Delusional Love (2nd Edition)

by Young, Sage

  Mark was stunned, so stunned that it took him a few seconds gather himself.

  “I don’t understand, if you are in a relationship why did you agree to meet me?”

  “Well, I didn’t think you were looking to start up a relationship again. I thought this was about closure, obviously I was mistaken.” She stood to leave. “It was good seeing you again Mark.”

  “Wait Steph, please don’t leave, I want you to stay. I want to hear how your life has been going, I didn’t not mean to upset you.” Stephanie sat back down.

  “Thank you.” Mark said as the waiter came back with their drinks.

  ---------

  “Son of a Bitch, I don’t believe it, is that Stephanie over there?” Adam and Lawrence turned around. “Awh Hell.” Adam whispered towards Lawrence. “You ready to run interference?”

  “Why is there always trouble when I go out with the Quinn brothers?” Before they could react Ivan was heading towards the table. Adam and Lawrence were close on his heels. “Good evening Stephanie.”

  She heard the familiar voice that still sent shivers up her spine. Mark looked over at Stephanie then at Ivan. Mark could see she was visibly shaken.

  “Are you okay Steph?” Mark said as he touched her hand.

  “Yes I’m fine.” She said softly.

  She stared at Mark and introduced Ivan without turning to look at him. “Mark this is Ivan Quinn my former boss.” Just as she was done with the introduction Adam and Lawrence appeared. Mark was starting to feel uneasy with the situation and if they were making Stephanie uncomfortable then they needed to leave. Mark stood. Adam walked over to Stephanie and kissed her on the cheek.

  “Hey Steph, how are you?” He reached his hand out to shake Mark’s hand

  “Hi I’m Adam Quinn, friend and former boss of Stephanie.” As Adam introduced himself, Lawrence also kissed her on the cheek and also introduced himself to Mark. Mark started to ask them to join them and decided against it. He did not like the way Ivan was staring at Stephanie; he was definitely making her uncomfortable.

  “Is there a problem man?” Mark addressed Ivan. Ivan was having a difficult time keeping his anger under control. Stephanie refused to look at Ivan although she could feel his eyes burning into her skin.

  “I don’t know, is there a problem Steph?” Ivan said seething and talking through his teeth. Stephanie could not believe him, he dumped her, he broke her heart and he had the nerve to stand hear like he was owed an explanation. She turned to him ready to spit fire.

  “No Ivan there’s no problem. You will NEVER have this problem again. Oh and congratulations on your engagement you two truly deserve each other.”

  Mark could see a tear in her eye and moved to stand in front of Stephanie, blocking Ivan’s view of her. He leaned into Ivan, looked him in the eye and said.

  “You need to back away from her, you are making her uncomfortable.” Ivan took his eyes off of Stephanie long enough to stare Mark down.

  “If you don’t back up I will take it as a threat to her and if I even think you are a threat to her, I will be forced to beat your ass.”

  “What…. fuck you!” Ivan yelled but before he could say or do anything else Adam and Lawrence got between the two men and forcibly ushered Ivan out of the restaurant.

  “Are you okay Steph? Do you want to leave?”

  “No, just give me a minute.” She took a sip of her apple juice and he could see her hands trembling. She smiled “I’m fine.”

  “Does he know?”

  “What?”

  “Does he know you are having his babies?” She looked at him and said “no” softly.

  “You want to talk about it?”

  “Yes, but not here.”

  “We can get dinner to go.”

  ---------

  “Come on Ivan, your making a scene” Adam said.

  “I don’t give a fuck, did you see him disrespect me.” Ivan yelled.

  “You disrespected his date Ivan, what did you expect him to do hand her over to you. Get a fucking grip because this shit isn’t cool. You left her broken hearted remember, don’t get mad because she is finally picking up the pieces and moving on with her life.” Lawrence shouted.

  Adam had never seen his brother out of control.

  “Fuck both of you.”

  “Yeah yeah, now let’s go find another place to get you drunk because I’m pretty sure they’re not going to let us back in there.” Lawrence said as he patted Ivan on the back.

  The three men ended up at Napoli’s, they sat and drank. They all got drunk. Marco looked over at them and decided to join them. “Can I drink or am I the designated driver?” Marco said with a smirk.

  “No, Danny’s waiting outside for us.”

  Marco motioned the waiter to bring him a drink. They all sat solemnly at the booth.

  Marco spoke up. “So, who lost their puppy.” Lawrence and Adam pointed at Ivan. “Huh… I see.” Marco said.

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do, this shit is making me crazy. I despise the woman I’m about to marry and the one I love now despises me. And to top it off I’m going to be a father. This shit just is not right.”

  “This is why I don’t do relationships.” Lawrence interjected.

  “Yeah okay, so what do you call what you have with Tara?” Adam responded. Lawrence glared at Adam but did not respond.

