by S Cinders
When I didn’t hear a response, I poked my head around the door and asked, “Well?”
Gina shrugged nonchalantly, not meeting my gaze, “There's nothing going on between us.”
I narrowed my eyes, “There might not be anything going on now but come on, Gina, there has got to have been something at some point.”
“Define something?”
Again, I shot her a knowing look. She knew I was right and was avoiding the question.
Gina rolled her eyes, “Look, it was a lifetime ago and I’m sure he has forgotten all about it.”
Having already finished up I came back into the bedroom and sank down on the bed next to her. She looked unsure. It was the first time she had exuded anything but tough street chick. Not feeling confident in yourself is something that I knew a little something about. Some of my worst decisions all stemmed from my shitty self-esteem.
“I'm not so sure about that, Gina. It seems to me that he's still into you. And why wouldn’t he be? Shit, girl you are gorgeous. I would kill for that Latin body of yours.”
Gina laughed, “My fat ass? You can have it!”
We talked for another half an hour. Gina laughed at my silly banter but there was no way that she was going to admit that I was right about Marco. However, she seemed much happier than she had been before so maybe the person she needed to admit it to was herself.
The next day was so much better when I got up and showered knowing that I could leave my room. After dressing in a sundress that Gina had picked up I retraced my steps from the previous night to the kitchen. I stopped in the doorway to take in the scene before me.
Will was pouring himself a cup of coffee. Little did I know that he would only be in a pair of sleep pants. The contours of his muscular back had my stomach tied in knots and I could see a little hint of the faded tan lines just below the edge of his sleep pants.
Hot damn! I leaned against the doorway and watched the show. His tight ass was on display in those thin pants and his hair was tousled from sleep. I felt my mouth watering and knew that this attraction between us might just get me into trouble.
Just to be clear, that would be more trouble because I was already in a shit load.
Will turned with his cup in hand and when he saw me there standing in the doorway he shot me a panty melting grin that had my pussy sitting up and taking notes.
“You look really nice,” his voice was raspy, and I noticed a small line on his cheek from his sheets or the blanket. Nothing in this world could have been sexier than Will was at that moment.
“I was just getting ready to head up and shower,” he took a sip of his coffee and I was blasted with images of naked Will in the shower.
I strike my last statement, there is nothing sexier in this world that Will, naked in the shower.
“You alright?” he cocked his head to the side as my mouth opened and closed and opened again.
“Damn,” I muttered not able to stop staring at his chest. Will sure as shit hadn’t looked like this in high school.
His washboard abs were perfection and there was a light dusting of hair on his pecs. But what really had me going was the happy trail that was leading right toward a rather large bulge.
“Shay?” his voice had dropped an octave.
“Hmm?” I asked absentmindedly, my eyes still on that flat expanse of skin.
I heard a clunk as the coffee cup hit the counter and second later I was smashed between one very hot man and the door frame.
“Shay, I am not the same boy that I was back then,” he growled.
I swallowed, “Yeah, I got that.”
He leaned in close so that I could smell the coffee he had just had a taste of, suddenly I wanted to taste it, on his lips—his tongue.
“If you look at me with those, fuck-me-eyes,” he continued, “I won’t just walk away like I did back then. I’m a man now, and I take what I want. So just you be careful, little girl.”
I was shaking in his arms, half praying that he would ravish me right there in the kitchen. When we heard a door slam and voices he pushed back a little, but I was still trapped in his arms.
“Do you understand me, Shay?”
Why did that sound like an invitation for all of my wildest hopes and dreams? I nodded, not really sure what I was going to do.
The voices became louder and Will stepped back and grabbed his coffee cup. With a quick nod to me, he passed Marco and Gina who was staring at us the moment they had rounded the corner. Not saying anything else he took his sexy ass back to his room. Suddenly, I would have done anything to know what the inside of his room looked like.
When I turned back to Marco and Gina I saw that he had started to pour himself a cup of coffee, but Gina’s eyes were on me.
“Did we interrupt something?” she asked wide-eyed as if begging me to say yes.
“No,” I scoffed, “Of course not, what are you talking about?”
“Oh,” Gina grinned, “I don’t know. Perhaps the fact that the Boss had you pressed against the wall?”
Shit, I was hoping they wouldn’t have seen that.
Marco scowled at Gina, “He didn’t have her against the wall.”
Well, technically it had been the door jam.
Gina ignored Marco, “Something happened, look at her. She’s all flushed and dazed looking.”
“Leave her alone, Gina,” Marco warned.
He pulled out a jar of peanut butter and opened the lid.
Out of nowhere, a wave of nausea so strong that it almost knocked me to my knees overtook me. I raced to the kitchen sink, not seeing a garbage can and retched.
Gina flew to me, “Are you alright? No, fuck, I can see your sick. Hold on, Shay, let me help you.”
When my stomach stopped trying to turn itself inside out I weakly called out, “Put the peanut butter away.”
There was silence in the kitchen and then slowly Marco put the lid back on. I accepted a cloth from Gina and after rinsing my mouth I wiped the edges.
