Page 9 of Cutthroat

“Stop fucking calling me. If Eden wanted to speak to you, she’d answer her phone when you called. No real man would ever do the type of shit that you did. Because of you, she now has a criminal record. Leave her alone,” Eve spat.

“Eve. I just want to talk to her and explain my side. I just need ten minutes to talk to her,”

“Nigga, stop calling me!” Eve shouted coldly before ending the call.

There was nothing for Jermaine to explain. He had done the unthinkable, and there was no forgiveness in her heart for that type of fuckery. Instead of focusing on an apology that made no sense, she focused on her sister.

“How are you feeling Little Sis?” Eve asked as she rubbed Eden’s shoulder.

Eden’s thoughts were so convoluted that she didn’t hear the question that Eve asked. Nor did she hear her one-sided conversation with her husband.

Eden sat in the bland sterile room covering her legs and thighs with a thin paper sheet. She wanted to cry but disbelief had frozen her tears. She wanted to speak, but the doctor’s words had paralyzed her tongue. Eden could feel her body trembling, and it wasn’t because of the cold doctor’s office. She trembled because she couldn’t believe the news.

“How did this happen?”

Her heart raced so quickly that she began to hyperventilate.

“Eden, I know this is shocking. But I want you to think positively and stay calm. Any anxiety will upset the baby,” Dr. Brenda, Eden’s Ob/Gyn and friend, stated as she reentered the examination room.

“Upset the baby. Upset the baby.”

The words replayed in her head like a broken record. Eden cringed in disgust. She couldn’t understand how this happened. She took her birth control religiously and hadn’t discarded her pack ofpills until last week. She couldn’t understand how she was pregnant.

Twelve weeks pregnant to be exact. After knowing what she now knew, the thought of growing Jermaine’s seed made her sick.

“What did I do to deserve this?” Eden asked as tears fell from her eyes.

Her tears were so heavy that they dropped straight to her lap and tore a hole in the paper sheet. It was hard to believe that the man she once loved was someone she didn’t know.

Brenda was stunned by Eden’s outburst. She had known Eden and Jermaine since college. The two of them were inseparable. She needed answers. Brenda tucked her professionalism and got into friend mode.

“Spill the beans Edy. I thought you would’ve been happy about this. The last time we spoke you said-”

“I know what I said the last time we spoke Brenda. Damn,” Eden snapped.

She didn’t mean to be so abrasive, but she couldn’t control her anger. Jermaine had asked her to have his child right before having unprotected sex with her sister. He had played her, and she never saw it coming.

Eve knew that at this moment Eden’s pot was boiling over. The last thing she wanted her to do was snap at their friend.

“Edy, calm down. Brenda didn’t make Jermaine do what he did. Don’t take it out on her,” Eve said soothingly as she ran her hands over her sister’s goose bump covered arm.

Eden sobbed. She knew she was wrong for her snappy response, but she couldn’t help it.

Brenda was accustomed to patients snapping, but when it came to people she knew personally, she snapped back.

“I’m waiting on my apology,” Brenda said as she rolled her neck like a common guttersnipe, instead of the educated doctor that she was.

Eden chuckled.

Anytime her friend transformed from professional physician back to“Beat a bitch Brenda”it was comical to her. She was thankful for the slight distraction because it was the first time she had laughed in weeks.

“I’m sorry Brenda. I didn’t mean to turn on you like you were the enemy. It’s not your fault,”

When Eve suggested she take a pregnancy test, she had no idea that the test results would be positive.Even though giving Jermaine a family was once her heart’s desire, now it was a nightmare. She hated the baby growing in her womb just as much as she hated the man that placed it there. This baby was a trap, a tether to keep her to the man that she no longer desired.

“Apology accepted. But seriously, I want you to stay calm. Babies are a bless-”

“Abort the baby,” Eden said angrily. She cut Brenda’s‘Babies are a blessing speech’off so quickly that Brenda’s mouth hung open.

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