The Model: A Workplace Romance

by Layne, Harlow

  I heard movement in one of the studios, and I knew my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me. It wasn’t loud, but I was alone or supposed to be alone. Pulling up my security app, I saw that the alarm wasn’t set, and the front door was unlocked. I had probably distracted Raine when she was leaving, causing her to forget.

  It was probably some homeless person who slipped inside looking for food, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Hitting the silent alarm, I started to pull up the video of the front door. It would take a few seconds before it would show me all the events that had triggered it.

  “Do you know how long I’ve waited to do this?” A cold voice said from behind me.

  My heart lodged in my throat as I panicked, trying to get up. My laptop crashed to the floor as I all but fell trying to get upright.

  Ben stood behind the couch with an evil sneer on his face. His clothes were torn and dirty, hair greasy, and his face was smudged with dirt. He looked like a man who lived on the streets. With his face contorted in anger, I was truly scared for my life. What had I ever seen in this man? Over the last few months, I’d wondered how he seemed to become unhinged. Had I missed something during our time together?

  “So he knocked you up,” he nodded to himself. “Now I understand why he’s been sticking around.”

  “What are you talking about?” I wasn’t sure how long it would take the police to arrive, but I wanted to keep him talking in the hopes they’d get here before he hurt my baby or me.

  “The guy who’s been living here for the last few months.” He jerked his arm out toward me, making me jump back. “That’s why he’s been here, but he’s gone now.”

  “Gone?”

  Had he done something to Ryder? No, it wasn’t possible. He was in New York, and I’d talked to him only an hour before.

  “I saw him leave with his things.”

  “How long have you been watching me?”

  A low growl emanated from him. “All this time. Every time that you left with your annoying assistant until the timing was perfect.”

  “The perfect for what?”

  “I’ve been patient. Oh, so patient as I waited for someone to slip up. When you added all your extra security, I thought my shot at getting to you was gone. I almost gave up, and now I’m glad I didn’t.”

  My body started to shake at his words. He’d been watching for months waiting for the perfect opportunity to do what?

  “Whatever you’re looking for isn’t here. The cops came and searched—”

  “I know!” he screamed madly. “I saw the whole thing. Do you realize how much shit you’ve put me through?”

  “Me? This is all on you. Why did you plant drugs in my things?”

  “I was hiding them. I never thought you’d move out of the apartment.” He shook his head in jerky movements. “You did this to me,” he growled.

  “Did what?” I asked, taking a step back only for the back of my knees to hit a table.

  “This is all your fault, and now you have to pay the way I paid.” He took a menacing step around the couch, and my heart nearly stopped. I wasn’t sure how I was going to get out of this one.

  Where the hell were the police?

  “Ben, please don’t do this. I’m pregnant and about to have my baby any day now. You would never hurt an innocent child.” I tried to reason with him.

  “It astonishes me how little you know me.”

  Me too. I couldn’t believe I’d ever been mixed up with him, and now he was here and willing to hurt me.

  “That should be my child. Not that pretty boy’s.”

  “We were never right for each other,” I said in a soft, soothing manner.

  “In the beginning, we were perfect.” The anger subsided a tiny bit.

  “In the beginning we were, but then the newness wore off, and you found—”

  “I lost myself. Couldn’t you see?” he barked.

  I hadn’t, and I wasn’t sure how to respond, so I kept quiet and took a sidestep, for every step I took away from Ben, he took one toward me. I wasn’t enjoying this cat-and-mouse game he was so keen on playing.

  “All of this could have been avoided if you had just given me what was mine.” He pulled at his hair. I was surprised he didn’t pull out any hair with how hard he pulled. “You have no idea how much trouble I’m in or the people I’m dealing with.”

  “I’m sorry, I don’t, Ben.” I wanted to tell him he was stupid for getting mixed up with drugs and whatever else, but it didn’t seem like a smart decision. I needed to keep him calm and hopefully talk him out of whatever he came here for.

