CHAPTER TWENTY
SCOTT
It didn’t just happen one time.
At first, we were so sure it would, parting ways as soon as we’d finished having sex for the day—or, to be more accurate, as soon as I took her virginity. Perhaps it was a great coincidence that Mallory and her boyfriend arrived a few minutes after we were done, still lying in bed and shaken to the core.
Or maybe I was the only one shaken to the core.
That had to be the most intense sex of my life. It surprised me—no, it shocked me. I’d fucked women fast, the adrenaline rush giving it the intensity it needed. I’d done it in public places where the thrill of getting caught only heightened the sensation. I’d done it in private, all night long, taking my time to build the pleasure so that we’d be falling apart by the time we were done. But none of those could compare to how heady and sensual everything had felt with Julie.
It was bizarre. It was confusing. I realized that what had started out as fucking had turned into something else, and I didn’t want to define what it was at all. But whatever it was, it didn’t go away—no, not even when I went home. Aall I could think about was how we’d touched and pleasured each other. Not when the next day, it was still all I could think about—particularly how her wet mouth took me in so deep and how tight she was around me.
Not when, a few days after, I was still bombarded with the images whenever I looked at her.
Shit. This was so wrong. I tried to rationalize it—and in doing so, I came up with a conclusion: that maybe I needed to sleep with her one more time to get her out of my system. I wasn’t sure how that conclusion could be explained when it completely ruled out the one-night-stand bargain we had, but I had to give it a shot—and so I approached her right after the racing practice, telling her I needed to speak to her in private.
We ended up in one of the empty towers, in one of the empty closets.
And what had started as me trying to explain ended up with me seducing her out of her pants and lifting her up on the abandoned desk, where I fucked her until she was screaming out my name. It was a good thing the place was already empty because I didn’t think anyone who was there would have missed the sounds of pleasure we were unable to stop from making.
That was the last time. Two times I slept with Julie.
Two times I still wanted more.
It irritated me. But at the same time, I didn’t want to go for a third, because that would cross the line from being casual to her turning into my actual lover, which I wasn’t ready for. She was great and all and she was still my friend. But she was also still my friend’s daughter. And I couldn’t forget that.
*****
“What’s up with you lately?”
Jay’s question penetrated my thoughts, and I looked up from what I was reading on the office couch. He was sitting on his desk and going over the books again—well, he was. Now he was watching me like a hawk, as if that would ferret out answers.
As casually as I could, I turned the next page. “Nothing.”
In response, Jay raised a brow. I should have known it wouldn’t work.
“Doesn’t look like nothing,” he commented.
“I’m reading,” I shot back.
“You were brooding.”
Was I?
“Wasn’t,” I replied.
“Fine. You were moping.”
Hell, no.
“I wasn’t.”
He kept watching me. I looked back. Finally, he looked back at the books and started scribbling again. I turned back to my book, though for the life of me, I couldn’t really understand what I was reading.
“Money problems?” Jay asked.
I scoffed.
“Yeah, I didn’t think so. You don’t exactly have monetary problems, McCall.”
“Hmm.”
“Women problems?”
I stayed silent.
Maybe I shouldn’t have, as Jay stopped scribbling again. I could feel those eyes on me.
“Wouldn’t you know it,” he finally murmured.
“I don’t. Have. Any. Problems.”
“Hmmmm.”
I looked up and glared at him for the annoying sound. Jay’s eyes twinkled, reminding me of the humorous guy beneath the aloof façade. He then turned back to his work and didn’t say anything else, but it was too late.
Suddenly my so-called “woman problem” was all I could think about.
Particularly, she was all I could think about.
For two straight weeks now.
*****
When reading didn’t work, and I didn’t feel like doing practice in the afternoon, I called our scheduled one off. Then I was driving to her apartment before I even knew where I was going, like it was some kind of goddamn beacon that I couldn’t ignore. A few knocks later and Mallory opened the door, gaping at me and looking slightly mesmerized before snapping out of it and letting me in. I could see a guy on a chair through the kitchen—her fiancé, I presumed—but there were no sounds at all, especially on the second floor where the bedrooms were.
“She’s sick,” Mallory said before I could ask. “I don’t think you want to see her right now.”
I frowned at her. “Flu?”
She bit her lip, then shot the upstairs area a worried glance.
“Maybe,” she said uncertainly.
I narrowed my eyes. There was something she was hiding here, though I couldn’t figure out what. Did Julie not want to see me?
Did she have someone up there with her?
