That was the third time I had thrown up that morning. Last night Sebastien and I had a great time! And I couldn’t wait to reach home and devour my husband.
My husband.
But my stomach had other ideas. I ran to the bathroom and brought up the dinner we had shared. My stomach felt as though it was in a vice grip and someone was twisting it.
Last night, Sebastien stayed up with me, held my hair and brought me crackers, hoping to settle my stomach.
It had for a few hours and I got a little sleep. But I had gotten up again around five a.m. to throw up again.
Sebastien was worried and insisted that he take me to the hospital, but I told him that I’d be fine. We compromised that if by tomorrow I was still throwing up he’d take me to the hospital. Sebastien wanted to stay with me but he had an important meeting today. The client had flown all the way from China, so it wasn’t a meeting he could’ve postponed.
I pulled the covers over me, my head spinning, hoping it was nothing more than a little food allergy. But then it dawned on me that I hadn’t had my period yet. Usually, it would come late if I was highly stressed, which I had been, but it should have happened by now.
My head jerked to the nightstand my phone vibrated on it. I stretched my hand to see a call from Sebastien coming in. I pressed the answer button and mustered all the strength in me.
“Hello?”
“Hey, sweetheart, how are you feeling?” his voice was low and husky, sending shivers down my spine. “And please tell me the truth.”
I sighed. “I threw up a few minutes ago. I think it could just be a food allergy, worst case scenario a little food poisoning. My body is doing what it’s supposed to do by getting rid of it. I think once that’s done, I’ll be ok.”
“Make sure and stay decent and leave the bedroom door unlocked. I’ve instructed Rex to check in on you from time to time. He’ll knock, but if he doesn’t hear any answer, he’ll come in.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart. Do you still have crackers and water by the bed? Do you need anything else?”
The tray Sebastien had left on the nightstand before leaving this morning with water, crackers and a few apples, was still untouched.
“You,” I blurted out, and bit my lip as soon as I did.
“I’ve already canceled the rest of my meetings for the day. As soon as this meeting with Mr. Chen is over, I’ll be home.”
Just then I heard a faint knock and then a woman’s voice on Sebastien’s line. He exchanged a few words with her before turning his attention back to me.
“Sweetheart, I’ve got to go. Mr. Chen is here. See you soon.”
“Can’t wait.”
Sebastien hung up.
As I thought more and more about my period not showing up, I wondered if I was pregnant.
I called Rex on the phone.
“Mrs. Quantum, is everything ok?”
“Hi, Rex, everything is okay. Can you take me to the pharmacy to get a few things to settle my stomach? I should be ready in fifteen minutes.”
“Sure. I’ll be there.”
I thanked Rex and hung up the call.
Fifteen minutes later, I opened the bedroom door to head downstairs, and Rex was already there waiting for me. "You're here already?"
“Mr. Quantum told me that he wanted me to check on you today, and I figured it must be serious if he’d want me to go into the room if I didn’t hear anything when I knocked.”
“I think it’s a little food poisoning, but I think I’d feel better once I get to the pharmacy and they recommend something. Bu thanks for coming up to meet me.”
“No problem, Mrs. Quantum.”
Rex extended his elbow to me and we made our way down the stairs. I was happy for the extra support since walking downwards made me feel nauseous.
Ten minutes later Rex had escorted me into the pharmacy. He hadn’t stayed by my side, but he hung around ensuring I was safe. After discussing my symptoms with the female pharmacist she recommended that I take a pregnancy test. She also prescribed some pills that would be safe for me to take if I was pregnant if the symptoms persisted.
Twenty minutes later, I was standing in the bathroom looking at the two lines on the pregnancy strip: positive.
Shit!
Before I could wrap my head around what I had just found out, my phone buzzed again. I thought it was Sebastien sending me a text, but it wasn’t; someone had tagged me on all my social media platforms.
I clicked the first link and my phone almost dropped out of my hand. It was a video of me stripping! And that wasn’t the only video. There were multiple videos of me dancing and stripping for the world to see. It wasn’t long before the comments started coming in.
My life was ruined!
With trembling fingers and tears streaming down my face, I deactivated all my social media accounts.
I felt sick to my stomach, and I felt lightheaded. I paced the bathroom trying to call Sebastien but to no avail. He was probably still in the meeting, and I had no choice but to wait until he was finished.
I placed the pregnancy test in the bag it came in, tied it up and tossed it in the trash. I popped two of the pills I had bought into my mouth and made my way to the bed, pulled my covers and closed my eyes, just wanting to shut out everything out.
I must have fallen asleep because something made me bolt right up in bed.
Someone was calling my name—screaming my name, actually.
I slipped on my flip-flops and ran down the stairs to the front door. On the ground was Dean; Viper had his arms secured tightly behind his back even though Dean was twisting and angry below him.
“Get off of me, you son of a bitch. Get my sister out here now!” Then he screamed my name again, “Delilah!”
“Viper!” I screeched as I ran up to the men. “It’s okay. He’s my brother, let him up.”
With a nodded of his head, Viper released Dean, who scrambled to his feet. Viper turned and walked back to his post.
Dean glared at me, his face contorted with anger as he screamed at me, “Delilah, what the fuck is going on? I came out of rehab, went to your place and there was no sign of you, only to find out from social media that you are now married to my best friend? But that’s not the worst part. Is this what you’ve resorted to, acting like a slut and having men take videos of you?”
My anger flared. Who the fuck did Dean think he was, coming here talking to me like this? After everything I sacrificed for him? I slapped Dean across the face. Hard.
“And where did you come from? Rehab, right? Do you know what I had to do to pay your debt? Did you not think Hawthorne would come after me if they couldn’t find you? Don’t come here acting all self-righteous. You have your own skeletons in your closet!”
I saw the hurt in Dean’s eyes, but I didn’t care. I stormed off, leaving Dean, and headed into the house.