by Shandi Boyes
“Why the fuck didn’t you read the documents your lawyer gave you?” Isaac questions angrily with his eyebrows cocked high in to the air.
“What are you talking about?” I enquire, causing his dark grey eyes to stare at me. When they narrow angrily, he throws an envelope at me. I roam my eyes over the envelope and realise it is the same envelope Jenni’s mom Taylor had given me the day I found out I wasn’t the father of Megan’s baby.
“She told me everything I needed to know”
“No she fucking didn’t” Isaac interrupts angrily as he moves around his desk to stand in front of me. When my confused eyes lift to look at his, he snatches the envelope out of my hand and pulls out the documents inside.
He flicks through the first two pages, which is an itemised tax invoice. When I first saw the total of my lawyer’s bill, I nearly fell over backwards. I guess that is why Jenni’s parents are so wealthy. Lucky for me, Isaac settled the account. When he finds the page he is looking for, he shoves the paper harshly into my chest.
“Read it” he instructs firmly. My eyes quickly dart over the doctor’s report. The more I read, the more my heart sinks further into my stomach.
“She was never pregnant?” I half question, half inform.
“She is a fucking virgin” Isaac informs roughly. My eyes dart up from the document to look at him unbelievably.
“When the gynaecologist did a scan and didn’t find a foetus, he did a little more research, her hymen was still intact” he informs, while staring at me angrily.
“You went and got yourself a fucking psycho” he yells angrily, his voice echoing around the room. “She has been in and out of the psychiatric ward for the past year, she did a runner a few months ago after knocking the wards man out cold” Isaac informs, causing my heart rate to soar even higher than it was previously. I jump up from the chair and start angrily pacing back and forth in Isaac’s large office.
“I fucking knew she wasn’t quite right” I mumble angrily to myself. I knew I shouldn’t have never left Jenni alone.
After several minutes of cursing obscenities and pacing Isaac’s office, I turn my gaze back to Isaac, who is sitting on the edge of his large wooden desk. He rises from the desk and walks around it to answer his ringing phone. Gathering some documents from his draw, he hands them to me as he continues barking orders over his phone.
When my eyes dart down to the documents he has just handed me, my heart drops into my stomach and I instantly feel ill. There are several photos of Jenni entering Dr Morgan’s office and walking out of the local grocery store. Her eyes have been gauged out and someone has drawn trails of blood running down her legs. In the next lot of photos, I see duct tape, rope and several medical instruments, including a scalpel and a pair of forceps. My stomach heaves and I lose my stomach contents in the waste bin when I look at the last photo. It shows a step by step process on how to perform an illegal caesarean. The graphic images are so realistic that all I can imagine is Jasper being cut out of Jenni.
Once my stomach settles, I lift my furious and fearful eyes to look at Isaac, who has finalised his call and is watching me intently.
“How are you taking care of this?” I question roughly. I want to ensure there is no chance Megan ever has the possibility of hurting Jenni or Jasper again.
Isaac’s grey eyes stare deep into mine, his nostril flare and his pupils dilate, before he eventually responds “You don’t want to know”. His eyes then turn down to some document on his desk and he starts shuffling through the papers, never once looking back towards me. This is the first time I have ever wondered what my brother really does for a living. Maybe Nicole was right.
Megan
“No, no, no, no” I scream repeatedly while pounding my fists hard against the television screen.
I had just been watching my regular entertainment program, waiting for pictures of my love to be shown, when it switched to a live press conference being held in Los Angeles. My heart leaps out of my chest when I notice the lead singer of my love’s band standing up near a wooden podium. He announces that their band is going on a six-week tour along the East Coast and that tickets are still available. I rush towards my bag to grab my phone and credit card, wanting to ensure that I didn’t miss out on the opportunity of gaining tickets to every show. I am beaming with excitement as I dial the number displayed on screen. But that excitement soon vanishes when Noah advises that their lead guitarist Nick and his fiancé Jenni had just given birth to a baby boy, Jasper Nicholas Holt, Saturday morning.
I rush towards the screen, seeking any untruth in his eyes. Noah’s dark eyes stare directly in the camera, gleaming with happiness. When the screen illuminates a picture of Nick sitting next to his whore, I roughly grip the TV and with several harsh pulls, I successful yank it off the wall mount and sent it hurtling across the room. I continue to scream and yell while picking up anything I can find to send it flying across the room. I’m angry and confused as I had taken care of her and her bastard child. She was supposed to be dead! They were supposed to be dead!
It nearly killed me sitting across from her at the coffee dates we organised the past two weeks. I had to pretend to be a friend with the whore who is solely responsible for Nick and I being apart. I knew once she was out of the picture he would rush back into my arms. I had originally considered keeping the baby, since it is technically half of Nick, but I was never able to get his whore alone.
She was cautious whenever I tried to organise a coffee date at her house and when I attempted to follow her after our catch ups she would always lose me in traffic. She would only ever meet in public and there was no way I was going to be able to move her lard ass if I knocked her out during one of our dates.