  “So what happened with Stephanie?” Marco inquired. Ivan explained the decision he made to honor his mother’s wishes. “I know I have no right to be jealous, but when I saw her at the restaurant with another man I was blinded with anger. I just wanted to rip his fucking head off. I still want to believe that she’s mine, she belongs to me. I was her first and I was supposed to be her last. This entire situation is fucked

  up.”

  “Are you saying she was a virgin before you?” Lawrence asked.

  He lowered his head as he drained another drink. They all drained their glasses on that information. “You’ve made your choice so you have to let her go so she can move on with her life.” Adam added as he signaled the waiter for another round of drinks.

  “First, the decision was made for me and second I don’t know how to leave her alone. Did you see how good she looked?” He said to no one in particular. “Enough Ivan regardless of reason, you made your decision. You now need to man up, stop fantasizing about what could have been and start preparing yourself to be a husband and a father.” Adam stated firmly.

  “Yeah well, fuck you too Adam.” Ivan said while signaling for another drink.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Stephanie and Mark ended up at her apartment. They sat on the sofa and ate their dinner. Mark started talking about the night she left him.

  “Steph I really need you to understand what was going on in my life when we were together. I am not making excuses, but I was a different person back then. As you know my career was just taking off and I thought I had the world by the balls. I had women throwing themselves at me left and right, but I loved you. In my warped twisted thinking I justified my sleeping with other woman by rationalizing that I wanted to wait until our wedding night to make love and it was okay to sleep with other women. I told myself when we did get married I would then be faithful. I thought it would be out of my system and I would eventually marry the woman of my dreams.”

  Stephanie looked at him with a raised brow as she put her food container on the coffee table. “You know that’s bullshit right. You may have had women throwing it at you but you didn’t have to take it.”

  “I know that now Steph but at the time I thought I could have it all. It wasn’t until I saw you standing there in that beautiful black sexy lace bra and thong under your coat, it was at that very moment that I realized that I could have had it all with you if I had just been patient. That was a turning point in my life. I decided I would make myself worthy of you again, but as time went on and you changed your number and moved, short of hiring a private investigator, I thought you were lost to
me forever. Then I saw you in the restaurant the other day and I said to myself, God does answer prayers.”

  “Oh Please, you did not pray to find me.” She said laughing

  “You laugh but I’m serious. I just wanted to get the opportunity to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry for hurting you, for breaking your heart and trust. I am not asking for a second chance just your forgiveness.”

  She looked into his eyes and saw the sincerity. “I forgive you Mark.”

  “Good.” He said and kissed her on her cheek. He placed his container on the coffee table. “Now you want to tell me about the crazy Italian and why you have not told him you are having his babies?”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “I’ve got time.” He said with a smile.

  “Well, I use to work for Ivan he was actually my boss.”

  “Oh an office affair.” He said and smiled.

  “Something like that. We were instantly attracted to each other, well I was attracted to him it wasn’t until later that he confessed that he was also attracted to me. We dated for about a month before our relationship became intimate.” ‘Maybe less.’ She thought.

  “Ouch, you make a brother wait over six months but the white boy only had to wait one month, not fair.” He teased.

  “You had your chance, you blew it. Anyway. Our relationship was going well until we attended a formal gala and his ex shows up claiming to be pregnant with his baby.”

  “I don’t understand were you sleeping with him without protection?”

  “No, we used condoms every time. Here’s the crazy part, he told me that he never slept with his ex without using a condom.”

  “Well either someone’s lying or he had a faulty box of condoms. What type were they anyway so I know never to go near them.” Mark smirked.

  “Whatever, all I know is, I now need to figure out how to handle this situation going forward.”

  “When are you going to tell him about the babies?”

  “I don’t know, there is a part of me that doesn’t want to tell him. He’s starting a new life with his new fiancée and this would just complicate the situation. He chose her over me so I don’t want him to feel obligated because of my babies.”

  “That’s bullshit Stephanie, you did not make those babies by yourself and he is obligated and he needs to take responsibility for his actions. Steph don’t be one of those women who deny a man the opportunity to be a part of their child’s life. I can help in any way you need me to that is until I move.”

  “You’re moving?”

  “Yes, I received an incredible job offer from The Jade Corporation. They offered me a shit load of money plus moving expenses to relocate and run their Architect design department in Miami.”

  “That sounds exciting Mark, congratulations.”

  “Thanks it’s been a long time coming, so what about you, what do you plan to do?”

  “I am currently weighing my options. I am thinking about moving to Florida to be with my parents, but I’m not sure.”

  “If you do, we will be closer together and maybe we can at least mend our friendship. One of the things I loved and missed about our relationship was the long talks we used to have and while I did not expect you to stay a virgin forever, I selflessly hoped that your first experience would have been with me.”