“I need to clean this up.” My hands were shaking as I looked underneath the cabinet for the cleaning supplies.
Gina shut the cabinet and hauled me to my feet, “No, you are going to lay down, you are sick.”
She and Marco exchanged a look, but I was feeling too terrible to try and decipher it.
“Listen to Gina, Novia,” Marco added, “I will get the housekeeper to clean the mess.”
Suddenly I was too tired to argue with them. Tears gathered in my eyes, “But, I don’t want to go back to my room.”
Gina seemed to understand and led me to a soft couch. I sank down, and she covered me with a blanket.
“Do you want to watch something on the television?” she asked kindly handing me the remote. I nodded but didn’t watch more than five minutes before falling back to sleep.
CHAPTER 9 – Gina POV
When Shay hadn’t awakened an hour later I went over and touched her forehead. She was burning up. My first inclination had been that she was pregnant. Heaven knows that I sure struggled with smells in the first trimester.
Now, I wasn’t sure at all. Maybe I was projecting something on Shay that wasn’t true, and she was actually sick. I touched her head again and was surprised at how hot she felt. Shay was deathly white huddled up under the blankets and she looked miserable.
Will had come down after he showered, and I had explained what happened. He had some appointments that he had to keep but Marco and I were instructed to keep our eyes on her and to let him know if anything changed.
I knew in my gut that if he found out that Shay was sick, and I hadn't told him he would be very angry, and my boss was the last man you wanted to be upset with you. I pulled out my phone and dialed his number
Will picked up on the second ring, “Gina is everything alright?”
Another thing was that it's not often that I call the big boss. I cleared my throat, “Sir, Shay is running a fever, I don’t have a thermometer, but she feels really warm to touch. I think s
he needs to be seen by someone.”
His voice was hard when he responded, “Does she need to go to the hospital?”
I shook my head before realizing that he couldn’t see me. “No sir,” I replied, “But she may need an antibiotic or something if she has the flu.”
“I'll be there in 15 minutes,” he replied gruffly and then ended the call. The silence was deafening in the room. I put my phone away and rubbed my back which had been aching. I just happened to look up to where Marco was working on the computer.
He hadn’t said a word to me in the last hour and I wondered if maybe he was angry for some reason.
“Is everything alright?” I ask tentatively.
Marco met my gaze. His look was hard and something that I had never seen there before. I instinctively placed a hand on my lower stomach and took a step back. This only seemed to anger him further.
“No, Gina, everything is not alright?” his tones froze me to the core. What was his problem?
He continued on, “When were you going to tell me?”
I felt like the bottom of my world had just been ripped out from underneath me. His face was pinched and there was a bitter quality that I wasn’t familiar with. I could have lied to him. Fuck, I lie to people all the time.
But at some point, he was going to find out. So, I answered him with a question of my own.
“What do you think you know?”
He laughed but there was no humor in it. “Gina, I've known you for a really long time. You can take out a guy at twenty yards, have guts spattered on your face and still want to stop for pizza.”
I felt my stomach turn and willed the feeling away. I couldn’t show weakness—never show weakness.
Marco continued, “But there was something different about you this morning. It was almost like you were freaking out that Sutton was pregnant. You don’t freak out about anything. And then it dawned on me that you have had that fucking flu for a long time now. I started piecing things together. You have been wearing baggier clothes and talked about getting out of the business. Fuck, Gina, do you think I'm stupid? Shit, obviously you must. Is the kid even mine?”
I knew that he would be angry. However, I had no idea that his words would feel like direct hits against my skin. I struggled to catch my train of thought. How dare he questioned who the father of my child was? I hadn’t slept with anyone else in my entire life. It has always been him.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
I knew that he considered our time together as ‘friends with benefits.’ Marco never offered me anything more than a quick fuck when we both couldn’t stand the tension any longer. But the next day it was always as if it had never happened.
A thought popped into my mind. What if I wasn’t the only person that he fooled around with? I felt the bile churning in my stomach. I would never force Marco to be a father. We both knew what it was like to grow up not being wanted. I sure as fuck wasn’t going to force this on him.
I looked him dead in the face and lied my ass off, “I don't know who the father is.”
He blinked like he almost couldn’t believe my words and then I watch his face harden into a mask of disgust.
“Seriously, Gina? You slept with so many guys that you don’t even know?”
I raise my chin in defiance. If he really knew me, Marco wouldn’t be asking such a thing. Any hope that I ever had of us being together crumbled and died right before my eyes. It hurts like hell that he can think so poorly of me.
I've Loved Marco since I was 14 years old and all he's ever done is hurt me. It’s time to give up this stupid fantasy that we could ever be together.
I have to stay strong, not only for me but for the baby. I have already spoken with Will and this is to be my last mission. I’m getting out and moving somewhere far away from Marco. I keep telling myself that it will be better this way.
The baby and I will have a better life without him.
“Yeah,” my voice is brittle, “You know what a slut I can be.”
