Morgan drove me into the city, and neither one of us said anything the entire time. That was fine by me. I wanted her out of my life— my baby’s and my lives— for good. Once she was satisfied that she had driven far enough, she stopped at a street corner.

“Here we are. Get out. Remember what I said. Don’t want to see poor Mr. Thrilling suffering, do you?”

“No,” I mumbled as I got out.

I got my bag from the back of her car, and she sped off right as I closed her door.

“Nasty bitch,” I said, giving her the middle finger while she disappeared around a corner.

Sam was going to be gone. I was kidding myself that he was going to get better.

Ariel and Darien were gone.

What was next?

 

* * * *

 

I walked into the bar, an hour before it opened. It had been a while since I’d seen this place. The smell of cheap liquor made my stomach turn though. And even despite that, it was nice to be here.

I longed for a sense of normalcy. Something that reminded me of before I met Darien.

Mr. Brent saw me walking his way and his eyes lit up. All he probably saw was a huge pay check. I had been starting to be a favorite among the customers.

Mr. Brent stretched out his arms, and shouted, “Willow! Welcome back, I didn’t expect to see you so soon!” He gave me a slap on the back.

“Hey, Mr. Brent. Sorry about bailing out like that. But the nanny job was too good to pass up.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it. If you respect money, then I respect you.”

Good old blunt Mr. B.

“So, still got any space at the bar?” I asked. The happy expression on his face dropped into a frown.

“You want to work in the bar? Not dancing? Come on, Willow, you were bringing in a lot of money.”

“I know, but I can’t dance anymore.”

“Why?”

“I’m pregnant.”

I rubbed my stomach. It wouldn’t be long until I really started showing.

“Oh shit. You left here as an innocent girl, now you’re all knocked up? Congratulations. All right, all right. The bar it is. You’ll still snap up lots of tips due to the sexy memories. Guys come in here asking for you all the time.”

“Thanks, Mr. Brent.”

“Yeah yeah, go ahead and get ready for opening.”

I headed over to the bar, already feeling a bit heavier than I was used to. It wasn’t long until Stacy hopped over for her nightly routine; a shot of whiskey.

“Hey Willow! You working behind the bar again?” she asked, hopping onto a stool.

She liked to get a shot before everyone crowded in. It was enough to loosen her up, but not make her sloppy.

“Yeah. No more pole dancing for me.” I said, dipping down to get her favorite brand of tequila.

“Aww. Say, you can come back anytime. You know Mr. B would love to have ya.”

“Thanks. It was fun being up there once I got used to it.”

Maybe in like 15 months, after I have the baby and lose the tummy.

I shuddered at the thought of having to plan that far in the future. I had no idea what I would be doing with my life. At this point, I could only think one day at a time. Just getting through a twenty four hour period without breaking down was hard enough.

I couldn’t believe I had to give up my one true love, and his cute little daughter too. My heart broke to think of her thinking I had just walked out on her without any reason. She had certainly been through enough, and I hated that she had to deal with that on top of everything else.

I poured Stacy’s tequila in a clean shot glass and pushed it toward her. She snapped it up and swallowed it down in one gulp.

“Damn, I love this stuff. Good seeing ya back.”

She hopped off her stool and disappeared behind the black curtain.

A few hours later, the place was hopping. The music thumped, and the dancers put on a good show. I didn’t used to pay attention to them like I did now. I guess the experience of being up there still lingered. I found myself cheering them on, and some of the men gave me the side eye, obviously wondering if I’d be up there too.

Nevertheless, the tips were raining in, with Mr. B having been right about some of the guys happy to see me back in any capacity, and giving me even more money than they would probably tip me had I been dancing on stage. So, I found myself breathing a lot of sighs of relief, as all seemed normal, or even good.

Until he walked in.

“Willow? Is this where you’ve been?” Darien said, pushing his way up to the bar. I was too busy to stop and talk to him, and I was thankful for that. I had not been prepared to see him, and I really needed a minute to figure out what to say.

“D-Darien! I’m really busy—”

“I need to talk to you.”

“I really can’t.” I was juggling a lot of alcohol in my hands and whipped up some drinks for people that were waiting. Darien didn't like waiting though. So he jumped over the bar and scooped me up into his arms. “Wait, what’re you doing! Darien, I have a job to do!”

What had I thought, that he wasn’t going to come look here for me? I was so stupid. A part of me was happy he found me, another was scared to death.

“Put the girl down,” the bouncer warned.

“Willow, tell them to move. I need to talk to you in private.”

“Eric, he’s good. I’ll be back.” I glared at Darien. “But you need to put me down!”

“Fine.” He let me down reluctantly and we went outside in the same alley where we’d met a couple of months ago.

I looked around and over my shoulder. Darien cleared his throat.

“Why are you back here? After everything—”

“Darien, just stop.” I held my hands up, stopping him mid-sentence. “I know what’s going on. I can’t be around you. I can’t be the reason you lose everything,” I cried, holding my arms.

I had to save the man that saved me.

“What’re you talking about?” Darien inched over toward me, his arms out.

“Look, I have to go.” I turned to the door and reached for the handle.

“No, Willow. Talk to me.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him. There went that cologne again. So manly… so him.

“I can’t, it’s too dangerous.” Now I was letting on too much.

“Wait, is this because of Morgan? Did she threaten you? Tell you to stay away?”

“No, I just—”

“It was her.” Darien could see through all the lies.

Time to drop the bombshell. He did have the right to know. “I’m pregnant.”

“Pregnant?” He stared at me, then grabbed me by the shoulders. “Did you think I’d tell you to leave?”

“Of course not. But I can’t stay out here.”

“You’re not telling me the whole truth. I can’t just leave you here working in the bar if you’re pregnant. I don’t want you here at all. Ariel misses you. I miss you.”

I hung my head and rubbed my forehead. “She has a video of us…” I admitted.

“I know— hey, wait— how do you—”

“She came to the house when you took Ariel to school a few weeks ago. She wanted to make you suffer. I— I love you. I can’t let her do that to you. And how did you know? When did you find out?”

“She tried to make me get rid of you. But I wasn’t going to let go so easy… like you did.”

Ouch, right in the gut. Hey, I deserved some credit too. I glanced at the sky and saw the moon. A chilly breeze blew by and I shivered. There were a lot of thirsty people inside I needed to get to.

“Bye, Darien. Maybe when this is all over we can pick up where we left off. For now, I don’t—can’t see you suffer.”

“Willow, I’m already suffering without you.”

What was I supposed to say to that?