“Look at you,” Normani yells pointing at me. “You're a skeleton Lace. You're comin’ to the gym with us right now. Take this and go get dressed,” she says handing me a puke colored drink.
“I ain't drinkin’ that,” I say twisting my face in disgust.
Normani steps closer pushing the drink in my hand.
“You're drinkin’ it,” she says her voice low and menacing.
“Oh yeah, Chuck Norris? You're pregnant, what the fuck are you gonna do about it?” I say stepping closer to her.
Her and Devin dropped the bomb on us yesterday and I’m so happy for her and my cousin. They’ve been through so much and they deserve this happiness. I even think they are adopting from Second Chances soon and it’s been great seeing the family expand. It won’t be expanding on the Turner side though, my subconscious reminds me.
Normani smirks and pushes the drink harder into my chest.
“Yep, you're comin’ to the gym. We'll be outside, you have five minutes.”
They both leave and I grit my teeth, my anger coming to the surface. God, why can't I just wallow in peace?
I get dressed quickly, taking my grey leggings and pink tank top out of my top drawer and slip them on, clothes that once hugged my body, now looser because of my weeks from hell.
I meet them outside and we drive to the studio in silence. I nod to Miguel once we get inside and Normani wraps my hands, neither of us saying anything.
“I'm not puttin’ you in the ring because I don't think Miguel wants to clean blood off the mat,” she says smirking.
“He wouldn't go that hard on me,” I say rolling my eyes.
“I meant you,” Normani says eyeing me. “Let it out on the bag.”
She nods towards the heavy bag in the corner and I hit it weakly, my hands up like Normani taught me.
“Come on you weak little bitch, you got more in you than that,” she smirks.
I grit my teeth and know exactly what she's doing.
What a shit, I taught her that move.
I hit the bag a little harder, jab cross and start to bounce on my toes.
“That feel good? Pretendin’ it's that asshole?” Normani says loudly.
I grind my teeth harder, punching faster, not giving myself a break. Each hit stronger than the last, quicker, feeling my anger rise at everything that's happened.
“Fuck him,” Normani says. “Fuck her, right? Fuck everyone! That's the Lacey Turner we all know and love,” she snaps.
I grunt at each hit, pounding the bag, my arms turning into jello but I can't stop. My heart ripping to shreds at the thought of Nico with another woman. His hands caressing her in the night like he did to me. His deep, raspy voice dripping dirty details, coaxing her into submitting to him, getting on her knees for him like I did. Breaking down all her walls only to break her fucking heart, just like me.
I grunt louder, the tears starting to escape down my cheek as I punch and pound the bag, until I can't breathe, can't stand up and I collapse on the floor, sobbing like I've never before. Then everything spins and everything goes blurry. Everything except his face, the face of the man that will always have my heart, even if its shattered into a million pieces.
___
I wake to the sound of beeping and my head feels like I got wacked with a bat.
“Hey, there you are. You okay?” Normani’s soft voice says.
“I’m fine, what happened?” I ask groggily.
“You passed out. I shouldn’t have pushed you like that, I’m sorry.”
She grabs my hand and I squeeze it, giving her a small smile.
“You didn’t, I needed that. Did I really need to be brought to the hospital though?” I ask confused, looking around.
“The doctor should be in soon. You want anything?” she asks getting to her feet.
“I...nah I’m okay. Actually, maybe just water. I’m a little thirsty.”
She nods and walks towards the door and I look around again. I have an IV taped to my left hand and some type of monitor on my finger.
The nurse walks in and comes to the side of my bed.
“So we did blood work, just waiting on that to come back. We need a urine sample from you in the meantime, could you be pregnant?”
Her question cuts a knife through me and I shake my head.
“I took a test a couple days ago and it was negative,” I say slowly walking towards the bathroom with my hand wrapped around the IV pole.
“Okay, Dr. Hankins wants one just in case. There are cups on the shelf in there, just place the sample in the bag on the counter when you’re done. Shout if you need me,” she says smiling.
I shut the door behind her, grabbing a cup and peeing in it quickly, putting it inside the bag and placing it back on the counter. I wash my hands as best as I can with an IV attached and walk back out, sitting back on the bed.
“Dr. Hankins will be right in,” says the nurse.
She walks out and I drop my head back, wondering what the hell is going on. Is this what a broken heart is? I’ve heard stories of couples married fifty years, the man dies, and the woman goes soon after. Broken heart syndrome, they claim. Am I going to die now? Just awesome.
The doctor walks in with a big smile on her face and I sit up a little straighter.
“Hi Lacey, I’m Dr. Hankins. How are you feeling?”
“Okay. Thirsty and I have a headache, but I’m okay.”
