“Daria, you’re ill. Everyone can see that. Jess said you threw up ten times when she visited the other day. Have you been to the doctors?”
“That’s an exaggeration.” I roll my eyes at Jess’ overestimated number. “Really, there’s no need, Jake. It’s just a bug.” I don’t have the energy or the mental capacity to argue with Mom on this and ruin Dad’s birthday further.
“I think you should go to the doctor, Daria. I’m worried about you.” Tears fill my eyes, and I bite my lip to try to stop the tears from falling. “Hey, don’t cry. I’ll always worry about you.” He kisses my forehead.
The waiter comes over with our food. He places Joseph’s dinner down; lemon and garlic chicken with mixed vegetables and potatoes. Joseph reaches for the tomato ketchup and pours it all over. My stomach rolls looking and smelling the mixture of food on the table. I try taking deep breaths to ease the feeling of nausea that just washed over me. My meal comes at the same time as Jake’s; a salad Mom ordered, obviously. Then I look at Jake’s food, the nausea getting worse. Scraping my chair back, I rush to the bathroom and throw up what’s in my stomach, dry heaving when there’s nothing left to bring up. Standing by the sink, I wash my hands and splash water on my face. I notice that I do look sick, paler than I normally am. There are dark circles around my eyes and I’ve lost a lot of weight. Jake’s right. I need to call the doctor and see what’s going on.
Walking out of the ladies’ room, I’m met with Jake’s anxious grey eyes.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” He touches my arms then cups my face, searching my eyes. I stagger a little, feeling light-headed. I grip onto Jake for support.
“Whoa. You can’t stay out, Daria.”
“But Mom and Dad…” I begin, but he interrupts me.
“Fuck your mom and dad, Dee. Your health is more important than a stupid birthday meal.”
I nod, not knowing how to react to him scolding me like that.
“I’m taking Daria home,” Jake announces as we approach the table. Dad is up off his seat and over to me in a flash.
“I knew you should have stayed at home,” He places his hand on my head. “Jesus, you’re burning up. I’m taking you to the doctor.” He walks over to get his jacket.
“Dad, stay and enjoy the rest of your dinner,” I plead. “I’ll see you later.” I hug him before he can argue with me.
“Look after my daughter,” Dad tells Jake.
“Always.”
I need out of here and the foul smell surrounding me. Making it outside, I inhale a lungful of air and blow it out again. I lean against the wall, waiting on Jake to come out, when I hear a rumble of motorbikes. Five of them speed past, one of them looking directly at me and making a gesture of a gun with his fingers. It sends a shiver down my spine and my heart picks up speed. I can’t breathe.
What have I done?
***
The night of Dad’s meal, Jake took me home and looked after me until I fell asleep. I can’t thank him enough for the way he has looked after me the past few days. He comes over after school with my homework and waits on me hand and foot. I went to the doctor this morning, and what she said shocked me to the point I was speechless. I wanted to stay at home, but Jess kept asking to see me, and to be honest, I need my best friend right now.
“Sweetie, are you okay?” Alexa, Jess's mom asks me when I walk into her house. Mom thinks I'm just trying to get out of everything and Dad is just going along with it, giving into me as usual. He's too soft on me, apparently. I heard them arguing, which has been a lot recently.
“I'm fine, Mrs. Cross.” I offer her a small smile.
“Daria, how long have I known you? Since you were five years old. Call me Alex.” She smiles sweetly at me. “Jess should be home any minute. When she takes her father shopping, they're out for hours.”
“Daddy, I can't believe you did that! It was so embarrassing!” We hear Jess before she storms into the living area where we're sat.
“That guy was staring at you like you were a piece of meat, Jessica,” Mr. Cross tries to reason.
“Dad, I'm a grown woman. I can handle myself.”
“What's going on?” Alex asks as they sit down, glaring at one another.
“Your husband totally embarrassed me in the mall.” Jess folds her arms over her chest, throwing daggers with her eyes at her dad.
“Stop being dramatic, Jessica.” Mr. Cross rolls his eyes.
