Work Hard, Love Harder

Chapter 6

There was nothing in Zoe’s stomach, but that didn’t stop it twisting in upon itself, heavy and hollow all at once. Her throat worked convulsively, retching up nothing but strings of bile. She hadn’t eaten properly in weeks, unable to keep anything substantial down. Even when the nausea subsided, the queasy fluttering going through Zoe left her shaky. She sagged back against the wall and tried to breathe without setting off another wave of vomiting.

Eventually, she managed to drag herself up the wall to get to her feet. She stumbled back into the motel room, where the air still smelled stale with sickness. The quality of the light was bleak and grey. It was an unwelcoming room, with its unmade bed and mess of old newspapers. But it was safe and the only home she had at the moment.

Zoe spread a map out over the desk and rubbed at her sleep-scratchy eyes until her vision cleared enough for her to be able to properly track the roads. She traced an unsteady finger along her journey for the next day. It would be a long drive home, seven hours if Zoe could make it. She would need rest first, needing to conserve her strength. There was still most of a pizza in the box on the sideboard. Zoe flipped the lid open and swallowed hard as she looked at it. It looked cold and greasy, and Zoe’s stomach gave a warning lurch.

She backed away and sat down heavily on the end of the bed. Sleep then. Please God, don’t let her dream. Please God…

There was a bang outside, then a scream, cut off sharp and wet. Zoe started trembling, the breath punched out of her. She had run so far and it was just not enough.

Her hands were shaking as she reached for her gun, fingers clammy on the cold metal. She was going to be leaving behind most of her stuff, but she couldn’t risk taking the time to shove it into her duffel. There was no time for anything but escape. She knew this wasn’t a good idea. Knew it when she was doing it, but she hadn’t seen any other way out. Femi was borderline hostile about the whole pregnancy thing, and Zack just continued to have absolute faith in her. So, she’d done something… something rash. As soon as her exams were done, she had walked into Femi’s room, swiped his credit card and withdrawn the maximum allowed balance. Then she’d borrowed a car and hightailed it out of town. Femi knew she was from Nashville but not where exactly. She always made sure to keep that vague. It wasn’t that difficult to hack the administration office and change her details either; especially since she was poker buddies with the administrative assistant.

Clicking the door open almost silently, Zoe peered into the corridor, down the line of anonymous motel room doors. It was quiet. She wasn’t fooled. Her heart quivered in her chest, erratic and painful, and Zoe forced herself to pull it together, forced her body to be strong and capable. Keeping her breathing low and even as she could, Zoe stepped out into the passage and moved towards the rear exit.

There was another scream, a garbled Please! and Zoe stopped. This was a really dingy motel and you just never knew what was out there.

She’d been pretty sure that Femi would let her go. After all, it wasn’t like he’d miss the money, and it wasn’t like she’d emptied his account. She’d just taken enough to get by for a while, in the time that she was otherwise… incapacitated. With his baby. So, he was lucky she wasn’t asking for child support. And she was so sorry, so fucking sorry, but she couldn’t. She couldn’t.

She took in a short, high breath, and resolved herself to slipping under the radar again. Femi would not stop following her.

The rear exit was just around the corner, and Zoe hurried her pace. Her back ached and her stomach was drawing in tight and uncomfortable. There was no time to feel it. No time to be in pain. The door was just in front of her, and Zoe almost fell into it in her hurry to reach it. She wrenched at the handle, but it was locked or stuck and she couldn’t get out. She was trapped.

She threw a glance over her shoulder, panicked, desperate, and then threw her weight against the door. It didn’t budge. Zoe snarled and hissed under her breath, her heartbeat louder and faster, aching.

Everything hurt as Zoe slammed her shoulder into the door, but it didn’t stop her trying it again. She needed to get out.

“Oh, thank God.”

It was all over. Zoe went cold, so cold it must have been like being dead.

She turned around.

Femi was standing there clad in a suit and tie, looking like some banker dressed in Saville Row. His hands were clasped behind his back and his eyes were on her. There was a smudge of something on his cheekbone, another on his upper lip – at odds with the liquid concern in his eyes. He moved slowly towards Zoe.

“Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been? I’ve been looking for you everywhere. I’ve been going out of my mind.”

A stuttered laugh pushed past Zoe’s lips, and she swung her arm to push at Femi’s chest. Could she make him go? Would it make any damn difference? Didn’t matter. Femi didn’t stop moving. His hand closed around her wrist and he slipped it free from Zoe’s suddenly slack grip.

“Don’t,” Femi said, drawing closer still. ”Don’t do that. You know too much stress is bad for the baby.” He laid his hand over Zoe’s slightly swollen belly, gentle and reverential.

“Wow, you’ve gotten big!” He looked down at where his hand was settled, splayed his fingers wider. So much love. “Have you felt… is it kicking yet?”

Zoe didn’t answer. Femi didn’t seem to notice. He eased Zoe closer, apparently oblivious to the empty quiescence with which Zoe let him. When Femi tilted Zoe’s face up to him, he didn’t seem to care when Zoe wouldn’t let her eyes meet Femi’s. He kissed Zoe tenderly. There was desperation in the way he kissed her, obvious restraint in the way he touched her. Like Zoe was fragile.
When he drew away, he smiled shakily.

“You had me so worried,” he whispered. His hand came down on Zoe’s belly again. “But it’s okay. We’re gonna have a family, just like you always wanted. You, me, and our baby. I’m gonna make you both so happy. Gonna give you both the world.”

Zoe’s eyes slammed shut. Tears slid unheeded down her cheeks. A broken sob choked her and then Femi’s arms were around her again, tucking her in against his chest, hand still on the bump of their baby. Femi’s laugh was a warm, amused rumble.

“It’s just hormones,” he said, kissing Zoe’s temple. “It’s just hormones making you crazy. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you. Take care of you both.”

*****

Zoe didn’t see how they could possibly work. Even before she’d stolen from Femi and then ran away from him, she was still just some college piece he was sleeping with while he got his MBA. It wasn’t like he was serious about her. Hell, his parents had been right in the room with her and he hadn’t bothered to introduce her. And when she’d announced her pregnancy he had been… horrified. He hadn’t done anything to make her feel like he had changed his mind about her pregnancy being a good thing despite him following her halfway across the country and overlooking the fact that she’d practically robbed him though she wasn’t calling it that, even in her head. It had been an advance on the child support she didn’t intend to ask for.

Even after he caught up to her, he didn’t offer anything concrete. He kept saying he would ‘take care’ of her and cherish her, but all he did was follow her home and let her do whatever she was planning on doing without him anyway.

He asked if she was planning to visit an obstetrician as if he was just some good friend who was there to support her decisions. It wasn’t what she needed, and she didn’t want to be around Femi if he only wanted to be a bystander in her and the baby’s life.