  She just stared at him. “I know, I know, I ruined that opportunity.” He looked at her with sadness in his eyes. “Well I better get going. Steph I would like to continue to see you before I leave, if it’s okay. I miss my friend.” She nodded as her eyes started to tear up. “Hey, what’s wrong?” He said as he hugged her. She loved the feel of him. His masculine smell took over her senses as she leaned into his hug.

  “Nothing, my hormones are out of control, but yes I would like to see you again. Thanks Mark I really needed a friend tonight, thanks for being there for me.” She walked him to the door and he kissed her on her forehead.

  “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  ---------

  Ivan was restless as he tossed and turned in his bed before he eventually got up and headed to his exercise room. He needed to work off some energy and the alcohol left in his system. His mind kept going back to Stephanie and her date at the restaurant. He knew he needed to let her go but he loved her and the thought of another man in her bed infuriated him. After a brutal hour of working out he headed to the shower. Ivan got dressed and decided he needed to talk to Stephanie. He grabbed his phone and headed out the door. Once out the door and into a waiting car, his phone rang, He looked at the caller id and cursed.

  “What is it?”

  “Good morning to you too. I need to talk to you.”

  “About what.”

  “About what? Ivan we are going to be married in two months and we need to talk about the ceremony and our living arrangement. We need to talk about purchasing a house. I spoke with my doctor and she believes that I should not be living alone because of the complications I’ve been having. So I thought we could look at houses and decide on something that would suit us and our baby because we can’t live in your condo it is not baby friendly.” Ivan was partly listening to Ashley’s ranting. He thought about Stephanie, he really needed to let her go this was his fate now. “Alright enough we will start to look for a place next week.” He heard her squeal and he held the phone from his ear. “I have to go Ashley.”

  “Wait Ivan, what about me moving into the condo until we buy a house?” Ashley whined.

  “Fine I will make the necessary arrangements, goodbye Ashley.” He hung up the phone while she was still talking.

  ----------

  Over the next couple of weeks Mark and Stephanie spent a lot of time together. Stephanie could not believe how much difference a month made. Her stomach felt like it doubled in size and she was wearing her maternity clothes. Mark was fascinated with Stephanie’s pregnancy and how much weight she had gained. He thought it was the most beautiful thing in the world. He secretly wished she were carrying his babies. Stephanie enjoyed his company and he enjoyed having his friend back. She helped him with his packing and he was very attentive to her and even planned to attend her next doctor’s appointment. They finished the last of wrapping his artwork and pictures. “You know the moving company would have done this.” Stephanie said teasingly.

  “I know but I didn’t want to trust some random person with my stuff that I really care about.” The last picture was of the two of them at a formal event.

  “We really made a cute couple.” Stephanie said as she looked at the picture and smiled.

  “Yeah until some jerk screwed everything up.” He gave her a smile. “What time is your appointment tomorrow?”

  “It’s at ten o’clock but if you are busy you don’t have to go.”

  “Are you kidding I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I still can’t get over the fact that my Steph is having a baby correction babies.”

  “Well I can believe it because it would have to be babies that would cause me to gain so much weight.”

  “What are you talking about, you only gained a little and you have filled out in all the right places.”

  She tossed a pillow from the sofa at him. “So when are the movers coming to get your furniture?” Stephanie asked.

  “The early part of next week and I move for good the week after next.” Stephanie felt a sudden sense of loss. “I’m going to miss you Mark.” Mark sat on the sofa beside her.

  “I’m going to miss you too but we will talk on the phone and you will have to come visit me while you still can.”

  “I know.” Stephanie yawned.

  “Come here.” Mark said to Stephanie and she complied. “Lay down and I can rub your back.” Stephanie laid her head in Mark’s lap and he rubbed her head, neck, and back.

  “That feels so good.” Stephanie said while yawning. Within minutes Stephanie was sound asleep. Mark gently picked her up and she instinctively put her arms around his neck. He took her to his bedroom and laid her down on the
bed. He removed her shoes and pulled the covers over her. He grabbed a pair of pajama pants and headed to the bathroom to shower. Several minutes later he returned to find her still sleeping. He climb in the bed wrapped his arm around her protruding stomach and tried to get some sleep.

  A few hours later Stephanie woke up disoriented. ‘Where the hell am I?’ She felt an arm around her mid section and turned over to see a sleeping Mark. “What the hell?” She instantly looked under the covers to make sure they both had clothes on.

  “You okay?” Mark said half asleep.

  “Why am I in your bed Mark?”

  “You fell asleep, you were tired and I didn’t want to wake you. Is everything ok, are you angry?”

  “No next time wake me up and ask.”

  “I’m sorry. Do you want me to take you home?” He asked as he slowly swung his legs so that his feet were planted on the floor.