by Ash Johnson
Harlow buys my lie and waits in the car while I move around to help her out. Once we’re both in the house, I grab a water bottle out of the fridge and follow her as we make our way up to my room. I wasn’t expecting her to strip her clothes off as soon as she enters the room, so the second her shirt flies over her head, I start to get hard.
“Wh-what are you doing?” I ask, my eyes about bugging out of my head and the crotch of my pants getting tighter by the second at the sight of her white lace bra hitting the floor.
“I haven’t had a decent cleaning in almost a week. I’m taking advantage of your giant tub while you’re gone and I’m going to sit in a bubble bath until my entire body prunes,” she tells me as she drops her sweats and panties to the ground and makes her way to the bathroom.
The sound of running water breaks my concentration with the last place Harlow’s naked body was standing. I head to the bathroom to find her bent over the rising water level as she pours in some liquid bubble bath. A few minutes later the bath is full, and she gracefully steps into the porcelain tub, sighing when she’s submerged.
I move closer and recognize for the millionth time how fucking hot my girlfriend is. As tempted as I am to strip down and sink into the tub with her and fuck her slowly, I know I need to leave, or I’m going to be late to Heaven’s bogus fucking appointment.
I put the water bottle on the edge of the tub and squat down so I can look into her beautiful blue eyes. “I have to get going, or I’ll stay here all day, but is there anything else I can get for you, babe?”
She shakes her head. “No, I think I’ll be okay. I’m going to get some more sleep after I get out of the tub.”
I lean closer and plant a kiss on her forehead before I get up. “All right, keep your phone close, and call me if you think of anything else you might need. I can pick it up on my way home.”
She nods and sinks a bit deeper into the water, closing her eyes as she relaxes. I have to force myself to move out of the room, because if I don’t, I’ll find a way to talk myself into staying here instead of dealing with the purple-haired nightmare I’m messed up with.
On my way out of the house, my gut tightens once again with the thought of keeping this from Harlow and then lying to her face about where I’m going. I have to push the guilt aside for an hour or so. Once this bullshit is over, it won’t matter if I haven’t told her or not. We’ll never have to worry about this again.
It takes me thirty minutes to get across town for Heaven’s appointment, and I’m still ten minutes early. I check Heaven in at the front desk and, after explaining to the receptionist that I don’t have any of Heaven’s information, wait for her to show. Fifteen minutes later she finally strolls in, her face red and tear streaked.
I walk toward her cautiously, trying to figure out why she is so upset, but have a feeling she’s going to feed me some load of bullshit before I even reach her. “What’s the matter Heaven?” I ask, my voice cold and disinterested even to my ears.
“I lost the baby, Blake. I’ve been so stressed out with money and the idea of you having a new girlfriend while I was pregnant, and I started bleeding a few days ago. I’m sure I lost the baby,” she tells me and then puts a hand over her mouth. Her sobs are faker than her hair color.
I roll my eyes at the idea that she conveniently ‘lost’ her baby right before this doctor’s visit but choose not to let her off so easily. “Well, we’re already here, and I’ve paid the co-pay. Let’s talk to the doctor and get the ultrasound done just to make sure you lost it. Maybe you’re still pregnant and just think you’ve lost it.”
I try so hard not to chuckle at the way her face pales and her eyes widen when I tell her to follow through with this, but she agrees for some reason. Ten minutes later her paperwork is filled out, and we’re called back and set up in the ultrasound room where Heaven is instructed to strip and put on a gown. The technician dims the lights and gets the wand ready.
“So how far along are you, Heaven?” she asks as she squirts blue gunk on Heaven’s flat stomach.
“Well, I was around four to five months along, but I think I lost the baby a few days ago. I was bleeding and cramping badly.” The way Heaven says it sounds like she’s telling the woman about a sweater she just bought at the mall and not that she just miscarried.
The tech recoils slightly from her tone and then peers at Heaven’s firm stomach, her brows scrunching, but doesn’t comment on the fact that she isn’t showing any physical signs of being pregnant.
