Chapter 20

UNEDITED🙈


Present-day

Jacobs closes the bedroom door and goes into the kitchen. He pulls out a glass and a bottle of dark rum. He fills the glass about halfway and takes back three drinks like that. Reality was a hard pill to swallow, and he needed this to fall asleep tonight. He was just washing his glass when Clarissa entered the kitchen behind him.

"I heard something." She says. "Was it you?" She was groggy-eyed and was wearing a light floral rob.

"You afraid Clair?" He dries his wet hands with a towel and leans on the sink. His hooded eyes landed on her like a jet on its runway.

She involuntary takes a half step back. "No." She lies. "What is there to be afraid of?

"Hmm." He pushes himself off and steps her way.

"Was it you or not?" She keeps moving back.

"What happened to us, Clair?" He takes it way off-topic.

"I'm going to bed." She runs off, only to be pulled back and backed into the wall between the kitchen and dining area.

"Tell me." He softly demands. "What happened? Where did I go wrong? Why did you pull away from me?"

"Jacob... let me go."

"If you don't talk to me we can't fix this."

"I don't have anything that needs fixing." She denies.

"So all that anger for me and nothing to fix?

Her brows furrow. "I'm tired... please just let me go to bed.

Instead, he leans down to kiss her cheek.

"Jacob..." She breaths out.

He then drops one on her neck. "Just talk to me...Curse me even... but let's figure this out. Our life... our kids... what we have... it's worth fighting for Clair."

Her pores rise. "Jacob stop...please."

He kisses her neck again. "I miss you, Clair...I miss the way you used to look at me...The way we were."

Her eyes closed. "That was...a long time ago."

He cups her cheeks and angles to face just right to softly press his mouth onto hers.

For a few seconds, she kisses him back, but then she realizes what she is doing and bites down on his lip. He didn't flinch. He took it and when she was sure she bit hard enough she pushed him back.

He wipes his mouth and looks down at the blood on his hands and back at her. "A love bite... I'll take it."

"Uggh!" She gets frustrated. "You think this is a joke? Her hands fly up. "That my feelings are a joke?"

"Okay okay calm down." He holds up his own hands.

"No, I won't calm down...You know what enough with being calm. Jacob the truth is I hate you. I hate you for becoming my father and making my life what you promised it wouldn't be.

He freezes. The sudden pain that shot through him was crippling. He was supposed to protect her and instead, he deepened her scar.

"I didn't pull away...you did." She declares. "I was always the same boring person I always was and one day...you woke up and realized that your life, and your wife, wasn't good enough anymore. I'm not a complete moron, I saw the change in your attitude. I was in complete denial but I knew."

He didn't know what to say. He already told her sorry, he already told her that he was wrong, that he made a mistake. He told her he was the problem and that he was selfish but it didn't matter to her. She was so angry and hurt by him. He underestimated it.

Tears well up in her eyes. "To be honest Jacob, our marriage isn't resolvable. I think I hate you too much. I just hate you... you should have stayed with Regina.

"I was never with her." He corrects.

"Liar!" She shouts. "If it wasn't for these kids I'd never speak to you again. You don't deserve me."

"I don't." He agrees.

"Oh shut up." She wipes a tear. "Stop trying to say everything right. It just makes me angrier with you."

His lips stay sealed.

"You made our home, my childhood home." She continues venting.

"I'm sorry." It slips out.

"Oh just stop!" She yells.

"Shh.." He tries to calm her. "The kids will hear you."

"I hate you."

"I love you." He retorts.

