“That’s what you deserve for always asking for details. Go on now, I need my beauty sleep.”
He hugged me. “Call me if you need anything, okay?”
“Promise.”
As if on cue to prove how much of a dick he could be, my phone beeped with a message from Hugo just as I turned off the lights to go to bed.
Be at the office at 7 tomorrow. I need a few reports before the board meeting.
The fuck I will.
Sorry, I can't. I have an appointment for my condition.
‘Condition’ was the word he'd been using for the past few weeks. It seemed that ‘pregnancy' was a dirty word for him.
His reply was almost immediate.
At 7 in the morning? Do you think I’m that clueless?
“Apparently, you are,” I muttered as I settled in bed.
7:15 actually. The clinic does early appointments once a week for women who need them. I will be at the office by 8:30, as stated in my contract.
Asshole.
I sighed after a few minutes, relieved that he gave up. I put my phone on my night table and was ready to sink into slumber when my screen lit up, giving the room a green hue.
I picked it up and had to read the text twice, thinking my sleep-induced brain was making me see things.
Is something wrong? Do you need me to come with you?
I turned on the light and read it again, hardly believing he was really saying that.
I let my fingers hover over my screen. As irrational as it was, part of me wanted to say yes. It would be good to have him there as this child was half his, but I knew he didn’t care, not really. He probably wanted to be there to see if the child would be a long-term problem.
I’ll be fine, this is not your problem.
I turned off the phone, not willing to have a fight with him tonight.
All I wanted now was to find out if my baby was okay, and when their dad would finally decide to stop punishing me and let me go.
Chapter 12
Hugo
Ilookedoutofthe office again at Ava’s empty desk as Ben told me about his sexual prowess the previous night and the reason why he was tired this morning.
It was one of Ben's hobbies when he came to the UK—fuck as many English girls as he could. I expected him to get tired of it but it seemed that he was still enjoying himself.
While he was describing in graphic detail everything he did and what the girls, plural, did to him, I couldn’t concentrate on anything other than Ava’s appointment this morning and the strange feeling it stirred in me. I didn’t expect my interest to be piqued when she told me she had an appointment and the unsettling worry when she dismissed any further discussion.
I was not used to doubting myself or second-guessing my actions, but Ms. Byrnes was unsettling in many infuriating ways.
“Hugo?” Ben knocked on my desk, bringing my attention back to him.
I blinked. “What?”
“Have you even listened to a word I’ve said?”