“Dramatic? I'm being dramatic? Dramatic is when you shout at a guy to stop fucking staring at your seventeen-year-old daughter's tits and go sort out his raging hard-on before you chop the thing off.” Jess shakes her head, causing me to giggle. I can just picture the guy running for the hills seeing Mr. Cross. “Not to mention telling him you’d be taking his eyeballs out and feeding them to him.”
The thought of that turns my stomach.
“Ty, come on. You can't go about publicly threatening people like that,” Alex scolds, with an underlying amusement in her voice.
“He was fucking my little girl with his eyes, Alexa. I wasn’t going to just let him.”
Jess sighs and rolls her eyes. “Come on, Daria. We'll be in my room.”
Standing, I feel a little light-headed. I try to regain my balance and go to hold onto the back of the sofa, but I grip onto a muscular arm instead.
“You okay, Daria?” Austin, Jess's older brother asks me.
“Yeah, yeah. Just stood up too quickly I guess.” I can feel Jess and her dad's eyes on me.
“You know you don't have to make excuses to touch me.” Austin winks, making me flush with embarrassment.
“Ugh, get someone your own age, Austin.” Jess grabs my hand, pulling me away from him.
“Daria loves it.”
“Jerk,” Jess calls over her shoulder. “Come on, Dar. Let’s go to my room.”
Once in her room, she locks the door and sits me on her bed, going over to her dresser and pulling out a white and blue paper bag.
“My aunt got this.” Jess hands me a pharmacy bag. I open it and see a pregnancy test.
“I don't need this, Jess. It's just a bug.” I hand it back, not making eye contact. She tilts her head to the side and raises an eyebrow at me.
“Really? You're still spinning that bull?” She laughs. “Just do the test then we can rule it out. You won't know until you do it, Daria. I told my Aunt Ava you were ill and she said you might be pregnant so she bought you the test.”
When I don't move, she keeps telling me that this happened to another family member of hers and that they were too late for an abortion.
“Jess, just stop talking!” I snap. She stops, looking shocked I shouted at her. “I don't need to do the test.”
“Dar, you won't know until you...”
“I already know I am.” She stops mid-sentence when I shout at her. She opens and closes her mouth, struggling to find the words to say. “I'm pregnant and I don't know what the hell I'm going to do.” I cry, holding my head in my hands.
“Oh, Daria. Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” She holds me in her arms as I sob. “You know you can tell me anything.”
“I know. I just wanted to be sure. So I made an appointment with the doctor and he confirmed it. I’m eighteen, Jess. I can’t have a kid.” I look at my best friend, seeing she too has tears falling. This is one mess she can’t get me out of.
“Who’s the father?” she asks after letting me cry on her shoulder for what felt like hours.
“Doesn’t matter.” I wipe my nose with back of my jumper. I look down and pick at the fraying cuff.
“Daria, who’s the father?” she asks again. Looking up at her, my eyes sting with the tears still falling. “Shit. I’m so sorry, Daria.” She pulls me into her embrace again. “I’ll kill him.”
“No. No, please, Jess. This problem is mine. I need to sort it myself. Please, promise me you won’t get involved.” She doesn’t answer me. “Jessica, please promise me.�
�� I beg her again, gripping her hand.
“Fine. But you have to tell him that if he makes you do anything you don’t want to do, I’m kicking ass.”
I nod. How the hell do I tell him he’s about to be a father?
***
Back home, it’s eerily quiet. Mom and Dad are away to some gala in Seattle and won’t be back until tomorrow night. The gate buzzes just as I settle to watch a movie with some popcorn. I press the button to let whoever it is in without looking.
Rookie error. You should have checked the cameras.
I jump when the doorbell rings then make my way slowly to the door, praying it’s Jessica or Jake.
Upon opening the door, I’m met with blue eyes staring back at me.
“Can I come in?” he asks me. Swallowing, I open the door farther. He steps in and follows me to the living area.
“So, uh, what are you doing here?” I know exactly what he's doing here, but I need him to tell me.
“I overheard you and Jess.” My eyes widen a fraction then I close my eyes as a tear falls. Reaching over for my hand, he rubs his thumb over my knuckles. “Dee, you’re like my sister. I don’t want to see you hurt.”