“Did you go to your OB and make sure everything was okay?” the tech asks, seeming concerned with Heaven’s flippant attitude as she tells us about the apparent miscarriage.
“Um, no, I couldn’t get in to see her until after next week.”
The tech appears to be confused. “What kind of doctor would let you sit for almost two weeks wondering if you’d lost your baby? You would need a D&C pretty quickly to take care of a miscarriage.”
I shake my head, more than ready to get this bullshit over with so I can get home and take care of Harlow. “Can we just check on everything then?” I ask a bit angrily.
The tech nods and runs the wand over Heaven’s stomach, furrowing her brow after a few seconds of movement. “I don’t know how to tell you this, Heaven, but you show no signs of being pregnant. I see no signs of a miscarriage or of any type of pregnancy in the last four to five months. Your uterus is empty.”
Heaven starts to cry, and I get instantly pissed, even though I already knew there was a less than five percent chance she was carrying my baby in the first place.
I keep my tone quiet so I don’t scare the other woman in the room, but it sounds more menacing than any yelling could be. “So you’ve been fucking trying to drag me around by my balls, trying to ruin my business, and trying to break up my relationship for no fucking reason? Are you that much of a cold-hearted bitch?”
Her lip quivers as she glances up to me. “I’m sorry, Blake, but I wanted to be with you, and I figured if I told you I was pregnant with your baby that you would want to be with me too. I didn’t think it would cause this much trouble.”
“Fuck this,” I mumble and get up, shaking off her hand as she grabs onto my wrist. I storm out of the room without turning back even though Heaven is screaming my name loud enough for people in the waiting rooms to hear.
I drive straight home, planning on taking care of Harlow and putting this whole damn mess behind me.
When I pull up to my house and park the Hummer in the garage, I remember to grab the mail before going inside to check on Harlow. I’m hoping that she’s getting some much needed sleep so she can feel better faster.
I make it to the mail box when a piece of shit blue Mazda hops the curb and almost runs me over. I just barely leap out of the way when Heaven bounds out of the driver’s seat and runs toward me with tears streaming down her face.
“What the fuck, Heaven? You almost hit me.”
“I’m sorry, Blake, so sorry about everything. Is there anything I can do to make you forgive me? I want you to give us a shot. I know we can be good together,” she says in between hiccoughs.
“Not a chance in hell. You tried to trap me by telling me you were fucking pregnant. You spray painted ‘gold digging whore’ into the car my girlfriend drives. You tried to fuck up my business by posting online that I was the father of your unborn baby. Should I forgive you for any of that shit, Heaven? Because after that little scene at the doctor’s office, I’m not in a real forgiving mood right now.”
Through all of my ranting, I didn’t notice that she was moving closer to me and was only a few inches away by the time I finished speaking. I stare down into her red-rimmed brown eyes, expecting some more begging to come from her mouth. What I’m not expecting is for her to throw herself at me and roughly slam her lips to mine.
I have to catch her tiny body as she flings herself against me so that she doesn’t send me flying backward with her, and I’m so focused on trying to stay upright that I
don’t think about ending the kiss.
I vaguely hear the front door to my house slam shut. I break my lips from Heaven’s and spin my head to find Harlow standing on the front step in one of my gym shirts and a tiny pair of pajama shorts, with her arms folded across her chest and her hurt eyes locked on mine.
“Baby,” I say, but she shakes her head quickly and walks back in the house.
It’s then that I realize I’m holding Heaven a few inches off the ground and that her arms are wrapped around my neck. I drop her quickly and grab hold of her biceps to pry her off me. “Don’t fucking come around here ever again, do you hear me?” I mutter, focusing on a spot over Heaven’s shoulder, because if I look her in the eye, I might just punch a girl for the first time in my life.
“But Blake--“
“I mean it, Heaven. If I ever see you around me or Harlow ever again, I will call the fucking cops.”
