Scarred

by K. Webster

  “Oh, darling, nobody will hire you in your condition,” she sweetly told me.

  Opal snapped her head over to her. “Ma’am, with all due respect, I believe you’re being quite horrible to my sister, whom doesn’t at all deserve that treatment. Whatever problem you have with her, you need to bury in the past because she is carrying your family whether you like it or not. And if you have any hopes of being a part of that family, I suggest you check your attitude at the door and show her the respect that she—why, for the life of me, I can’t understand—gives you,” she suggested coolly.

  Connie’s jaw dropped as she flitted her glance between us.

  “Hey, ladies,” Bray greeted as he walked into the kitchen. Just being in his presence calmed me down tenfold. He kissed his mom’s cheek before coming over to me and pulling me from the stool and into his arms. Once I was enveloped in his scent and protective arms, I broke down with loud sobs.

  “Shh, Olive, it’s okay. What’s wrong, baby?” he asked softly as he held me tight.

  “Oh crumbs! Olive, I’ll try, okay? No sense in getting him to try and choose sides,” Connie huffed from behind us.

  “Jesus, lady! Her ex-boyfriend just texted her telling her that he’s still stalking her and you’ve got it all twisted up that she’s worried about your snooty ass. God, Olive, can we go already?” Opal griped, hopping off her stool. That girl had a mouth on her, which was what had surprised me the most when I found out she had gone off with Drake. She wasn’t one who typically did well with being told what to do or how to act. But Drake was evil, controlling, and abusive. Even for a tough cookie like Opal, it would have been hard to be strong in his presence.

  “Excuse me, little girl—” Connie started to snip out, but Bray cut her off.

  “Wait a minute. Drake texted you?” Bray demanded, grabbing ahold of my shoulders and pulling me away to look at me.

  Swiping the tears on my cheek away with the back of my hand, I nodded. “He says he knows where I am and that it’s time to take me home.”

  “Motherfucker!” he snarled. “Olive, baby, I will take care of you. He’s not going to hurt you or our little A.B.”

  Thinking about the baby I had lost that fateful night when Drake carved his name into my flesh, I once again was overcome with sobs. Bray pulled me close and stroked my hair.

  “Honey, what exactly did that man do to you? You seem terrified,” Connie asked, all malice from her voice gone and replaced by motherly concern.

  No longer afraid or ashamed of my body, I turned to her and lifted my shirt to reveal my barely swollen belly. When her eyes fell to the nasty messaged scarred across my stomach, she brought both hands to her mouth.

  “Oh, you poor baby,” Connie cried out and hurried over to me. She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a tight, comforting hug that I allowed myself to give in to. Those motherly hugs were hard to come by these days.

  “Babe, we’ll go to the police and tell them everything. I’m tired of you having to worry about him. We’ve got this little one to protect now,” he told me and squeezed me tightly once again.

  “Well, son, you’re not leaving until you feed my grandbaby. But on the way home, please stop by the police station and make a report,” Connie advised.

  Three hours later, we crawled into Bray’s bed, exhausted. The police had taken me seriously once I showed them my scarring. After some photographs for evidence, they’d promised they would proceed from their end by bringing in Drake for questioning and most likely booking him. They’d told us that if he didn’t have any priors, he would most likely make bail and would be given a court date. I wasn’t sure what good that would do except piss him off. We’d also filed a restraining order while we there. Hopefully by getting the police involved, he would stay away from me.

  Now, we were lying curled up together after a hot shower, lost in our thoughts.

  “What do you think he’ll do?” I asked Bray. The question kept replaying in my mind. What lengths would he go to in order to get me back? Was this just a threat to try to scare or control me? Would he go as far as to kidnap me?

  “He’s not going to do anything so long as I have anything to do with it,” he growled. I stretched my hand across his muscled chest and squeezed him. If there was a way to stay safely tucked under his arm for the rest of my life, I would never leave.

  “I’m scared,” I admitted, my voice barely a whisper.

  He stroked my hair in an effort to comfort me. “I know, babe. Me too.”

