Page 24

Lacey

T he next morning after waking up at his place, I realized that Rebel had gotten up early and created an area for me in the spacious empty walk-in closet across from his bathroom. It was the room I had identified in my mind as being perfect for a nursery. Since we weren’t planning to have children anytime soon, I’d enjoy it while I could. I knew it was crazy thinking about having kids even in the future, when Rebel and I hadn’t been together for long, but they always say when you know you know. And I knew .

Me and Rebel were in it for the long haul.

Thinking more clearly about children made me start to worry about all the sex Rebel and I had been having. We weren’t using condoms, and I was coming up on three years of having my implant in place. I knew that I was supposed to get it checked two months before it was due to be changed, just to be sure it was still effective, but between moving back to Griffinsford, taking over my parents’ business, the break-ins, and meeting Rebel, linking with a new doctor had completely slipped my mind.

I pushed away that little voice in the back of my mind that whispered I was possibly pregnant already. No, I told myself firmly. The implant was good for three years, probably longer. It didn’t suddenly stop working one day out of the blue. The little voice whispered back that I was three weeks shy of three years at the moment, and the doctor had explained how different bodies respond differently, which was why they liked to check hormone levels. Damn, I had apparently turned into a woman who liked to live dangerously.

When I got dressed for the day and came downstairs, Rebel was all smiles. “I did good, right?” he asked before taking a sip of his coffee.

I walked over and gave him a hug. “Yeah, baby. You did more than good. Setting up that little space for me makes me feel like I belong.”

“You do belong here, ladybug,” he said warmly. I liked that he occasionally called me by my childhood nickname.

I also couldn’t stand to keep him in the dark about a possible birth control failure. He would consider that an unforgivable slight. And I didn’t want to hurt him just when we had worked all our relationship stuff out. I was going to make an appointment with my OB-GYN after the weekend and go and buy some condoms. But still I had to say something.

I wrapped my arms around him and laid my cheek against his chest before murmuring, “You know the problem with ladybugs is they tend to make more ladybugs.”

He froze for a second before wrapping his arms around me. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

I tilted my head up to look at him and shook my head, “I don’t think so, but—”

“You think you’re pregnant?” His eyes widened.

I pushed back from him and picked up the coffee he’d made for me. Bringing the cup to my mouth, I took a sip before answering him. “No. I don’t think so. With the implant I have, I don’t get periods so there’s nothing to give a hint. But I just realized that I missed a maintenance visit with my OB-GYN. I’m in the gray area where my implant might not be working as effectively.”

His face lit up. “So that’s a maybe, right?”

I nodded, shocked that he looked so thrilled about me possibly messing things up for us. “I guess we could use condoms until I can get an appointment made.”

The happiness fell right off his face. “If that’s what you want, I’ll do it.”

“Look Rebel, I know you’re a little older than me, but we haven’t been together long. We’re not even engaged, much less married—”

He interrupted me, “Is that what your problem with being pregnant is? Us not being engaged or married? I can fix that. Give me a few days.”

“Wait! What? I wasn’t insinuating we should rush into an engagement and I’m not pregnant—at least I don’t think I am. I just wanted to be upfront with you when I realized I’d forgotten to make the appointment.”

He took another drink of his coffee and seemed to be thinking carefully before he spoke again, “I think we’re having a communication breakdown. I’m gonna tell you how I feel, and then I want you to do the same thing. Even if it’s not what I want, I won’t be upset, and we’ll come to a compromise. Does that sound doable?”

I nodded. I was starting to regret bringing up the whole damn appointment issue, but if we were starting out on the rest of our lives together, then I wanted everything out in the open. I guessed now was as good a time as any to lay all of our cards on the table.

Rebel drained his cup and set it down on the counter before taking a deep breath and saying, “I get why you missed your appointment. We’ve had a lot going on in our lives and shit happens. From the moment I first decided you were my one, my goal has been marriage and babies. I didn’t bring that up because I thought we were protected, and I didn’t want to scare you off with long term plans that big so soon. If you are pregnant, I’d be fucking thrilled. If you honestly don’t want to be pregnant right now, I’ll support whatever decision you make. I’m not some mindless neanderthal that thinks women are baby factories, I respect your autonomy and shit. Just that someday, either now or in the future, I can see us being a family.” Glancing away, he added, “That’s all I have to say.”

When I set my coffee cup aside my hand was trembling so much that some of the coffee splashed out. Rebel grabbed a paper towel and cleaned my hand and then the counter while I was trying to pull my thoughts together.

“Look, babies weren’t something I saw in my immediate future, however if it turns out that I’m pregnant, I’m keeping our baby. You and I are very much on the same page about that. I’m more than ready for an engagement and marriage. I know it seems rushed, but I just had this feeling that we were meant to be. I figured when you were ready, you’d ask.”

