It’s been two weeks since I found out I was pregnant and for two weeks, Liam has been nothing but sweet and kind, attending to every single one of my needs. Last week I had started working at Liam’s firm, and to be honest, I think I would have lost my mind if it wasn’t for that. I keep waiting for the day to come where I would feel happy about being pregnant. That it would finally click in that I’m about to be a mother and the excitably flurry starts in my stomach.

All I feel is sick.

And I do—literally. Every day I’m sick, and sometimes all throughout the day. Liam keeps telling me to stay at home and that work can cope without me, but I keep on insisting that I’m okay, when I’m anything but. I know how ecstatic he is. He’s that happy that he’s already been out and bought our child a teddy bear for when it’s born. I know I’m acting well, matching his enthusiasm, but all I keep thinking is I’m seventeen, haven’t even done my GCSE’s, and now I’m one hundred percent reliant upon a man. I feel like I’m only a child myself, so how on earth am I able to look after a baby?

Tears prick my eyes as Liam drives us to the local store. He wants new shoes and was intent on dragging me with him. Normally, I would jump at the chance, but I just don’t have the heart for anything today. Christmas is just a few days away, and my pretend enthusiasm is waning. Out of all my bad days, today is turning out to be a particularly bad one.

“What’s wrong, Ray-Ray?” he asks, soothingly from the driver’s seat. It’s so soothing that my tears start to fall down. “Hey, don’t cry.”

“I’m sorry,” I offer.

“What have you got to be sorry for?” He wipes away my hair to try and see my face.

I start to laugh. “I think it may be hormones, or something.” I don’t want him to know how unhappy I am. I know it would ruin just how happy he is, and besides, what good would it be to tell him? Regardless I’m about to become a mother in seven months. That’s not going to change.

When I hear his laughter I know I’ve managed to convince him. “I did read about this.”

I turn to see him smiling. “You did?”

He nods, like he’s really proud of himself. “I’ve been reading up on everything since we found out. I don’t want to miss out on a thing, so everything you go through, I want to go through with you.”

Despite my misery, I smile. “That’s really thoughtful.”

He clasps my hand in his. “You’re not on your own in this. I’m with you every step of the way.”

He smiles again before his eyes return to the road. With my tears gone, he’s now convinced himself that I’m okay, when I’m anything but.

Things get worse when we arrive at the mall and he points me in the direction of the pharmacy I bought the pregnancy test in. “Go get yourself some folic acid. I’ve read that you’re supposed to take it when you’re pregnant.” He reaches out and hands me a twenty pound note.

“I do?”

He nods, chuckling. “See, I know a lot now,” he says with a wink. “I just need to get something from a store at the other end of the mall. I’ll meet you back here once we’re both done, okay?”

I nod and watch as he walks away before tentatively making my way to the chemist. Maybe I was just paranoid last time I was here. Hell, there’s a good chance she won’t even be here today.

I take a walk in, and sure enough, I don’t see her anywhere. With a new found confidence, I go down the same aisle I found the pregnancy test in. I figure that should be a good place to find a pregnancy supplement in.

Sure enough, I see the tablets next to all the pregnancy kits. There’s so many, but I quickly grab the one which catches my eye the most and take it to the counter. As I wait, I look over my shoulder every now and then to see if Liam’s there.

“Next,” the lady’s voice calls.

I turn back around, and that’s when my hair stands on end. The lady that was here before is now gone and in her place is Melissa Jacobs, Pharmacist. I stand as still as a statue at first, and when her eyes widen, my heart starts to kick up a few notches.

“Please come with me,” she says, disappearing before reappearing to open a door.

“Why?” I ask once I see her. “What do you want with me?”

She leans over and whispers, “You’re Ray, aren’t you? The girl who’s been missing for over two years?” My eyes widen, and that’s when I see it in her face. “I knew it was you. Why have you been hiding? Your mum’s been tirelessly searching for you all this time. She’s never given up.”

Tears start to prick my eyes. I shake my head in confusion. “What are you talking about? My mum’s dead.”

She gasps. “Oh my God! Is that what he told you?” When she sees the answer in my eyes, she says, “Oh my goodness. Sweetheart, your mum’s not dead. She’s very much alive.”

I start to shake my head and back away. “No. That can’t be true. He wouldn’t do that to me.”

She motions me forward. “Come with me, Ray. I’ll show you. I’ll prove it to you.” I look behind my shoulder and see Liam approaching the shop. He hasn’t seen me yet, but he’s about to. “Quick,” she says as if realising straight away who’s coming. “It’s now or never, Ray. Please trust me. Come in the back with me, and I’ll prove it to you.”

As I look from Liam to Melissa, my mind wages war with itself. Who do I trust? Liam or this stranger? I have a split-second to make my decision, and with the thought of my mother on my mind, I finally act.

With not a second to spare, I quickly move inside, and Melissa swiftly shuts the door behind me. “He never saw you.”