  “My grandbaby needs these receiving blankets,” Connie cooed as she held up a package of green-and-yellow-polka-dotted baby blankets. They really were quite adorable.

  We were on our—at least—twentieth shopping trip since Connie and I had called out an unspoken truce the night Drake had texted me. At first, it’d been awkward, but after a few lunch dates and shopping trips, we were really growing close. Bray was extremely happy that Connie and I had gotten past our differences. It might have taken six months to get here, but she had eventually become someone I cared for deeply. I probably had Andi to thank for that one. After a lunch with the three of us and Andi gushing about being happily married, Connie had finally seemed to accept me as a suitable choice for her son.

  “Connie, the baby already has plenty of blankets. I really don’t think we need any more,” I tried to reason.

  “Oh crumbs, Olive! I need some for my house when the baby spends the night. I’m getting them,” she informed me as she tucked them under her arm and turned her focus on some Noah’s Ark crib sheets.

  We continued shopping at an unrushed pace, gathering more things we probably didn’t need until my hip started aching as it usually did after a lot of walking. I tried rubbing it out with my hand, but it was shooting down my leg. My doctor had mentioned that it was my sciatic nerve, and that when it acted up, I needed to rest. Eyeing a bench—probably designed for tired pregnant women—I plopped down and sighed.

  “Olive, baby, is your hip bothering you again?” Connie asked, concerned. She sat down beside me and regarded me with worried eyes.

  “Yeah, it’s my hip. I’m sorry, but we may need to go,” I groaned as I tried to stretch my leg out for relief. My top was stretched across my now very large belly, so when the baby kicked out, my stomach contorted into an unusual position.

  “Hi there, little one. Do you hear Granny’s voice?” she fussed over me as her hand stroked the area of my belly where a foot prominently poked out. Connie winked knowingly at me. “He’s going to have big feet like his daddy.”

  Funny thing was that we had no idea the sex of the baby—hence the green and yellow color scheme—but Connie and Bray were both convinced our child was going to be a boy. Bray and I couldn’t decide on names either way—it would be a race to the birth certificate.

  When my phone started to play Pepper’s ringtone, I hurried and fished it out of my purse.

  “Hey, Pepper,” I greeted.

  In true Pepper style, she launched into what she’d called for. “Opal has it bad for Trent. I met Jordan and my daddy at the office for lunch today since there was a board meeting, and of course Trent was there. Their meeting held over, and right before they came out of the board room, I watched her unbutton two of her blouse buttons. Once he passed by her desk, she called him over and asked him about the weather or some shit. I swear I watched his eyes bug out of his fucking head when he realized her boobs were hanging out. It was hard not to laugh my ass off watching him try to keep his eyes on hers. She was torturing him—I’m pretty sure Andi taught her some tricks. Did you know she had it bad for him?”

  I laughed as I realized that I should have known something was going on with Opal. A few weeks ago, she’d informed me that she wanted to take some finance classes next semester. Now I understood that it had to do something with possibly impressing Trent. He had to be pushing thirty, while she was almost nineteen. I wasn’t sure how I felt about their age difference. Maybe it was just a crush.

  “She has
n’t told me that she likes him, but she might think I wouldn’t approve of her dating an older man. Ugh, she is so sneaky. I was just there last night at her apartment and she didn’t say a word about her feelings towards him. I’ll call her tonight and get the scoop. You’re a good little spy, Pepper,” I teased.

  Changing the subject, she groaned, “Girl, my cravings are so fucking bad lately. Last night, I woke Jordan up at three in the morning because I really wanted some spaghetti. Who the hell sells spaghetti at that time of night, right? My poor husband had to find a grocery store that was open twenty-four hours and buy all the ingredients. He came back home, dead tired, and made me spaghetti. Once he dished it up for me, I suddenly wasn’t feeling it anymore. I opted for a banana instead. I think he might divorce me over this pregnancy and we’ve barely been married five months.”

