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The next.
Jimmy taught me to call you three times. Is it working? I don’t know what to do, I’m sad and...shh! Hide. They’re coming for my phone.
Another one.
I wronged you. I’m an ass, and I’ll keep hurting you. That’s how I was raised to be. I wanna forget, Izzie. I’m sorry.
And the last one.
I miss you.
A new wave of tears was cascading down my cheeks. I wasn’t even sure I could exclusively blame my crying fest on the hormones.
I cleaned my face as best I could, hoping some cold water would help ease the swelling from all my crying. I had a new business to run, and if I intended to keep this baby, my shop couldn’t go down.
As I set everything up to open it, I called April and instructed her on how to deal with the pastries—time of baking, which batch should go first—and ran upstairs to change.
I had no idea what Ben’s messages meant, but I needed to figure out what was going on and find a path for us to move along. My unborn child was soon becoming my priority, but I’d be lying if I said finding a way back to us wasn’t on my radar.
As I was leaving my apartment, my skin prickled. It was the same unease I’d been feeling for the last few days. I scanned the street, surveying for the source of my anxiety, and I saw that man again, the same one I spotted a few days ago, checking me out.
It was still early in the day, there weren’t a lot of people milling around. Even though he wasn’t openly inspecting me, I knew he regarded my presence. I tried to ignore my wariness, climbed into my car, and turned it on to head to Benjamin’s place, but not before I saw the man turn to me and grace me with his creepy grin.
I drove the whole way with my stomach in knots. I couldn’t shake the familiarity of the man’s features, although I couldn’t quite place it. In addition to that, I was feeling the return of my morning sickness, and I was as excited as I was dreading seeing Benjamin.
Sooner than I was ready, I parked in front of his house, noticing there was already another car. I stayed inside for a while, talking me up into walking to his doorstep.
I extracted myself from the car and spent the whole path to his door encouraging me to talk to him and declare my decision: I was having our baby, and I still liked him—possibly more than liked, but I couldn’t go there just yet. Neither of us was ready to acknowledge that.
I raised my shaky hand and knocked on his door. When he didn’t answer, I knocked again and waited for what felt like a year, but it was probably just a couple of minutes.
As the door opened, I felt my heart galloping inside my chest. Benjamin stood in front of me, looking confused and a whole lot sexy. Even his grimace, indicating he was dealing with a deep hangover, couldn’t erase how handsome he was.
Wearing only basketball shorts, his ink on display, his necklace with a third of a circle shining from the sunlight, the waistband low enough to show the trail of hair and sexy V that led to my Wonderland (his Wonderland), he looked edible.ThatI knew I couldn’t blame on the hormones yet.
“Isabella?” He sounded as confused as he looked, if not a little relieved.
I peered up at his face and noticed his eyes were squinted against the sunlight, probably rejecting the brightness after a night of drinking, if his messages were any indication of his yestern activities.
Wanting to save him from that discomfort, I stepped into his living room without waiting for his invitation. “I heard your messages,” I said as an explanation for my being there.
He was still a little slow in understanding and responding. He shook his head, still holding the door handle as a way to keep his balance. “Isabella, I—”
“Someone was knocking. You got that, or do I still need to babysit—” At listening to her voice, my inside coiled. Mia showed up in the living room and stopped when she noticed me. “Shit, I’m...I’m sorry.”
She looked at Benjamin with unsure eyes, as he seemed panicked. Then I realized why. Mia was wearing male shorts and a big shirt that could only belong to a man,my man, having clearly just spent the night here, while I was crying my eyes out.
My gaze jumped from her to him and back to her, urging one of them to explain what seemed to be clear to me. She seemed ready to intervene in a big fight, her shoulders rigid and stance cautious. Mia studied him, and I did the same. In my scrutiny, it was easy to see the change in his demeanor, from apologetic to stern, from scared to stony.
“Why are you here Isabella?”
Having never heard that tone before, I was unsure how to respond. Unconsciously, I even looked at Mia for guidance, only to be met with her disbelief as she gazed at him.
“You-you called me.”
My voice was so little, I could even hear Mia swearing and muttering, “Damn it, I forgot the phone.”
“Was it so hard for you to understand what I said yesterday? Do you want me to draw it for you?”
