I walk the long hallway to the study where I see the glow of the lamp coming out of the open door. A small smile spreads on my lips. My sweet girl is getting an early read in.
Rounding the corner into that room, I freeze with surprise in the doorway. Jess isn’t here, but the lamp is on. This is odd. She’s not careless, so what’s happening?
My eyes narrow as I start to feel uneasy. Warnings bells begin to ring as I walk to the chaise lounge where I see an unopened copy of Pride and Prejudice on the cushions. Where is she? I pick up the book and randomly flip through the pages, but there’s nothing. Then, I slide it back in its place on the shelf by my desk. Suddenly, a foul odor greets me. What the hell?
I turn, holding my breath, and it doesn’t take me long to see the vomit in the trash can. The ringing bells in my head turn into five-alarm clanging. Something happened last night--or this morning--and it’s something not good. I can feel it inside of me.
I rush out of the room, desperate to find Jess. I start to scan all of the rooms in the house, my heart beating frantically. I walk into the sitting room first. Empty. I check the kitchen once again to find it empty, too, except for my butler, Maxwell, standing by the stove. Now breakfast is being made.
“Maxwell, have you seen Jessalyn?” I ask, trying to mask the concern in my voice.
He turns with an inquisitive look in his eyes.
“No, sir. Can’t say that I have. May I suggest the gardens? I know she likes to venture out there on nice days like today.”
I make a mental note to check the gardens after finishing the inside of the house. Like a madman, the next room I check is my office, which is empty, and then I poke my head into the bathroom right next to it. What I find in there makes me stop short.
The light in the room is on, an indication that she or someone was once here but what I find next not only solidifies that someone was in this bathroom, but it solidifies that it was Jessalyn in this bathroom.
The bottom drawer to the bathroom vanity is slightly open, and my stomach forming a pit, I walk to look in the trash. Yes, it’s there. There’s a discarded pregnancy test buried beneath some tissues, and with trembling hands, I pick up the indicator and read the results. It’s positive.
I feel as if all the wind was just knocked out of me and slowly sink to the ground. The pregnancy test is clutched between my fingers and my eyes stay glued to the two blue lines that tell me the unexpected. Jess is pregnant. A wave of different emotions hit me at once, from, Holy shit is this thing accurate? to We’re going to have a baby! to Where the hell is Jess?
And also, when was this taken? This morning? I stand up and wad the test in toilet paper before slipping it in my pocket to continue searching the house for her. This is something we need to talk about. My heart races and I don’t feel like I’m getting enough oxygen. And yet, I’m excited. I’m having a baby with the curvy girl? She’s going to be a mommy to my child? I’ve got to talk with her about this.
Now, I’m downright desperate. I tear through the second floor looking for Jess, and then cover the third at light speed. I go out back and check the pool and gardens like Maxwell suggested before coming back in. She is literally nowhere to be found. Where the fuck is she?
Rushing to the master suite, I grab my phone from my nightstand to call her. My heart feels like it’s going to explode out of my chest. I have to talk to her right now. There’s a perfectly good explanation for where she is, and I just need to find her so that we can discuss this pregnancy.
The phone begins to ring and I wait impatiently for Jess to pick up. Suddenly, there’s the sound of another ringtone in the room, and my head swivels around with surprise. Wait a minute. The phone that I bought Jess when she arrived is sitting on her nightstand. With trembling fingers, I pick it up, and see my own name in the caller ID.
She left her phone here.
I throw mine on the bed and look around wildly, taking in the setting with new eyes. Like an animal, I rush to the closet. The lingerie I bought her is still there, but the rest of her things have disappeared. Then, I check the drawers. Again, her frilly fripperies remain, but the raggedy little clothes she brought with her and her bag from under the bed are gone. What the actual fuck.
I stand stock still, trying to make sense of everything I’ve just discovered. Why would she leave me? Why would she run away? Did the pregnancy scare her? Does she think I don’t want the baby?
