Chapter Twenty-Four
The Wrong Man
Elizabeth
Matt’s plane was delayed due to a snow storm in Chicago. He arrived this afternoon and was coming over later to see me. We decided to order in and spend the night catching up. After my run in with Grant last night I was a little gun-shy about going out. Plus, there were some days when this pregnancy was more than I could handle. Today was one of them, so I spent a good portion of it with my feet up and reality television on.
Over breakfast this morning, I ended up telling Maya what happened with Grant last night. It was so strange to wake up and find my friend in a bathrobe cooking for us. I knew I’d get used to it in time. I was a little giddy imagining us as one big happy family once the baby came. Aunt Maya and Uncle Travis would be an important fixture in my daughter’s life. Of that I was sure.
Maya was pissed about Grant. She said he needed a wakeup call. I’m not a hundred percent sure what that meant, but she had a tendency to make threats and not follow through with them, so I was sure it was nothing.
Travis agreed to spend the night at Maya’s so I could have the place to myself for when Matt came over. He showed up around six o’clock with a pepperoni and mushroom pizza that we devoured. We caught up on our jobs and tried to avoid the elephant in the room, also known as the child in my belly.
We started watching a classic eighties movie, Better Off Dead, and I snuggled up with him on the couch. It felt good to have a man pressed up against me again. He was warm and strong. And I’d be lying if I said he didn’t look sexy as all hell in his jeans and thermal shirt.
I rested my head on his shoulder and wrapped my arms around his abdomen. His arm went around me, and his hand rested on my hip.
At some point during the movie, his hand dipped under the waistband of my lounge pants and began lightly drawing random patterns on my skin. It felt good. Really good. And I was a single woman, so there was no reason for me not to take what he was offering.
His hand moved down to cup and knead my ass, and I took in a stuttered breath. I ran my hands slowly across his abs and down to his groin where I found him hard and waiting. I rubbed him through his jeans and was rewarded when he let out a deep groan.
I tilted my head back and he kissed me with so much pent up passion that I could hardly breathe. Our tongues tangled, and he tasted so good I couldn’t get enough of him.
I needed this. It had been so long since I had felt a man moving inside me. So long since I was able to enjoy intimacy.
“Please, Matt. I want you.” His hand left my pants, and he adjusted my position on the couch, so I was flat on my back. He pushed my shirt up over my baby bump and breasts. He pulled the cup of my bra down to expose the hardened tips of my nipples. His mouth descended to take one in his mouth when he ran into my belly.
He let out a little chuckle and went in again just to get met with my belly again. This time we both laughed. That was one of the things I enjoyed about being with Matt, we could always laugh together.
“Here, let me move a little.” I turned on my side a bit and he was able to wedge in next to me. “There, now try.”
This time his tongue successfully circled my nipple, and his mouth sucked it in deeply. My back arched and a moan left my mouth. That felt so f*cking good.
His hand went back into my pants and his finger immediately hit the spot. It felt like heaven. His finger pressed and circled while his tongue flicked my nipple. The delicious things he was doing to me had my body trembling.
“That’s it, pretty girl. Come for me,” he whispered and sent me over the edge. My legs closed on his hand, and my body shook with the force of my first orgasm by a man in almost seven months.
When I recovered, we both started to move with urgency. I pushed my pants down over my hips as best I could. Matt pulled them the rest of the way off me. We both fumbled with his belt, and he dug in his wallet for a condom when I freed him from his pants and started stroking him.
“F*ck, I missed your hands. I love the way you stroke me,” he grunted out. His head fell back onto the couch, and his eyes pinched shut.
I grabbed the condom from his hand and rolled it down his length.
“How should we do this?” He asked, clearly referring to the giant obstacle in between us.
“Like this,” I said and rolled onto my hands and knees, shaking my ass for him.
“Naughty,” he murmured. I felt the tip of him at my entrance. Before he slid inside me though, he spanked my ass. The memory of my punishment with Grant came back full force, and I collapsed, curled up in a ball and started crying.
“Shit. What did I do?” He gathered me in his arms and rocked me as I cried.
“It’s… It’s not you. It’s me.” I blubbered and sniffled. “I’m sorry, Matt. I can’t do this.”
“I know. Shhh. It’s okay.” He continued to rock and soothe me.
“You love him, E. Don’t you?” Matt asked once I finally settled down to only hiccups.
I nodded my head against his chest.
“He’s the father. Isn’t he?”
I nodded again.
“Then why aren’t you two together?”
“Because I screwed up and then he said some really hurtful things.”