That is when I realised I needed to devise another plan. I ended up driving all the way to New York to illegally purchase a special drug I had researched on the internet. Several minority groups in the city use to the drug for illegal abortions, since they can’t afford the ludicrous hospital bills. It was the perfect solution, as using it in late pregnancy would cause her to haemorrhage, which would take care of both her and the baby, leaving Nick free to be with me.
She seemed apprehensive when I first handed her the large water jug full of raspberry leaf tea that I had laced with the drug. I explained that it was going to help prepare her body for the birth and even showed her several articles on my phone. I had to be careful to ensure she didn’t see the pictures I had of Nick stored as my screensaver. He was sleeping peacefully when I snapped them. I miss being able to watch him sleep, it’s been months since I have snuck into his bedroom.
When I noticed him packing boxes into his truck a few weeks ago, I tried to follow him to his new house but he spotted me, and boy was he angry. He yelled and cursed at me even more than my daddy used to. I waited for him every day at the ‘Dungeon’ and at Mavericks on Friday nights, but he never showed up. I tried searching his information in the directory, but they said there was no one of that name in the area. I searched for him for weeks and he never turned up.
Now I know a way to find him again, I just have to go to the hospital. But first, I am going to need supplies. I search for my purse and keys under the overturned mattress and beside tables, eventually locating them next to the smashed picture frame. I quickly make my way out to my car that is in the carpark. Just as I’m about to turn on the ignition, someone grabs me roughly from behind. There extremely large arm wrapping tightly around my torso. I try to scream loudly to announce that I’m being attacked, but the white cloth covering my mouth muffles my screams. I start to feel woozy, my vision becomes blurred and my blinking starts to lengthen.
Then all I see is blackness.
Chapter 40
Jenni
The day before I was due to be discharged from the hospital, Ryan informed us that my tea was indeed spiked with a large amount of misoprostol. Nick was unable to maintain Ryan’s gaze when he informed us that an arrest warrant has been issued and the instant they are a
ble to locate Megan, she will be arrested and will face severe penalties. Nick felt incredibly guilty that it was his ‘Player’ lifestyle that had brought her into our life. But at the end of the day it wasn’t his fault. Nick didn’t even sleep with her, so she is the only one to blame for the drama and craziness that was being forced into our life.
I was just extremely grateful that Nick had managed to get me to the hospital quickly and that Dr Chase delivered Jasper before I bleed out. I didn’t know it at the time, but Dr Chase advised me that Jasper required medical assistance when he was born as he was blue and unresponsive. I’m glad that I can’t remember the birth, as the images of seeing Jasper like that would have haunted me forever.
When we left the hospital we nearly got trampled by the paparazzi who were trying to get an exclusive picture of Jasper. Nick was that rattled by the experience that later that day that he introduced me to Hawke, the bodyguard he had hired to travel with us. Hawke’s real name is Carey Hawke, but he advised us that everyone calls him by his surname. He is an ex-army sergeant that had recently returned from duty in Iraq. He started his own security detail when he discovered how much some clients were being charged for protection.
“You’re my golden ticket” he told me jokingly when I questioned why he would want to become a bodyguard to a boring housewife and a baby. When I saw how much Nick was paying him, I realised that he wasn’t joking.
It was pretty funny seeing tiny little Jasper cradled in Hawke’s big brawny arms. Hawke is such a natural with Jasper that I was surprised when he sadly shook his head when I asked if he had any children of his own. He must have nieces and nephews as he didn’t have any concerns buckling Jasper into his car seat or setting up his pram. Hawke still has the military issued crew cut. His hair is dark brown in color and his eyes are green. He has very defined facial features, with strong cheek bones and large lips. He is good looking, if you like the army look. If I had to guess his age, I would say early to mid-thirties?
The weekend before we joined the rest of the band members on tour, Emily came and stayed with us. We spent the majority of the weekend organising the surprise wedding she was planning for Noah’s birthday the following weekend. I even called Isaac on her behalf to ask if he could assist us in getting a reservation at Azure, a restaurant that sits above the Palm’s Casino. I didn’t tell him it was for Noah and Emily’s wedding, that would have been like rubbing salt into his wounds. Nick seems oblivious, but I have noticed the way Isaac’s interests always peak whenever Emily’s name is mentioned. By the time Emily left Sunday afternoon, every detail of their wedding had been organised, even Noah’s bucks party.
Monday morning, Nick, Jasper, Hawke and I all travelled to Los Angeles to join the rest of the band to prepare for their first concert tour. The boys were also very excited about attending Noah’s bucks party. I nearly fell over backwards when I walked into the hotel room the record company had hired for us to stay in. Other than missing an extra bedroom, the hotel room was nearly the size of our house. It had a full wooden kitchen with black appliances, a large sunken lounge room that had views over the LA skyline and they had even set up a crib in our room for Jasper. I was apprehensive when Nick first asked me to go on the road with him. But if all the rooms are going to look like this, I had no reason to be concerned.
