Chapter 16: Ajax
I had a hard time comprehending what the doc had just said. Just looking at the blob on the screen and hearing a heartbeat had freaked me out. Not in a bad way. In an, I have to protect them with my last dying breath way. Then to hear the words, it’s a baby girl… I was going to have a daughter. I knew she’d look as beautiful as her mother. I’d be killing boys when she turned ten and it would never stop. I’d have to see how Bull did it. He had Harlow and now he had Corinne and her twin brother, Caeden. They were almost two months old. Hell, if Bull didn’t want in on it, Rebel and I could do it together. He and Madisen were supposed to have a daughter next month.
Hearing a sniff had me pulling my head out of the clouds. I looked over at Jessica. She had tears streaming down her face and her arms wrapped around her middle. I grabbed her hand.
“What’s wrong, baby? Are you in pain? Let me get the doctor,” I told her in a panic. I went to get up off the bed, but she stopped me.
“I’m not in pain. Don’t call her back.”
“Then why in the hell are you crying?”
“Because I can see you’re not excited about having a girl. I can understand if you don’t want to be a part of her life after all.” Her words were the last thing I expected to hear. I shook my head. I had to have heard her wrong.
“Nymph, what the hell are you talking about? I never said I was disappointed about us having a girl. And I certainly never said I didn’t want to be a part of your lives. What the hell?”
“I saw your face. You instantly went quiet. You weren’t saying a word, Ajax.”
“Jesus Christ, stop calling me Ajax. You know to call me Kellan. I went quiet because I was deciding on how I was going to get away with killing all those boys and men. She’s going to look just like you, baby, and that means the guys will be beating down our door. I decided Rebel, Bull, and I will form a posse to deal with the guys who come after our daughters. She’s never dating or getting married.” She rolled her eyes.
“Don’t be silly. If she looks like me, you won’t have anything to worry about. Now, if she looks like the female version of you, then we’ll be in trouble.” I could see she was serious. I leaned down and gently kissed her lips.
“Babe, why do you say things like that? You act like you don’t think you’re beautiful, or that men could want you. And while we’re on this topic, I don’t want to be a downer, but can you tell me why you think your stepsister could steal me away from you?”
She sank back into the mattress. I could see her shutting down. I pulled her into my chest. It took some maneuvering, but I got her to where she was lying on my lap in the bed. I stroked her hair.
“Tell me,” I whispered. I knew this was key to figuring out how to handle her, and how to deal with her insecurities, so she never left me again. I couldn’t take it again.
“Because they took anyone who ever paid a bit of attention to me. I was so happy when my dad brought May and Melody home. He met her and they married quickly. I didn’t even meet them until they were already married and moving into our house. I’d never had a mother. Mine died when I was a baby. It didn’t take me long to find out they were more of the mean stepmother and stepsister from the fairy tales.
“They made sure to be all sweet when Dad was around, but when he wasn’t, I was no better than a servant to them. They bossed me around and had me doing all the crappy things. I complained to my dad once, and May turned it back on me. Told him I was acting up with her when he wasn’t there. That I hated her and wanted her to leave. He believed her and told me to behave myself! From that point onward, I kept it to myself.
“For a while, it was them chasing off anyone who wanted to be my friend. When we got older, even though she was three years older, Melody started to steal my friends for herself and turned them against me. They’d side with her and pick on me like she did. Then I hit high school and she was in her first year of college. I was a sophomore going into my junior year when I met Johnny.” She paused. I looked down at her. She was staring off into space.
“He was a senior and for some reason he looked at me. He asked me out to the homecoming dance. I was so excited. We went, and he and I became inseparable. That is until Melody came home for Christmas break. One look at her, and it was like I didn’t exist. He spent all his time with her. I was praying she’d go back to school soon. I tried to complain to Dad, but he just didn’t see it. Or maybe he didn’t want to see it. I thought once she was gone, Johnny would come back to me, except that’s not what happened.” She stopped talking. I saw the sheen of tears in her eyes.
“Baby, tell me what happened. You need to talk about this. It’s eating you up inside. I can see it. Tell me.”
“I had to run out to do some Christmas shopping. I wasn’t supposed to be back until evening. He said he had things to do. I got done early and hurried home to get dressed up for the evening. We were supposed to go out to dinner. When I got home, Dad and May weren’t home, but Melody was. I found her in my bed with my boyfriend. They were having sex.”
I groaned. What a dumbass to give up Jessica for Melody. Sure, on the surface, she looked gorgeous, but it was all fake. Jessica was beautiful all the way through. “Jesus, baby. I’m so damn sorry. What happened?”
She gave a humorless laugh. “I told him to get the hell out. He told me he loved her and that I’d just have to get used to it. He got up and left. The joke was on him. As soon as we broke up, she didn’t want to have anything to do with him. She left and went back to college. He tried to get her to talk to him, but she ignored him from what I heard. Then he did the worst thing he could have done. He tried to get me to take him back. When I told him to go to hell, he told all the guys at school he’d slept with me, and I was a lousy lay. The remainder of that year and my senior year, I lived in hell. People would tease me, and the guys kept trying to get me in bed to see if they could ‘teach’ me something.”
I wanted to put my fist through Johnny’s face. What an asshole to fucking cheat on her with her stepsister then try to get her back when he’s dumped. I kissed her head and rubbed my hands up and down her arms.
“That’s why you were so oblivious to guys wanting you when we met. You really didn’t think they did. But, baby, you shouldn’t have let one stupid asshole make you feel that way.”
“I didn’t, not initially. I eventually got to the point I could see that he’d been a jackass. However, it was the next time that convinced me no guy wants me. Or if he does, it’s only until a better woman comes along.” Hearing her say that killed me. I wanted to shout at her that she was being ridiculous, but I knew if I did, she’d shut down on me. I stayed quiet.
“My dad died my freshman year of college. Though the last eight years we hadn’t been as close due to May and Melody, I missed him. I loved my dad. He had a very successful advertising business. He’d sold it not long before he died at May’s insistence. He didn’t get to enjoy the money. Not even six months later, he died of a heart attack.
“He left the three of us very well off. The only thing was, I couldn’t get access to it until I was older. May and Melody got theirs right away. For me, I had to wait until I was twenty-three. I wanted to get away from them now that he was gone. I had no reason to be around them. I switched to another college hours away without telling them. The second half of my freshman year, I met Ricardo. He wooed the hell out of me. I was leery of letting a guy in again. He kept after me for three months before I finally agreed to a date. We’d been dating for almost six months. I had fallen for him hard. We were talking about getting married after college.” Hearing her talk about being in love with another guy and wanting to marry him made me want to yell. I didn’t want to think of her ever loving anyone but me. I knew she’d never slept with him because she’d been a virgin our first time.
“I was about to sleep with him when out of the blue, May showed up at my dorm one day. She tried to play it off like she had missed me, but I knew she was full of it. She started coming around all the time. She got a place in town. I waited for her to have Melody come around. No way did I want her around Ricardo.
“Ricardo was always trying to get me to forgive her for how she treated me in the past. He insisted we spend time with her. I didn’t like it, but I did it. Why I didn’t listen to my gut, I don’t know.”
I couldn’t stand it any longer. I had to say something. “Let me guess, Melody showed up and she ended up sleeping with Ricardo?” She shook her head.