She’s wrong. If anything, I’m desperate for her to have my child. Nothing would make me happier than seeing Jess, swollen and heavy, my son or daughter in her belly.
But what do I do now? And where is she? There’s no way she would go back to her low-life father, seeing that he basically sold her to me. But where would she go? Suddenly, I drop to the bed to sit lifelessly. The woman I love has left me, and my heart cracks open with pain.
9
Jessalyn
* * *
It’s been a week since I left Cameron’s home to return to the trailer park, and it’s been the worst week of my life. Daddy is nowhere to be found, but I guess it’s because of his new job. When I walked in the trailer, there was a note taped to the fridge, explaining that Mirabelle is in Arizona, and that he’s moved out there for the time being.
He’ll probably be fired within a week and back at the trailer soon enough, but I can’t think about that. I have too much to be worried about already, and Randy is an adult, so I put my dad out of my mind.
As a result, I’ve spent the majority of my time moping, alone in the shadowy depths of the trailer. Without my job at the diner, I have nowhere to go. I suppose I could walk to the library to check out a book, but I can’t walk that far with a queasy stomach, and I don’t want to run the risk of Cameron seeing me in town either.
Cameron.
Being away from him is difficult, and I didn’t expect it to be. I left my phone on the nightstand before leaving the mansion because really, it belongs to him. That first week at his house, he presented me with a fancy new iPhone with all the latest features. I gasped because usually I use an old beater, but he said to take it and enjoy it. The monthly bills are also paid by him.
But I couldn’t take it when I left. It belongs to him, just like all the clothes and lingerie. Just like the gifts of perfume, and the silk robes, and the luxury bath items. They belong to him, and now that I’ve exited that phase of my life, I had to leave it behind.
But now, I have nowhere to go, no one to talk to, and no means of communication. I’ve chitchatted a bit with our neighbors in the trailer park, but it’s nothing serious. Absolutely no one knows about the pregnancy, and it’s a difficult secret to keep. I feel scared by the prospect of becoming a mother, and yet also strangely elated despite the fact that I have no idea how I’m going to make this work. Sometimes, I look at the paper to scan the “Help Wanted” section, and yet, how can I work if I’m heavily pregnant? How can I work if I have a newborn clinging to my breast?
I have to find a way to make money, and my heart contracts a bit with panic. I can’t wait until after the baby’s born because I need to see the obstetrician now, which will only cost more money since we don’t have insurance. The stress is starting to take its toll on me, but I’m not sure what to do. Plus, I feel more nauseated with each day that goes by, and I’ve barely eaten anything all week. It’s a drastic change from my previously hearty appetite, and it can’t be good when you’re pregnant.
There’s got to be something I can do. I have to find something to do. I have to find a way to make money without Cameron. I wonder what Randy is going to do when he finds out there will be a baby sharing the trailer with us. Probably kick me out, come to think of it.
I look at my surroundings hopelessly. Right now I’m sitting on the “couch” that’s nothing but dirty old worn out sofa cushions from a thrift store in town. The trailer is dingy and dirty and full of empty beer bottles. There’s nothing in the fridge or cabinets to eat since Randy hasn’t been around, but luckily I found a s
tash of forty dollars the other night tucked in one of the kitchen drawers. I bought a pizza last night and ate only one slice, saving the rest in the fridge. It’s enough to live on while I figure out how to survive.
Yet, it’s hard to focus on anything that doesn’t involve Cameron, and I realize it’s because my heart is still with him. My heart will always probably be with Cameron, as he’s the only man who ever cared for me. I’m used to men like Randy, who see me as a burden, and that’s not the kind of person I want around my baby. I let out a deep sigh and place my face in my hands. Should I confront the father of my child?
It’s a thought I’ve been wrestling with since finding out about the pregnancy. My hands are shaking as I contemplate the possibilities. I have to tell him. He’s the father of my child, and he deserves to know. Maybe he’ll reject me and the child, but I have to take that chance. Maybe he won’t reject us, and will even help a tiny bit. I have to be grateful for whatever I can get.
