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Currently parked out in front of the shop is one of his recent projects, a robin's egg blue 1957 Chevy Bel Air.
“He finally finished the Bel Air?” I ask, turning to Ghost.
“Yeah. He’s had a few bites, but nothing good enough for him to let go of it.”
A few minutes later, Ghost pulls the SUV into Tank and Maria’s driveway. Opening the back door, I grab the bag of books as he gets his cut from the other side and slides it on.
I didn’t notice Ghost’s bike being in the driveway when we pulled in, but he nods at me as he throws his leg over the machine. “Trigger will be here soon. Lock the door behind you,” Ghost bosses, turning over his ignition. The rumbles vibrate against my feet as he backs the bike out of the driveway, turning onto the street. As he takes off down the street, the exhaust roars behind him and fades the further away he gets.
Once inside, I pull strips of ultrasound pictures out of my purse, placing them on the table next to the stack of books, and notice that Ghost took the book for dads with him. I slip off my shoes while pulling my hair out of the bun, letting it tumble down and settle at my back.
I get a glass of water before settling down at the table to once again flip through the packets of information from Dr. Murphy.
I land on the list of therapists she recommends. I take my phone from my hoodie pocket, and search the website of Sophia Warner. It’s a simple click to make a new patient appointment and, before I can talk myself out of it, I click the ominous blue link.
It must be fate that the next open availability for a new patient is an hour and a half before my appointment with Dr. Murphy in two weeks. I put in my information to confirm it and let out a deep breath.
A sharp knock sounds on the front door a minute later, and I pull myself away from the list of foods to avoid.
Padding over to the entryway, I know I’m going to find Trigger on the other side. Part of me knows that he can’t say no to club business, but at the same time, if it was okay that he missed my first doctor's appointment, what does that say for us going forward? Is he going to miss monumental things just like my dad did?
I unlock the deadbolt, pulling the door open to the most handsome man I’ve ever seen.
Trigger has his long, dirty blonde hair down today. He usually keeps his curly locks tied back in a man bun with a beanie overtop, but today it's hanging loose in tumbles around his face. His lips pull back into a devastatingly beautiful smile, his smile lines disappearing in his full beard. Sunglasses sit on his face, so black that they hide the golden brown eyes I know are beneath them. He reaches his heavily tattooed arm out, extending the brown to-go bag at me.
“Hungry?”
TRIGGER
Obsession
“Hungry?” I ask, holding out to show her the bag I just picked up from Maggie’s.
Pebbles doesn’t respond, quickly turning away from me, her russet mane flaring out behind her.
I follow her into the dining room, and drop the bag on the table. My eyes land on the ultrasound pictures, and I immediately scoop them up.
“Holy shit,” I say, dropping down on the seat across from Pebbles, unable to rely on the strength of my legs to hold me up any longer.
I run the tip of my finger along both shapes on the page. There are arrows pointing to both babies, one with Baby A and one with Baby B.
Holy Fuck.I knew it was real, that day in the hospital. I never had a moment where I thought it was a dream or that it wasn’t true. But for some reason, these pictures today, with Pebbles sitting in front of me, makes it all very real.
Possession sidles its way up my throat as I study the two babies and their mother, across the table from me.
Pebbles and I had what I thought was just a mutual understanding of pleasure and friendship. At least that’s what it was until the day that she went missing. That’s when a burning feeling bubbled up in my gut, and I knew something was wrong. And then when we found her? All bets were off.
When I found her, pain sliced its way through my chest. Pain like I’d never felt in my life. I thought she was dead. I thought I’d lost my chance with her. I thought the opportunity to make her mine forever was gone.
Until she opened her eyes and said my name for the first time.
Not Trigger.
Jamie.
She called me Jamie for the first time while I held her stunned, weak body in my arms. My heart broke for many reasons that day.
Never before had I cared about the name I was given by a random employee that worked at the hospital the day I was born.
