"Getting out when the getting is good, I see," Chuck stood in front of my desk, on top of which were boxes full of my personal affects and other random stuff.

"You told me that the Flynn story would get me noticed. Well it did." Me? I was sitting in my chair. I ached. Everything ached.

"You don't think you should wait another six months? Moving like you are has to be stressful."

I glared at him. "Chuck, if I don't get out of this state now, I'm going to blow my brains out. Moving on now is the best thing for me and my baby."

"I can tell, Noelle, but yeesh. Let me at least carry this stuff to your car for you."

He heaved the box up, and started heading toward the door. I called out as he left. "Thank you."

Six months. It'd been six months since I gave into lust and laid with Bruce, and now I was really feeling the effects.

Yes, I was pregnant. Yes, I was certain it was his.

No, I didn't tell him. I had no plans to. Again, there was a lot of potential profit in me doing so. The child support payments Bruce would owe me would really be quite massive.

The success of my story on Bruce did what Chuck said it would. I got attention from the higher ups. The US National Post, one of the biggest remaining papers in the country, wanted to hire me. They'd be paying me handsomely, and with the benefits package that was attached to it, I doubted I would be struggling all that much with my future child. I'd be able to give him or her a fine life with plenty of opportunities.

Sure, it was rough going it alone. My hormones had been all over the place. I'd been horny, not wanting to be touched, then horny again all in the span of an hour. Not like what I wanted mattered, cause I was getting none of it. I'd be a single mother, and I still hadn't been inspired with the desire to hunt down a worthy man. Not like I'd be super attractive six months pregnant anyway.

My phone rang, vibrating. I placed my hand over it to keep it shaking over the edge of my desk to the floor. Glancing at it, it was Bruce's number. All over the past few months, he had been trying to call me. I don't even know how he managed to get my number, but I guess nothing is the limit when you have his kind of money.

Every time I accidentally picked up and heard his voice, I killed the call immediately. He was too dangerous to hear out. The Bruce I knew would have been overjoyed to help me take care of my child, but more and more, I realized that Bruce never really existed.

I pushed myself up, and prepared to head to my car. I was off to Philadelphia for my new job, and I was so glad to be getting far, far away from Norfolk, from Franklin, from Bruce, and from everything else.

Why?

Another flash blinded me. I blinked before pulling down the blinds of the window I had just passed.

The paparazzi had been relentless. Each day I passed a newsstand, and each day I saw the new stories on Bruce. It was odd seeing myself called a homewrecker, saying I was driving a wedge between Bruce and whoever this Sally person was. They were running with it hard.

What's more?

They knew. They knew that I was expecting and were correct blaming it on Bruce. Even though they'd failed to get any pictures of me with Bruce or any pictures of me anywhere near his estate, they had been running with this story for awhile now, even fabricating an interview with me where I apparently said that I was told to get rid of it and I instead decided to sue him for every penny.

It hurt me, really. I don't know why. I knew Bruce would be aware of it, and I knew that I shouldn't care what he thought. Why did I care if he thought I was some money grubbing gold digger?

When I got to Philadelphia, I'd be free of the nonsense. It was locally contained in an era where few things were. The people in Pennsylvania didn't care all that much about a football player three states over. I likely would have been fine if I'd only gone to Baltimore, or even D.C. The story only really had traction around here, since Bruce was the golden boy, the hometown hero for Norfolk, the one who was going to lead them to finally winning the league championship.

There's no story people like more than something taking down someone people worship. If he's not worshiped? No one cares.

I grabbed my jacket, a big winter coat, and wrapped myself up in it. It was icy out, and the last thing I needed was to get a nasty cold or something else. Chuck had been a big help in loading up my car and my trailer, and I'd taken care of all the other miscellaneous business I needed to in Norfolk.

Heading down the stairs, I said my good byes to Chuck and started toward the front door of the firm. When I opened it though, my exit was suddenly delayed.

"Noelle!"

