Heather
When I finally made my way downstairs after my long nap, everyone was getting ready for dinner. I picked up a towel and wiped the table down. Then I walked to the kitchen to get the plates.
Andrew smirked as he grabbed the spoons from a cabinet. “Why, look who’s finally awake.”
“Morning, Heather,” Alex teased.
“Very funny, you two. Where did William go?” I asked casually.
He had been there when I had fallen asleep, but I didn’t see him when I woke up.
“Uh, he had some meeting, at least that’s what he said,” Andrew said, putting down the lasagna.
Alex growled, pointing to the TV. “He was lying, he’s at some party with the same woman.”
I frowned. He left to go to another gala with Natasha? I watched as he passed by a couple of reporters again. Great, what was he going to say this time?
“Mr. Solace, what are your thoughts on what your wife said? Is it true she gave you her first kiss? Do you believe it?” a reporter asked.
William walked by quietly, waving the reporter away.
Suddenly, Natasha grabbed the mic from the startled reporter. “Did you hear? Apparently, some guy got into bed with her when she was asleep. Now she won’t even show her face because she’s too scared. What a drama queen.”
I dropped the plates, causing them to break into several pieces and scatter across the floor. Seriously? He knew I was terrified, and I thought I could at least trust him to keep this between us even if he despised me. It was so stupid of me to even think that. Of course he would take this chance to share the pictures with the whole world.
My face hardened. If William wanted to play the hot and cold game, so be it, because I wasn’t going to play his stupid games anymore.
***
The next morning, I was supposed to have my first session of self-defense training with one of Andrew’s friends. I decided I needed to brush up on my martial arts just in case someone tried to hurt me again.
I left the house and walked down the street quickly. It was eerily quiet and there weren’t many people out. It was nine in the morning, shouldn’t people have been rushing to work or at least doing something outside? The good thing was that there were no random reporters.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, someone grabbed my arm. I yelped and turned around. Why did William find the need to grab my arm all the time? Couldn’t he tap my shoulder or something?
“What, William? I don’t want to talk to you!” I growled.
“Shh, not here,” William said, dragging me to his car.
“Let go of my arm, William.” I tried to shake him off by kicking him, but he wouldn’t flinch. He just picked me up and put me in the car.
I glared at him coldly as he got into the car. “What? I’m so fucking mad at you, William. You went and told Natasha something that I thought you could keep to yourself. I guess I was wrong. I trusted you! I know you hate me, but can’t you be civil? I’m trying my best here.”
He cursed and ran his hand through his hair. “Look, I didn’t tell her. I swear on my life. I don’t know how she found out, but she did. You have to believe me,” he pleaded.
I opened my mouth to reply, but shut it again. Why was I arguing with him? It would be the same story all over. He would convince me he was sorry once again, and I would be the idiot to fall for it and then have karma kick my butt.
He pulled into the driveway of his house and parked the car.
“Heather, please listen to—”
I slapped a hand over his mouth.
“What the hell?” he said, his voice muffled by my hand.
I honestly couldn’t care less about what he was saying when all I could hear was a weird noise coming from one of the dumpsters near the side of the house. Was someone hiding in the trash, of all places?
I slowly released William’s mouth and he gave me a weird look. I motioned to him to be silent and we got out of the car quietly. Curious, he followed me as we stepped toward the side of the house. There were two large dumpsters and the one closest to us was echoing with a weird noise.
It almost sounded like a…baby.
“Oh God, please don’t let it be what I think it is,” I prayed silently.
I stopped in front of the blue dumpster and looked at William. He looked at the dumpster with his jaw clenched and brows furrowed. My heart was beating erratically, and I was close to tears at the images in my mind.
“Do you think that the baby…?” William trailed off. He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
I opened the dumpster lid slowly, the stench of garbage greeting me harshly. I coughed and looked inside. The dumpster was pretty deep, and there was a baby carrier inside. I felt a lump in my throat as I reached in and picked it up. I placed it on the asphalt and we kneeled in front of it.
Inside the carrier was a baby boy.
He didn’t look bad, in fact, it almost seemed like he was comfortable inside. There was a blanket wrapped around him and he was wearing a beanie. His wails had stopped, and he was staring at me with wide, hazel eyes. He was squeaky clean, as though he was given a bath and then put here. I took him out of the carrier and held his small body carefully.
“How in the—”
I cut William off. “We need to take him to the doctor to make sure he’s actually okay,” I said, rocking the baby back and forth.
William nodded and picked up the carrier. “I’ll call my private doctor, that way we don’t need to wait.”
I nodded, gently bouncing the baby up and down as a bunch of questions filled my mind.
Why would someone put him in the dumpster? Was he put there on purpose? Why would someone do that to such an innocent being?
My heart broke slightly as I thought of what would have happened if William and I hadn’t discovered him.
We entered the house, and I turned to him, curious. “You don’t happen to have diapers, do you?”
He smiled. “Actually, I do. When my cousin visits with his family, I keep a pack of diapers for the kids so they don’t have to bring any,” he said, walking down the hallway to one of the guest rooms.