Before I can move toward the house and start groveling like my life depends on it, Harlow pulls the BMW out of the garage, not even bothering to glance at me as she backs down the driveway and drives off like a bat out of hell.
I’m so fucked.
Chapter 31
Harlow
I am hurt, angry, and confused. Why the hell was Blake kissing that woman in front of his house? I woke up from a much needed nap when Kelly, the owner of the vet hospital, called to inform me that she had fired Tim. He’d had complaints from other assistants about his unwanted flirting, not just from me. Kelly also asked him about my password to clock myself in, and he had no clue, so she figured that what I had told her was the truth and got rid of him on the spot. She said he was angry and made some threats, both to her and me, but I won’t have to worry about Tim making me uncomfortable at work anymore.
After I got off the phone with Kelly I went down to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water before getting dressed for the day. Movement from the corner my eye made me turn my head. Then, through the bay window, I saw Blake in his driveway with his arms wrapped around another woman, and their lips pressed roughly together.
The ugly kiss hadn’t ended by the time I came outside, and who knows how long it would have lasted if I hadn’t slammed the front door shut and caught his attention. The pain slicing through my heart from the thought of Blake with someone else hurts much more than I ever thought it could. I have to focus on something different or this hurt will destroy me.
Then I realized he hadn’t picked Alex up from school. So instead of sitting around and listening to him try to explain to me why he was making out with another woman, I decided to go pick up my sister. This is something I can do without feeling like the world is being pulled out from under my feet.
Blake keeps trying to call my phone during the drive, but I ignore the constant ring of my ancient cell and crank up the radio. Singing along hurts my throat, so I’m forced to just listen and mouth the words.
Alex is sitting on the curb in front of the junior high alone and jumps to her feet when she sees me flying through the parking lot.
“What are you doing out of bed? The doctor told you that you needed to rest, or you would risk getting sicker,” she scolds as she gets in the car. Funny that my bratty, smartass little sister went from giving me hell to looking out for my well being with one hospital visit.
“Blake forgot to come pick you up, so unless you want to get out of the car and sit around waiting for him for another half an hour, I suggest you put your seat belt on and don’t worry about why I’m not in a bed,” I rasp, trying not to talk too loudly because my throat is still a bit raw.
She nods and puts on her seat belt but says no more. I turn the car in the direction of Blake’s house, but then realize that I don’t want to go back there yet. “You up for some ice cream?”
Alex whips her head around and gives me a small smile. “I would love some, but you are in your pajamas. It might be against dress code policies for you to go into a restaurant in those tiny shorts and no shoes.” She points to my tiny red and white polka dotted shorts which barely cover the necessities.
“Good point. How about we go through the drive-thru and pull over at a park to eat them?” She nods, and we head off to the nearest drive-thru for some chocolate shakes.
When we’re both situated with our shakes, and we’re watching a group of younger guys playing basketball at the park’s court, my phone rings once more.
I roll my eyes and glance down at the caller display, expecting it to be Blake, but it isn’t.
“Hey,” I say into the phone and open the car door, not wanting Alex to hear any of this conversation. I point at the phone and mouth the words “my boss” to her when she shifts her gaze to me. She buys it and nods before returning her eyes to the boys.
“You have an incoming call from prisoner Daniel Wilholten at the Metropolitan Corrections Center. Do you accept this call?” the automated voice asks in my ear.
“Yes, I accept.” I move across the parking lot and take a seat on a bench, wondering what my father would want to talk about.
A few seconds later a voice I haven’t heard in over two years comes on the line. “Hey, baby girl.” The rough tone of my father’s voice makes my stomach tighten. We haven’t spoken to each other in a long time.
“Hey, dad, what’s up? Everything okay?”
“That’s what I was wondering,” he says.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I got a visit from one of Mr. E’s goonies a couple of days ago wondering where you are. He says he hasn’t gotten a payment from you in over two years and that you changed your number. You disappeared without a word.”
