Total pages in book: 24
Estimated words: 22754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 22754 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 114(@200wpm)___ 91(@250wpm)___ 76(@300wpm)
Once she’d pulled them down, she stared at the faded, torn, and well-used binding. She carried them back to the table and placed them in front of Evil.
“This is it. This is part of my childhood that was good.” She took a seat opposite him and grabbed her noodles.
Evil opened the book and then lifted a single picture.
Noelle hadn’t looked through them.
It was a picture of her and her grandmother. She must have been about seven or eight. She wore an apron and held a can of applesauce in her hands. She looked so proud.
“Dated September,” Evil said.
“Yeah. She liked to take pictures of everything. I got to the house too late. They had burned her photograph albums. So all I have are memories.”
Evil placed the picture on the table and slid it across to her. She picked it up and looked at it.
This had been a happy moment for her. She’d been watching her grandmother preserve for so long, and that jar of sauce had been all of her own making. Her parents, they’d been pissed at such a wasted afternoon.
She never got to try the applesauce as they had smashed it outside in a fit of rage. “They tried to take so much.”
“Don’t think about those people, Noelle. Think about your grandmother. She is who is important now.”
Evil stood and rounded the table. He took the chair in front of her, putting his hands on her knees and sliding them up toward her thighs.
She turned toward him. “I wanted to be like her, you know? A couple of kids. No, a lot of kids. I used to think about that. Being happy. Having a family, a big family.” Noelle nibbled on her lip. These were all desires of a young woman.
“Then let’s have them,” Evil said.
Noelle lifted her head. “What?”
“You heard me. You call my country home a mansion. It has plenty of rooms, and it would be perfect for you to live your dream.” He pressed his hands to her stomach. “I haven’t used a condom, Noelle. You could be carrying my baby right now.”
She placed her hand right over his. It was true. They hadn’t been careful, and they had been having sex a lot.
“You’re right.” Noelle stared at him.
So far, he’d said everything that was sweet, perfect, and exactly what she wanted to hear, apart from one teeny, tiny thing.
He hadn’t told her that he loved her. Love had to mean something. It had to be real and true. There couldn’t be any falseness to it. She opened her mouth, about to tell him how she felt, but then she stopped. What if it ruined everything?
They were in an amazing place. He had just offered her a dream she had long pushed to one side as a pipe dream.
“Noelle?” he asked.
She licked her lips. “I’ll need to take a pregnancy test.”
“I can have one here in ten minutes,” he said. He stood up, reached into his pants pocket, and pulled out his cell phone.
She watched him, all commanding, completely in charge. Noelle wanted to tell him that she loved him at that moment, but something stopped her. She didn’t know what.
He hung up. “Arnold will have one here in five.”
“Wow,” she said.
“My men know what I want.”
“They’re loyal to you.”
Evil nodded. “Talk to me, Noelle.”
“It’s nothing. I’m … excited. Yes, that’s what this is. This is excitement because of everything that is happening.” She forced a smile to her lips. “It is all good.”
Ten minutes passed way too fast, and before Noelle could even breathe, she was in the bathroom, peeing on a stick, waiting for a couple of lines to change, to confirm her pregnancy.
Evil stood beside her. He wasn’t talking. He wasn’t even touching her.
She felt this distance between them, which was unsettling.
The time ticked on by, and she stared at the pregnancy test, waiting, wondering, curious.
Was it going to change?
Nibbling on her lip, she slowly placed her hand on her stomach. Could she be pregnant? The chances were high, seeing as they had been together every single opportunity, and there hadn’t been a single condom used.
Pregnant. The stick had changed color, revealing the truth. Evil had been so distracted by reading the box and the leaflet that came with it. He didn’t even notice.
She carried Evil’s baby.
Turning her head, she looked at him. Her life was bound to his, and at that moment, Noelle knew she didn’t want to hide her feelings from him. She didn’t want to have to pretend.
“I love you,” she said.
Evil dropped the box to the floor and turned toward her.
“This isn’t about the baby. We’re going to be parents together. I wanted you to know that I do love you, and it’s not about the baby. It’s about how I feel toward you. I love you, so very much.” She nodded at him and then took a step away.