We both breathe a sigh of relief as she starts to walk down the hall to one of the back rooms. She opens the door, and we walk into what looks like a locker room. She goes up to locker thirty-two and puts the combination in the lock. She pulls out an iPad, lights it up, and presses a few things before finally turning it over. She shows me article after article of my mum campaigning to find me. Months and months worth of articles and videos. Some were uploaded as recently as two weeks ago. Like a fool, I now realise why Liam never wanted me near the Internet.

It’s because he never wanted me to find out the truth.

Everything caves in on me. My knees buckle, and I find myself falling—falling into an abyss of nothingness. I vaguely hear the sound of Melissa’s voice as I go down, but pretty soon, I’m out like a light.

These past six weeks together have been amazing. Every spare moment we have are spent locked in each other’s arms. We never go out anywhere for fear that we’ll be caught, but I’ve gone way past caring now. It’s been so easy to fall into this place where we only exist, that what we’re doing isn’t wrong and if we get caught serious consequences will ensue. We talked about it a lot for the first week or so, and then we just fell into a pattern—a kind of couple pattern. At school I still keep my head down and I still work my butt off trying to catch up enough with all the months missed so that I can come away with some decent results.

“I want you to spend Christmas with me,” Easton suddenly says. It’s a Saturday—less than two weeks before Christmas. We’re sitting on Easton’s sofa, my legs draped over his waist as he reads the paper and I do a crossword in a magazine. I love these moments with him. They’re a way to spend time with each other without having to say a word. If anyone saw us now they’d think we looked like a married couple.

“In Edinburgh?” I ask, knowing full well where he means. We had discussed Christmas before. I had been under the impression that Easton would go visit his family while I stayed at home and spent the holidays with my mum. The only promise we made was to meet up for New Year so that we could welcome it together.

“Yes, in Edinburgh.” I bite my lip and he notices. “You’re thinking about your mum.” I nod my head. “Bring her with you.”

My eyes widen. I set my pen and magazine down. “I would love to, but there’s no way we could find a place to stay so soon before Christmas.”

I’m about to go on when he places his hand on mine. “There would be no need to find a place to stay. We have plenty of room at my family home.”

The prospect of staying with Easton thrills me, and the fact that he obviously wants me to meet his mum and siblings warms my heart more than anything—bar his brother of course. “What about Grayson?”

He shakes his head. “Don’t you worry about Grayson. I can reel him in. I’ve already told him that we’re an item. I also told my mum. She’s eager to meet you.”

I smile despite myself. “Nothing would please me more than to meet your family.”

“Then it’s settled,” he responds without letting me finish. I start laughing. “What?” he asks, with a frown.

“I haven’t even said yes yet.”

He smirks. “You were going to.”

I lean forward, grabbing his hand. “Don’t you think this is a big thing—me meeting the parents, so to speak?”

He looks a little worried when he says, “Do you think it’s too soon?”

I roll my eyes. “I think you already know the answer to that.”

“Then what?” He jabs me playfully making me jump and giggle.

“Stop that!” I screech, pushing his hand away.

“Stop what? This?” He jabs me again causing me to squeal. In an instant his hands are all over me, tickling me so hard that I lose my breath. I’m wriggling hard, so hard that I end up flat on my back underneath him. I scream at him to stop and he immediately does, our laughter echoing around the room.

Once I manage to capture my breath a little, I look up to find Easton’s eyes scanning my face. “I want to be inside of you.”

I’m a hot mess. No matter how many times we have sex it’s never enough. We’re certainly still in that honeymoon phase of our relationship—or whatever you can call us.

I raise one eyebrow. “So, what are you waiting for?”

I don’t need to coax him any further. In no time he’s rid me of my sweats and is pounding his way inside me causing another earth-shattering climax within minutes.

My mother agrees to go to Edinburgh to meet Easton’s family, but says she can’t come until a couple of days after us, and wants to travel back on Boxing Day in order to spend time with Eric. Everything’s perfect. So why do I have this nagging feeling in my bones that something isn’t quite right? I still feel it—eyes watching me. It hasn’t left since that day at school when I ran thinking Liam was back and coming for me. It never quite leaves me. I’m so happy, but I know I can’t fully be happy as long as he’s out there searching for me. A part of me wonders what I’ll do if that ever happens. I would like to think that I’d fight—no matter what the cost. I guess I will never know unless I’m put in that position.

A shiver runs up my spine at the thought. I still remember my room. I can still smell the musky scent of the old, but homely house that Liam kept me prisoner in all those months into years. Looking back it all seems like a blur to me. Days dragged, but all too soon the days sped up and turned into months. I spent two birthdays with that man until I finally obtained my freedom. Two birthdays were wasted with someone who wanted me enough to abduct me, hold me prisoner, manipulate me into believing that he was the only person in the world I had left and therefore was the only person I could rely upon, and I still don’t know the reason for it all.

I still feel stupid every time I think about those days. I still shiver at the thought that I was so naïve. It never leaves me. I could have gotten away much sooner than I did, but I held onto him. Part of me actually believed that he was my saviour.

