Gillian’s fingers run over my scalp, soothing the anxiety that’s building at the thought of how very little I know about being a dad. “I think our baby can feel love. But according to Bree, she’s having regular wild monkey sex with Phil.” Her face contorts, and I wonder if it’s because she still has feelings for her first sexual partner. She looks down, and her brows furrow. “It’s like talking about my brother and sister having sex. It kind of grosses me out.”
I laugh and kiss her stomach, running my finger over the flat surface, imagining her growing bigger. It’s going to be awesome to see.
She lets out a breath. “Anyway her doctor said regular sex is totally fine as long as she feels fine.”
“No restrictions?” I ask, very interested in this part.
Her shoulders go up and down. “I don’t know.”
“We need to get you in to see the doctor as soon as possible.” I move to get up but she holds me down.
“Where are you going? Chase, we need to sleep. We have a really, long day in the hospital tomorrow.” Her green eyes show concern, and I melt giving her a kiss.
“I need to get my iPad. I want to download some books about pregnancy.”
She looks over at the clock. “At two in the morning?” I can see why she’d think that was strange, but the need to know what’s happening within her is nagging at my subconscious. “Chase, we don’t even know how far along I am. And we can’t tell anyone,” she warns.
I sit up and look at her, my temperature rises, the relaxed feelings I just had, leave me quickly. I hold her gaze, mine probably hard and unrelenting. “I’m fucking telling everyone. My wife is pregnant, and I want the god damned world to know it.”
She smiles and shakes her head. “Baby, we can’t tell anyone until we know how far along I am and that the baby is okay. Plus, we haven’t even told anyone we’re married. I’d like to tell them when everything has calmed down, and we can celebrate. Maybe when Kat’s out of the woods, or out of the hospital.”
I understand her point, but I don’t like it. “I’ll think about it.”
“You do that. For now, can you please lay back down and hold me. I’m so tired,” she whines and I give in, pulling her into my arms, sliding the front of my naked body against hers. Once we’re on our sides and intertwined, she releases a contented sigh. “You really okay with this?” she asks, her tone nervous.
I lay a hand over her where my child is nestled safely. “I’m very okay with this. We’re just having our family a little sooner than we planned, but somehow, it makes it better because it just happened. And we have something to look forward to.”
She places her hand over mine. “Yeah, something to look forward to. I like that, Chase. No, I love that.”
Before long her body gets heavy and her breath evens out in sleep. I lay there caressing her stomach in our dark room.
“I will protect you, little one. I will do whatever it takes. You will never know pain the way your mom and I did. I swear it.”
I fall asleep imagining a dark-haired, little boy with pale skin, and his mother’s bright green eyes.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Daniel
The alarm on my phone sounds and I look down at the display. Looks like the blonde bitch is taking a call from the rich fucker. I sit back on my bed at my adopted brother’s place and click the phone. Stupid bitch never knew I put the device on her cell. It’s a piece of technology I, myself, invented. The device allows me to listen in to her calls while they are taking place with no one being the wiser. So when her phone rings, my display gives a special alarm, and I can see what she sees on her cellphone. In this instance it says Chase Davis Calling.
Not that I especially want to hear the fucker’s voice, but I do want to find out what’s going on with my girl and glean any information possible on how I can once again take her from the prick, whisk her away to Canada where no one will ever be able to find her.
“Chase, I’m so sorry to hear about Kathleen and Maria,” she says the moment she answers. Hearing about my latest victims and my girl in one call…damn, I’m a lucky man.
“Thank you, Dana. Maria is doing well, she’ll be out of the hospital within the week. Kathleen’s prognosis has yet to be determined.” His voice sounds authoritative, and I want to reach into the phone and strangle him where he stands. Probably standing next to my perfect princess, the motherfucker.
“It’s good that Maria is on the mend. I can’t imagine how your fiancée must be taking this information right now.”