I stand up from the couch in a rush of adrenaline and run to the counter to grab the rest of the forty dollars. Shoving it in the pocket of my jeans, I leave the trailer and start to walk into town to find a beater phone of some type I can use to call Cameron. It’s a long walk from the trailer park into town and on wobbly legs, it’s even more difficult. But I make it in twenty minutes after stopping to rest a few times.
In one of the convenience stores, I find a small tracfone and spend some of my precious money to buy it. Excitement fills me when the greasy man behind the counter with the oversized gut and stringy hair hands it to me. My fingers nearly rip it open in the store, but then I stop myself. I need to stay calm. I step outside to finish opening it from the box and throw the trash in the metal waste bin on the street before turning the thing on. God, it’s a hot day. Beads of sweat outline my forehead and start to seep down my skin. I’m nervous, and my fingers shake.
The phone turns on with a beep, and I feel a pit in my stomach form at the thought of hearing Cameron’s voice. What if he tells me to get rid of the baby? I’m petrified that it’s what I’m going to hear, and I know why he would push me to that option. After all, why would I bring a child into this world when I have so few resources? It’s like setting the baby on a sure-fire path to failure.
But I have to tell him, no matter what the result is. My grip on the phone tightens, and tears come to my eyes. Can I handle his rejection? Can I handle the fact that I mean nothing to him? Suddenly, my resolve falters, and I let out a stifled sob. I’m not sure I’m ready for it just yet. I still need to think.
I slide the phone into my pocket and tell myself I’ll call him once I get back to the trailer. Before leaving town, I inhale on a shuddering breath, and try think of anything else I might need at the moment so I don’t have to come back for it later. I have ten dollars left, so I could pick up some pre-natal vitamins. Maybe. Vitamins are expensive these days, and maybe I can’t even afford that.
Come to think of it, I could stop by the diner and ask for my old job back. Hooger’s isn’t too far, and slowly, I wend my way through the dusty streets to the run-down diner. When the door opens, I’m met with the familiar sound of the chime, and eyes turn to me. My cheeks redden but I force myself to move forward. Then, I sit at one of the counter stools and try to appear calm. Darlene appears a few seconds later with a notepad already out for my order.
“Hello, sweetie, what can I get y--Oh my God… Jessalyn?” Her eyes scan my body in disbelief and her mouth drops open. “What are you doing here, darling? We heard you was living out there with that handsome Mr. Purcell now.”
My heart contracts with sadness at the mention of Cameron. I guess everyone in town knows what happened to me. Go figure. Word travels fast in our little hamlet. I gulp and try to form the best response I know to give.
“I was.” My voice is small. I look down at my twiddling fingers on the counter to avoid her gaze, afraid she might see right through me.
Darlene holds my gaze with a kind look in her eyes, although I can tell she has a lot of questions.
“I see,” Darlene treads lightly. She decides to take a pass, and I’m grateful. “Well, um, what can I do for you, darling?”
I take a deep breath and shoot her a wavery smile.
“Oh, I’m not here to eat. I was wondering if the manager’s around? Do you know if he’s looking for someone? I guess I was wondering if I might be able to get my old job back. Anything. I’ll wash dishes if I have to from sun up to sun down--all throughout the night--I just… I need a job, Darlene.”
I hate hearing the desperation in my voice but it is what it is. I’m back at the counter at Hooger’s begging for a job, on behalf of the new life I’m creating inside me. I can see the shock in Darlene’s eyes, and I can tell I’m not going to get the answer I came in here looking for. I slump in my seat.
“I’m so sorry, sweetie pie,” Darlene says in her sugary accent. “Mo’s not here right now, but I already know what he’d say. We don’t have anything right now. After you quit, we filled your position and we’re a full house.”
I smile with tears in my eyes.
“No, that’s okay. It’s what I figured.” I hop down from the seat, gathering my bag in my hand. “Thanks anyways, Darlene.”