“You were really dehydrated when your friends brought you in here. You need to make sure you’re taking in the proper nutrients,” she says pressing a couple buttons on the computer.
“I...I know I...I’ve been going through something I just, have had a rough couple of weeks.”
She stops typing and eyes me, pushing the computer to the side.
“I can send in a counselor if you want?”
“Oh no, I don’t need a counselor. I’ll be fine. I just needed a few days to get my head on straight. Can I go home soon?”
The nurse comes back in holding a white stick and hands it to Dr. Hankins.
“Positive Doc,” she says.
My heart sinks to the pit of my stomach as the nurse smiles at me.
“But I...I took one a couple days ago and I...is this right? That can't be right,” I say looking over to the test in the doctor's hand.
Dr. Hankins types a few things on her computer and then turns back to me.
“Blood work isn’t back yet, so let’s just have a look then, shall we?”
She gives me a small smile then pulls over another machine, reaching to lift my gown.
She squirts a liquid on the wand, and I close my eyes as she runs it along my belly, a million and one scenarios running through my head. I know that sometimes you can get false positives, but can you also get a false negative?
“Yep, here we go. I’d say...about sixteen to seventeen weeks based on the size but let me just double check your numbers when they come in. It looks a little big though, maybe we’re off. When was your last period?” she asks looking at me.
“I...I don’t...I don’t remember,” I stutter.
Pregnant. I’m really fucking pregnant. Sixteen or seventeen weeks!
“I...I don’t really...feel…”
Dr. Hankins gets to her feet and grabs some type of mask, putting it over my nose and mouth. She runs a hand up and down my arm instructing me to take deep breaths, but she sounds so far away.
I’m having a baby with the man who broke my heart.
____
“Mama…” I sob as she opens the front door.
She wraps me in a hug, her hand running through my mussed blonde hair and tries to soothe me.
“Shhh, it's okay baby. You're okay just breathe.”
“I'm...I'm p-pregnant, Mama.”
I feel her grip loosen and she breaks the hug looking at me, her hands still on my shoulders.
“Is it...it's Nico’s?”
I nod and I see her exhale, a breath of relief.
“I haven't
been with anyone except him since we met. I...you were right. All of it. I...someone did knock me off my fuckin’ pedestal and now I'm pregnant and I...it's such a mess.”
“Come inside, baby. Let me make you somethin’. You feel okay?”
I nod and she hugs me kissing my cheek.
“First, congratulations. Comin’ from someone with my past, Lace, babies are never a mess, they're a blessin’, you'll see, believe me.”
“I don't mean the baby, I just...I mean Nico and...there's...I don't know what to do.”
“Let me fix ya some soup and tell me everything, okay?”
I nod and sit back in the kitchen chair, spilling it all.
-------
“Morni-”
“I'm pregnant,” I interrupt Nico’s greeting as soon as he opens the door to Bella and Damon's house.
I’m apparently on my pregnancy tour and the next stop was baby daddy’s. After confiding in my mama, she told me to tell Nico right away. Bella said he's been staying with them when he's not playing and I walk inside past him, straight to the kitchen. I take the bottle of wine off the counter and uncork it and take a long smell before corking it again.
“What the...why are you sniffing the wine and did you just say...you're...you're…”
“Pregnant. Hence the wine smellin’. I can't have it and I could use a glass right about now but, well this happened,” I say pointing to my small stomach. “How's your girl gonna feel about this?” I snap.
Pregnancy hormones are so a thing. I’ve been a raging lunatic since I got home from the hospital last night and went straight to my mama’s. I can’t stop. I was a bitch before, but this is just a whole new level. Conveniently, the man that did this to me and the man that shattered my miniscule heart is one and the same and standing right in front of me. Loading that shotgun right about now.
“You know full well you're my girl, Lacey Lee.”
“Ha!” I scoff. “Am I? Pretty sure it wasn't my ass your hands were on in those pictures,” I snap.
I get up from the chair, my anger not so much in check and reach into my back pocket for the pregnancy test.
“If you let me explain that's not-”
“I don't care. You’ve tried to explain this so many times and you don’t ever give me the explanation I want. That it wasn’t you and a fuckin’ alien came down and inhabited your body while they got their kicks, and then put you back in it when you were safely in your own bed.”
“Lacey, I swear that sounds exactly how it happened. I don’t remember-”
“Just stop. I don’t care if you wanna raise this baby together or separate, but you're gonna step up either way. I didn't get myself pregnant, so figure it out. Here, souvenir for ya.”
I throw the test at him and it bounces off his chest as I walk towards the front door. I put my hand on the doorknob to open it, but Nico slams the door shut.
