Dial a Stud: Dante's Story

by J. a Melville

  “He’s gone home to shower and change. The poor man flew in from Italy. He’s been here, on and off, all the time you’ve been out. God, he looked broken Grace. You broke him, but now he’s just pissed, really pissed. He might not forgive you, for doing this to him. You’re going to have your work cut out for you, fixing this. How could you be so stupid, to throw him away like that? Sometimes you just need a good hard shake, to try and shake some sense into you. How could you do that to him? If you have any brains at all, you will fix this, or try to. You need to talk to him, tell him what bothers you. You can’t toss him out like last night’s left overs, because you think you’re not suited for him. At least let him have a say in it all. He loves you, truly, madly, deeply, loves you, or he did. If you throw that away, because your, old insecurities have raised their ugly heads, that’s not his problem, that’s yours. As for the infertility issue, give him a chance, at least. There are always alternatives, like IVF, adoption; but to decide for him that he won’t want you? That’s just plain stupid.”

  “Please stop yelling at me.” I whispered, trying to raise my hand to my head, but there was an I.V line running from it, inhibiting my movements.

  “God, I’m sorry Grace, but I’m still mad at you. Are you in much pain? You took a beating from that car. That poor bastard, who hit you, needed treatment for shock. He said you just stepped straight out in front of him, and he couldn’t stop in time.”

  “I remember something about the text message. I saw, that I sent it to Dante. I was so upset, I felt sick. I got out of the car to vomit, and that’s about all I remember.”

  “You flew over the bonnet and landed on the road by his car. He thought he’d killed you. You’ve been unconscious for nearly two weeks. They kept you out of it to heal. Only the last few days, have they lightened the dose, to let you slowly wake. It’s been bad Grace. Your heart stopped once but obviously, they managed to revive you. You have a broken ankle, arm, cracked ribs, a lot of bruises and grazes. You rubbed that road up with your body, and made a bit of a mess of yourself. You damaged your femoral artery. Damn near, almost bled out. That’s what caused the problem, and nearly killed you. Oh, and you took a nasty bump to the head; gave us all a bloody heart attack. When you do something, you go all out don’t you?”

  Before I could find some sort of response to all that, the door opened, and a nurse bustled her way into the room.

  “Oh wonderful, you’re awake. You gave us all quite a scare young lady. Given your condition, I would have thought you’d take better care of yourself. It made it more complicated to treat you. Still, you’re awake, so the worst is behind you now.” She frowned down at me, as she slipped the cuff around my arm to take my blood pressure.

  ‘What on earth was she talking about, my condition?’ I thought.

  “The doctor will be in to speak to you shortly. You sustained injuries that should all heal without incident, but the damage done to your femoral artery created the biggest problem. You are a very lucky woman. Someone up there is smiling down on you too, looking after you.” She finished her tests on me. “Now is there anything I can get you?”

  I stared at the nurse in confusion. First she was ticking me off, like I was a naughty child, now she was being nice.

  “I’d like water please.” I mumbled.

  “Yes of course.” She poured me a drink from the jug by the bed and placed it on the tray table, which she then moved closer to me, so I could reach it comfortably.

  When she walked out of the room, I turned to Mel again. “What the hell? Did she just tell me off?”

  “Probably, but then you deserve it. You did a bloody stupid thing.” She snapped before her expression softened. “Still, do you get the impression, there’s more going on, than she’s letting onto?”

  “That’s what I thought.” I nodded, wincing at the sudden stab of pain in my head.

  Just then, the door opened again, and a man, probably in his late forties walked in. This had to be the doctor. “Well, finally, you are with us again. Might I suggest; no more late night dancing in the paths of oncoming cars?” He peered at me before shining a light into my eyes, making me blink.

  “Ok, I get it, I did a stupid thing. Everyone’s very keen to remind me of that.”

  The doctor didn’t say anything in response to my words, merely turning to Mel, to ask her to leave the room.

  “I need to properly examine Grace. You can come back in once I’m done.” He told her.