“Penny for them?” Easton asks, as we hold hands waiting in Departures for our plane to Edinburgh.

I snap out of my thoughts and smile. “Nothing,” I lie. “I guess I’m just a little nervous about meeting your family.”

He squeezes my hand. “You needn’t be. They’ll love you.”

I laugh. “Like Grayson loves me.”

He tuts. “Grayson’s too stuck up in what happened to me in the past. The trouble is he’s too damn protective for his own good.”

“You should be lucky that you have a sibling who is protective over you.”

He winces. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I didn’t mean it the way it sounded either. I think sometimes it’s just hard to lose focus on the ones who love you. You have to appreciate every single moment that you have.”

“Of course,” he agrees.

The intercom sounds announcing our flight, so we queue up to get on the plane. I must admit I am nervous at the prospect of meeting his mum and siblings for the first time. All of them will be there—even his sister who is over from the States.

“Does this feel weird to you?” I ask as we’re settled into our seats and waiting to depart.

Easton threads his fingers through mine with a smile. “Does what feel weird?”

Leaning over, I whisper, “Being in a relationship with me knowing what I am to you during the day?”

Easton’s lip curves up into a smirk. “You mean a sex goddess?”

We both chuckle at the same time as I nudge him. “No, silly. You know what I mean. When I’m at school, we have to be … somewhat indifferent around each other.”

Easton’s smile fades a little as he scans my face. I hate it when he does that because he always has this knack for making me feel like he wants into my knickers. And boy do I want him in my knickers.

“To be honest I try not to think about that too much. Every day I get to spend with you without consequence is a day I cherish. I sometimes think that if we’re too careful then it’ll ultimately end up with us getting caught. Well, that’s what I tell myself. We may be doing wrong as far as the system tells us, but I can guarantee to you, Sasha, that what I feel for you is anything but wrong.” Easton holds me prisoner with his soft brown eyes. “I felt a connection with you from the moment I met you. Why would I want to shy away from something like that?”

When I hear myself speak, I realise I’m a bit breathless. “Why is it that whenever I am near you, I have an incredibly strong urge to rip your clothes off?”

Easton raises an eyebrow and smirks. “Ah, so it’s working, lassie? I’m impressed.”

“Impressed by what? Yourself?”

He nods, and I roll my eyes. “Oh, come on, lass. Even you’ve got to admit that you’re impressed by the fact that I make you want to rip my clothes off all the time?”

Just then, we hear someone clearing her throat. Faces heated, we both look up to find a stewardess smiling. She’s almost close to laughing. “Erm, sorry to interrupt, but can you please fasten your seatbelts? We’re about to take off.”

Immediately our intimacy’s broken. “Sure,” we both say in unison.

“Thanks,” she answers, walking off and sniggering into her hand.

We both burst out laughing as soon as she walks off. He looks down at my hand, wrapping his around mine. I love it when he’s intimate with me. It is fortunate that we’re both touchy-feely people, since we can’t keep seem to keep our hands off each other lately. I remember that certain times with Liam would be like this, but unlike my reaction to Easton, I would sometimes choose to remain aloof with Liam, and I never knew why I sometimes felt the need to withdraw. At the time, I just thought that I was inherently less affectionate than Liam was. Only since entering into a relationship with Easton have I realised that I was just with the wrong person all along. Given the circumstances, that really shouldn’t have been such a surprising revelation, but it was, and even though I can’t fault myself for being inexperienced in such matters, I still find my naïvety quite frustrating.

“So what do I need to know before we land?” I ask, ignoring the dark thoughts that have crept into my head.

Easton offers me that cute knowing smile—the smile that says he knows I’m nervous, but also keen to impress.

“Well,” he begins. “Ella loves America, so if you touch on anything to do with the US, she’ll love you for it.”

I nod. “Got it.”

"Hamish is the eldest, and as he’s a sergeant in the police he loves talking shop—even when we don’t have a clue what he’s on about.” I chuckle, and then he continues. “Gregory is only with us until Boxing Day as he has to go back to his barracks to start another tour in Cyprus.”

“Very nice,” I observe.

“Anthony works at the docks. He absolutely loves anything to do with boats and fishing, so bring that up and he’ll love you forever.”

“Got it,” I say again, feeling nervous. How am I ever going to keep up?

“And my mum, well, she loves anything to do with us. Oh, and cooking, and wine. Preferably together.”

I giggle at that. “Your mum sounds lovely.”

I see the proud smile that rises on his lips at the mention of her. “That she is. I just know she’s going to love you.”

I gasp when I remember something. “I nearly forgot. I got your mum and sister a present. Well, it’s not really ready yet, but I wanted to give it to them once I got to know them more.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Okay, I’m intrigued.”

“It’s just a thing I like to do. Charm bracelets with all the favourite things that people love on them. I know Pandora does those, but I put my own little spin on it. I hand make everything.”

“You’re a dark horse,” he replies, grabbing my hand. I let out a nervous deep breath again. “You’ll be fine. I know it.”