since you told me about your blackmail idea, I’ve been terrified for you. Please, just hear me out? You won’t like it, but just hear me out.”
He was right. She already didn’t like it. But with everything that he’d done for her, she owed him at least that. “Okay. What is it?”
“You’re still not showing much. I mean, fully clothed you’re not. And even when you do, you can still dress in certain clothes that will hide it.”
“What’s your point?”
“I think that if Mike corners you – or if anyone else does – that you should tell them that you lost the baby.”
“What?!” Bri didn’t know what to think. She never imagined him to say such a thing.
“Think about it. You’re running the risk of him coming after you – and the baby – again. Is that what you want? And if you blackmail him, he isn’t going to take it. He may not do it himself, but he will send someone after you. If you stay home tomorrow and then tell everyone that you lost the baby because of the stress of everything going on, Mike will stay away. He won’t have a reason to come after you anymore. It will buy you some time.”
She didn’t like it. She didn’t like speaking such a terrible thing because she still feared deep down that it was possible for that to be a reality for her. But, he did have a point.
“And what about when I am definitely showing? And there is no hiding it anymore?”
“Then we will pull you out of school. Or, if you must, you could use your evidence then.” Matt wanted more than anything for Bri to just agree to homeschooling, but she wouldn’t. Her stubborn ways was one of the things he both loathed and loved about her.
“Fine. I’ll do it. For the record, I hate even lying about my baby being… I don’t like this. But I’ll do it if it will keep her safe. You’re sure about this?” She knew that Matt had never steered her wrong before, she hoped that he wasn’t now.
“I’m positive. It’s not a permanent fix, but it’s a fix for now.”
Bri yawned, her fatigue overtaking her. “Okay,” she mumbled.
Matt fluffed her pillows a little before turning on the closet light as a night light. He pulled some extra blankets from his closet and made a bed on the floor next to her. He desperately wanted to crawl in next to her and hold her. He wanted to feel the warmth of her body next to him. It had been so comforting having her with him just the night before, but he knew to get close to her would only serve in hurting her. And that was something he promised he’d never do.
Chapter 9
Bri did as she’d promised. She stayed home the following day. She couldn’t deny that it was nice skipping. She got to lie in bed all day and relax. Matt had a rather large TV in his room and she spent the day alternating between naps and watching random cartoons and talk shows. She even watched some cooking shows, which she regretted after becoming ravenous. She wanted everything she saw.
The morning sickness seemed to have almost completely gone away and now she wanted to eat all the time, though she did her best not to give in all the time. Today, however, was hard to turn it away. Shaelyn, of course, played the part of perfect mom. She kept bringing her food and drinks and snacks. She made sure that Bri had her meds and that she did the breathing exercises the doctor ordered her to do in order to prevent pneumonia. She was on it.
Bri felt terrible. Though she was faking “sick”, she certainly wasn’t faking the rest. She tried to focus on the fact that she had terrible injuries and it may not be the worst thing in the world to let someone help her.
I’m still an ass, she’d thought. She still felt as though she were lying and getting attention for it, and technically – she was. She still hadn’t come clean about the pregnancy, and she didn’t plan to. Not until she absolutely had to.
The next day was a brand new day and she was excited to get out of the house. Shaelyn couldn’t baby her and neither could Matt. Jacqueline kept to herself a lot, but she came in the room multiple times and lay in bed with Bri and watched TV with her. Bri enjoyed the company, she enjoyed being babied for a day, but she was ecstatic to be back in class.
Bri tried to focus, recalling what it was she needed to say. She was a compulsive speaker of truth and she worried that in a fit of fear she might blurt it out instead of being able to stay calm long enough to say the lie she’d been going over in her head for two days. It wasn’t long before her fear became reality.
As she left her first period history class, she realized that she’d made a mistake staying to talk to Mr. Hodgens. Now she was the only one roaming the halls and just that thought alone gave her chills. The sickening scent of overused pine filtered through her nose. Her stomach rolled, alerting her to who was there. She picked up her pace, wanting to get somewhere around a lot of people, but she was too late.
Mike snatched her by the arm and yanked her backward, slamming her into the lockers lining the hall. She heard a sickening pop along her ribs and worried that one may have broken again. His brows furrowed, but his smile was wicked. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to pass out or scream. She opened her mouth and he was quick to clamp a hand over it.
“Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” His voice was thick, his breath terrible. She wondered how she’d managed to overlook such a disgusting trait before. “If you scream, or yell, I will make sure you don’t wake up this time. Understood?”