“I’m fine, Austin. This is my concern.”
“You’re eighteen, Dee.” He raises his eyebrow. His blue eyes shine with amusement and concern taking my hand in his. “You’re pregnant. It’s a big commitment.”
“You’re pregnant?” I hear from the doorway before I can answer him. Looking over, I see a shocked-looking Jake.
“Um, Austin, can you give us privacy?” He nods, understanding that I need to talk to Jake, who has begun pacing the floor, muttering to himself and running his hands through his hair.
“You sure you don’t want me to stay?” he asks, looking at Jake over my shoulder as I lead him out. Looking back, I shake my head.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Text me later.” He kisses my cheek and leaves.
“Jake, come sit down.” I need him to sit. He’s making me dizzy with the pacing. When he sits down, he looks at me with wide, scared grey eyes.
“Is the baby-” he begins but his voice catches. “Is the baby mine?”
I shake my head, feeling like the shittiest person in the world because I can hear his heart shatter into a million pieces from the look he’s giving me right now. Closing my eyes, my mind drifts back to the first time we slept together.
Ten minutes after I had got into mom and dad’s hotel room, my nerves started to kick in. I lied to my parents, telling them I was going for a lie down because I didn’t feel too good. Really, I wanted to sneak away to be with Jake. Should I be doing this? What if Mom walks in on us? Even worse, what if Dad walks in on us? My heart starts hammering in my chest. Surely if this was a good idea I wouldn’t be feeling this uneasy about it. Right?
Just as I’m about to walk out of the door, a knock on it makes me jump a little. Upon opening it, I see Jake’s handsome face smiling back at me, but it doesn’t last long when he sees the panicked look on my face. He backs me in the room so he can shut the door.
“Hey, what’s up?” He slides his fingers into my hair, his grey eyes full of compassion. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do, Daria.” Nodding, he leads me towards the sofa. “What made you change your mind?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t feel right doing it just to please our moms, you know?”
“I understand, but that’s not the reason I wanted to be alone with you, Daria.” He moves closer to me. “I want you, always have. I want to make you feel the love you deserve and make you feel wanted.”
A gasp escapes my mouth and I can’t stop my actions. I pounce on him like a lion leaps onto its prey. My fingers have a mind of their own as I start unbuttoning his shirt. Why did he have to dress up as James Bond? Why couldn’t he be that wrestler he loves that doesn’t wear a shirt, just those tight pants? Our lips fuse together while ripping each other’s clothes off.
“Please tell me you have protection,” I whisper against his lips. He fumbles around in his pants pocket. A triumphant smile graces his lips when he holds up a condom between his index and middle finger.
I need to feel close to someone. To feel loved.
“No. Not biker assholes.” He shakes his head as tears continue to fall down his face, bringing me back to the now. “What are we going to do?”
“We?” I question. “This is all me, Jake. You don’t have to cover for me anymore.”
“Daria, I love you. This baby is ours.” He places his hand gently on my cheek, wiping a tear away with his thumb. “Me and you. We’re in this together, all right?” He kisses my forehead.
How the hell did I get so damn lucky?
***
Today’s the day we tell our parents about the baby. Jake and I talked for the past few days and decided that this baby didn’t ask to be created, so why should we be the ones to end their life?
Mom, Dad, Janet, and Jake Snr. sit around the dinner table, finishing their desserts.
“You okay?” Jake whispers in my ear.
“No. I feel like I’m going to throw up.”
“What are you two whispering about?” Dad smiles at me. I take in the smile. I have a feeling it will be the last time I’ll see it. I look to Jake who clears his throat.
“Um… Mr. and Mrs. Denver. Mom, Dad,” he begins. I grab his hand to give him support, but he can’t seem to get the words out. I’m the one that got us into this situation; I should be the one to say it.
“I’m pregnant,” I blurt out.
No-one says anything; they just stare at me, shocked. I look to Jake who leans over and kisses my head. I hear a chair scrape across the marble floor and look up to see my dad’s retreating back. I make a move to go after him, but Mom glares at me, holding up her hand.
