Chapter Three
Over the next month, Eric tries to get me back. He calls me, shows up at my house, and corners me at uni.
But it doesn’t work.
After that, he gets the picture and starts to date another girl. To be completely honest—it hurts, but there was no way I was going to take him back. I feel confused now. Unsettled. We had our life planned out, and now I need to make a fresh plan, one without him. The thought of Eric with another woman used to kill me, but now I just feel sorry for whoever she is—that’s how I know I made the right choice in breaking up. I just hope he doesn’t cheat on her too, and that he’s learnt his lesson. Trisha and I haven’t spoken. We pretend we don’t know each other, which is perfectly fine with me. If I said I wish her well that would be a complete lie. I hope she gets what’s coming to her, I’m just waiting for karma to take care of it for me. Girl code. Whatever happened to that?
“Hey Faye,” Eric calls out, walking towards me. And to think I’d almost made it to my car.
“Hey,” I say, opening my car door and staring at it longingly.
“How are you?” he asks, leaning against my backseat door.
“Fine,” I say shortly. “What’s up?”
“I heard something about you...”
“And?”
“I heard that you were seen out with Dex,” he says, a muscle ticking in his jaw.
“And?” I repeat.
“And? What the f*ck are you thinking?” he snaps, shaking his head at me.
I still. “Well this is awkward. I had no idea you had a say over who I do and don’t see. Oh, that’s right. You don’t, so mind your own business Eric.”
“He’s not a good guy,” he warns, his dark eyes pleading with me to listen.
“And you are?” I ask, eyes flaring.
He flinches slightly but doesn’t back down. He still doesn’t know that Dex and I slept together, but he’s still acting crazy over this. The question is, why?
“What’s the big deal?” I ask curiously, trying to act casual. “It’s just Dex.”
Eric rolls his eyes, not a good look for a man. “He’s a f*cking criminal Faye. He’s dangerous.”
Now it’s my turn to roll my eyes. “He’s your brother. He’s never done anything to hurt us.”
Eric grits his teeth. I grin. “You’re just jealous of him aren’t you?” I surmise.
His eyes narrow. “Have you heard of the Wind Dragons?”
I scoff. “Of course I have, who hasn’t?”
The Wind Dragons MC were a notorious motorcycle club. I’d heard nothing good about their members, who apparently take drugs and have sex for a living. They live their life a certain way and make no apologies about it. I’d never actually interacted with a member, so I don’t know the truth of it all, just what I’d heard from others in passing.
Eric has a smug look on his face. I don’t like it. “Dex is the vice president.”
I freeze. “Bullshit.”
Then I remember the tattoo on his back.
The deadly dragon.
I could see Dex in an MC. He has this predator vibe about him.
He’s hot-blooded.
In fact, if I didn’t know him, I would probably steer clear of him altogether. He’s the ultimate bad boy. But he’s also my Dex, the boy I grew up around.
“How come you never mentioned this before?” I ask him, staring at him in suspicion.
Something crosses his face. Something I don’t like. He’s not telling me something.
“I never thought you’d be stupid enough to get mixed up with him and his stupid group of friends,” he says. “Just wait until your mother hears about it, she’s going to kill you.”
That’s the complete truth. My mother is narrow-minded and judgmental about anyone who doesn’t have a university degree. My father just agrees with whatever she says and never has his own opinion. I will never marry a weak man like my father.
“I know he was dating that girl. What’s her name?” he continues, oblivious to my inner dialogue.
“Who knows,” I reply, only caring that he was dating someone, and not is.
“Don’t you want to know who your competition is?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.
“No, what I want is this conversation to be over.”
“You know what, after one night with you he will be done. Don’t come crying to me when you end up heartbroken,” he sneers, turning away from me.
“Well I survived it once, I’m sure I will survive it again,” I reply, unable to keep the bite out of my tone.
“I made a mistake,” he replies, sighing with regret.
“I hope she was worth it,” I find myself saying. Why keep talking about it? No snide comments or words of regret and pain are going to change anything. What’s done is done. It can’t be reversed. All I can do is move on and let time heal the pain.
“She wasn’t,” he admits, looking down at his hands.
I look down. “I have to go, okay?”
“Just remember what I said about him.”
“Fine, warning noted,” I say, sliding into my car. Eric walks off, and I drive my ass home.
*****
Five weeks later
Dr. Reeves walks in, sitting down in his chair. He’s a kind man in his fifties and has been my doctor for a few years now. I’m pretty sure he keeps his lollipop jar stocked just for when I have an appointment.
“I need drugs, doc,” I tell him. “And lots of them.”