“What do you think?” Nick questions while his eyes slowly roam over my face, causing a rush of heat to form in my cheeks.
I’m still recovering from the birth of Jasper, but I can’t help but get flustered when he looks at me like that. When he notices my reaction, he smiles while running the back of his hand down my heated cheek, before gently rubbing my earlobe. I pull his head towards mine and give him a long and steam filled kiss, triggering him to let out a deep throaty moan.
“You’re killing me” he advises when Hawke’s stern cough interrupts us “These are killing me” he continues softly while his eyes dart down to look at my nearly double in size cleavage, compliments of nursing Jasper.
“If they weren’t so sore, I might have let you touch them” I whisper into his ear, triggering him to groan in frustration while he adjusts himself.
“Jesus Christ, she just had a baby, give the girl a break” Slater chuckles loudly as he walks into our hotel room, not bothering to knock.
“Who let GI Joe in?” Slater questions when he notices Hawke standing firm at the side of the room. Hawke cocks his eyebrow and his head turns almost robotic like to look at Slater sternly, making Slater swallow harshly. I couldn’t help but giggle. I had seen the soft side of Hawke the past four days, but the way he is staring at Slater makes him look like a trained killer.
“Slater, meet Hawke, Hawke this is Slater, he is the drummer of my band”
“Your band” Slater interrupts Nick’s introduction. He is then the one cocking his eyebrows and staring sternly at Nick.
“Hawke is a bodyguard” I inform, trying to settle some of the testosterone that is suffocating the air in the room.
“Why would you need a bodyguard?” Slater questions concerned, before his eyes roam over Nick’s body. “Never mind, I understand” he continues sarcastically. Hawke tries to hide his slight chuckle by pretending that he is coughing.
“Ha ha you’re fucking hilarious” Nick replies, while giving Slater the finger.
“Be ready in an hour” Slater informs Nick as he walks back towards the door. “Don’t be late, one hit” Slater chuckles before he casually strolls out of our room. I have heard the band members call Nick one hit a few times the past six months. But no matter how many times I ask what it means, none of them will say.
Nick was apprehensive about going to Noah’s bucks party, considering that Noah wasn’t going to be there as he had ditched his band members to visit Emily. I told him I thought it was a good chance for him to spend some quality time with his friends, ensuring that I emphasized on the word friends. I don’t know what time it was when Nick came stumbling into the room the next morning. He mumbled incoherently and pulled me over towards him.
Poor Hawke, I think I may have given him a heart attack the next morning. I was nursing Jasper in the lounge room of our hotel and was taking a selfie when he startled me. He ended up getting more than an eyeful of my mommy milk machines, as Nick likes to call them. He apologized, mortified, before he darted back out of the room. I uploaded the photo to Facebook once I realised there was no nipple showing. I was surprised when Lola immediately liked my photo. Actually, I shouldn’t be surprised, knowing Lola she probably hasn’t been to bed yet.
Nick had not long awoken when Slater comes charging into our room. His face is marred with panic and his eyes are full of tears.
“Noah’s been in an accident. He is in the intensive care unit” he advises panicked.
.
Epilogue
Jenni
2 years later….
“I’m definitely buying a gun” Nick informs mortified.
I can’t help but giggle at the mortified look on his face. Earlier this morning, I had given birth to a little baby girl. A girl Dr Morgan had assured us was going to be a boy.
“It must have been the umbilical cord this time around” I reply while looking down at our little blonde haired beauty.
Harper Jade Holt came screaming into the world three weeks early. She surprised all of us when I went into labor just as Nick went on stage to perform. This time around the labor went a lot longer than the first. Nick was panicked, but I managed to assure him that he could finish his performance before we had to go to the hospital. Emily stayed by my side the entire hour and a half of ‘Rise Up’s’ concert and she even came with me to the hospital as an extra support person in case Nick fainted again. I was so grateful that I was able to share this experience with my best friend. She has been hounding Noah to start trying for baby number two for months, but Noah is adamant that he can’t watch Emily go through labor again that he keeps denying her requests. I saw his defensive wall lessen the instant he held Harpe
r earlier today. I’m positive that it won’t be too much longer until Emily is pregnant again.
Harper has Nick’s hair coloring and my facial features. I’m not being biased when I say she is adorable and one of the cutest babies I have ever seen, alongside of Jasper and Maddison.
“At least you didn’t faint this time around” chuckles Noah from the corner of the room. Nick smiles excitedly while nodding his head. Proud at the fact he managed to make it through the whole birth without passing out. I guess this time around there was a lot less blood since I wasn’t unwillingly given an illegal drug.
Nick and I were still trying to work out the puzzlingly maze of being first time parents when Noah was involved in a horrific car accident. It was a hard few months trying to ensure that all of Jasper’s needs were met at the same time as being there to support our friends during an extremely difficult three months. I will be forever indebted to Nick’s dad Harrison for how he assisted in caring for Jasper during those three months. My heart broke the first time I saw Noah lying in the hospital bed. I begged in his ear for him to fight for Emily, she would have never been able to live without him.
