His eyebrows dart up. “Does he know the baby is mine, or did you lie to him, too?”
“Lie to him, too? When did I ever lie to you?”
“You told me you were on birth control.”
I nearly fall over. “You must’ve confused me with one of the other girls you were sleeping with. We weren’t allowed to take birth control because we weren’t even supposed to have sex until we were married.”
“And what’s it like to run away from one man planning on making you his whore right into the arms of another who succeeded. Tell me, April. Do they pass you around and fuck you bloody in front of the other bikers?”
My fingers itch to slap the hell out of him, but I have to think about my unborn child. I’m certain at this point that Cory wouldn’t let that slide. If I hit him, he’ll have no problem hitting me back.
“You need to leave.”
Thankfully, he backs up, but I feel like a sitting duck when he reaches into his back pocket.
I turn to run, knowing that he’s going to take measures into his own hands since I refused an abortion, but he doesn’t pull out a knife or a gun. He flips open his black leather wallet, pulling a stack of bills from it before closing the distance between us. I’m a shaking trembling mess when he bends low to my ear, so terrified, I can’t move when he folds the cash and shoves it into the back pocket of my jeans.
“That baby better be history when my parents reach out to you. Use that for the abortion and don’t ever say I never gave you anything.” The psycho whistles as he walks away.
On shaking legs, I walk back into the building. Nearly my entire lunch break was used up with his visit, but it’s not like I could stomach food right now after what just happened. I don’t look into the front office as I pass by heading back to the teacher’s lounge, but I have no doubt everyone in there has their nose to the glass, trying to figure out what just happened.
I attempt to work for the next hour, but it’s impossible. I fake an illness, complaining about nausea and ask to go home. Cara picks me up from the front of the high school, and I can’t make eye contact with her.
If I talk about what happens, it makes it real, and I’m already struggling with the possibilities. The Clarks are a very wealthy family. I know they have connections because Cory used to brag about it all the time.
“Are you sure you don’t need to go to the doctor’s office? You’re as pale as a ghost, April.”
“I’m fine,” I assure her, my head leaning against the passenger window. “I just need to lie down.”
“But this has been going on for a while.”
And that’s what I get for lying during the Fourth of July party. I’m going to have to stop using my pregnancy and nausea as an excuse when I need time to myself.
Thankfully, Cara doesn’t push the issue much further, and I’m able to get inside the clubhouse and to my room with no further conversation. The bed looks welcoming but lying down is impossible. My skin is already itching with the need to run. Attempting to get comfortable would only increase that urge.
I feel like I need to get away, to go where no one knows me, but Cory mentioned a private investigator, meaning they were able to find me now, and they’d eventually find me again.
I can’t think of a single way out of this. I know I need to speak with Nate, but I ignore his text this afternoon, sent at the same time every day when he knows I’m off work, and I ignore it again when he calls later in the evening. This is too much to deal with, but after the freak-out I had, I know this isn’t fair. I need to talk to him about what’s going on, and I will, but I don’t want to bother him with this until he’s safe. He could risk getting hurt if he has all of my drama on his mind.
I silence my phone, exhausted from the day, and make a promise to talk to Emmalyn about it in the morning. Maybe she will have some ideas about how to deal with this, some solution so Cory’s family doesn’t end up with my child.
Chapter 32
Apollo
It seems that every time I have to reassure April that I’m not going somewhere, we come together even stronger than we were before, and then I have to leave for work. It makes me wonder if that bond we formed is then just as quickly snapped and we’re doing real damage to our relationship.
I hate leaving her. Despite spending time on phone calls and video chats, I can’t be there to hold her and reassure her that she’s it for me. It gives her time to get lost in her head and question everything.