As he went to grab the diapers, I gently pulled the beanie off and studied the baby some more. He had a few strands of light brown hair and was pretty chubby. I smiled and tugged the beanie back on his head. He was adorable.
“I just called the doctor, he should be here shortly,” William said, handing me a diaper and a pack of baby wipes. I began to change his diaper on the rug and William sat down beside me, playing with the baby’s fingers.
“He looks like a Yoda.” William grinned.
“We are not naming him after a Star Wars character,” I said. “In fact, I don’t know if we should name him at all.”
He frowned slightly. “Then what do we call him while he’s here? Baby Boy?”
“Okay, how about Jonah? He looks like one,” I said, standing the baby up after I was done.
“Hmm, Jonah. I like that. What about you, little guy?” William asked, holding Jonah up and blowing raspberries on his stomach.
Jonah stared at William for a moment and then burped in his face. I burst into laughter at William’s disgruntled look. “Looks like Jonah isn’t a smiley baby.”
“He just needs to get used to me. But you, little man, have bad breath, let’s get you something to munch on,” William said, patting his head.
He walked out, whispering random things to Jonah, and I washed my hands before texting Andrew about what happened and asking him to postpone the training. After I sorted that out, I went down to the kitchen.
“You first need to be manly to get girls. So let’s find you something to make you muscular,” I heard William say.
He was sitting on one of the chairs at the small table and bouncing Jonah on his lap, who was sucking his thumb happily while staring at William’s face.
“Are you trying to teach him how to break girls’ hearts already?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips.
“You see, all these girls pretend to hate our bad boy ways. But we know they just love them,” William said to Jonah.
I rolled my eyes. “Keep dreaming, William. A girl wants a guy who can love them unconditionally for who she is and understands her like no one else. A girl doesn’t want a guy who tells her secrets to other people.”
“Now is not the time, Heather. I said it wasn’t me,” William said, standing up.
“How am I supposed to believe that? You can’t suddenly start being nice to me.”
“I can’t tell you anything right now,” he snapped angrily.
I glared at him. “What is your problem, William? You shouldn’t even be angry right now. In fact, I don’t even know why I’m so calm right now.”
“Because you have no reason to be angry. I’m trying to help you here!” William yelled.
I felt something nudge my stomach and looked down to see Jonah’s foot. I looked up and realized that William and I somehow ended up in each other’s faces. We were way too close, and I could feel his breath on my face. He kept glancing down at my lips, and I knew he was about to lean in. However, we snapped out of it when the doorbell rang. William handed Jonah over to me and went to answer the door.
“I don’t understand this guy. He’s so vague and moody,” I said to Jonah, patting his back gently.
“Heather?”
I turned around to face William.
“This is Dr. Elliot Presley. Doc, this is my wife, Heather,” William introduced us.
I just stared in shock at Elliot.
Elliot smiled warmly. “We meet again, Heather.”
“You two know each other?” William asked, glancing back and forth between us.
“Yeah, he was my doctor when I got my stitches checked out,” I said, shifting uncomfortably. I wondered what William would do if he found out what Elliot said to me.
“So, how’s the cut?” Elliot nodded at my leg.
“Well, it’s healed. I just have a light scar now,” I said, shuffling my feet awkwardly as he stared at me.
William placed his arm around my waist possessively, causing me to roll my eyes.
“Doc, I called you to check out Jonah, not Heather,” William said, a hint of anger in his tone.
“Jonah?”
I held up the baby.
“You guys have a kid?” Elliot asked in shock.
I shook my head. “No.”
“Not yet,” William replied at the same time.
I frowned at William while he smirked down at me.
“What I mean is that we’re still trying,” William said happily. “But it’s a lot of fun.”
I elbowed him in the stomach, and he coughed to cover up his groan.
“Save it for the bedroom, sweetie.”
I gasped and slapped his chest angrily. He kissed my nose and turned me back around, hugging me from behind. Elliot was glaring at William, jealousy clearly visible in his eyes.
“Anyway, we found this little guy abandoned. So we wanted to make sure he’s all right,” William said.
Elliot snapped his attention back to Jonah and nodded. “Okay, let’s go to the living room, then.”
We walked over to the living room and watched anxiously as Elliot checked Jonah.
After a couple of minutes, he smiled. “He seems pretty healthy. Whoever abandoned him took good care of him.”
“How old would you say he is?” I asked.
“Probably seven months from what I can see.” Elliot smiled softly, handing Jonah back to me.
I nodded and cuddled Jonah to my chest. He hummed and closed his eyes, making himself comfortable. When I looked back up, Elliot was staring at me with a longing look.
I felt slightly uncomfortable, and William must have noticed because he stood up.
“All right, thanks, Doc! We’ll see you soon when we visit the hospital again,” William said, although he looked like he was ready to shove Elliot out the window instead.
Elliot smiled and stood up. He shook hands with William and gave me a one-armed hug before finally stepping outside. Once he locked the door, William turned to me with that look in his eyes. He stalked toward me and crashed his lips onto mine in a rough kiss.
Well, this was great.