"Go to hell." He storms off.

~~~~

Baylee had her thumb dangling over the send button of a text message. The message read "I'm pregnant" And it was designated to Niko. She was about three months along now and the struggle was real. She thought getting away was going to help her but all she has been doing is worrying...and at her last checkup, the doctors seemed worried about her blood pressure. He warned her of the importance of not stressing. This whole mess with Lola, Conner, and Niko was constantly on her mind. The regret was eating at her. She backspaces her two-word sentence and changes it. "I need to talk to you." Sent.

She shuts off her phone and looks out the window. She was sitting on an aeroplane waiting for her flight to take off. Yep, she was going back home, but not because she couldn't do it on her own, but because of the stress, she was under. No matter how hard she tried to move on from what happened, she couldn't. Everything kept flashing in her mind and this constant worry and regret weren't good for the baby, and that's who she was going home for. Things were left pretty bad back there and the only way to stop obsessing over it is to resolve it. Step one lets the cat out of the bag by revealing that she is pregnant.

After a lengthy flight, she meets up with her driver and turns on her phone. Not surprisingly Niko never responded to her message. Feeling tired and a bit irritated she goes home... her real home. She was surprised at how good she felt. She crawled into bed and passed out.

The next morning, still no response.
She waited all day until evening when she knew Niko should be home and had her driver drop her off at his apartment building. She goes into the lobby and tells the receptionist to call his apartment.

"What's your name?" She asks.

"Baylee."

The sweet blond picks up the phone and dials his apartment number. "Hello Sir, I have a Baylee here to see you." Her face contorts a bit while listening. She sets the phone down. "Umm.." she clears her throat. "He said... Umm... He is very busy."

"Kind of you to clean it up... call him back and tell him I'm pregnant." She orders bluntly. Yeah, it was going to be like this. The ass wouldn't even hear her.


Once again, the receptionist picks up the phone and dials his apartment. "Sir... She said...she's pregnant." She listens for seconds too long and then hangs up. "You can go up."

That did the job. Baylee waltzed into the elevator and was at his apartment door in no time.

Niko had a mean scowl on his face when he yanked the door open. He reaches out, grasps her upper arms, pulls her inside, and shuts the door. "You think going around telling lies is going to make the situation better?" He grinds on his teeth. "Because I won't speak to you, you think you have the right to make up a fake pregnancy? Are you ever going to stop your childishness?

She tugs her arm free and attempts to take a step back, but her back hits the door. "I'm not making up anything." She admits.

He folds his arms. "So you're telling me you're pregnant?"

"Yes..." Her attitude comes out. "That's what I said."

He examines her for a moment scanning her eyes and stomach. "So...why are you here?"

Her brows join. "Excuse me? You know why I'm here... you didn't use a condom that night and you damn well know it."

"So you're saying it's mine?" His expression was neutral like he didn't have a feeling about the news.

Her eyes went big. "Are you kidding me...Of course, it's yours. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't."

He continues to stare at her suspiciously. "Why are you telling me this now? I mean how long have you known?"

"What are you getting at?" Her hands rise to her hips. "That I'm trying to pin a baby on you? Do I look like I need to pin a baby on any man?"

He barely gave her any reaction "I'm going to require a DNA test."

Her brows rise. "You really think I would lie about something like this? Is this how low I'm thought of?"

"I don't know what to think..." he glances away and then back to her. "what I do know is that you attempted to sleep with another man before you came into my bed and I can't ignore that fact."

"You know this child is yours. You just want to punish me for what I did."

"Think about it Baylee... any man would have doubts."

"You... you know me... I wouldn't lie about something I this... I have no need to lie. You're the only man I slept with."

He glances at the ground. "I can't be sure of that."

"Wow..." damn hormones had her eyes glistening. "This baby is yours Niko..."

"Prove it." He challenges. The look in his eyes was serious yet nonchalant at the same time.

It was as if he had grown cold towards her. She never dreamed that he would react this way. She underestimated his disdain for her but she didn't care what she did she wasn't going to take this. "No..." She voices.

"What?"

"You heard me... No... I will not prove it. I will not give you a DNA test. If this is how you want to be when you know this baby is yours then fine." She opens the door and leaves. The outrage.... the nerve of him to suspect her of something so low. If this is how he really thought about her then he never knew or loved her.

~~~~~~~

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