His hands came out to rest on my hips, and he gently tugged me closer. “So, all I have to do is ask and you’ll be all mine?”

I nodded, caught in the thrall of having all his attention centered on me after being vulnerable with each other. “Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Only I’m already all yours, remember?”

The pleased expression on his face turned smug in an instant. And then he dropped to his knees to be face-to-face with my stomach. He put his ear to my belly first and I pointed out incredulously, “Even if I’m pregnant—and I’m pretty sure I’m not—there is nothing to hear.”

He made a little knocking gesture with one hand and said loudly, “Little ladybug, if you’re in there, don’t worry, me and your mama are gonna love you so much.” Then he gave me a bear hug with both arms. His playful reaction made me tear up because now I really wanted to be pregnant with his baby. And if I wasn’t, it was going to make me sad. Why oh why was the world such a cruel place?

When he got up, we talked about me finding a new doctor so we could find out if I was pregnant and if not, decide what we wanted to do about birth control. The idea of having a baby with Rebel was appealing, but if I wasn’t pregnant then we both thought maybe waiting a little while might be a good idea. Time got away from us but eventually, Rebel headed off to the courthouse to support Storm. Their club’s attorney was filing a motion to dismiss his case. Apparently, law enforcement tested the blood on the drug paraphernalia and dusted it for prints. The results came back negative for his blood type and the only prints on it were from when he grabbed it to take it away. Even though I was almost one hundred percent sure it would happen, I told him I would keep my fingers crossed that they would dismiss the case.

***

It was with a light heart that I left for work. Working alone in the office had been too much of a risk for my overly protective biker until now. But now it looked like everything was settled he’d eased off. Richie had been insistent that he hadn’t broken in, so it seemed more likely that it was linked to the other local break-ins and not personal.

However, as I got out of my car and walked towards the office, I felt unsettled. Something was different—it was like the feeling I’d gotten while walking up to my parents’ place. I kept looking over my shoulder as if someone was behind me, but the parking lot was clear. I quickly locked the door behind me and set the alarm, then ran from room to room to check that there was no one there. Once I’d satisfied myself that it was only me, I sat down at my desk and got on with work. After an hour, a customer turned up, so I buzzed him in. Once we’d finished, I showed him out to his car, and we chatted a bit more about the wiring project we would be doing on his latest renovation. I was about to reset the alarm when a familiar voice called my name from behind me. “Lacey Livingstone, what a nice little office you have.”

It was my former boss from LA and his voice sounded fake and too bright. He must have slipped in when I was showing Mr. Aristides to his car.

The initial fear gave way to anger when I realized who it was. I really couldn’t be bothered dealing with Edward today, but I supposed that I had to be polite. However, my voice probably sounded irritated as I asked, “What in the world are you doing in Griffinsford, Mr. Edwards?”

He dropped down into the seat in front of my desk. “I came to check on you, of course. We were pretty close back in LA. When you stopped answering my texts and refused to pick up my calls, I got worried that something had happened to you. I couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. Taking a day off to come and check on you seemed like the right thing to do.”

I sat in my chair, feeling the frown on my face grow deeper. “You can’t just come strolling into my office and disrupt my workday.”

He sighed dramatically. “Why are you being so rude, Lacey?” Glancing around, taking in my office, he added. “Friends can visit friends. There’s no rule about that, you know.”

“Of course not,” I stammered. This man had a way of twisting my thoughts, but I wasn’t falling for it this time. “The thing is, I’m quite busy these days. You should have called first. The way we work here is strictly by appointment only, and we don’t have an open office policy.”

He grinned at me, “I’ll bear that in mind for future reference but I’m here now, so we should catch up.”

Eyeing him warily, I told him, “Our office was recently closed, and I’ve got a lot of work to catch up on, so I can’t visit for very long.”

“Well that’s a fine howdy do,” he complained. “I drove all the way here from LA and you’re giving me the bum’s rush.”

“You know I’m not doing that,” I said, desperate to talk him down and get him to leave.

“Then let’s grab an early lunch and talk?” he suggested. “Maybe we could order in, and you could work while we talk.”

“Alright,” I finally told him, “But next time please call before stopping by.”

“Of course,” he said politely. However the tone of his voice was hollow.

“How about Asian food?” I asked. “You liked that when we worked together.”

“Yeah, that sounds great. I’ll take a crispy chicken and a cola,” he said blandly.

“Alright,” I said indulgently as I texted our order in. I was annoyed that he’d turned up, but felt that I had to be polite to him. It wasn’t like he’d done anything to hurt me. I had a feeling he was going to try and persuade me to return to LA, and I was ready to explain that my life was here in Griffinsford now.

I did, however, take a minute to text Rebel about my old boss being here, but that was only out of an abundance of caution.

When I glanced up, he had a forced smile. “You have a nice setup here. Is this your parents’ company?”