“And what did he say when you told him about the baby?”
“He doesn’t know,” I admitted guiltily.
“Elizabeth. I thought you were smarter than that. You can’t not tell a man you’re carrying his child,” he lectured me.
“He hurt me so bad, Matt. You have no idea. And I won’t let him hurt me again.” I repeated my typical excuse whenever anyone asked me why Grant didn’t know.
“Who says he will? You need to set your pride aside and do the right thing.”
I nodded my head again. I would think about what he said tomorrow. I just wasn’t sure I was strong enough to do what I knew I needed to.
Matt and I got dressed, and I walked him to the door. He left me with a kiss on my cheek and a promise to follow up with me before he left town. I was grateful that he didn’t make me feel worse than I already did about getting him worked up and then shutting it down. I knew he still cared about me, and I was afraid he’d think I was taking advantage of that.
I went to my bedroom, not feeling well after the emotional outburst of the night. I dressed in a nightgown that was more utilitarian than it was fashionable and went to sleep.
Hours later I woke up when a sharp, piercing in my abdomen had me doubled over in pain. It felt wet between my legs. I pulled the covers back and turned on the lamp on the nightstand. I was shocked and scared shitless when I saw blood on the sheets and my nightgown.
I tried to stand, but the pain was too much, so I crawled towards the bathroom and collapsed on the floor. I cried out in agony when another sharp pain hit.
This was serious. I needed help, and I needed it fast. I couldn’t lose this baby. I just couldn’t.
I crawled back into my bedroom and felt for my phone on top of the dresser. When I couldn’t reach it, I hoisted myself up and grabbed it. I hit the speed dial for Maya, but it rang and rang before voicemail picked up. Then I tried the speed dial for Travis, but it went straight to voicemail. I cursed and went to call 911, but my hand holding me up was slick from blood, and I slipped and fell. When I hit the floor, I smacked my head and then it all went dark.
?????
Grant
The continuous pounding had me coming out of my room and cursing loudly. I tied my robe around my waist and flipped the light on in the hallway. I opened the door, and Maya stormed in past me and then turned with her hands on her hips.
What was with Sal letting these women up unannounced?
“You wouldn’t listen to Travis, so now it’s time for your ‘Come to Jesus’ meeting with me.” She pointed at herself and stormed down the hall.
I followed her and found her in the Great Room pouring two glasses of Scotch.
“You can’t just barge into my home and think I’m going to listen to you.” I took the glass when she held it out for me.
“You’re going to need that,” she tilted her head towards the glass in my hand. “Once you find out how royally you f*cked everything up.”
“Now this I’d love to hear,” I said intrigued with what she possibly thought I did wrong. I sat back in a chair and crossed my leg on my knee. “Go on. I’m waiting”
“Let’s start with that viper Corinne. You should have never listened to that bitch. She clearly had a thing for you and would sink to any level to have you. First, she spread that story about Elizabeth being an escort. Then she took pictures of an innocent meeting between two friends and twisted it into a scene that would drive you to go off halfcocked. And what did you do? You went off completely cocked!”
I flinched at that. It was true. I did do that. However, I know what I heard when I called her that night.
“That doesn’t explain the conversation I overheard between Elizabeth and Travis. And let’s not forget she told me she was alone right before I heard it.”
“They were planning your surprise birthday party you ass!”
I braced my hand on the chair when her words hit me. No. That couldn’t be. I couldn’t have been so wrong?
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Why should she have to?” She shouted in my face.
Maya started pacing back and forth. “Then she comes here to tell you she’s pregnant. Something by the way she had to be convinced to do after the hateful and cruel things you said to her, including the fact that you were lucky she didn’t try and trap you with a baby for heaven’s sake. And she gets here only to have that bitch thrown in her face, again.”
“The baby’s mine?” I asked, only focusing on the good part and not wanting to think about all the things I did wrong. My faults were too many to add up at the moment.
“Of course it’s yours, a*shole. And now the wrong man is taking care of her. My man is supporting her and giving her what she needs. Do you have any idea how hard it is to watch her suffer and at the same time be so damn mad that she has so much of his attention? And it’s all your fault that I feel so f*cking guilty for feeling this way.”
So Maya and Travis. I figured I would focus on that tidbit later and concentrate on that fact that I was going to be a father.
“I’ve missed so much, damn it!” I jumped out of my chair and exploded. My glass flew against the wall and shattered. “Sonograms, cravings, kicks… everything!”
