Page 60 of Mile High Baby

"I am. I want a better place for Victoria. I don’t want her to suffer anything with the Pitneys of the world. She has her life ahead of her. Someday, she’ll marry and have kids...”

A dark mass of jealousy balled in my gut over the man Victoria would give her life and love and body to.

“I hope to be a grandparent someday. I'd like the world to be better for them. God, can you imagine me being a grandparent?”

I felt sick again. His words were a reminder of how old I was and how fucked up it was that I was having sex with his daughter. Thank God she was on the pill. Jesus, if she got pregnant... I couldn't even consider that.

20

Victoria

Igrabbed several pairs of underwear, tossing them on top of the clothes I'd already packed. Alex said one or two days, but he seemed uncertain, so I packed for a week.

As I selected shoes to bring, I worked to deal with the unsettled feeling I had. Something about Alex was off. After a week of playful, sexy, insatiable Alex, today, he was distant. I told myself it was probably because we were about to see my father. He wanted to start practicing now like there was nothing going on between us. If my father knew about our relationship, he’d be upset. Well, notrelationship. I supposeaffairwas a better description. Ours was a time-limited connection. In fact, maybe that time was up. Perhaps his behavior was starting the detachment process. It made sense. If this meeting he had to go to meant putting an end to George Pitney's threats against my father, then I wouldn't need Alex anymore.

The way my heart squeezed in my chest reminded me that the obnoxious man had found his way into my heart. If things were different, I might have tried to find a way we could spend more time together. He could show me all the wonders of the world. But I knew that wouldn't happen, not with his being my father’s friend.

I went into my bathroom to gather my toothbrush and other grooming needs. I tossed my birth control pack into my makeup bag. It occurred to me that I'd need a new pack tomorrow as I took my last inert pill this morning.

Wait?I looked at myself in the mirror. If I was on inert pills this week, why didn’t I have my period? How had I missed that my period hadn't come?

Alex. The man was a distraction. But God, to lose sight of something as important as my period?

I swallowed as the significance of missing my period hit me.

No. I didn’t need to worry about pregnancy. Period or not, I was on the pill. I took it religiously—well, usually. I might have taken a pill a day late during my travels. Maybe that was why I was late. My body was confused. Plus, I was under a lot of stress with my father and Pitney. And many women had late or missed periods without being pregnant, right?

For a moment I stood, paralyzed, uncertain as to what to do.

Take a test.

Right. I needed to find out for sure whether I was just late or pregnant, except I couldn’t be pregnant. Seeing theNot Pregnanton the test would make my worry evaporate.

The next question was how was I going to get a pregnancy test? I wasn't going to send Knightly or Mrs. Tillis out to get one for me. I could probably arrange for one to be delivered, but I wasn't sure how discrete delivery people were, plus, I couldn’t be sure who he’d give it to at the house.

I needed to go to a drugstore, but Alex wouldn’t let me do that alone. I could sneak out of the house, but with extra men watching, I wasn't going to get far.

I gripped the sink, panic starting to grow. Maybe I should tell Alex. I dismissed the thought even before it finished forming. His head would likely explode at the idea of knocking up his friend’s daughter. Plus, he was dealing with Pitney's man.

Maybe I could have another Saint Security guy take me to the drugstore, but that too wasn’t feasible. No doubt, Alex would tell my next bodyguard that under no circumstances could I leave the house.

Next idea was to call someone I knew and ask them to bring me a test. I thought of Samantha, but her hands were full with her mother and son. And if she showed up, Alex’s men might search her.

Ugh! There was only one answer. I had to convince Alex to take me to a drugstore and let me shop in private. Yeah, right. But I had to try!

I did my best to look and act normal as I brought my packed bag to the living room.

Alex was standing at the window, his hands in his pockets. My heart filled with yearning and then ached that I couldn’t have him. This was probably the end of our time together.

I wanted to seduce him one last time, but he'd pushed me away earlier. I tried not to feel hurt by that. I knew he’d already moved on.

"I'm ready, " I said.

He turned to look at me with an unreadable expression. It would have been nice if this was a little bit hard for him.

He picked up his bag. "Your dad is glad you're going home.”

“It’s just for a few days.” I waited for his reaction, but he turned his attention away from me.