“Wife.” His tone is matter of fact, and I grind down on my teeth and grip my hand into a fist. I still cannot believe that she married him. How could she do that? I take several deep breaths reminding myself that he had to have made her. It’s the only reasonable explanation.
“Excuse me?” she says her tone one of shock.
“We eloped. I took her to the home in Ireland I bought. Married her in a small church a few days ago. Just the two of us.”
Dana doesn’t speak for a moment, and finally she whispers, “I’m happy for you, Chase. I knew the day I met her she was going to change your life. And I’m sorry that my boyfriend hurt you guys so badly…” her voice hitches even though she muffles the sound. If I can hear her crying, so can he. Me, makes me fucking thrilled. Chase, on the other hand, is a wussy dick who will be sensitive about her feelings. I should have killed the bitch when I had the chance. Technically, I still can. Her boyfriend my red-blooded American ass. She was a hot piece of ass. A fucking whore I fucked to get what I wanted. Her boyfriend. I almost laugh out loud.
“Hush now. I didn’t call you for that. I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch, but Gillian and I didn’t want anyone knowing about our plans to marry. Her friends still don’t know and now that tragedy has struck once again, they’re not going to know for a while.”
Her voice catches again, and I roll my eyes. Dumb bitch, put a lid on it already. He doesn’t give a fuck about your tears. “Well, congratulations.” She sniffs loudly. Probably wiping that shit on her sleeve. Disgusting cunt. That’s why I always fucked her facing away from me. Couldn’t stand to look into her weepy eyes all the time.
“Thank you,” he says gruffly as if he’s not got a lot of time. Probably not. He’s got the most beautiful woman alive in his bed. I wouldn’t leave her to even make a phone call let alone call this stupid cunt. “Now, the reason for my call is twofold. One, Gillian needs to see an obstetric gynecologist immediately. I want an appointment as soon as possible, but any time within the week will be fine. The sooner the better.”
“Everything okay?” her voice is concerned, and I’m glad it is because my own anxiety has my gut clenching. He better not have given her an STD. I’ll kill him. Technically, I plan on killing him anyway, but if he defiled her in an irreparable way, I’ll make his death slow and immensely painful.
“Everything’s great, actually.” Chase’s tone is jovial, practically laughing. “My wife is pregnant and needs to see a doctor to ensure our baby is safe.” Pregnant. Gillian is pregnant with the rich fucker’s baby? I could not have heard that right. Chase continues, “We gather she’s closing in on six weeks along now but we want to be certain, make sure the baby is okay after everything she’s endured at the hands of that psycho.”
Pregnant.
Psycho.
He stole my woman, stuck his filthy dick in her, and put his bastard seed into her womb. The rage I’m usually able to control starts to rise up from deep within my soul. The darkness begins to swallow all light as my vision turns to tiny pinpoints of red. My body begins to sweat, giant, fat drops beading on my forehead, my hairline, underarms, trickling down my back as the words penetrate. Pregnant. Psycho.
I can vaguely hear he’s still talking. “I want to plan a dinner, just she and I. This is where you come in. I’d like for you to secure Coit Tower. Whatever the expense. Table, dinner catered, the works. And I want it to be completely private. The standard guards on duty will be enough. Gill
ian’s favorite is Italian, call a local place, and have it delivered and set up.”
“What about Bentley?” she asks but I’m having trouble following. I’m still stuck on the fact that he impregnated my woman.
“He’s feeding the family at the Davis Estate. Gillian and I need some time to be alone.”
“Is that wise?” she asks and I agree. Alone. He’s more stupid than I thought. Not wise at all you stupid, fucking bastard who impregnated my girl.
“McBride doesn’t know where we are and it will only be a few days. This Friday, I’m going to allow Jack to see his own family, and Gillian and I will be completely alone. I want to take her to one of San Francisco’s most beautiful, architectural buildings. When Gillian and I get back from the hospital, I want it all ready to go. I’m going to give her a night under the stars, an unobstructed three-hundred and sixty degree view of the city and most of all, an evening she’ll never forget.”