  I giggled at her, knowing that man would never divorce her. He was completely head over heels in love with her and their growing little girl. They’d already decided to call her Mia. I was envious of the quick decision they both happily agreed upon—unlike Bray and me, who couldn’t decide on anything. He still called his “son” A.B.

  “You’re a mess, Pepper. Are we still on for lunch tomorrow?” I asked as I eased myself off the bench.

  “Yes, but I can’t pick a place until right before we go. I have no fucking clue what will sound good until that exact moment,” she laughed.

  Once we hung up and I had stood, I told Connie, “I’m going to find a restroom while you check out. I’ll meet you downstairs when I’m finished.”

  She nodded and headed off toward the counter while I set out to find the restrooms. A few minutes later, I made my way to the stairwell since it was closer and only one flight of stairs. My doctor had told me that I needed to exercise anyway. I’d just stepped in and got ready to go down the steps when someone quickly came in after me and shocked me by grabbing my hair.

  I was pulled backwards, and before I could scream, a large hand covered my mouth. My heart pounded wildly in my chest as I came to the realization that I was in the clutches of none other than Drake himself.

  “Look at you, Ollie. You’ve gained weight but you’re still as beautiful as always. I’ve waited so long to take you back home with me,” he breathed into my ear.

  A shiver rattled through me as I tried to recall some of my self-defense training where we learned how to escape an attacker. Things were a lot harder while pregnant and achy though. My fingers scratched at his hand over my mouth in an attempt to get him to let go. His hand that held me to him slid down to splay across my belly.

  “We’re going to be so happy together—you, me, and our baby,” he attempted to assure me. I could feel a scream building in my throat as I panicked about his delusional thoughts. All that could escape were tearful whimpers.

  If only I could get to my purse, which was now on the floor, I could access my gun, which was stowed away for this very reason.

  “I’ve missed you so much, Ollie. I’m a changed man—I would never put my hands on you again,” he promised into my ear, gently biting my lobe.

  In that moment, all I could think about was saving my baby. My sweet little A.B. growing inside. Bray’s baby. In that instant, I raised my foot and stomped on his foot hard. Using my training from my self-defense classes, I seized the opportunity when he cursed and released me to elbow him forcefully in the gut. I bolted toward the stairs and had just reached the first one when I was yanked once again by my hair.

  “Let go of me!” I screeched and attempted to free myself from his grip.

  “Have it your way,” he growled and violently shoved me toward the steps.

  It was in that moment that my hip decided to send searing pain down my leg and give out, causing me to collapse. I attempted to reach out for anything to grab on to but was unsuccessful and hit the first steps hard on my knees and then elbows. Gravity took over and I rolled down the stairs, hitting hard the entire way down.

  When I reached the bottom, agonizing pain burned through my abdomen. With shaky hands, I gently stroked my belly. Please be okay. Please be okay. Glancing back up the stairwell, I realized that Drake had disappeared. Wincing, I looked around for my purse to see if I could find my phone. I didn’t find it but I did finally notice a quickly growing pool of blood on the floor between my legs. Oh God, no. Not again. Agony and despair took over, making me black out.

  “We got the Jamison account,” Jackson grinned and plopped down at my desk.

  Funny how things in your life could drastically change. It wasn’t long ago that we’d hated each other and could barely stand to be in the same room. When we’d been in Vegas and he’d nearly ruined my relationship with Olive, I’d pretty much hated his guts then as well. But somehow over time, we’d grown to like each other. I still liked to give him shit about his Harry Potter obsession, which we’d all found out about after Andi had blabbed it one day when she was drunk.

  I smiled back at him and slapped down some new blueprints in front of him. “What do you think about these for the Madsen building on Fifth?” I asked.

  My phone rang on the desk beside me. Seeing that it was my mom probably calling to give me a recap of her shopping trip, I ignored the call.

  “Wow, dude. This turned out fucking awesome,” Jackson praised as he flipped through the plans.

  My phone rang again immediately after, meaning she hadn’t left a voicemail. Thinking about Olive getting closer to her due date, I answered.

  “Hey, Mom, what’s up?” I asked as I leaned over and pointed at a section of the blueprints I wanted Jackson to see.

