HAYLEY’S P.O.VI stared at the ultrasound picture long after we left the hospital. The doctor had printed it out and handed it to me and ever since, I hadn’t been able to pull my eyes away from it.I sent a photo to my father but didn’t wait to see his response, I just stared.It hadn’t felt real up until this moment, up until I had physical evidence that there was a literal child growing inside of me. The awe hit and shortly after, the fear came too. I tried to hide it from Jake who was over the moon and ecstatic. It wasn’t fear that we wouldn’t be good parents, I knew Jake would be the best father and I knew that he would help me wherever I messed up.It was fear of everything else.It was fear of everything happening, fear that Andrea or Marie would ruin our happy bubble. It was fear that life itself would come between us and wreck what we had built. I knew my child would always have a wonderful support system, I knew they would have people who loved and cared for them but I was st
HAYLEY’S P.O.VIt was barely an hour until the end of work when Sienna made her way into my office.Her presence in my office wasn’t unusual. She was the only friend I had here and she loved to make her presence known when I wasn’t with any clients. However, the expression on her face had me freezing.“There’s someone looking for you,” she began slowly. “I don’t even know if I should be telling you about it because it seems like some weird fan interaction but she says her name is Andrea. I told her to leave but she asked me to-”I sighed deeply, not mentally ready for the conversation that was about to ensue. “It’s fine, where is she?”I made my way down to the lobby where Andrea was waiting. She had her hands crossed in front of her and her legs crossed at the knee. From afar, she looked so gentle and calm and not at all like the raging crazy person she was the last time I saw her.Next to her was Makayla but the youngest was nowhere to be seen.I took a deep breath, mentally calming
HAYLEY’S P.O.VKate was panicking and it was pissing me off.It wasn’t that I didn’t empathize with her- I did. I couldn’t begin to imagine how she felt in the moment. I was just strung up as it was and she was making it worse.“Are you alright?” she asked for what felt like the tenth time in one minute and I nodded.I sat on the cold bathroom floor, my hands on the toilet seat simply because I didn’t have the energy to move. My stomach was still churning and my head was pounding like crazy. The last thing I wanted was to get up and throw up again.“Do you need me to call Jake?” she began before stopping herself. “He’s with the police, of course I can’t call him. Perhaps I could pull your dad out?”“Dad is his lawyer,” I cut her off. “They have to be together.”“Should I call an ambulance?”“I threw up, I’m not dying,” I dragged myself to my feet slowly and made my way over to the sink to clean up.I hated the after taste that vomit left in my mouth more than anything.Behind me, Kate
If there is one thing that I hate more than anything in this world, it is listening to investors drone on and on about their problems as if I care about it. It is not my fault that you don’t know how businesses work and that you refused to read the contract before signing. I cannot help the fact that you signed over fifty percent of your total earning instead of your profit.People only ever get a lawyer after they have fucked up instead of to prevent said fuck up. I am a lawyer not a miracle worker, I cannot help you.I took my glasses off my face and pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration as I looked at my father’s new client. To be honest, I don’t even know his name, and I don’t care. I work as one of my father’s lawyers. I am fresh out of law school so I don’t handle any of the major cases yet.“I’m sorry but I can’t help you.” I said cutting him off mid sentence. “It’s your job to help me.”“If you had brought the contract to me to read before signing then maybe I
Jake left the house soon after that with dad and when my father returned late at night, Jake wasn’t with him.My father and I have had a routine ever since I was a kid. He is a very busy man with running his company and dealing with clients. Sometimes he would be late to events at school and sometimes even miss them.But every single day, we eat dinner together at 9 p.m. in front of the massive home theatre while watching a different movie. It was his way of making up for it and he only ever misses it when he travels.Last night was his turn to pick a movie and he picked a bloody slasher movie. I couldn’t tell you the name even if I tried. I spent the entire movie bitching about the characters and ridiculing their actions which led to dad telling me to shut up which then led me to telling him to pick better movies.Then he threw popcorn at me, then I threw some back, and from there, we just ended up talking about a bunch of crazy things before he threatened to shove a sock in my mouth
The hair at the back of my neck stood on end as I took in the stoic look on his face. I nodded, wiped my hands against my shorts and followed him into the living room. He took off his jacket and tie and draped them over the armchair before turning to me.“If this is about Greg; it was not my fault.” “It’s not about Greg,” my dad chuckled, “Although, we do need to talk about him.”“There’s nothing to talk about; he was a dick and I treated him like a dick; story over.” I flashed a wide smile, “What did you want to talk about?”“I’m traveling tomorrow.” At first, I wondered why he made it such a big deal to tell me but then it hit me. “You’re not going to be here for the fourth of July.” He gave me a sheepish smile and nodded.My father and I have celebrated every Fourth of July together since the day I was born. His parents usually come over and we have this huge family barbeque in the backyard. For the last six years, Jake has been joining us as well. The barbeque will
I could hear every ragged breath that left Jake’s lips, could feel the rise and fall of his chest as he stared down at me, could see the swirling darkness in his eyes. His desire was tangible, I could taste it, see it, feel it. We were so close to each other, it was almost like we were breathing the same air, feeling the same breeze, all it took was one wrong- or right- move and we would be pressed impossibly close together.Just when I thought he would make the move, he closed his eyes and took a slow step backwards. His rejection hit me square in the centre of my chest.“I’m not playing this game with you Hayley.”He had never rejected me so plainly before. But then again, I had never made my intentions known so plainly either. Maybe it was all in my head; maybe I made up those glances, read too much into them because I wanted to believe that he wanted me just as much as I wanted him. Maybe I was being delusional and I’m just the annoying little girl who he can’t seem to get rid of.
