“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I sneered.
“Whatever, Abbygail, I don’t feel like getting into this with you.” He parked the car into the spot the valet indicated him to go to, and took his keys out of the ignition. “You’re carrying his child, and no matter what you think, you should have told him about Lyvia and Riley a long time ago. I’m just glad it’s finally out.”
“What makes you think I told him she’s his?”
“You haven’t told him?”
“Of course not.”
His hands shot up, but instead of shouting like I thought he would, he ran his fingers through is hair. The loud exhale that followed told me exactly how angry he was with me. “I don’t get you.”
“Oh for God’s sakes, Ty. How can you not see that telling him about this in a classroom wasn’t a good idea? There are a thousand ways for that conversation to take a wrong turn…”
“It can’t possibly go as wrong as him finding out by someone else…”
“Well that’s not going to happen because you’re all going to shut up about it. I’ll tell him on my own time––when I’m ready.”
“Right…well, just remember that when this blows up in your face, you dealt your own cards.”
I stepped out of the car and slammed the door. Stephan and Tyler had been on my ass about calling Oliver ever since they found out I was pregnant, and as the days turned into weeks, every time I told them to back off, they got more and more persistent. They just didn’t get it…
***
Tyler and I had been asked to attend court because the judge wanted to talk to us about the police report I filled out the day after waking up from my coma. Nancy was still incarcerated due to the gravity of her actions, but her boyfriend claimed he had served enough time. Since my statement mentioned an attempted rape, the judge wanted us to verbally explain what happened that night. When our advisor informed us that we needed to be in court, he insisted that we didn’t need a lawyer present. We could’ve had one if we wanted, but according to him, it was a waste of money. Tyler argued with me for a long time. He insisted we should hire someone new because it sounded like a cross examination of the events. He, or rather Jacob, didn’t trust in the capacities of the people we had. Both of them insisted we should still have one present with us, just in case, but in the end I managed to get my way.
Ironically, as we stood in front of the courthouse about to make our way up the steps, I started getting nervous. Something didn’t feel right.
“Having second thoughts?” Tyler asked, taking my sweaty hand in his.
“No,” I lied. “I’m fine. Let’s just get this over with.”
“Wait. Is that Damian Bushmans?” Tyler asked as I put my hand on the handle.
I turned and recognized Damian making his way closer to us. He was in another one of his tailored suits, his hair was tied up into a neat bun and he still looked as hot as he had the last time I’d seen him. In fact, he looked even better now that his scruffy beard was trimmed into a rough stubble. “I guess it is.”
“What the hell is he doing here?”
I shrugged. “I don’t read minds, Tyler, but he is a lawyer and we are about to walk in a courthouse, so my guess is that he has a case to defend.”
“How do you know he’s a lawyer?”
“Um…well, curious coincidence...he and I crossed paths on my plane ride back from B.C.”
“Um? What’s the ‘um’ for? Why do you look so nervous? Wait––are you still seeing Damian? This is crap, Abby. You can’t be around him. He’s bad news––”
“Are you done?” I interrupted.
“No. He’s a fucking drug dealer. You’re pregnant for Christ sakes.”
I just shook my head at his nonsense. “First off, keep your voice down you idiot. Second, no I’m not seeing him, and I haven’t seen him since the plane ride, so keep your fucking pants on. And thirdly, he’s changed.”
Tyler sniggered.
“I wish you weren’t always so judgemental,” I fired.
“Well, I wish you weren’t always so naïve.”
“We all made mistakes in our past, Ty, and I would like to remind you that they don’t define who we are. The point of making mistakes is to learn from them. Do you think he could be a lawyer if he was still addicted to drugs?”
“Whether Bushmans is consuming drugs or not isn’t the issue. I think he is more than capable of making anything of himself if he sets his mind to it. I also firmly believe that he’d go to pretty much any extent to get his hands back on you.”
“Shut up, Ty. You clearly have no idea what you’re talking about. I haven’t seen him in six years. Just because he––”
“Hello there, Little Bird,” Damian interrupted once he’d seen us. He surveyed my body and I noticed a small frown cross his face, but it disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared.
Tyler held onto me tightly as if he thought I would suddenly be kidnapped in broad daylight. I tugged on my arm and glared at him.
“So I guess this explains why you haven’t called back.”
“Sorry.” I replied, unsurely. To be honest though I didn’t quite understand, he never gave me his number.
“Don’t be. You don’t owe me anything, just as I don’t owe you. Unless of course the child you’re carrying is mine.”
“You slept with him?” Tyler grilled.
Damian winked at me with a proud smirk sprawled across his handsome face, and I just smiled back. I knew all he wanted was to tease me, but Tyler being who he was, was naïve enough to bite.
The thing I realized about Damian and I after he’d left me alone on the plane, was that for some reason, even though we were toxic for each other, we still seemed to have that invisible bond that tied us together. Deep down, we were still the same people. And our friendship, if we could call it a friendship, kind of never really disappeared. I knew that when we were together it was because I wanted to surrender and lose control, but somewhere deep down in that twisted relationship of ours, Damian made me laugh and have fun. He made me forget the throbbing feeling in my heart, and seeing him again just reminded me of who we use to be.