Maya shrank back, probably unsure of what to think. This wasn’t my typically reserved behavior that she was used to seeing. I didn’t care though. I should have gone to Elizabeth sooner. F*ck! I should have listened to her that night when she tried to tell me she loved me and would never betray me.
“You wanted all that?” She asked incredulously. “Not many men like you would stick by a woman who was pregnant and care about all that seemingly trivial stuff. I should know. Most men run for the hills when faced with the fact that they are going to be a father… an unplanned father at that.”
I gave her a seething look. The kind of look that made most people shrink back and cringe. “Of course I’d want all that. I’m not a complete monster.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. I’m going to start by finding her and telling her I love her and that I want her and this baby.”
“I’m not so sure that will work–” Maya started, but was interrupted when Veronica came into the room in nothing but her negligee.
“You coming back to bed Grant?” She asked with no small amount of annoyance. I suppose she had every right to be pissed. I had forgotten she was even here. Of course, that didn’t matter anymore. I needed to find Elizabeth. Veronica was my sorry attempt at forgetting Elizabeth anyway. Thank God we were interrupted before I finally slept with her.
“Get your clothes on and get out. I’ll have George drive you home.”
“What? You’re kicking me out?”
“I am. And don’t expect me to call you again. I’m officially off the market.”
I heard a phone ringing and saw Maya digging in her purse out of the corner of my eye.
Veronica looked at me like I was crazy, then she turned and glared at Maya. “You bitch!” She shrieked and lunged for Maya.
Before she reached her, I grabbed Veronica and pushed her towards the hall leading to my room. “Save yourself the embarrassment. Get dressed and get gone.”
Veronica huffed and stormed to my room. I heard the door slam, and I took in a deep breath.
“Whatever you do don’t tell Elizabeth about that woman. She’ll never get past the fact that you were shacked up with someone else while she’s been pining away for you. And make sure you grovel good. She’s going to need it.”
“Thank you for the relationship advice,” I said sarcastically.
“Hey.” She held up her hands defensively. “Your track record hasn’t been all that hot.”
The sound of my front door slamming had us both jumping slightly. “Now if you’re done, I need to get dressed and find Elizabeth.”
“She should be at Travis’. She wasn’t feeling too hot today. But she’s up seeing as how she just tried calling me a few minutes ago. I didn’t think it was proper to answer, what with your slut screeching and all.”
I gave her another scathing look that only served to make her laugh. “Good luck,” she said and with that Maya was gone.
I ran to my room and got dressed as fast as I could. I really hoped she listened to me when I found her.
?????
Somewhere between the elation of knowing Elizabeth would be mine again and arriving at her building, anger had settled over me. I jabbed the button to the elevator a little harder than necessary. How could she do this to me? It wasn’t like she was hiding something trivial. She was hiding my f*cking child. My flesh and blood.
It was amazing how just the knowledge that I was going to be father made me feel different. The child wasn’t even born yet, but I could still feel a connection to it. It. I didn’t even know if my child was a girl or a boy. Too blindsided by tonight’s events, I didn’t even think to ask Maya.
Once the doors to the elevator opened, I stepped out onto Travis’ floor. Stalking down the hall with fury fueling each step, I pounded on the door. After several minutes with no answer, I resorted to yelling. Something so uncivilized, my mother would surely be aghast with my behavior.
“Elizabeth! Open up! I know you’re in there!” Or at least she better be in there. Maya was sure she was home.
“Elizabeth! You have two minutes to open this damn door or I’m coming in!”
Walking over to the vase on a side table, I dug into the flowers and unearthed the key that was taped to the inside of the vase. Probably not the safest place to hide a key, but I wasn’t going to worry about that now. Elizabeth wouldn’t be staying here much longer anyways. I fully intended to bring her and my child home with me.
These games were ending. Tonight.
Unlocking the door, I stepped in and was greeted by an almost eerie silence. Tired or not, Elizabeth should have stirred at the incessant banging and bellowing.
Heading through the dark living area, I turned on a lamp and started for the guest bedroom that she had been occupying. As I got closer, I noticed a faint light through the crack in the door. Pushing it open, I took stock of the room. The bathroom light streamed through the room. The bed linens were twisted and strewn about. Taking a step further into the room, I noticed slender feet peeking out at the end of the bed. Rushing over, I found Elizabeth in a pool of blood. Her white nightgown was stained between her legs and her face was ashen.
“Shit!” I dropped to her side and felt for a pulse. Finding a faint one, I grabbed my cell phone and called 911. After they assured me an ambulance was on the way, I began to pray for a miracle.