“Yes, they’ve made me the general manager. So far, business is brisk.”

“So, you’re a one-woman show here, right?”

“Yes, I’m the only office staff, but I have three field workers and one in training.”

“This seems like a small town. I’m surprised there’s enough electrical work to support a whole electrical office.”

“We get referrals from all over the county. One of my field workers is a master electrician. His services are very much in demand.”

“Well, that’s impressive, if a bit wasteful to have such a high-caliber employee on the payroll in a one-horse town like Griffinsford.”

I ignored his insult, and we continued to chat until the food arrived. He mostly talked about how his wife was screwing him over in their divorce and how all his employees had suddenly become assholes, but he was soldiering on all on his own. He always somehow made himself the victim in every situation he had created by his own selfish, thoughtless decisions. I had somehow forgotten how irritating he could be. As we were eating, I turned the tables on him.

I cleared my throat and asked, “So, how has your business been since I left?”

“It’s been one misadventure after another,” he admitted nervously. “That’s one of the things I came to talk to you about. I can’t run that office all my own, and I want you to come back and work for me.”

“You know I can’t move back to LA.” I gestured around the room with one hand, “As you can clearly see, my parents need me to run their business. My father has Alzheimer's, and my mother is his primary caregiver. I’m their only child, so saving the business falls to me.”

He shoved his half-eaten food container aside. “The food here is terrible. How can you stand to live in a backwater town like Griffinsford? You clearly came to LA for excitement like all you small-town girls do. You were lucky enough to find someone to employ you at a decent wage and just when I was starting to rely upon you, you picked up and moved back to Smallville.”

Having lost what little appetite I had, I dumped both our containers in the wastepaper basket beside my desk. “You’re right about the food being terrible but not about me going back to LA to work for you again.”

“If it’s a matter of money, I’m willing to raise your salary by fifty percent.”

“I really can’t. Like I said—”

“Yes, I heard you the first time. You think your parents need you to save their quaint little business located on the ass end of nowhere.”

“That’s about enough,” I snapped. “You’re being rude and condescending.”

“I’m exasperated with you, young lady. I gave up my wife for you and here you are throwing it back in my face.”

“What?” I asked.

“Oh don’t give me that Lacey, I could tell you were into me. Well now I’m free,” he said licking his lips in a manner that turned my stomach.

“You were my boss. I was absolutely not into you, not then and not now. I’m going to need you to leave now.”

“Playing hard to get? I love it. Look, this is how it’s gonna go, I want you to resign from this tiny hole in the wall and take over running my office.” He held up both hands in front of him, “Now don’t get me wrong. I’m going to sweeten the deal by offering you double what you were making before. You would be insane to turn down that kind of money—or me,” he said triumphantly.

I came to my feet and glared at him. “I’m turning down your generous offer. Please go and don’t come at me with more offers because I’m not looking to leave my family business behind.”

Before I knew what was happening, he reached out his hand and swiped it across my desk, flinging everything onto the floor. “I’m just about done with your stubbornness, girlie.”

My jaw almost hit the floor. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“We’re leaving here, grab your bag and pack what you need then we’ll be off.”

This was the part that clued me in that he was batshit crazy. Did he think I had a powder room with a full stock of clothing and accessories tucked away in my office?

“I’m not joking, Lacey. You’re wasting a big bunch of my time today. We need to hit the road immediately if we’re gonna avoid the rush hour traffic in LA. You’re doing this whether you want to or not,” he said.

“The hell I am. Get out of my office and don’t ever come back,” I reached for my phone so I could call Rebel.

Before I had a chance, his hand came out hard and fast around my arm and he started dragging me towards the back exit. I made another mad grab for my cell phone, but it clamored to the floor when I lost my grip on it. The next thing I knew he was dragging me out the back door and into his old panel van. He was an electrician, one with delusions of grandeur, but still an electrician and they all had panel vans. When he pulled the side door open, I knew real fear for the first time. Something told me that if he managed to get me into this van, my chances of making it back home unharmed would diminish greatly.

Needless to say, I fought him every step of the way, to no avail. This man was absolutely crazy.

Just as he was dragging me over the threshold, I twisted my arm away and made a run for it. It felt like freedom for a brief second, until he grabbed me by the hair and stuffed me right where I didn’t want to go. This asshole was seriously pissing me off.

When he handcuffed me to the bottom of one of the front seats and forced me to sit on the dirty floor, my fury spiked. “What do you hope to accomplish by abducting me? I’m never going to fall in love with you or run your office for you.”

“We’ll just see about that,” he sneered. You’re gonna be mine. I worked too hard to make a life for us to let you just throw it all away because you don’t understand what’s at stake.”

“What’s at stake is you ending up behind bars for doing something outrageously stupid. You can’t just kidnap someone and force them to work for you. You do know that, don’t you?”