He doesn’t smile at my antics like he usually does. “You’re pregnant, Faye.”
I blink slowly. “I don’t think so.”
Now he fights a smile. “This test says you’re definitely pregnant.”
I look around the room, hoping for someone to jump out and tell me that this is a prank. “I don’t understand.”
His lip twitches. “When’s the last time you had sex? And when was your last period?”
“I have never had sex without a condom,” I blurt out, wringing my hands.
“Faye...”
“I guess, about six weeks ago.”
With a criminal.
“Condoms aren’t a hundred percent you know,” he reminds me calmly. My mind flashes to a certain episode of Friends, and I suddenly feel like yelling out that they should put that on the outside of the box.
“You remember what happened when I went on the pill,” I tell him. I tried it for a month, and it didn’t agree with me. I put on weight and felt like shit. Dr. Reeves said we could try another one, but I just said I would use condoms. Eric and I always used one, even though he tried to talk his way out of it a few times with the infamous ‘I promise I’ll pull out’ line.
Yeah—not a chance in hell.
“I wasn’t criticizing you, Faye, but you are pregnant,” he says kindly, pulling out some brochures from his drawer.
“I see,” I say, staring into empty space.
And I did see.
I saw my career and my life plans crashing. Evaporating. Vanishing.
Disappearing right before my eyes.
“You have options,” he says, sliding the brochures to me. But I don’t. I don’t have options, and my life is over. My parents will kick me out, my education is going to take a backseat to changing nappies, and the baby’s father is an outlaw biker. This kid doesn’t stand a chance. I’m pro-choice, but I could never have an abortion. That’s just not me. I stand up, the sound of the chair scratching on the floor filling the silent room.
“I’m keeping it,” I announce. Everyone else be damned.
Doc has a talk with me, gives me a book to read up on, and tells me to get some folic acid and other things. I leave the doctor’s in a daze.
A plan starts to form in my head.
First of all, I need to save money.
Then me and my baby are out of here.
*****
I’m four months pregnant when I start to show. And that’s when everything goes to hell. My parents find out and tell me to leave. No second chance. No discussion. My mother just tells me to be gone by the end of the day. My father looks sad but doesn’t dare go against her wishes. They should have never had a child. I’m going to make sure I’m a way better mother than she ever was. How predictable of them. I always knew they would cut me out of their lives the moment they found out. I pack up my belongings, ready to leave. Luckily I have been saving every cent during the last few months, preparing for this moment. I even cashed in some of my gold and sold everything I could, even my PS4. I don’t need all those things. What I need is a plan for the future.
Just as I throw the last bag into my car, Eric pulls up in his obnoxious car. Not someone I want to see right now. Maybe even the last person on the face of this earth, but such is my life.
“Where are you going?” he asks as he storms up to me. He frowns when he sees all my stuff in the back of my car.
“Taking a little holiday,” I say in a tone that lets him know I’m not in the mood for his shit.
He grabs my arm. “What the hell is going on?”
I lose it. Months of hiding, stressing, and crying all burst out of me. “I’m pregnant, and I have nowhere to go so I’m leaving town. Now get the f*ck out of my way!”
He stands there, frozen, his mouth open in shock. “You were going to leave town without telling me about my baby?”
I can’t help it. I laugh. It’s more nervous laughter than anything else. I probably sound psychotic.
Eric and I hadn’t had sex in a month when I slept with Dex. There is no way the baby is his.
“Baby isn’t yours Eric, don’t worry about it,” I say, pulling out of his hold.
“The f*ck?” he growls, his face going red in anger. “Who did you sleep with?”
Typical male. Of course that would be all he cares about.
“Too many to count,” I reply, opening the door. I still and turn to him. “I guess I’ll see you around.”
Or not.
“You don’t have to leave,” he says, still looking confused and hurt.
The pain radiating from him makes me hurt too.
“There’s nothing left for me here anymore Eric,” I say softly, letting him look into my eyes and see the truth.
We are over. There’s no going back now.
“Faye...” he whispers, his voice cracking. He sees it. He knows it. It’s done with.
I smile sadly. “I guess it just wasn’t meant to be.”
He runs his hand through his hair. “We can say it’s mine.”
My eyes flare in surprise. I didn’t see this one coming. I actually consider it for a moment, but then I see him with that other woman.
It would all be pretend.
Fake.
And I don’t want to live a lie. “Eric, thanks for the offer, but that isn’t going to work. Take care of yourself.”
I get in my car and start the engine, his eyes on me the entire time.
As I pull out of my driveway, I leave him standing there looking helpless.
Looking just how I feel.