I start to get very scared. “How can he say he doesn’t know where I am? He has one of his lackeys out here every month or so to collect payment. I’ve paid at least three hundred dollars every week for over two years and sometimes more if Dominick gets pissed off at me when he comes to collect.”
“What?” My dad’s voice is laced with concern.
“Yeah, I’ve been paying on time every week since you got put away. I’ve only missed one payment, when gran died, and he made sure I wouldn’t do it again by breaking my arm and roughing me up pretty good. I told Dominick when we moved out here, and he’s had my new phone number and address up until a few weeks ago when we had to move.”
“Son of a bitch,” my dad mutters away from the mouth piece.
“What should I do, dad? Should I call Mr. E and find out what the hell is going on?” I’m in a full blown panic. Every word that comes out of my dad’s mouth makes me more afraid by the second. How could they not know where I am?
“I don’t know, sweetie. Maybe I can call him in the next few days and find out what is going on.”
I don’t like the idea of waiting any longer than I have to to get this all straightened out. I’ll try to call him up after I get off the phone with dad. I have had Mr. E’s number programmed in my phone for over three years and was lucky enough that I never had to dial it. Looks like my luck ran out today.
“Okay, dad,” I concede just to get us off the topic. “How have you been doing?”
“I’ve been better, but things could always be worse, you know?”
“Yeah, I know.” But at this moment, I don’t know how things could be worse for me. I’m still very sick and will be out of work for at least a week. I just caught my boyfriend making out with another woman. And to top it all off, my father, whom I haven’t talked to for two years, is telling me that the people I have been paying off haven’t seen any of that money and are searching for me.
I’m not seeing a silver lining here.
A baritone voice mutters in the background through the line and then my dad huffs. “I’ve got to get going, baby girl. Please take care of your little sister and leave Mr. E to me. I’ll handle it.”
I shake my head to keep myself from snapping at him. My dad can’t do anything while he’s locked behind bars. I’m surprised he has enough privileges to call me. I haven’t seen or heard from
him since the day we left Detroit. Going to visit him at the prison when I was suddenly burdened with all of his responsibilities made me too angry, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
“Yeah, sure, just take care of yourself dad. We’re all good on this end.”
With those parting words, I end the call, because I’m still not ready to hear my dad tell me that he loves me like he normally slips in before we hang up. If he loved my sister and me, then he wouldn’t have put us in this position.
I glance up at the BMW and can see Alex’s face in the side-view mirror. Her eyes are still glued to the teenage boys, so I take the opportunity to make another call while she’s occupied. And while I still have the nerve to do it.
Two rings go by before a gruff voice on the other end answers with a “what?”
“Um, hi, can I please speak to Mr. E?”
“Who the fuck is this?” the voice yells so loud I have to pull the receiver away to avoid bursting my ear drum.
“Uh, my name is Harlow Wilholten.” My voice sounds scared and weak even to my ears.
I can hear gruff voice mumbling in the background before he comes back on the line. “Wilholten, huh? Mr. E wants to see you in person. If you don’t show soon, then we’ll be forced to find you, and you really won’t want that to happen, little girl. I’m not a nice guy.”
Shit. I have a little bit of money stashed away that I was planning on using to get Alex a birthday present, but this takes precedence over a fifteen-year-old’s birthday gift.
“Okay. I’m in Arizona now, but I’ll get a ticket today and come out to Detroit as soon as I can. Do I just call this number to find out where to meet Mr. E?”
“Yeah, give us a call as soon as you’re in, not a second later, or you’ll wish you’d made it here faster. See you soon, little girl.” With those bone chilling parting words, he hangs up.
Fuck. I don’t want to worry Alex and Blake by telling them that I have to go back to Detroit to deal with this loan shark. I’ll have to keep this to myself and schedule a flight for tonight when they’ll be asleep. Plus, I don’t know if there will be a Blake in my future after what I witnessed earlier.