“Well, I’d love to stand here and chit-chat about how two people can actually make babies, but my father is inside waiting for me and I’m running late for his hearing. See ya, Little Bird. I hope you decide to give me a call if you ever need another good fuck. Pregnant or not, I still would love to hear the sound of my name roll off your tongue while I make you come.”
My eyes opened in shock, but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.
“You slept with him?” Tyler repeated.
I rolled my eyes. “You’re a gullible idiot.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he questioned as I tried to get away from him.
“It means that he said something to spite you, and you’re stupid enough to believe him.” I turned and frowned at him. “Do you really think so little of me?”
“Well…” he replied, and I stormed off.
“Shut up, Tyler.”
Chapter 9
Abbygail
The waiting time between the moment Tyler and I arrived at the courthouse and got called in the courtroom was excruciatingly long. When we were asked to come in, the sight of the man that had been haunting my dreams for months was sitting in the defendant’s corner dressed in his drab grey jumpsuit. His eyes lifted from the ground and met mine. His boredom was replaced with an evil wide grin, showing me his brown rotten teeth. My entire body started quivering.
Tyler squeezed my hand reassuringly and leaned in closer to me. “He can’t hurt you, Abs.”
I nodded as bravely as I could, but when his counsellor stepped inside the courtroom and met my eyes, my heart hit the bottom of my stomach and my optimism faded away.
***
“So Miss Evens,” Damian interrogated, “would you mind explaining to us how it was that Mr. Harrison came to be inside your house in the first place on the t
wentieth of December? It is to my understanding that there was no breaking and entering in this supposed attack.”
Supposed attack?
I was fuming. I was about to answer his question, but Damian cut me off just as he had every time he asked me a question. His intimidating tactics were bugging the hell out of me. It also wasn’t helping that Tyler kept shooting angry eyes at me every time I got asked a question. It turned out that he was right all along. Our request to attend the court was exactly what he and Jacob had projected it to be; Damian was cross-examining my entire case against his father. Needless to say I was seriously starting to doubt the professionalism of the guy that was paid to counsel us.
“One might understand that you invited him in.”
“He walked inside my house without an invitation.”
“But your door was unlocked. He stated to the police that his girlfriend at the time, Mrs. Andrews, knocked several times and didn’t get an answer.”
“So what? You don’t lock your doors and that suddenly becomes an invitation for anyone to just walk in? And just so you know, they didn’t knock. If they had, Tyler or I would have heard them.”
“Okay then, let’s presume for a minute that your hypothesis is correct. Is it wrong to assume that had you heard the knock and answered the door, you would have let my client and his girlfriend inside?” He was purposefully ignoring the point I was trying to make.
“You shouldn’t assume anything Damian. Just because you imagine things in your head doesn’t make them true.”
“Just answer the question, Miss Evens.”
“I don’t understand the relevance to your question.”
“I’m asking the question because you have no proof to entertain your accusations against my client. You accused him of breaking and entering, but there is no proof of forced entry. You accuse him of attempted murder, yet his hand prints are not on the gun. And as for the attempted rape, well…let’s just say that when the police came to question you, you had no recollection of the event because Mrs. Andrews knocked you on the side of the head several times. For all we know, Mrs. Andrews could have been the one that undressed you.”
“Are you kidding me right now?”
“You remember being disoriented and in pain, but you have no idea what truly happened. Do you? In fact, the whole thing could be a fabrication of your imagination. Do I need to remind you about your loss of consciousness? You have nothing to support your case against Mr. Harrison”
“I kicked him when he was standing over me.”
“My client had no identification of injuries at the time of the arrest, and even if he did, it wouldn’t prove his undressing you. His girlfriend on the other hand had significant bruising on her body.”
“Yeah. He’s probably the one that put them there too.”
“Let’s just pretend I didn’t hear that. I wouldn’t want to sue you for false accusations.”
I growled. “He pulled my pants down––or tried to. Fuck” I whispered. I hated myself for not knowing exactly what had happened. My eyes welled up and I looked at Damian, silently pleading him to realize how hard it was for me to talk about what had happened that night. “He stomped on my stomach. I was pregnant with twins. I lost a baby because of him.”
His face fell at my admission, and by the way he looked back at me, I knew he believed my story. Unfortunately, he showed no mercy. His dad’s claws were so deep inside him that he disregarded his own feelings and countered once more. “Again, this is your hypothesis. According to the police report you can’t positively identify who caused your injuries.”
“Please don’t.” I beseeched.
“Trust me. This isn’t personal Miss Evens. My job is to defend my client; establish reasonable doubt, if you will. In this case, I maintain that Mr. Harrison has nothing to do with your claims.”
“You know what happened, I told you––” My brows furrowed together thoughtfully. “Wait. You––this was all calculated. The plane…you––”
Damian cut me off and turned to the judge. “I would like the court to take into hand that while the plaintiff and I did have a private conversation about the attack, I have not forced any kind of information out of her.” He turned and walked right up to me. “You handed me the information freely Miss Evens.”