Something unpleasant coursed through me at the thought. I gave Mallory the same staredown I’d given Julie before—and in a few seconds, she was already stepping away from subtly blocking the stairs and reluctantly giving me way. I went up without a word, knocking on Julie’s door and hearing her faint voice telling me to come in.
The sight that greeted me when I did was surprising.
Her room was a mess, a direct contrast to how neat it was when I visited there twice before. Clothes were strewn on the floor just near the laundry basket, as if she couldn’t be bothered to get them in. Her garbage bin was full of tissues, and her bed was in disarray.
In the middle of the bed was Julie, wrapped up in a long sweater and looking miserable.
“Oh, baby,” I couldn’t help saying. Then I was striding towards her and sitting on the bed. I placed my palm on her forehead, relieved to find she wasn’t hot. But her eyes were sunken, her lips were dry, and her cheeks were an unhealthy pale pallor.
“Go away,” she muttered. “I look terrible.”
I shook my head. “If you honestly think that grumpy attitude is still gonna faze me…”
In response, Julie glared. But she didn’t ask me to leave anymore. I looked her over and determined that she was sniffling, but there was no cough or anything like that.
Decided, I dialed a number on my mobile.
“Scott?”
“Jay, can you ask Anton to cook me up some sick food and have it delivered?” I gave him an address.
“What? Who’s sick?”
“It’s a long story. Quickly please; it will be a favor.”
There was silence on the other line, and I thought that was disapproval I was sensing. But instead, Jay chuckled.
“I knew it,” he said, though he didn’t elaborate. “Fine. Anton will have it there in half an hour.”
I hung up and got back to Julie, who was listening to the whole exchange. She tried shaking her head, but all that did was make her dizzy.
“My dad’s going to be visiting tomorrow,” she moaned. “Of all the worst luck in the world.”
“You’ll be fine by tomorrow,” I assured.
“No,” she said shortly. “This has been going on for a few days now.”
“Sweetheart,” I said. “Tell me how you’re feeling.”
“Dizzy.”
“What else?”
“Temperamental. Dizzy. Miserable. Dizzy. I want to yell at everybody.”
“You can yell at me all you want,” I offered.
“It will make me feel better,” she added.
I smiled warmly. “Go right ahead.”
“You’re an arrogant ass, and I hate you.”
“Oh, come on now, we both know that’s not true. You can’t resist me and my charms. And my co—”
“I can totally resist your cock,” she interrupted, her cheeks turning pink before going back to its paleness.
I smirked. “Give me ten seconds, and you’ll be flat on the bed and begging to come.”
Her eyes flared, then darkened. I supposed mine weren’t any better. My heart sped up, and my cock was stirring inside my pants, rapidly hardening further.
Then Julie’s face crumpled, and she was yanking the blankets off her. Before I could ask what happened, she was running for the toilet and slamming the door, and inside I could hear her retching her guts out.
My erection deflated right away, and my arousal changed to worry. Jesus, what had gotten into her? I tried to scan my mind but came up blank. I’d never really been sick, so I didn’t have much to go by.
Anton delivered ten minutes later, and I noted that Mallory and her guy were gone. I brought the packages back upstairs, amused to note that Jay had added a box of chocolates in. The bastard.
Julie was back in bed with a change of clothes when I returned. She refused the food, but I was stern, and we argued for a little bit before she finally, reluctantly took a sip of the chicken soup—then another, then more, and I did an inward victory dance. No one could resist Anton’s food, not even someone as sick as her. But she did stay away from the chocolates, claiming it only made her sicker.
She vomited twice more, then crawled back into bed and fell fast asleep. I watched her sleeping form for a few minutes before finally placing the blanket over her, then silently making my way out.
Maybe some research would get me to help her out better.
*****
It was when I was reading up on the symptoms that things clicked into place.
The vomiting. The nausea. The sudden aversion to foods one usually liked.
My body was numb, and so was my mind. But I visited Julie that evening again, holding up an item that she needed to use as soon as possible. Like right now.
And when she opened the door to her bedroom, her face told me that she already knew what I wanted. She took the item and quietly went to the bathroom, and I sat on her rug, feeling that sitting on her bed at a time like this was wrong.
Five minutes turned into ten. After almost twenty minutes, I stood back up and knocked.
“Moping in there isn’t going to solve your problems, Julie,” I goaded.
The sink ran, and she finally opened the door. She looked like she’d been crying as she got back to bed and handed me back the item. I looked at her back, the worry inside me increasing at seeing her in such a weak state. Then I looked down, and worry turned to shock.
The pregnancy test reflected two bold red lines.