  I watched my friend walk out, before turning to the doctor. “So, everything is alright?” I asked. “I heard I got pretty banged up from the car, and that I nearly died. I sure feel like I’ve been run over.” I attempted to make light of the matter, but it sounded weak and feeble, even to my ears.

  “You are an incredibly lucky young woman. You nearly died because you lost a lot of blood. You are also extremely lucky that your foolish dancing in front of cars, did not jeopardise, the foetus.”

  His voice droned on, as he explained all that had happened to me, but he lost me after the mention of the word foetus.

  “I’m sorry, foetus, what foetus?” I finally interrupted him.

  “You had no idea you’re pregnant?” He asked.

  “I…I can’t…I can’t be pregnant. I can’t get pregnant. I…I have one ovary and scarring everywhere. The doctors told me I’d never fall pregnant.” The words tumbled from my lips, shock setting in, as I considered what I had just been told.

  “Oh, I can assure you, you are pregnant. Not that far along, but there is a baby in there. Given what you are saying, and what you have just gone through, I would say, it’s a very tenacious little foetus too.”

  “But I…but I…you’re sure?” I finally spat the words out.

  “I’m sure. I will order an ultrasound for you soon, so you can see for yourself. Now, given your condition, I hope you will abstain from any more reckless behaviour?”

  I could do little more than nod at him, barely listening, as he continued talking to me. In fact, I was silent through his examination of me. Only speaking to answer any questions he had for me. When he finally finished, telling me he’d send Mel back in, I somehow managed to smile weakly at him as he walked from the room.

  After he’d gone, I tried to shift one hand onto my stomach, but with one arm tied to an I.V line, and the other in plaster, I could do little more, than stare in shock and wonder, at my stomach, which of course, still looked the same, as it always had. The secret nestled in my womb, was well and truly still a secret, to the rest of the world, at this stage.

  The door opened again, and Mel walked in, followed closely by Alex. As soon as I saw him, I blushed, before I think every drop, of blood drained away from my face. He shot me a look that would have killed me, if looks really could kill a person.

  “Well, nice as it is, to see you awake, sugar, I’m not happy with you at all. Do you have any idea, what you have done to Dante? Were you going to take the coward’s way out, and dump him on line? Trouble is, you didn’t even give him that much. You fucked up, and sent the message intended for Mel, to that poor bastard, and effectively ripped his heart, clean from his chest. You…don’t…fucking…deserve…him.” He spat, anger flashing in his brilliant blue eyes.

  Tears welled up in mine at his words. He was right; I was a complete asshole, the female version of a total bastard. I don’t think bitch suited for me. It wasn’t bad enough. I had destroyed the man who adored me, and for what? My own fucked up insecurities. Funny how nearly dying, and realising I could have lost the life inside me, suddenly made me see what a terrible person I was. I had just found out, that against all the odds, Dante and I had conceived a child. I didn’t deserve this opportunity; I sure as hell didn’t deserve him. Would he ever forgive me? Would he want a child, now, to me?

  “I know, I know, I know.” I sobbed, wanting to put my hands over my face, but unable to, because of the I.V and my cast. Instead, I was forced to lie there, exposed, weeping pathetically, wracked with pain, as
my body convulsed through my grief.

  “Jesus Gracie, calm down.” Mel jumped forward, gently wiping at my tears. “Dammit Alex, not now, you can’t upset her like this. She nearly died. I know you’re pissed at what’s happened to Dante, but leave this to a more appropriate time. You’ll get us kicked out of here if the nurses see.” She warned him.

  “He’s right though.” I said through my tears. “I don’t deserve him, I know that. He’ll never forgive me, and I don’t deserve his forgiveness. I just…I just thought…fuck, look at him, and look at me. He could do so much better than me, plus there were other issues, that made me feel it was unfair to keep him, from a life with a woman more suited to him. Plus he’s so wealthy. I can’t compete with him on that kind of financial level.”