“Your father almost raped me,” I yelled.
“That is your assumption. In fact, if I recall our conversation correctly, you admitted that at some point everything was fuzzy and you were unable to recount the actual facts. When, I questioned you about him, I clearly remember asking you what ‘the boyfriend’ did, and you said nothing,” he responded calmly
“Mr. Bushmans, if you want me to disregard the plaintiff’s accusations about foul play, don’t bring up the private conversation you had with her,” the judge ordered.
“I LIED. Fucking hell––” I grabbed my hair with both hands and shook my head desperately. When I finally managed to calm myself down, I looked into his emotionless eyes. “Fuck you, Damian. Fuck you for doing this to me.”
“Miss Evens, I’ll have no such disrespect in my courtroom.”
“That’s fine, your Honor.” I stood. “I’m done, anyway.”
“Miss Evens, you understand that if you leave the courtroom, I will have no choice but to set Mr. Harrison free.”
“Do whatever you want with him. I really don’t care anymore.” I left the bench.
“Abby don’t,” Tyler bellowed as I started walking away. “Don’t do this. Don’t let him win.”
“He would have won anyway, Tyler. I’m choosing to relinquish now so that I won’t need to put myself through the nightmare of talking about it any longer. I’m waiting for you outside.”
I turned to look at Damian before stepping out and shook my head in disappointment. For the first time since I walked in the courtroom I saw his remorse, but it didn’t change the fact that his father had manipulated him again. “Riley.” I stated glowering at him.
He frowned. He obviously had no clue what I was talking about.
“The name of the baby I lost after my blow to the stomach, it was Riley. Maybe you can get the memory tattooed somewhere on your body when you search for your next fix.”
“Abbygail––” he shouted, but I heard his father’s loud scold, and I left the courthouse without looking back.
Chapter 10
Abbygail
“Hey, Mom!” I shouted walking through her front door.
Tyler had dropped me off at my house, but the last thing I wanted was to be confined to silence again, so I decided to cross the street to my mother’s house. The entire drive home had been too quiet and filled with so much tension that we couldn’t even have cut through it with a sword if we tried.
Every time I snuck a peek at Tyler, he was either tightening his jaw or gripping his steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles became white. I knew he was mad because of what happened at the courthouse. I was also pretty sure he was trying very hard not to spit out the words ‘I told you so’ in my face. In the end though, he needed to understand that it wasn’t about him anymore. The fight was my own, and even though I knew the man had ruined my life, in the eyes of the law, he had paid his debt.
“Hi, Abby,” my mother called back. “We’re in the kitchen.”
“Who’s we?” I curiously asked. I knew Jacob couldn’t possibly be home since he normally finished work around five and had at least a forty-five minute drive before he got to my mother’s house.
“Oliver is here.”
I groaned and looked outside.
How is it that I didn’t notice his pick-up in my mother’s driveway?
“You could’ve told me he was substituting that project you were working on, hon. I didn’t even know he was back.”
I kicked my shoes off and they hit the back of the closet with a loud thump. “Trust me, Oliver is good at keeping secrets. None of us knew he was back.”
I heard his snigger and wished he was closer to me so I cou
ld have thrown my shoes at his face.
“Well, you could have called me to let me know.”
“When?” I climbed up the steps to the kitchen. “I was at the clinic all morning and made it to class fifteen minutes late only to see him standing in my classroom. And then as soon as class ended Tyler picked me up. I barely had any time to eat today. In fact, the only reason why we stopped to grab some lunch is because this annoying thing growing inside my stomach apparently made me look like a ghost, and Tyler couldn’t stand looking at me.”
“That Tyler.” My mother smiled and took me in for a warm hug. “If it weren’t for him you’d be starving yourself and that baby to death. You’re lucky to have him. You know that right?”
I nodded with a tight smile, I knew all too well how lucky I was. My mother was right, Tyler was at my house almost every other day to make sure I was eating. He either cooked for me, or we went out for dinner.
My eyes fell on the dark orbs watching me, and I choked on my next breath. Oliver scrutinized me with his arms crossed. The expression on his face hadn’t really changed except for the fact that he seemed even angrier than when I left the classroom, and deep down, I was pretty sure it was my mother’s comment about Tyler that had him fuming.
“Abbygail,” he greeted, using the clipped tone he knew I hated.
At the sound of his voice our daughter kicked my bladder and made me wince. Unfortunately, her kick had only been the tip of my pain. When I reached over my head and grabbed a glass out of the cupboard, I felt an immense pull in my abdomen and dropped it. At the sound of the loud shattering clash, I instinctively grabbed the granite countertop to keep myself from stepping on the shards. The last thing I wanted was another trip to the hospital.
I’d been spared from having contractions all day, but clearly my body or my baby, didn’t want me to be accustomed to the relief.
“Fuck!” I cried out desperately once the pain had finally dissipated. My hands were sweaty and tears of pain ran down my cheeks. After wiping them away, I looked around and noticed my mother on the floor picking my mess, while Oliver was still glued to his spot with a worried frown. “I can’t do this anymore.”
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