“God that’s so romantic, Chase. But is Jack okay with this?” Her voice is warning, and I want to reach in and slap the fucking cunt. Tell her to shut the fuck up and let the ignorant fucker become a sitting duck.
“He doesn’t know, and I don’t want him knowing. As far as he’s concerned, Gillian and I will be under heavy guard at the Davis Estate.”
So they’re going to be all alone in an old ass building with lots of places to hide. That hatred in me starts to settle as a plan forms. It’s too perfect. I’ll sneak in that night before closing and hide out. Once I see the catering company leaving, it will just be the three of us. Me, Gillian and Chase. I’ll kill him, then shoot her with enough drugs to force an abortion. If that doesn’t work, I’ll rip that devil spawn out of her with a wire hanger.
In a few more days, all of my problems will be over. Chase Davis will be dead and Gillian will be mine, once and for all.
Chase
We’re taken into a small white room. An examination table is covered in paper and Gillian is stripping out of her clothes. All of them. I cringe wondering why she needs to be completely naked for this. “Do you have to do this shit every time you visit the gynecologist?” I ask her. Her lips tip up into a smile as she closes the front of the paper gown. It’s completely open in the front. One-hundred percent of her body is stark naked and easily accessible. What. The. Fuck.
Gillian shimmies her heart-shaped ass on the table and sighs. “Yes, every time you go to the gyno it’s like this. I don’t know one woman in the universe who likes going to the gyno. I’d much rather go to the dentist.”
I nod and scowl at her bare legs dangling over the edge of the table. Two long, metal items stick out at the edge of the table. I touch one of them and tilt my head to examine it. “What’s this?”
“Stirrups. You put your feet in them and push your bum all the way down to the end of the table.”
“You have got to be kidding me?” My gaze locks on hers, hoping she’s yanking my chain. Gillian often likes to joke, only this time her face doesn’t hold even a hint of humor.
Her lips purse into a flat line. “Wish I were. It’s very degrading, but at least Dana requested a female doctor.”
The thought of her naked, even in a medical capacity and her legs spread, her ass hanging off the edge of the table, with another man’s face between her thighs has me grinding my teeth so hard the sound reverberates through my eardrums.
She grabs my hand and leans up for a kiss. I give her what she wants as the door to the room opens.
“Mrs. Davis, Mr. Davis,” I presume. I nod as the small Asian doctor shakes Gillian’s hand then mine introducing herself as Dr. Wong as she sticks her nose in a file. “I understand you have had a positive pregnancy test,” she looks up over the rim of her glasses.
“Six.” I provide.
One, sharp, black brow rises to a point. “You took six tests?”
We both nod neither of us commenting that by the time we’d figured out that all three tests we took first did in fact all come out positive, we thought it prudent to do three more. Okay, I found it prudent. Gillian just thought it was good fun.
“Okay,” the doctor said. “Lie back, bring your bottom to the edge, and put your feet in the stirrups. Gillian follows her directions aa the woman grabs a machine which has a keyboard and a giant wand attached to it. “When was your last period?” She asks while setting up the device that looks like a computer on a TV tray. Once she has it close, she walks around Gillian, blatantly opens the front of her gown and manipulates her breasts. She rubs them everywhere.
I clear my throat, and Gillian’s eyes cut to me. “Breast exam, babe,” she says like it’s perfectly normal to have a woman fondling her tits.
It obviously bothers me more than it bothers her. She then answers the doctor’s question. “I missed a full period, but there were extenuating circumstances. And I should have gotten my period again last week.”
The doctor’s eyes move to my wife’s. “Extenuating circumstances?” she queries, then palpitates her stomach in a way that looks rather rough. Gillian clasps my hand tight. She either doesn’t want to share this information with the doctor or she doesn’t like what the doctor is doing. On top of that, I know this moment is important to her. She wants this to be a happy occasion, and we’re both already filled with an enormous amount of anxiety over the fact that she was likely pregnant when she was drugged and kidnapped.