I turned, because looking at him with all of the hatred in his eyes was too much, I couldn’t stand it. My eyes went back to where Shay was sleeping on the couch. Only she wasn’t sleeping, and despite her flushed face and hazy eyes, she is looking right at me.
“Gina,” her voice is raspy. “Are you having a baby?”
I moved to sit in a chair near where she was still laying. This isn’t how I wanted to tell people. I placed my head in my hands and took a few deep breaths. In the short time that I have gotten to know Shay, she has been open and honest with me.
I have never seen any reason not to give her my respect. For some reason, I know deep in my heart that she won’t judge me. So, I answer her honestly, “Yes.”
“How far along are you?” she asked softly.
I know that Marco is listening intently to our conversation. No doubt trying to calculate when the last time we were together was. In truth, I’m just under thirteen weeks and into my second trimester. But I lie and tell her I am eight weeks.
I hear something slam and Marco mutters something in Spanish.
The next thing I know, he is storming out the front door before I can say anything. My heart is in tatters and it's hard to breathe. It’s a little strange to be at the boss’ house without him here. Marco has never shown this much emotion about anything before. I know he is really pissed off. I turned to look back at Shay who despite looking like death warmed over, has a concerned look on her face.
“I know that we haven’t known each other very long, Gina. But whatever just happened right there was fucked up. You don’t have to tell me the truth. I just wanted you to know that if you need someone to talk to, I am here.” She smiles sadly, “You look like you could use a friend and Lord knows that I could use one too.”
I feel my heart breaking and am not sure that if I speak it will be coherent. I don’t cry. Damn it, I never cry.
“I think I really screwed things up, Shay, and I don't think that they can be fixed,”
She reached her hand out to touch my knee and just a small act of kindness has tears flooding my eyes.
“You aren’t alone,” she whispers.
But I am alone. One day she will go back to her life. I don’t mean anything to this girl. I don’t mean anything to anyone.
“I know that you don’t believe me,” Shay huffs a bit of a laugh. “I wasn’t there for my best friend when she needed me. I haven’t been there for so many people in my life. But Gina, I want to be a better person. I want to help you.”
She squeezed my leg, looking at me intently, “You are not alone,” she repeats and this time?
I believe her.
CHAPTER 10 – Marco POV
I didn’t even know where I was going or why I was so pissed. It wasn’t like we were exclusive. I mean, I was, but I’m well aware of what I look like. I have a large birthmark on my face. For as long as I can remember, people have been telling me how ugly it is—I am.
When we were kids I thought I had a chance with Gina. Stupid, I know, but I was young and thought that maybe she saw the real me. And then one day I was waiting outside of the locker room and I heard her talking to one of her friends.
It’s amazing that I can’t tell you what my high school English teacher’s name was, but I sure as fuck remember every word that was uttered.
“Why do you hang out with that Marco kid?”
It was Suzy Boyd, one of the most judgmental stuck-up cheerleaders in the school.
I heard Gina snort, “We’ve known each other our entire lives. He’s my friend.”
“Girl, that boy wants into your panties, and I don’t think I could stomach it.”
I heard what Suzy said, but it didn’t really bother me. It was a whole lot better than some of the things people had slung my way.
“Eww, like I would do such a thing with Marco,” Gina’s voice rang out clear as day. “I mean, have you seen him?”
Both of the girls laughed, and I felt like vomiting. Obviously
, I left immediately, and Gina was upset when I ran into her a few days later.
“Why did you leave me at the school? I had to catch a ride home with Jimmie Thompson.”
I snorted, “I’m sure it was a trial to catch a ride with the captain of the baseball team. I hope that you can recover someday.”
Her eyes were hurt, but I was hurting too—damn it. Things were different after that. We were still friends in a way, but that sweet innocent flirting that had been going on. I shut that down hardcore.
Over the years there were a few times that we got drunk enough that I forgot how she really felt about me. Hooking up with Gina was a mistake that I vowed never to make again. But she was so addicting. Being with her was like nothing I had experienced with anyone else.
I told her that we could never be a thing. I wasn’t a family man. Shit, in my line of work, I was lucky to see the next day when I went to sleep at night. But that didn’t mean that I didn’t want her, crave her.
I called the boss and told him I would be getting some things for Shay. So, I pulled my shit together and started looking for a pharmacy. All I could think about was Gina though. If she was having a kid she really would be leaving.
There had been more than a handful of times over the years that she has threatened to go. But I always managed to convince her to stay. I’m glutton for punishment. But I hated the thought of her not being in my life, even if we were only fuck buddies.
Sure, I'm good enough for a night in the sack every once and a while when you are lonely or knocked back a few too many. But never once has Gina stuck around in the light of day.
Fuck, I can’t keep doing this to myself. I felt like I was dying inside, and this was the final nail in the coffin. I punched my fist into the brick wall of the pharmacy. Not caring about the customers who were eyeing me wearily or the way that they were moving back in a hurried fashion.
I didn’t care that my knuckles were bruised and bloody. I was just so damn angry.