  “I’ve been hiding from the cops and the men who have been after me for so long, I don’t have anywhere to go.” He scratched his arm with his long dirty nails to the point I was sure he was going to draw blood.

  Whatever he’d been doing, he’d done a good job at evading everyone who was after him. Hopefully, after today, I wouldn’t have to worry about him any longer. It had been so long since he’d been a problem; I thought he’d moved on, not continued to stalk me, and wait for a chance to get me alone.

  Sirens sounded in the distance, and as they grew closer, my hopes of being saved soared. Ben didn’t seem to notice them, which was a good thing. Probably because it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, and he had no idea that I’d hit the panic button. After the sirens passed, and there was no knock on my door, I wanted to break down and cry. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep Ben talking. Taking in a cleansing breath, I tried to keep calm and rational. The police wouldn’t come with their sirens blaring on a silent alarm. They would know someone had triggered the alarm.

  Taking another two steps back, I held onto the chair that was now between us. It felt like a shield even though I knew it couldn’t protect me. Ben didn’t seem to like the space between us. He quickly moved until we were toe to toe, and his rancid breath blew in my face. One whiff and bile rose up. Now that I wasn’t in control of my body, I wasn’t sure if I could keep it down or not.

  A dry heave wracked my body as someone pounded loudly at the door. Ben looked from me to the front and back again. “What did you do?” he seethed.

  “I hit the silent alarm.”

  “Just when we were starting to have fun,” he mumbled to himself. “I’m not sure how I’m going to get out of this one.” I wasn’t either, and I certainly didn’t want to have to keep looking over my shoulder until he was finally behind bars or dead.

  “This is the LAPD. We’re coming in.”

  Ben and I turned to look toward the voice. One second, I was waiting for a swarm of police officers to come in, and the next, I felt a blinding pain on the side of my face. I turned to look at Ben as I started to fall. I don’t know why I thought he’d help me when he’d just punched me, but I did. Instead, he watched with dead eyes as I fell on my hip with a resounding thud. My face and hip hurt, and I had no idea what Ben would do next. When a blinding pain unlike anything I’d ever felt before tightened across my abdomen, I let out a sharp cry.

  No, I couldn’t go into labor now. She had to wait until her daddy was here. Ryder would be devastated if he missed her birth. Clutching my stomach, I closed my eyes and prayed for the pain to go away. I heard lots of scuffling and grunts around me, but I had other things to worry about. I felt wetness seep into the fabric of my underwear, and I knew she wasn’t going to wait.

  Slowly I started to uncurl myself from the floor and tried to get up as I held my face with one hand and my stomach in the other. “Lexie,” I heard Raine’s hysterical voice in the background. She continued to call my name, but all I could see were three police officers who had Ben on the ground and were trying to cuff him. He was putting up a damn good fight.

  “Raine,” I called out to her as another shot of pain sliced through my stomach.

  “I’m here, but they won’t let me through.”

  “I need an ambulance and for someone to find my phone so I can call my husband!” I yelled back.

  All three police
officers' heads turned toward me at the same time, and Ben started to fight back harder. “Husband? When the hell did that happen? You can’t be married. You can’t!”

  Using the arm of the chair, I pulled myself to my feet and started to frantically search for my phone while trying to tune out Ben’s yelling. When I spied it under the couch, I lost it. I didn’t want to think about getting down on my hands and knees to grab it. Tears streamed down my face as I turned toward my ex. “What have you done? If anything happens to my baby, I will hunt you down and kill you. Mark my words.”

  “Lexie,” Raine ran toward me. I wasn’t sure how she’d made it past the police officers, and I didn’t care. I’d never been happier to see my friend. She rushed over to me and pulled me into a big hug. She may have been tiny, but she gave fierce hugs. “Are you okay?” Pulling back, she started to look me over. Her gaze stopped when it landed on my legs. Looking down, I gasped when I saw blood trickle down my calf.