I watched with baited breath as he slowly took off the jacket. He did it slowly, almost as if he wanted me to savor the moment; he wanted me to anticipate it, to want it- to crave it.The tie went next and he tossed it against my sofa. After, he slowly unbuttoned his shirt. It felt like hours before he was done but he didn’t shrug off the shirt. He made a twirling motion with his hands and I turned around to face him and sat on my knees.“Lie on your back.” He instructed.I did as he asked but a question was plaguing me and I had to let it out, “If you were going to have me on my back then why did you ask me to get on my knees?”“You ask too many questions.” He said after a beat of silence and I shrugged. “It comes with the job. I can’t exactly be a lawyer without asking- oh.”He hooked his hands behind my thighs and dragged me until I was half dangling off the bed. The action took me by surprise hence the little gasp that escaped me.He knelt between my legs and my breath hitc
HAYLEY’S P.O.VKate was panicking and it was pissing me off.It wasn’t that I didn’t empathize with her- I did. I couldn’t begin to imagine how she felt in the moment. I was just strung up as it was and she was making it worse.“Are you alright?” she asked for what felt like the tenth time in one minute and I nodded.I sat on the cold bathroom floor, my hands on the toilet seat simply because I didn’t have the energy to move. My stomach was still churning and my head was pounding like crazy. The last thing I wanted was to get up and throw up again.“Do you need me to call Jake?” she began before stopping herself. “He’s with the police, of course I can’t call him. Perhaps I could pull your dad out?”“Dad is his lawyer,” I cut her off. “They have to be together.”“Should I call an ambulance?”“I threw up, I’m not dying,” I dragged myself to my feet slowly and made my way over to the sink to clean up.I hated the after taste that vomit left in my mouth more than anything.Behind me, Kate
HAYLEY’S P.O.VIt was barely an hour until the end of work when Sienna made her way into my office.Her presence in my office wasn’t unusual. She was the only friend I had here and she loved to make her presence known when I wasn’t with any clients. However, the expression on her face had me freezing.“There’s someone looking for you,” she began slowly. “I don’t even know if I should be telling you about it because it seems like some weird fan interaction but she says her name is Andrea. I told her to leave but she asked me to-”I sighed deeply, not mentally ready for the conversation that was about to ensue. “It’s fine, where is she?”I made my way down to the lobby where Andrea was waiting. She had her hands crossed in front of her and her legs crossed at the knee. From afar, she looked so gentle and calm and not at all like the raging crazy person she was the last time I saw her.Next to her was Makayla but the youngest was nowhere to be seen.I took a deep breath, mentally calming
HAYLEY’S P.O.VI stared at the ultrasound picture long after we left the hospital. The doctor had printed it out and handed it to me and ever since, I hadn’t been able to pull my eyes away from it.I sent a photo to my father but didn’t wait to see his response, I just stared.It hadn’t felt real up until this moment, up until I had physical evidence that there was a literal child growing inside of me. The awe hit and shortly after, the fear came too. I tried to hide it from Jake who was over the moon and ecstatic. It wasn’t fear that we wouldn’t be good parents, I knew Jake would be the best father and I knew that he would help me wherever I messed up.It was fear of everything else.It was fear of everything happening, fear that Andrea or Marie would ruin our happy bubble. It was fear that life itself would come between us and wreck what we had built. I knew my child would always have a wonderful support system, I knew they would have people who loved and cared for them but I was st
JAKE’S P.O.VI hated meetings, which was ironic considering that they were a necessary part of my profession.There was nothing more frustrating than listening to the same set of people over and over again while they tried to convince you that they were the smartest people in the room. If I had my way, I would have walked out over half an hour ago but I needed to be here. This was potentially one of my biggest clients and it didn’t matter that he was as interesting as fucking dry paint, I had to listen to him.We had done everything we could, outlined why it would be best to work with us and yet he was still hesitant. I was beginning to think there was nothing we could do to convince him.“There’s just something missing,” he continued. “I know you have the clientele and almost everyone is singing your praises.”“But?”“I don’t know,” he ran his hand over his bald head. “It’s just something that I will know when I see it.”“With all due respect, Mr. Brown, I don’t understand. If there