  “Fuck woman! He…loves…you. Do I have to shake the shit out of you, before you see that? The only one, who thinks you’re not the woman for him, is you. The only one, who thinks you couldn’t make him happy, for the rest of his fucking life, is you. The only one, who gives a shit about his wealth, is you. You need to speak to him. Despite all you’ve done to him, and fuck, he looked broken, I’m not going to lie about that, despite you tearing his heart from his chest, he flew back to speak to you, only to find you in hospital fighting for your life. To say the poor bastard is shell shocked right now, would be an understatement. I don’t know if you can fix this, if you want to fix it, but you broke something in Dante, I can see it in his eyes now. I just hope you can undo the damage you’ve done, because as much as I could shake the crap out of you, I’ve never seen him as happy, as he was with you. He has loved you for years, fucking years. You gave him hope, contentment, the first lot of fucking peace, he’s had in years; and then you tear it all away. If he means anything to you, you fight the fight, of your fucking life, to get him back.” Alex fired the words at me, making me see again, just how close the friendship was between those two.

  He was right, funny how nearly dying made me suddenly insightful. I’d fucked up royally, that was for sure. Everyone hated me right now. I would speak to Dante, but I wouldn’t mention our child. I needed him to want to come back for me, not out of some sort of obligation, to our unborn child.

  “Where is he?” I asked; my voice rough from my tears.

  “He’s gone home to get some rest, shower and change. He’ll be back. He doesn’t know you’re awake. I haven’t told him. I’m not going to. If he knows you’re awake, he might not bother coming to see you. He worries me, because for every day you were unconscious, it’s like he’s been drawing away from you. I’m sorry if that sounds harsh, but I think the poor, fucked up bastard, is trying to prepare himself, for either, your death, or the final fucking nail, in the coffin of your relationship, to be delivered by you. Don’t kid yourself about him Grace; he’s not as strong as he looks. You know his past. People have fucked him over, most of his life, his parents being the biggest betrayal to him. He had happiness in Italy, until he lost his grandparents. Even back in Australia, he got fucked over daily. Women who want the services of an escort through Dial A Stud, don’t generally want us for our stimulating conversation. They don’t give a shit about us; they only care about what we can do with our mouths, hands and cocks, to make them feel good. He became a fucking robot, switched off emotionally. I know, that you know, about his problem. Take that pleasure away from a man, and what does he have left?” He raised his eyebrows at me.

  “He has nothing.” I whispered. “He…he was better though.” I blushed, when I realised the direction, this conversation was heading.

  “I know he was. He didn’t have to say anything to me. I could see it on his face. The man had new life breathed into him. Now you’ve just sucked it all back out. How do you think he’s going to handle it, honestly sugar? What do you think your sudden burst of insecurities will do to him? How do you think they’ll impact on him?”

  “Oh no, what have I done?” I sobbed, fresh tears welling up, and streaming down my face. “I’ve hurt him so badly, haven’t I? He doesn’t deserve that.”

  “No, he fucking doesn’t. Now, when he gets here, you either piss him right off, if you don’t think you can get past your own fucked up state of mind, or you fight for him. Make him feel, for once in his fucking life, like someone gives a shit enough, to fight for him.”

  “I love him, I really do, but I panicked, rightly or wrongly, I panicked. His life is, in Italy, I saw that when we were there. He can’t sell the vineyard, he loves it, but I’m so scared, I won’t be enough, that I won’t be good enough. Be honest with me Alex, he wants to move back to Italy, doesn’t he?”

  He gave a deep, noisy sigh. “Yeah, yeah he does, but there’s more to it than that. He’s looking for a business partner, someone to help him run the place. Not the manual side of it all, of course, he has ample staff for that. I’m talking the business side.”

  I frowned. “Do you know who he’s got in mind for that?”

  Alex raised his eyebrows, and realisation hit me. “You, he’s asked you?”

  “Yeah, so if I agree, I’ll be moving to Italy.” He said, his eyes shifting from me to Mel, whose face had just drained of all colour. Obviously, this was the first, she’d heard of it too.

  “When were you going to tell me?” She whispered; her eyes wide as she stared at him.