“By the time I’m finished with you, you’ll be worshiping the ground I walk on and willing to do anything to please me.”

“Not a fucking chance. You can either let me go now or I will make taking me your worst fucking nightmare. I know you don’t believe me, but I’ll make your life a living hell.

This fucker actually laughed.

Alright, game on, I told myself. I waited for him to start the van and then took a deep breath and screamed at the top of my lungs, long and loud. Then I just kept screaming over and over again. I could tell he was startled because his head whipped back to pin me with a menacing stare before growing, “Shut the fuck up.”

I ignored him and just kept screaming. I thought I heard him say something about how no one was going to hear me on the interstate, and I’d be too hoarse to scream anymore by the time we got back to his place.

See? My plan was working already. He’d spilled the beans about where he was taking me. That’s information I wouldn’t have otherwise had if just sat here like a good little girl doing nothing to save myself. As I continued mindlessly screaming as close to his ear as possible, I tried to remember what I knew about his house. I’d been there once for a Christmas party he and his wife threw for their staff and clients. He lived in a big, two-story brick home in a nice neighborhood, much like my parents did. I remembered that he acted like I should be impressed, so I acted like I was—even though his house was pretty standard when it came to the houses me and my friends grew up in.

My throat was getting seriously sore after about forty minutes of screaming, so I upped my game to kicking his seat. Since my hands were cuffed to the bottom back of the passenger side seat, I leaned against the side of the van and just started kicking his seat at one-minute intervals. At first, he jolted forward and almost lost control of the steering wheel.

His foot hit the brakes and the van slowed, but didn’t stop. “What in the hell are you doing, you stupid bitch? I thought you were smart. Kicking the driver’s seat while the car is in motion could cause a wreck or me to veer off the road and kill us both.”

I shrugged and replied hoarsely, “Either of those fates is preferable to living as your slave if I’m cooperative or tied up in your basement to be abused at your leisure if I’m not.” Then I gave his seat another hard kick to drive my point home.

“Look Lacey, I’m not a monster. I’m just a man who wants an opportunity to show you that things could be good between us. You wouldn’t let me, so I’m doing what I have to do in order for you to understand that we’re a good match.” He actually sounded hurt.

“Well, every villain is the hero of their own story I guess.” I told him before kicking his seat again.

His face twisted into a mask of fury. “Fine. I tried to play nice with you, but you’re too stubborn to see it for the kindness it was. From this moment on, every nasty thing you do to me will be revisited on you three times when we get to my place.”

“How very biblical of you,” I sneered, not giving two hoots in hell about all his manipulative bullshit.

He turned around again which was great because the ignorant asshole was still driving, albeit slower than normal. “I know you’re young and testing my resolve. I just want you to know that it’s gonna hurt me more than you, but I will teach you not to abuse my good will if the last thing I do. In the end you’ll see how stupid resisting me was.”

“Let me see if I’ve got this straight, you forcefully kidnapped me, tied me up on the floor of your filthy van and are threatening to harm me for objecting, all in order get me to fall in love with you but somehow I’m the stupid one?”

When he turned to look at me again his expression was shocked. “Lacey, you’ve changed in the time you’ve been gone from my life. You used to be quiet, submissive, and agreeable. Now, you’re acting like something spawned in the fiery pits of hell. I’m not even sure if I still want you at this point.” The tone of his voice implied he expected me to straighten right up to earn the privilege of this kidnapping. Dude was complete moron.

I pointed upwards with one finger to the sign outside his driver’s side window. “Good. I’m glad we got that cleared up. You can drop me off right here, I can call a friend for a ride home and we can forget about this whole unfortunate incident.”

His voice turned suspicious. “I don’t think so, Lacey. You’re either going to turn out to be my new life partner, or a loose end that needs to be tied up—your choice.”

This man was absolutely off his rocker. I’d thought he was a controlling prick when I worked for him, but that was apparently the getting all his little ducks in a row phase of his life. I literally watched him divorce his nice wife, never really suspecting that he intended me to be her replacement. If not stupid, I had certainly been naive.

He was right about one thing, though—I’d been timid and easily controlled back then. Moving back to my hometown and being responsible for the family business had changed me. If I was being honest, I’d admit that spending time with Zoe, Alison, and Rebel had helped me become stronger and more self-assured as well. I had a long way to go before I could claim the kind of strength of character my friends possessed, but every day that I resisted this asshole, the closer I came to coming into my own. My fate was sealed. I needed to resist, to save myself.

It was great that I was insightful enough to drop Rebel a text about my old boss showing up at my office. The old Lacey would sit around waiting for the rescue that was sure to come, compliments of her true-blue biker with a heart of gold. But I wasn’t going to suffer the humiliation of Rebel finding me being a good little victim. No sir, I was going to fight this asshole every step of the way and in doing so, prove that I deserved the good man fate had sent my way.