Bruce. He was standing right in front of me. I immediately turned away, thankful that my baggy coat was covering any suspicious bulges on my body. I was somehow terrified of him knowing that I was pregnant, that it was his. I didn't want him to have any right to enter my life, not even to see a child who was biologically his own. Sure, it was cruel of me depending on who you asked, but I couldn't dare have him here anymore. "Get out of my way, Bruce."

"Noelle, why haven't you answered my calls?" He walked in, and placed his hands on my shoulders again. I shuddered, knowing that I absolutely didn't want his attention. I didn't want to be tricked again.

I pushed his hands off and walked away from him. "I'm not going to be lied to anymore."

"I've never lied to you, Noelle."

I turned my head toward him. "Do you think I'm dumb? You took off for a date while I was still in your bed."

"What do you mean?"

"Sally? I saw the text message on your phone. I saw the tabloids."

"When do you believe tabloids, Noelle?"

"When there's enough truth in them, I will."

I heard him grunt. "Sally Brunswick is a psycho. Ever since I started becoming a star player, she's been after me. I get 3 nude photos a day and it's been like that for a year."

"Yet you went to meet her."

"Noelle, I was trying to get her to stop. You were back in my life. I wanted her to understand that I couldn't afford to lose you again. She's my bosses daughter too, so it isn't as easy as telling her to fuck off in so many words. I have to be diplomatic."

"You really expect me to believe that it's all just a misunderstanding, Bruce?"

"I don't know, Noelle. I need you. I've called you for months. I had to hire people to track you down and figure out where you work. Yeah, that makes me seem obsessed and a bit of a stalker, but I don't care. I wanted to see you again, Noelle."

Shaking. I was literally shaking. Was it rage? Need? Uncertainty? I was going with the last one. "You've inflicted unimaginable pain on me, Bruce. I can't trust anymore. Not you, not even myself. Let me pass. I'm done."

I started to walk out the door. He stood in my path for a time, but finally, he let me pass. Before I could get too far though, he spoke up. "All the tabloids keep saying you're pregnant. Is that true, Noelle?"

I stopped a moment. It was his. It was his right to know that a part of him was growing inside me. That, though, wouldn't accomplish what I wanted. I couldn't lie to him either. So I kept walking.

"Noelle? Answer me."

I heard him walking behind me as I descended the stairs and made my way to my car.

"Don't do this to me. I love you, Noelle. I'm at a loss why you can't understand that. Why you can't believe what I tell you. Was all that time we spent together for nothing?"

It was enough to stop me in my tracks again. "I don't know. I don't know anything anymore. I just don't want to deal with any of this, okay? I'm leaving this state. I'm never coming back. I want to start over. Without you, or anyone else from my old life following me. Just let me move on. I can't trust myself to make the right decision anymore."

When I made the next few steps, my feet were heavy. I reached my door, and opened it up, ready to slide in and be done with this.

"Noelle, wait."

I stopped again. Why did I do that?

He was swift, right behind me, those powerful arms placed on my shoulders. I turned in place to face him. So close, I saw his eyes. There was a definite sadness to them.

Bruce then kissed me. There was passion, need in it. It was powerful. His tongue entered my mouth, and against my will, my tongue followed his. They met, they entwined. Everything in my head was lighting up in my head. The want, the need for him. I wanted nothing more than him to bend me over my car and take me right at this moment.

The kiss broke, and the doubts rushed back in. That's what he wanted of me. That's how he worked. He reminded me of all the good, so I'd forget the bad, if only for a little bit. The bad though, well, I didn't know if it was worth the good.

I trembled, and pushed his hands away.

I didn't say another word. I climbed into my car, and turned on the engine.

"So you're just going to drive away from me. Even when you're carrying my child?"

I froze again, realizing being that close to me, he had to have had felt my stomach, swollen with what he had done to me.

I thawed myself quickly, realizing that wasn't enough. It doesn't take much to father a child, all things to considered. Just an ejaculation. It took a lot more to actually be a parent, a lover, a boyfriend, and a husband. If I let him be any of those things, he could hurt me again, and I would have none of that.

Shifting the gears, I pulled away from him. I stared at him through my rear view mirror as he grew smaller and smaller. I tried to focus on the road, but total focus was always hard when tears were in your eyes.