“Oh, no. No, I can't cook. Trust me.” His feet started to sludge across the floor.
I wasn't going to take 'no' for an answer. Angling my head, my eyes narrowed playfully. “You don't have a choice.” Glaring my teeth, my lip curled up.
He got the joke instantly. Hegan's smile split wide across his face, laughing gently. “Ha, ha, very funny. Alright, let's go cook. But don't say I didn't warn you.”
“I won't.” Gripping his hand, my fingers twined inside his.
My hand, resting in his, it felt right. It was the most difficult thing to explain and understand.
I came here under the impression of a party, a dance. That was the job. And here I was fucking the hottest man in the state, after he tells me he paid for me like a fucking loaf of bread. And to top it off, he expected me to have his baby.
After a lot of thought and weighing my options, having his baby did seem like the best thing to do. But not only for me, for Hegan too.
After watching him get completely mind fucked by his father, and to see the life deflate around him, I wanted to do this for him too.
Now my feelings were knotting around his, coiling up tight. The things he said, the truthfulness to his tone and words. He already had my agreement, he didn't need to say any of that shit to me.
But he did.
This weekend hadn't been anything like I'd thought it would be.
Call me crazy if you want to.
But this weekend turned out to be way better than I had expected.
Chapter Seventeen
Noella
Two weeks later
I'm late. I'm four days late. Pacing in the bathroom, I buried my arms into my chest, heart racing wildly. You can't get pregnant that soon, can you? No. That shit takes time. I've read about it in those pamphlets at the doctor's office.
Every year at my annual— spread your legs so I can insert these metal pliers and make you really uncomfortable— appointment, I pick up the tiny booklets and scan them. They all talk about how pregnancy can take time, and not to get discouraged. They said that for some woman it could take up to a year before actually getting pregnant.
Stress, I bet I'm late because of stress.
Between my mom, and the shit with Hegan... To say I wasn't stressed would be a lie. Hegan and myself stayed at his mansion through the weekend, and it was the best two days of my life.
And after leaving there, we've seen each other pretty much everyday. It was nice to have someone in my life. Someone who actually seemed to enjoy the real me.
That didn't happen, ever.
I was able to cut down on my shifts at Tigress, only needing to work one night on the weekend now. Hegan didn't actually know how much I owed Gloria, and I wasn't going to tell him. That was my debt, not his to clean up for me.
He repeatedly laid the offer on my plate, giving me the out of my debt to her. But I didn't feel comfortable having him do that. He already set up the future treatments for mom, and that was more than I could ask for.
But I was getting nervous. I had agreed to do this, to have his child, but that didn't mean I wasn't scared shit to think I could be pregnant.
My eyes kept flickering back and forth between the floor, my fingers, and the small plastic strip on the sink. Three minutes, wait three minutes. Fuck you would think with all the medical advances there would be a test that could tell you instantly.
The ringing of my phone shot through my ears, my body shuddered instantly. I had been so far inside my own head it scared the piss out of me.
Fumbling my cell, I almost dropped it in the toilet. “Hello?” I said, before actually clicking the answer button. I thought my thumb was going to crash through the screen as I hit the button again. “Hello?”
“Hey, it's me. You alright? You sound like you've been running a damn marathon.” Hegan's soothing voice flowed through the speaker. My nerves spiking and calming in the same breath.
“Hi, yeah, I'm fine. Just... Just had to run for the phone is all.” Clearing my throat, I didn't want to tell him exactly what I was doing. If it came back negative, there was no reason to get his hopes up.
It was strange really, having only known him for such a short time, and yet I felt like we had known each other for years.
“You're still coming tonight right?” he asked.
Pausing briefly, I'd forgotten about his family's Christmas party. “Yeah, yeah. I'm still coming. It's at six, right?” Biting my thumbnail, my eyes kept glancing over at the pregnancy test.
“Sure is. Get ready for the wildest time of your life with these old prestigious drunks.” A nervous giggle escaped my throat. “You sure you're okay?” The concern in his voice peppered his tone.
“Yeah, I'm fine. I'm going to hop in the shower and I'll see you later, okay?” Trying to ground myself, I leveled the butterflies swarming in my belly.