HAYLEY’S P.O.VJake and I had settled in a comforting routine and I had to admit that it was wonderful getting to wake up next to him every morning.He was the perfect partner even though we both had no idea what we were doing. A few night, I had woken up to find him reading a pregnancy book but I never commented on it. He doted on me, making sure I ate and rested all the time. It was cute and I secretly loved it but there was the elephant in the room.We were yet to do an ultrasound.It wasn’t due to lack of time. If it were up to Jake, we would have done it the minute he found out but I just couldn’t. I knew I was pregnant, I knew nothing would change that and yet, I didn’t want it to be real just yet. For the past week, I shut down every discussion surrounding the doctor’s appointment and avoided it as much as possible.It was Friday and I was already dreading the idea of being forced to interact with people I didn’t like and couldn’t stand. I was tired of the team building exercis
HAYLEY’S P.O.VThe moment I woke up, I knew I wasn’t alone.I was always able to tell when someone was watching me, even from a young age. The hair on my neck stood on edge and I just felt this sensation all over me. Dad always told me it was normal but some people found it weird. They said it was some kind of sixth spider sense or some shit like that.To an extent, I agreed, because not only was I able to tell when I was being watched, I was able to tell who was doing the watching. Each person felt different: with Jake, his gaze was always heated, it felt like someone was trying to brand my skin with their eyes. With my father, it was softer, more loving but that didn’t make it any less intense.“Hey dad,” I whispered as I sat up slowly.I looked around the dark room and found him seated in the couch facing the bed and I had never been so grateful for Jake dressing me before now. It would have been very uncomfortable if I was still naked in bed.Dad didn’t respond, he just stared at
JAKE’S P.O.VI blinked once then twice, staring at Hayley in front of me and wondering if I had misheard.“You what?”I wasn’t proud of my response but I was convinced that I had misheard. Hayley was nowhere near ready to have a child, she had all but said so herself, she wanted to live first, she wanted to grow first.She must have mistook my words for something else because her eyes grew dark and she stepped back from me. “You don’t have to be involved.”“Excuse me?”“If you don’t want this baby then I am more than capable of doing it on my own. I have my grandfather and my-”“Stop.”She either didn’t hear me or didn’t care. “I have the money and this will fulfill my grandmother’s inheritance clause. I have more than enough to take care of my child.”“Our,” I corrected and that was what caught her attention.“What?”“Our child,” I repeated stepping closer to her. “If you had let me finish earlier, you would have known that I want this baby.”“But you-”“I was surprised and I didn’t
HAYLEY’S P.O.VI wanted to take the test as soon as possible but I couldn’t.I had to wait until the morning because I needed accurate results.It felt like torture to just wait. I hid the tests in my bag but it was an ever present worry at the back of my mind. I could barely go a minute without thinking about it to the point that even Jake realized that something was bothering me.“Are you alright?” he asked and I nodded slowly. “You don’t look okay.”I just shrugged and turned away from him. He sighed and made his way over to me. He was still in his outfit from work but he had ditched the tie and the jacket. I was slacking off on my work terribly, I knew that for a fact and it was my day to plan the team building exercise tomorrow. I still had no idea what to do.“Hayley,” he crouched down in front of me, both hands on my thighs as he stroked my knee gently. “Talk to me, baby. Did something happen to Kate?”“No, Kate is fine. She’s having fun in school. She’s good, this isn’t about
HAYLEY’S P.O.VShe looked around in a panic, as if to ensure no one was watching outside before shutting the door behind her.“So,” I implored. “Who is he?”“He’s older, like Jake’s age.”I hummed. “Where did you meet him?”“At a club,” that had my brows rising. The club was not the ideal place to meet a guy. She must have seen the look on my face because she quickly added, “he’s not a typical club goer.”“I’m not judging.”“I know,” she ran her hands through her hair. “I know I should stop seeing her and I want to but,” she sighed deeply. “I know it is pathetic.”“There is nothing pathetic about being in love with someone.”“I’m not in love with him. I don’t think I am. He’s fun and nice but I don’t think he wants anything serious.”“Do you?”She went silent and turned away. “Can I get cleaned for a second then I’ll be back out.”I waved her off. I knew that pushing for an answer wouldn’t yield any positive results so I watched her leave instead. I sat cross legged on her couch waiti