  “My phone’s under the couch. Grab it for me, please,” I begged. “I need to call Ryder. He has to get on the first flight. Can you—”

  “I’ve got it.” Raine held my phone in her shaky hands. “You call him while I hop on your computer to see when the next flight is.”

  “Thank you, Raine,” I cried. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  Pulling up my favorites, I hit Ryder’s number and wasn’t surprised when he didn’t answer. Of course, he wouldn’t have his phone on him during a shoot, and he had no reason to think he’d need it. I didn’t want to leave him a message saying I was in labor, so I hung up. Searching through my contacts, I looked for Lars. I wasn’t sure what I’d do if he didn’t have his phone on him. Hitting Lars’ number, I let it ring and ring, and when it went to voicemail, my body slumped against the chair.

  I wasn’t giving up, though. I hit Lars’ name over and over again with each time going to voicemail. Raine watched me from behind my desk with worried eyes. I was sure she was thinking what I was thinking. Ryder wasn’t going to find out he needed to get here until it might be too late.

  Hitting Lars’ number again, I gasped as another contraction hit me. Where the hell was the ambulance and the EMTs? Maybe I should have Raine skip finding a flight and drive me to the nearest hospital.

  “Lars Mikkelsen’s phone,” a squeaky voice answered.

  “Hi, yes, this is Lexie Keene, and I need you to take the phone to Lars right now,” I demanded.

  “I’m sorry, but he’s working right now, and he doesn’t allow for any interruptions.”

  “If you tell him I’m on the phone, he’ll answer. I promise you.” I tried to keep my voice light and not like I wanted to put my hand through the phone and rip her throat out.

  “If I get fired for this—”

  “You won’t,” I interrupted her. “I’ll make sure of it.”

  “You better,” she snapped. Her voice had gone from nice and squeaky to harsh. I could hear Lars talking in the background as she moved closer. His accent was so distinctive, and any other time I would have loved to listen to it, but not today. “I’m sorry, Lars, but there’s a Lexie Keene on the phone for you. She said you wouldn’t mind taking it.” Her voice sounded like a small child’s as she said the last words.

  “Of course, I’ll take her call.” There was some rustling and then his booming voice. “Hallo, Lexie. What can I do for you? Your husband is—”

  “Please don’t alarm him, Lars.”

  “Okay,” he drew out the word. “Is everything okay?” he asked quietly.

  “No, it’s not. I need you to be done with Ryder. My place was broken into, and I fell. The fall has sent me into labor, and I need Ryder on the next plane out here. My assistant is looking up flights for him now. Please say you’ll let him leave.”

  “What kind of a man do you take me for? Of course, I will do this for you. I…”

  “Is that my Lexie on the phone?”

  “Do you want to talk to him, or should I send him on his way?” Lars asked quietly.

  “Is that my wife?” Ryder demanded. His voice was closer now.

  “It is, and she wants to talk to you. When you get off the phone, you can grab your things and leave. If you leave your key to your hotel room, I’ll make sure you get the rest of your things.”

  “What the hell is going on?” I could hear the worry in his tone.

  I had calmed down some, but after hearing his voice and how distressed he was, I started to sob.

  “Lexie? Why is Lars telling me to leave?”

  “Can you FaceTime me from your phone? I need to see you,” I managed to get out, but I wasn’t sure if he understood what I said.

  “Whatever you want. Can you tell me one thing first, are you okay?”

  No, I wasn’t. “I think so,” I sobbed.

  “Give me a minute, okay?”

  The line went dead, and I started to hiccup-cry. Raine rushed over and wrapped her arms around me. “It’s okay. I found a flight and already sent Ryder the information.”

  “Thank you. Do you know what’s going on here? Have they called for an ambulance? If not, I need you to drive me.”

  “I don’t know,” she chewed on her bottom lip. “I can check.”

  “Please do, I need to get checked out.” When she continued to gnaw on her lip, I knew there was something else. Something that wasn’t good. “What is it you aren’t telling me?”