She felt something sharp along her side. She looked down enough to see the gleam of a large knife. It was a hunting knife, though she knew he’d never seen the edge of a woodline in his life. She nodded and he slowly unclamped her mouth. When she didn’t make a sound, he relaxed, though he still held her tight to the lockers with his body.
“What do you want?” she asked. “If this is about the other day…”
“Oh it is. You tried to take me down – but you failed. Did you
see just how easy it was for me to take you down instead? Did you see how easy it was for me to tarnish that perfect reputation of yours? I made you into a suicidal lying pregnant whore. And everyone bought it. If you go for me again, I’ll end you. Not by my hand of course. I need to be far away so I can look mortified and grief stricken that the love of my life and my unborn child died tragically. But it will happen – understand?”
Bri managed to swallow her fear. Instead, she called on the stress and the heartbreak she’d been feeling so much of. She brought forward the tears. It was hard at first, but soon they flowed like tiny water faucets. She began sobbing, shaking her head as if wanting to shake them away. Mike looked terribly confused and almost disgusted.
“What the hell? Damn, I’m glad I’m not part of these pregnancy hormones.”
She used the word “pregnancy” as her cue and cried harder. She brought her hands up and rested her face in them. Mike backed away, both confused and horrified at seeing her act like that. He looked around the hallway to make sure they were still alone.
“What the fuck is your problem?” he asked sharply. “You’re supposed to be afraid – not bawling your eyes out.”
Her head snapped up, anger all over her face. “You bastard!” She sobbed again. “Didn’t you want to have this little reunion yesterday?”
He thought for a moment. “Yeah. But you were too chicken shit to come. I thought you’d dropped out. I didn’t expect you here today either, but my, what a gift this was.” He rolled his eyes.
“I didn’t come because I was in the hospital, you moron! I lost the baby!” She began sobbing uncontrollably again. When a smile came to his face, it took all she had to keep from kicking him in the crotch and then going for his throat.
“You did, huh? Well that’s too bad. I suppose I don’t have to worry much about you anymore, then. The kid’s dead and I don’t have any connection to you anymore. Well, the rules still stand. Fuck with me, and I will end you. Baby or not.” He paused for a moment, stepping in close. “You fucked up the best thing you’ll ever have. You realize that, right? You’re damaged goods now. No man will come within ten feet of you. You can’t even carry a baby. You’re pathetic and no man will ever want you. And if you think you’ll run off with that Matt kid and have a life? Think again. He definitely wouldn’t want you. The last girl he was with couldn’t have kids either.”
The sobs instantly stopped. She looked into Mike’s eyes. “What?”
“Oh, you didn’t know? When he was dating Tara Hensley, he got her knocked up, but she lost it. From what she said, it devastated him. Anyway, he’s not going to want to go through that again. You’re out of options.”
Bri had no idea what to think. Matt had never told her that. How is it that Mike knew – but she didn’t? The rest of the stuff he’d said didn’t bother her, even if she thought it was true. It was this news that disturbed her. She thought that Matt told her everything.
“The deal is, stay away from me and I’ll stay away from you,” Bri said, voice cold. “There isn’t a baby, so you have nothing to worry about.”
Mike thought for a moment. “I think that sounds wonderful. But if I hear you’ve even mentioned my name, then I’ll be back.” He smiled an evil smile that made the hair on the back of her neck stand.
“We have a problem here?” Bri and Mike both turned to see Matt standing there. His face grim as he stared Mike down.
Mike’s smile turned more innocent. “No! Not at all. Just asking Bri here how she was doing.”
Bri looked down and noticed the knife had disappeared. Mike managed to hide it somehow, though she was betting it was up his jacket sleeve.
“Oh, she’s doing just fine,” Matt said. “I’m making sure of that.”
Mike chuckled. “Oh, I bet. Don’t let yourself get too close, Matt. You won’t have any better luck with her than you did with Tara, if you know what I mean. But I’m sure you knew that since it’s you she’s been staying with. I bet it was you that came to the rescue when she lost the little bastard, wasn’t it?”
Matt’s fists began to clench. His chest felt tight and his vision was going blurry. If Mike didn’t leave soon, Matt felt as though he might kill him. He couldn’t believe that Mike knew about Tara and their lost child. More than that, he’d never told Bri and he never wanted her to know. He knew she’d flip out on him for a few reasons.
He knew she would be angry about him being an idiot by sleeping with a girl like Tara, a cheerleader. He knew she would be angry about him being so stupid as to get her pregnant. And he knew without a doubt that she would have flipped out that Tara had lost the baby. She would have been at his side, babying him and taking care of him, just like she did when Gabe died and he didn’t want her to have to do that.
