Page 36 of A Trap So Flawless

But he didn’t ask. All he asked about was Halifax, and manpower, and how he knew that he could trust me. Because all of that was more important to him than she was.

“You’ll get your pill,” I promise her again. My words devolve into a ragged moan as she comes helplessly on my cock.

And I go tumbling just as helplessly after her.

Chapter 14

Valentina

I suppose I have to give him some credit. Darragh keeps his promise about the pill. It’s eight in the morning and we’re now standing in line at a pharmacy within walking distance of the townhouse. Even though he eventually did let me go shower, the place between my legs still feels sensitive and sticky. I’m wearing my leggings without underwear, since I fell asleep without having the presence of mind to wash my panties yesterday. And if there is one thing that could make standing in this harsh fluorescent lighting waiting for my turn in the line to ask for emergency contraception worse, it would be doing all this shit while wearing yesterday’s dirty thong.

I make a mental note to remind Darragh that I want to retrieve my bag from his car on the way back. I would have asked him right then, but the pharmacist, a young, pretty woman with smooth brown skin and pink glasses, is calling me forward. I step up, expecting to go alone, but Darragh comes right along with me.

“I need the morning after pill, please,” I tell her.

“Alright.” Her gaze slides to Darragh, and he has the usual effect on people when they see his hulking, tattooed frame and his hard-jawed face with its different coloured irises for the first time. Her eyes widen slightly, but she remains professional, returning her attention to me.

“Have you got a medical card? There’s no cost if you do.”

I’ve got an OHIP card, but it’s in Darragh’s car. And I don’t think it would make any difference, anyway, since it was issued by Ontario and not Ireland.

“I’m paying.” Darragh flashes a shiny black credit card at the pharmacist.

“I have cash I can give you,” I respond as the pharmacist turns away to fetch the pill. Darragh acts as if he doesn’t hear me.

“Have you ever taken this medication before?” she asks when she comes back to the counter.

“No.”

“This is a one-step pill. You should take it as soon as possible after having unprotected sex,” she explains. “There may be some side effects. Cramping and nausea. You might experience some mood changes with the hormonal shifts.”

Great. Sounds fucking peachy.

But then again, I’d experience all of that and more if I were pregnant. So maybe I should just shut up and count my meagre blessings.

“I understand,” I reply as she passes over the package. “Thank you.”

Darragh taps his card and murmurs, “You’re welcome.”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” I mutter as we walk away from the counter.

“I know.”

But despite my lack of gratitude towards him, Darragh still buys me a drink in the retail part of the drugstore so that I can take the pill right away. I’m too nervous to wait even until getting back to the townhouse. I open the package and pop the pill, swallowing it down with a big swig of some sort of way-too-sweet iced coffee in a bottle. But it helps the pill go down, and the caffeine surely won’t hurt. So I’ll take what I can get. As I nurse my sort of gross drink, I watch Darragh stalk through the store’s aisles. He’s grabbing all kinds of stuff. He pays for it all and brings it back in a plastic bag.

“What’s all that?” I ask, giving up on the coffee drink and screwing on the lid. He opens the bag for my curious eyes. Inside, I glimpse a box of ginger tea, anti-nausea pills, digestive cookies, and painkillers.

It’s all for me.

I shove back on that. I don’t want to feel like he’s taking care of me.

I don’t want to be happy about anything he does.

“Got a tummy ache?” I ask, tossing my unfinished coffee in the trash.

“If I did,” he answers in a clipped tone, “I still wouldn’t be taking any of this shit. Maybe the tea. Although I generally think that ginger tastes like ass.”

Shit. I knew that about him. Deirdre told me that Darragh never takes any medications. Not even over the counter painkillers. Because his mother overdosed.

---