“Look Dr. Wong, my wife was kidnapped almost six weeks ago on our wedding day. She was drugged, beaten and held in a storm shelter for several days. We just found out that she’s pregnant and are desperately in need of your medical expertise to tell us that our unborn child is healthy and growing normally. She was tranquilized with Etorphine, given extremely high doses of antibiotics in the hospital and painkillers. Her medical files should have been faxed over by my assistant.”
The doctor’s cold gaze turns warm and concerned. I’m not sure if that’s a good sign or bad. “They were and now I understand why the drugs were there.” Then she walks around and stands between Gillian’s legs. She presses a dollop of what looks to be lubricant on her fingers then moves them between my wife’s thighs. Gillian’s entire body tenses, and I’m certain my eyes go wide.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I growl but Gillian stops me with a hand to my stomach. “Internal exam, Chase,” she says breathless. Obviously because a woman has her fingers in my wife’s fucking pussy!
“Mr. Davis, I assure you, I’m checking her cervix, ovaries, and womb for cysts or textural abnormalities.” She pulls her hand out. “Everything seems in order.”
I want to bark that I could have told her that everything was “in order” as I’m very intimate with it.
“Well, let’s take a look at the fetus, and I’ll know more about what we’re dealing with,” she gives a small smile, lifts up the giant wand-like tool that’s mysteriously covered in something achingly familiar to a condom. My eyes widen as she, the doctor, moves between her legs again. “You’re going to feel some pressure, and cold,” she warns. Gillian’s hand locks down on mine and her eyes close.
Then all of a sudden the TV-like device shows some static looking images. Then there’s a black circle with blobs in the center.
For what seems like the longest minutes of our lives, the doctor clicks a bunch of buttons, writes notes on Gillian’s file but has yet to grace us with any feedback on her condition.
I look down at my wife and tears are slipping from her closed eyes. “Baby, don’t cry. Does it hurt?” I can’t imagine how a dildo-esque object pushed into my body by a stranger would feel. I crush my hands into fists at my sides then deep breathe while lifting an arm to caress the top of her hand with my thumb, trying to sooth her.
She shakes her head. “It’s not that. I’m…I’m so scared,” she whispers, but the doctor who is focused on the screen finally realizes that living human beings are standing here, waiting to hear about the well-being of their child, while she efficiently makes notes.
“Sorry, Mrs. D
avis.” She turns the screen and points. “You see this bubble?” We both nod. “That’s your baby. See that little flicker,” we both focus on the tiny spot of light that’s blinking.
“Yes,” we respond in unison.
“That’s the heartbeat.” She writes something more down on Gillian’s sheet.
I look closely at the screen as Gillian strangles my hand. I cast a glance in her direction and see her beautiful face filled with joy. She’s beaming so brightly it’s as if her entire face is luminescent, lit up from within. As though her soul has come to the surface and is sharing its warmth. It’s hard to look away, but I see something that I need clarified. “Dr. Wong, what’s that bubble and that little blinking,” I use my nail to show the spot away from the first bubble.
“Very observant, Mr. Davis.” I smile and it instantly falls off my face when she responds. “That’s your other baby.”
Now my hand is positively about to break in half. I try to yank it out of Gillian’s claw-like grasp to no avail. Her other hand comes up to her mouth and muffles a gasp sob combination.
The doctor looks from me then to Gillian and back. “Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Davis. In approximately seven and a half months, you’re going to be the parents of fraternal twins.”
Twins. With that I back up a few steps, Gillian lets go of my hand and when my knees hit the chair I slump into it. “Twins.”
“Twins.” Gillian repeats her green eyes filled to the brim with fear. I stare into her eyes, her lovely pale face, the one I go to bed to, dream of at night, and have the blessed privilege of waking up to every morning. My wife. My wife, who’s pregnant with twins. My twins. Jesus Christ.
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