“I want to do this together, I don't need to figure it out. Just talk to me, Lacey. Can you let me explain?”
I turn around and grit my teeth, digging in deep to muster up all the anger I’ve had for him the past week. I want to hurt him as much as he hurt me.
“Actually, let me make sure it's even yours before you go on and raise some other man's baby.”
He closes his eyes and I see his jaw tense. Good.
“You're lying, you're pushing me away.”
“You can fuck anything you damn well please and I can't?”
“I haven't slept with anyone but you, Lacey. Ever since the first time I buried myself inside you, I haven't even so much as looked at another woman. That picture, I don’t know what the hell that was, but I would have never done that. No matter how drunk I was, I would never. I didn’t even drink that much, I had two drinks and I-”
“I'll send the DNA results your way,” I snap cutting him off.
I don’t want to hear about how he doesn’t remember. The one event that effectively ripped me to shreds and he has no recollection. That’s even worse.
He pushes the door shut again and I turn around gritting my teeth.
“What is your problem?”
I push against his chest, but he doesn't budge.
“You!” he roars. “You won't let me explain this, you won't even hear me out! All this time together, everything we've been through! Because of a fuckin’ picture, Lacey? I know I didn’t do anything, please believe me!”
“This was a mistake from the beginnin’. There's a reason so many things keep tryin’ to pull us apart, Nico. We're doomed to fail, just let it be.”
“Or they're being put there to test if this is real or not. This is real, Lacey! This is so fucking real.”
“It was,” I say turning.
He grabs my face in his hands and our lips come together so easily it scares me. I’ll never be able to get him out of my head, my heart, or my body. My brain finally arrives to the party and I push him off me.
“I can’t do this with you, Nico. Don’t do that,” I snap.
“I’m sorry I just...I love you, Lacey. I want to raise this baby with you. Can we...can we go see someone? Together?” he asks his voice drained now.
“Like therapy?” I ask confused.
He nods and I shrug.
“For the baby, okay. We need to be civil, right?” I say my voice flat but sad.
He opens the door and I want to turn around and say something, I don’t know what. Instead, I walk down the walkway to my car and don’t look back.
Chapter 2
Lacey
Nico and I sit in the waiting room, I swear you can hear a pin drop. The only sounds are our breathing and the keyboard from the receptionist.
“Mr. and Mrs. Johnson.”
The grey-haired woman motions for us to follow her down the hall and I don’t bother correcting her. I’m sure Nico purposely put our names in like that, just to show me that he isn’t going anywhere, like he’s tried to do all week since I’ve agreed to this.
He’s had dinner ordered to my house every night, breakfast on my desk in the office every morning, and takeout has been dropped off at the office too. I’m sure Damon has been chewing his ear off all about women and pregnancy because somehow a tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream ended up in my freezer and my tub of cookie dough was gone.
I'm sure he also knows about my trip to the hospital because a pamphlet about dehydration during pregnancy appeared in my dining room table yesterday. Nothings a secret in this family.
I changed the locks after that story broke and I no longer keep one under my welcome mat. I wouldn’t put it past Damon to snag the spare key from Bella.
We walk into the room and Nico takes a spot in the middle of the couch, forcing me to sit closer to him than I wanted to.
“I’m Rose, by the way. How are you both doing?” Asks the grey-haired woman.
“Fine,” I say in a clipped tone.
“Good,” Nico answers.
“Okay, so Nicholas has filled me in a little on what y’all are lookin’ for out of these sessions. I’d like to hear your take on things, Lacey, right?”
“Yes, Lacey is fine. I uh...well I’m almost five months pregnant. It’s a bit of a shock, we weren't plannin’ on it and we are no longer together. There’s been pictures that have surfaced of Nicholas with another woman durin’ our relationship and we broke things off.”
“Okay, so fill in the timeline a little bit for me, from the beginning.”
“Well we met three years ago, around Valentine’s Day. We kept things casual, eventually starting dating and then I found out about a bet Nicholas made with one of his friends. It hurt, broke me a little so we took a break for a few months. My birth mother came around, threatening to blackmail Nicholas so I had to stay away from him. We were still kind of on a break I guess, but for the sake of his protection. We finally dealt with my mother together and it was smooth sailing for a long time until the pictures.”
“Can I defend myself a little here? That bet was before I really got to
know her,” Nico retorts.
“We’ll get through everything, Nicholas, don’t worry,” Rose says smiling. “Did y’all find out about the pregnancy before or after the media story of Nicholas’ alleged infidelity?” she asks.
“After. We were broken up already when I found out about the pregnancy,” I answer.
Walk Off (Double Play Series Book 5) Page 2
