Unexpected Fate

“Oh, I’m sorry, Mark. Don’t worry. There’s tons of fish in the sea. Hey, how about we grab lunch today? Catch up and all that?”

The whole time I am talking, his eyes keep wandering back to my stomach. Damn, the guy must really have an issue with kids.

“Probably not today. Lots of stuff we need to catch up since we were gone for a while. Hey, did Don talk to you about the story lines we want to try and hit with this round of filming? They would probably jack up the drama, good for ratings and all that.”

What the hell? He knows how I feel about that crap.

When I don’t answer, he looks down at my stomach again before sharing a look with Don and walking away without another word.

So. Freaking. Weird.

I look over at Maddi, and she looks just as confused as I am. She shrugs one shoulder and then turns back to the young girl she’s giving makeup tips to.

I return my attention to my job. It isn’t long before I realize the day is wasting away and I still haven’t eaten a thing.

“Hey, Maddi? I’m going to order some Chinese. You want in?”

I walk around and get orders from a few more people before placing the call. If I don’t eat soon, I’ll most likely take off my arm between clients. I would rather just go out and get it myself, but Dad was clear that I’m not to leave the salon alone—for anything.

I am in the middle of cleaning out my brushes and wiping down the area in front of my mirror when I hear the door ding and I look up to see the blessed food delivery.

“I could give you a kiss. I’m so hungry,” I tell the young Chinese man.

He doesn’t say anything, just roughly shoves the heavy bag in my hand and thrusts the receipt in my hands. I sign it, add the tip, and shove it back. Maybe a little harder than I intended, but damn. What’s it take to get a little friendliness?

“Have a nice day,” I mumble.

Of course I’m ignored and he’s right out the door a second later.

I look around, thinking that maybe I have some sort of “don’t talk to me” vibe since there isn’t anyone near me except for our receptionist, Kat.

“I’ll be in the breakroom if anyone needs me. I think I have about forty-five minutes before my next client gets here.”

“Sure thing, Dani.”

I drop the bag down in the middle of the breakroom and make quick work of pulling off the staples and opening the large, brown bag. Expecting to find our lunch order, I’m momentarily shocked by what I see inside. Then, when what I’m looking at sinks in, I jerk my hands back towards my body.

I feel like I’m drowning. The sound of my blood pumping ferociously through my body is making my ears cloud. My eyes tear up and my vision gets foggy. I must be screaming something fierce, because the next thing I know, the door is slamming open and Sway, along with half of the other stylists, come barreling in.

Sway grabs my shoulders and tries to get me to talk through my hysteria. “Child! Good heavens. What has gotten into you?”

I go slack, and I feel him adjusting his grip to keep my body from falling to the floor.

“Stella? Talk to me, ella-bella!”

I focus on Stella over Sway’s shoulder, and the look of terror on her face does nothing to help my panic. I start to gasp and struggle against Sway. I have to get out of here.

“Someone go next door to CS and get some help.”

I don’t hear anything else after that. My body decides that it’s had enough and just shuts down. My cries silence, my tears dry up, and I just go slack.

My focus stays straight ahead, but I don’t see anything. My mind is too busy focusing on what I saw inside that bag.

The baby doll snapped apart with red letters against the torso.

Their words forever branded in my head.

An image I will never, as long as I live, forget.

GOD, IT FEELS GOOD TO be home. I’ve been back stateside for the last week, having to debrief up north before I was able to get my ass back to Georgia. It was an impossibly hard week because I knew I was within a few hundred miles of holding my girl. I didn’t have time to call and check in with Dani. I knew that, the second I heard her voice, it would be game over, so I stayed the course and checked in with my dad and Axel as much as I could. So far, nothing’s changed.

My first stop home should have been Dani’s, but I figure she is at work, and that gives me some time to get a shower, change out of the clothes I’ve been traveling all day in, and get to her for what I hope will be a welcome surprise.

I pull my truck up to the apartment and lean back with a deep sigh. Fuck if my body doesn’t relax within seconds of parking my truck. Especially now that I know there will be no more of this leaving shit. I officially have been let go from the program. No more gone for months, going dark with no chance of talking to the ones I love back home. And most important—no more leaving Dani.

We can finally focus on growing our relationship. Making her mine. And I’m never going to fucking let her go. In the back of my mind, I’ve worried that she’s had enough waiting, given up on us before we could even get off the ground running, but I’ve pushed it aside and kept hope.

There is no way that, after all of this time, when we finally have our shot and it will be over before we even get started.

Reaching over the back seat, I grab my bag and climb down from my truck. Then I pause to stretch before I bound up the stairs two at a time. I drop my bag, dig for my keys, and open the door.

The smile on my face dies instantly when I walk into the living room. Every single fear I’ve had since I left comes back but with a soul-crushing force.

My girl.

My fucking Dani-girl is wrapped up tight in the arms of the man I’ve considered one of my closest friends for years. Her back is to me, her head is tucked into his chest, and his arms are wrapped around her tight. He looks up when the door opens, and I can’t even look him in the eyes because of the red haze clouding my vision.

I didn’t think it could get worse. Nope. Never in my wildest nightmares did I think it could be worse than seeing her in the arms of another man. But when she turns at the noise and I get a good look at her, my world stops spinning. Right here, it just stops with an intensity that rocks my foundation.

“The fuck?” I bellow, the sound booming through the room, bouncing off the walls, and making Dani flinch.

“Huh?”

I look from her stomach—her slightly rounded and very obviously pregnant tiny bump of a stomach—and I feel my lip curl in disgust.