  “I’m telling you now my sweet thing. Now don’t go getting all bitching on me. I had every intention of bringing this up with you. See, there’s more to it, but this one here.” He pointed to me. “This one came along, decides it makes more sense, to make her life and Dante’s miserable, by dumping him, gets herself knocked down by a car, and kind of ended up throwing, a spanner in the works.”

  Mel and I looked at one another in confusion. What was he talking about? My head hurt, my body felt like it had been run over by a car, which technically, it had been. I couldn’t deal with all this right now.

  “I’m so tired.” I said, closing my eyes.

  “I need to make a couple of calls, I’ll speak to you later sugar.” Alex ran a gentle hand over my hair, which was probably nicer treatment from him, than I deserved. “Are you coming sweet thing?” He asked Mel.

  “I will, in a minute. I just need to speak to Grace alone.”

  Alex nodded, before leaving the room. Once he was gone, I turned to my friend. “What do you think is going on?”

  “I don’t know, but something is obviously going on with Alex and Dante. He might be moving to Italy? What about me? I love him.” She said those last words on little more than a sigh. It was the first time I’d heard her openly admit, to what I’d already worked out a while ago. She turned back to me. “So what did the doctor say? Are you ok? How long will you need to be in hospital for?”

  “I don’t know; we didn’t talk about how long I’d be in here for. I…he…he told me something.” I raised my eyes to Mel. “You have to promise me, you won’t tell Dante, please. I don’t want his judgement clouded in any way. If I can fix this between him and me, it has to be, because it’s what he wants, not a case of him feeling some foolish sense of obligation to me.”

  “Ok, ok, what the hell is going on now Grace? Just tell me.”

  “I’m pregnant.” The words left my lips, and kind of hung there, suspended in the room. They were just two words, but such a massive impact behind them, given my history.

  Mel didn’t say anything; she just looked at me, like one of us was crazy. Probably me, given there was so much accusation in her eyes.

  “Is this some sort of joke? You can’t get pregnant. Well, that’s what you’ve always maintained. Now, you’re telling me, you’re pregnant?”

  I gaped at her. “You don’t believe me?”

  “Well, given we only talked of this, before you got hit by the car, it seems a little hard to believe. You swore blind, that you couldn’t have kids. Hell, it was one of your arguments, for ditching poor Dante. Now you calmly lie there, and tell me you’re pregnant?”

  “I can’t believe this. You th
ink I’m lying, don’t you?” I stared at my friend in shock. “Why would I lie about this? Check my chart Melanie.” I used her full name, something I tended to do, when I was angry with her. “Go on, look. I know the doctor only wrote something there, while he spoke to me. He’s going to schedule me in for an ultrasound. He said my baby is a tenacious little one, to have not only defied the odds of this happening, but to have survived what happened to me. Please, look at my chart.”

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Slowly she picked it up, and flicked through the sheets, her eyes settling on something. As I watched her, I saw shock flicker across her face, before she raised her eyes to mine.

  “Oh my god, it’s true.” She whispered; before she walked to me and bent down, kissing my forehead. “God I’m sorry Gracie. Some friend I am, not believing you. Things have become so…not right, between us, since that night. I hated what you were going to do to Dante, I didn’t agree, but I was a first class bitch. We’ve been through too much together, to fuck it all up now. I’m sorry. I still want to bend you over, and kick your ass, for what you’ve done to Dante though, but let’s not fight any more, ok?”

  “I hate fighting with you, so agreed.” I said, smiling at her. “Now, I need to sleep. I’m so tired and remember, no mentioning anything to Dante, about the baby. I will speak to him, but I don’t want his decision to be influenced, by him knowing I’m pregnant. It has to be about me, not what is growing inside me.”

  “Ok, ok, I get it. I do understand, and he won’t hear about it from me.” She assured me. “Now get some rest. I’ll see you later. I need to speak to Alex, and find out what he’s hiding.” She lowered her lips to my cheek. “See you later.”

  I watched my best friend walk from the room, and finally, with it being peaceful and quiet, I closed my eyes. Despite the dull aches of various things that hurt on me, it wasn’t enough, to keep me awake. My eyes had no sooner closed, and fatigue pulled me under, into a deep sleep.