  Her eyes darted around the room before they came back to me. “The thing is, Ryder’s flight’s not for two more hours, and the flight’s a little over six and a half hours. I don’t know if he’ll make it in time.”

  Normally labor took hours. Many hours, but with the trauma to my body, I wasn’t sure how long I had. That’s why I needed to get to the hospital so I could get answers.

  “Let’s go. Ryder’s supposed to call me, and I want to be on my way.” Raine jumped up and held out a hand for me to take. “Can you run upstairs and grab my bag?”

  “Of course, I should have thought of that.” Raine darted off while I headed over to my desk to grab my purse and slip on a pair of flip-flops. I was already headed to the front door as she came down the stairs. “Got it. Aren’t you supposed to talk to someone?”

  “Probably, but I don’t have time. They can come to the hospital if they want to talk to me or wait. Do you still have the number of the police officer that you worked with when they searched the place?”

  Raine’s cheeks pinked up. “I do. I’ll give him a call once we get you settled at the hospital.”

  What was taking Ryder so long to call me back? If Lars held him a moment longer, I was going to have his balls once this was all said and done.

  As Raine started to open the front door, a police officer stopped us. “I’m sorry ma’am, you can’t leave; we still need to get your statement.”

  “And she needs to go to the hospital. She’s in labor and bleeding.” Raine pushed by him. I pointed to the trail of blood that had made its way down my leg. Luckily, it didn’t seem to be a lot, but it wasn’t good either way. “I’m planning to call Officer Murphy once we get to the hospital to let him know what’s going on. He can take it, or you can get her statement at the hospital.”

  The officer and I blinked at Raine. She was normally the sweetest and quietest thing, but not today. She was fighting for my baby and me, and I loved her for it.

  “At least let me get your name, so I can make sure you’re followed up with.”

  Another contraction hit me, causing me to double over in pain.

  “Her name is Lexie Keene, and her number is…” Raine proceeded to give the officer all my info as I tried to breathe through my contraction. We definitely needed to get to the hospital so I could get some drugs. There was no way in hell I was doing this naturally.

  Once the contraction subsided, I stood up and loosened my grip on Raine’s arm. “Are we free to go?” I asked. I didn’t really care, I was leaving anyway, but it would be nice if I didn’t have any resistance.
>
  He nodded. “I’ve got all your information. Are you sure you don’t want to wait for an ambulance?”

  “I’m sure. I can’t sit around here waiting anymore.” I couldn’t hide the worry in my voice.

  “Can we get a police escort?” Raine chimed in.

  “Sure, where’s your car?”

  Raine pointed to my car sitting out front. Luckily, it wasn’t blocked in by the three police cars that were out front. She took my purse from me and started to dig to find my keys when Ryder finally called back. With my phone still clutched in my hand, I answered.

  His handsome but extremely worried face took up my screen. His hair was thoroughly tousled, and his eyes were red-rimmed. “Your face,” he stated as his own face fell.

  “Hey, dimples, I’m sure I don’t look too hot right now. Are you already in a cab?”

  “Yeah, I got Raine’s email, and I’m headed to the airport now. Sorry, it took me longer than I planned to call you back.”

  “It’s okay. You’re here now, and that’s all that matters,” I cried and hiccupped at the end.

  “I wish I was there with you. Are you in your car? Is Raine driving?”

  “She is. How?” How did he already know what was going on?

  “Raine was very thorough in her email.”

  I wondered what she’d told him. “Have you been crying?” I wasn’t sure how Ryder would feel if Raine knew, so I asked as quietly as I could even though I knew she could hear me.

  “Yeah,” he tried to smile but was unsuccessful. “I’m worried about my girls.”

  “I’m doing okay, I think. We’re on the way to the hospital now. I want you here with me.” I felt my chin start to quiver and bit my lip in an attempt not to lose it.

  “Me too. I’m doing my best to get to you as quickly as possible. Will you or Raine keep me updated even while I’m in the sky?”

  “Of course, we will.” Another contraction hit, making me wince in pain.