“You have to get married,” Jake’s mom pipes up after a beat of silence.
“What?” Our eyes snap to one another.
“You can't expect to tell us that you're about to have a baby and think we're going to let you have this child out of wedlock,” she scoffs, folding her arms over her chest.
“Mom, we’re only eighteen.”
“Well, you were old enough to get yourselves in this situation, so you're old enough to get married and do the right thing by this child!”
A wave of nausea washes over me, and I sprint to the bathroom, leaving them arguing over my life.
Our lives.
“Dee?” Jake knocks on the door. Opening it, he engulfs me in his arms. “Mom and Dad are gone. Do you want to come back to my place?”
“I need to face my parents.”
“Do you want me to stay?”
“No. This is my mess. You’ve already done enough for me, J.”
“Okay. Call me after you’ve spoken to them.” He lightly kisses my mouth. “I love you.”
Once he leaves, I walk up to my parents’ room and knock lightly on the door.
“How could you be so stupid?” Mom roars as soon as she sees me. “You stupid, stupid girl. Have we taught you nothing? Huh? You have brought nothing but shame on this family.” She continues to assault me with her words while Dad sits there and lets her. “Pregnant at eighteen? My God, Daria! What will the press say? The elections are just around the corner. We can’t have you at any galas or functions.” She gasps. “What will people think about me as your mother? What sort of mother lets her eighteen-year-old get pregnant?”
“No-one is to blame but me,” I whisper.
“You’re damn right it’s all on you! I thought you were a lot smarter than that, Daria. Turns out you’re just like your mother.” My eyes snap up to look at her. It’s the first time she has referred to anyone but her as my mom. “No daughter of mine would ever get herself into this situation.”
“Mom, please.”
“No. You do not call me that. In fact, get out of my sight. Go to your baby’s daddy.” She looks me up
and down as she walks past me. “For good.”
I gasp as she slams the door of her en-suite closed. Tears stream down my face.
“Dad?” I sniff. He sits in silence with his head hanging low. “Daddy. Please don’t kick me out.” Nothing. “Daddy, please.” I kneel in front of him my hands on his knees, looking up at him. “Daddy, I’m still your daughter.” When I’m met with more silence, I give up and walk away from him. Looking back once more, I say, “I’ll always be your daughter, Daddy.”
I throw clothes and essentials into my small suitcase and make my way down to my car. I shoot off a quick text to Jake, taking one last look at the house I grew up in. My hope Dad will come stop me from leaving is squashed as soon as I leave through the gates.
As I drive up to Jake’s house, Jake Snr. is waiting for me.
“Daria, sweetheart.” He hugs me like I expected my own dad to do. But he didn’t. “Jake’s worried about you. He’s waiting for you. I’ll bring your bag.”
I run towards Jake when I see him, and his arms engulf me protectively. “It’ll be okay. It’ll all be okay.” He sways me from side to side trying to reassure me and I cry my heart out; what’s left of it. It won’t be okay. None of this is okay.
When I finally stop crying, I look up at Jake and instantly feel guilty for involving him.
“Jake, you don't have to do this.” I sniff, wiping my nose using the sleeve of my hoody. “Don't ruin your life for me and a child that isn't yours.”
“But that’s the thing, Dee.” He smiles sweetly at me, taking my hands in his. “I wouldn't be ruining my life. If anything, I’d be bettering it. You and this baby will be my main focus.”
“What about your career? Your dreams and marrying for love?”
“I love you. It may not be the same kind of love we were hoping for, but I love you nonetheless. And this baby.” He places his hand on my still flat stomach. “This baby will want for nothing. I'll make sure we have the nice home to bring him or her up in. I can still have my career, as can you.”
“Jake, what am I going to do about my dad?” I start to cry again.
“He’ll come around. I’m sure of it.” He kisses my head. “Come on, let’s get some sleep.” He leads me through to the bedroom and I lie down on the bed. I’m tired. So tired. I pray my dad comes round eventually.
Three Strikes (Demons Disciples MC Book 1) Page 3