  “Bray, honey, you need to get to the hospital. Right now. Olive fell down the stairs,” she sobbed into the phone.

  My entire body went cold. “What? Is she okay?” I demanded as I scooped up my keys from my desk and stood.

  “She’s in surgery—she was hemorrhaging. Oh my God, Bray, there was so much blood. I think I’m going to be sick,” she wailed. I suddenly could hear her vomiting on the other line.

  “Mom, I’ll be right there,” I promised and hung up.

  Jackson, sensing the gravity of the situation, had already stood.

  “Olive’s in surgery. She fell down the stairs,” I choked out as I shakily made my way to the door.

  “Come on. George can drive us,” he told me calmly. “Andi, Opal, we’re going to the hospital—now!” he shouted at them.

  Both girls rounded the corner with horrified looks, realizing that it meant Olive was hurt.

  We were in the elevators before anyone said anything.

  “What’s wrong with her, Bray?” Opal asked tearfully.

  “And is the baby okay?” Andi chimed in right after.

  “I don’t know. Mom said she fell down the stairs. She said there was—oh God. She said there was blood everywhere,” I wheezed out. Running my hands through my hair, I fought to keep from crying. My Olive and our little A.B. were in trouble. It made me fucking sick to think about it.

  Andi rushed over to me and enveloped me in a comforting hug, which succeeded in releasing my tears.

  “Shh, Bray. Olive is a fighter. She’ll be okay,” she promised as she stroked my back in an effort to soothe me.

  When the elevators opened, we all rushed out to the car, where George was waiting. Piling in, I tried not to think about what was going to happen. Olive was my world, and we already loved our little baby. If something happened to either one of them, I would be destroyed.

  Minutes later, we pulled up to the hospital, and I was the first to jump out, bolting inside. Mom was waiting in the lobby area for us, looking quite ashen. Dad was behind her, stroking her back. For Dad to have come up here, things must have been bad.

  “Oh, honey,” she began tearfully.

  “What? Mom, where is she? What’s going on?” I demanded quickly.

  “Baby, she’s in surgery. That’s all the information they have for us right now. I’m so sorry,” she cried and hugged me tight.

  Pulli
ng from her, I sat down in a chair with my elbows on my knees. Please, God, let her and the baby be okay. I wasn’t sure how much time had passed with me staring at the floor, but suddenly Pepper knelt in front of me. When had she gotten here?

  “Bray, Olive is a fighter. She always has been and always will be. The girl is as sweet as they come, but she’s made of the tough stuff. I know she’ll pull through,” she promised.

  Pregnancy must be playing with Pepper’s emotions, because I’d never seen such a compassionate, caring look on her face directed at me. Not once—ever. The kindness in her eyes killed me. She stood up and pulled me to my feet so she could hug me. Her swollen belly between us was enough to send me over the edge, and loud sobs escaped my throat.

  “Bray, I’m sorry,” she whispered as she hugged me tight. “I’ve never treated you like you deserve to be treated. Your love for Olive is so evident. It shines in your eyes—a shine I’ve only ever seen when you look at her. Please forgive me for being a bitch. I just love my two girls very much and would do anything to protect them.”

  Squeezing her tight, I kissed the top of her head, tears rolling into her hair. “I know, Pepper. Thank you.”

  Releasing me, she affixed her bitch face and stormed over to the desk. “What the hell is taking so long? When will someone give us some answers? My friend over there is worried to death over his girlfriend and baby. Now who is going to fucking give us some answers?!”

  Andi attempted to calm her down. “Pepper, it’s okay. They’re doing their job.”

  “Andi, we’ve been here for four fucking hours without a single word on her condition,” she fumed but allowed Andi to pull her back to the seating area.

  “We’ve been here for four hours?” I asked still somewhat dazed. Looking around, I found that Mom and Dad were missing.

  Opal was curled up in her chair fast asleep. Jackson and Jordan were both sitting side by side, looking on their phones.

  “Where are my parents?” I asked Pepper and Andi, who had come to stand in front of me.