Matt hoped that Bri hadn’t caught what Mike said. That she would be too wrapped in her own mind to notice, but looking over, he knew that wasn’t the case. Hurt was all over her face and he knew it had nothing to do with Mike.
“Well, I’ll leave the two of you be. Remember what we talked about, sweetheart. Matt, good seeing you again.” Mike smiled and turned to walk away.
Bri watched his every step until he turned a corner at the end of the hall. She sighed in relief, taking a moment to calm her jittery nerves. Matt put his hand on her shoulder and she rounded on him, shoving him a little. “You bastard!” she shouted in a whispered tone.
Matt immediately knew what she was referring to. “Bri, I’m so sorry.”
“You got a girl pregnant? And you never told me? She lost the baby… And you never told me? How is this possible? I thought we were best friends! That is huge!”
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you babying me.” Matt paused a moment, realization hitting him. “Wait – why didn’t you tell me right away that you were pregnant? Don’t you remember? I had to ask you about it. I thought we were best friends!”
“Oh no you don’t. Don’t you dare turn this around on me! You lied to me first!”
“But you had no idea about Tara! So in your eyes, it had never happened when you lied to me. So you kinda did it first too!”
“That doesn’t even make sense!”
“It does if you really stop and think about it. You’re not innocent here.” Matt wanted to talk about it with her, not fight. But somehow, it had gone straight to hell and it didn’t seem there was any pulling back. Now that they were arguing, he found himself raging that Mike had ever put his hands on Bri. He couldn’t even handle the thought of some other guy kissing her, let alone having sex with her. Especially when that sex was just shy of being forced. Matt found himself incredibly angry.
“You got another girl pregnant!” Bri was grasping at straws at this point. She was furious! She had no idea why, but the longer they argued, the worse it got.
“And some other guy got you pregnant! Honey, I can do this all day. You might think you have the right here, but you don’t. Yes, I should have told you about Tara. But you should have told me about Mike. I had to find out through the gossip at school. Do you have any idea how that made me feel?”
“Ugh! I hate you right now Matthew Jacob Carter,” Bri said angrily.
“Yeah, well you wanna know something? I don’t hate you right now, Briana Lynn Grace. That’s the difference between us, I guess. Maybe I am letting myself get too close to you.”
With that, Matt walked away. Both hurt, both too stubborn to admit they were both wrong. Bri quickly made her way to class, wiping her tears as she went.
Chapter 10
The next six weeks were calm. Mike stayed away, as promised, and Matt kept his distance. She was miserable without Matt. She knew he wasn’t angry anymore, just as she wasn’t, but he still stayed distant.
Two days after their fight, Matt went for a run directly after school. When Bri went inside, she found a large bouquet of red and white roses. There had been a letter inside.
Bri, I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you.
You mean the
world to me.
Matt
P.S. You’re a nerd.
Bri laughed when she read the message. It was sweet, but clearly had Matt’s touch all over it. She laughed again when she thought of him making the call and telling them what to put on the card. That same night she apologized to him as well and all seemed forgiven after they hugged it out. Now, she wasn’t so sure.
Over the last six weeks Matt had been keeping more to himself. He still babied her, but when he was done helping her, he’d disappear, though he was never far from her if she called. Now, her broken bones were feeling much better, the bruising was gone and her cuts were gone. She didn’t need his help so much anymore and he seemed to be growing more distant. It was killing her, though she couldn’t bring herself to say so.
School hadn’t been too awful. She heard whispers and laughter at her expense every once in a while, but for the most part, it was quiet and bearable. Her belly was showing a lot more and she had to take precautions to protect herself. She wore black hoodies and other clothing that hid her growing bump. Gym was much harder and was about to become impossible. Before, she’d had a doctor’s note to get out of actual activity because of her injuries. Her gym shirt was still loose. She’d taken a much larger one from the office. But now she wasn’t allowed to wear her hoodie anymore, which was the only way to really hide her belly. Today was going to be a problem for her as she returned to normal activity.
When she entered the locker room she could already feel it. All eyes were on her, as usual, but quite a few lingered. She kept her eyes forward and tried not to pay attention. Instead of changing in the actual locker area, like the other girls, she headed to a bathroom stall and changed in there. When she was finished, she tied her blonde locks up and headed out.
She ran out to the back of the group, trying to keep a low profile. The teacher, Mrs. Schroder came in and blew her whistle.