She flashes me a sympathetic look and I slink out of the diner, feeling the need to cry. I walk back into the glaring sun of the midday sky and slowly begin walking. The sun bakes down on me, and sweat droplets form on the back of my neck. I stop for a moment, to drink from the bottle of water I have in my bag. But then, when I turn the corner, I see our town library. It’s free, right? Plus, I have nothing to do and nowhere to be, so I decide to go in.
But when I reach the front door, my heart leaps with hope because there’s an ad taped to the door. The bright yellow piece of paper says they’re looking for library assistants. My heart flutters with hope and excitement.
I open the door and bask in the instant cool A/C that hits my body like bricks. Immediately, I feel better. But I don’t want to come on too strong, so first, I make my way to the pregnancy section and quickly scan the books to find any book that will help me better understand what I’m getting myself into. I pick up a tome titled What To Expect When You’re Expecting and another one, The Art of Pregnancy. These sound good.
The lady behind the desk notices me coming to the desk and looks at me curiously. I sit the books on the counter and try to smile confidently.
“I noticed your sign out front about needing library assistants,” I begin. The lady doesn’t look welcoming.
“Yes?”
I clear my throat.
“The help wanted ad? Is there an application?”
Her smile is sugary sweet.
“I’m sorry,” she says, not looking sorry at all. “But they finished interviews yesterday, and they’re about to make an offer to another woman. I should take that sign down. My apologies.”
I don’t see how this day could get any worse but I’m not ruling anything out just yet. Swallowing hard, I merely smile and ask to check out the books. Then, I gather my bag and leave the library, beginning my trek to the trailer once more. By the time I get back, I’m literally drenched in sweat. Of course, the only means of respite we have comes from a small desk fan which I crank up to its highest setting after setting my bag down.
I plop down on the couch beside the fan to cool down when I feel the hard bulge of the tracfone in my pocket. Pulling it out, I gulp as I stare at the screen, knowing exactly what I have to do now. It’s inevitable at this point, and I’m surprised my fingers know exactly which numbers to press to call Cameron. I guess I have his phone number memorized, and I gulp once again. My stomach drops and my heart starts to beat as if it’s going to blast out of my chest. The phone rings only once before he answers.
But the billionaire doesn’t say hello.
“I’ll be right over,” Cameron says flatly before hanging up.
I pull the phone away from my face and look at the dark screen, dumbfound
ed. That was fast. How did he even know it was me? How does he know where I am?
But now, all there is to do is wait.
10
Cameron
* * *
The second my phone rang, I knew it was Jess. It could only be her. My heart rate began to quicken. This week had been absolute hell waiting and hoping she’d somehow find a way to talk to me. Even more, I hoped desperately that she’d tell me about the baby.
But that’s the thing. I want her to come to me. Our arrangement was forced on her by her dad, and I don’t want that anymore. I want Jessalyn to come to me of her own free will because she misses me. Even more, I want her to love me, although I know that the emotion is unlikely.
I grab my phone and Jess’s iPhone in a rush before shooting out the door. My movements are fast because I want to get to her fast. I zoom through town and to the trailer park before pulling up at her plot. I can see her head turn to look at me through the open window, eyes wide, when she hears the crunch of gravel underneath my tires and the sight of her makes my heart leap, even though she’s pissed me off.
I want to shoot out of the car and pull her into my arms, yet simultaneously bend her over and spank that pretty ass of hers for what she’s done. God, I’ve been waiting for this moment to see her again for seven long fucking days. I watch her from inside of the car and my eyes don’t leave her until she disappears for a moment. Then, the door opens and she steps out of the trailer. Even in her old clothes, she’s a sight to behold. Her form is lush and lovely, and those beautiful brown curls swirl around her shoulders, making me wish I could bury my face in them.
I get out of the car, my tall form ominous. I’m not sure how to act. On the one hand, I want to press kisses to her, and run my hands over her bulging belly. On the other, I wish I could turn her over and push her against the wall, forcing her to take me the way I crave.
The Billionaire’s Pet: A Forbidden Romance Page 6
