Page 110 of Burning for You

“You don’t own anyone, Levi. Certainly not her.”

“I’m gonna kill you, Anton Mendez.”

“You want to leave a baby without its father?” Then he hangs up.

This must be just a nightmare.

I can’t feel myself, so it must be.

I kick a tree stump—the tree stump I sat on as Carolyn was about to have her shower. The evil voice of Anton Mendez, his words… God! They hurt like a spear has been thrust into my core.

So Carolyn was pregnant when I took her, and she played it down like we were talking Easter eggs. I noticed her blood stain then. Now I know it ain’t her period. My stomach throbs as if I was the one bleeding. Despite this terribleness, I pray that I haven’t hurt her baby. It doesn’t matter that it’s another man’s. I never wanted to hurt her. I never will.

How has it come to this? I’ve been dumped over a man who’s supposed to be her past. She loved him then, I know it, even though she tried to beat around the bush. When times get tough, you stick to who you know—you stick to who fits into your life.

I clutch my phone like it was a hammer. I swing it, hitting the device against the tree stump until it’s in pieces.