Page 18 of Bred By the Minotaur
If they verify this result, that’s it.
I drum my fingers on the steering wheel the whole drive to the clinic. First I pee in a cup, and then I’m brought into an exam room. The middle-aged woman who greets me has me strip down and dress in a gown so she can verify the result with an image.
“There we are,” she says, gesturing to the screen. I don’t see anything. “We’ve got a stem growing. We’ll bring you in for a follow-up appointment in a few weeks just to make sure the early pregnancy is proceeding as expected.”
I nod numbly as she departs the room, letting me get dressed again. I walk through it robotically, now that everything is all wrapped up in a neat little package.
I’m pregnant. Again. With Hank’s child. His sperm found its way inside me and merged with my egg, and now it’s taken root. We did what we set out to do.
So why does it feel like the world is ending?
It’s late in the afternoon, so I go by Sandra’s house first to cook her an early dinner. I need to go home and be alone for a while tonight, maybe work on my latest personal project.
I told my sister I went to the clinic this afternoon, and my face must give away what happened there.
“So you’re pregnant again, huh?” she asks as I start cooking the macaroni. “Baby number three.”
There’s a five-pregnancy limit, and I don’t know what I’ll do after that.
“Yup.” That’s all I say. “No more Hank Pittsfield.”
“No more Hank Pittsfield,” she echoes.
We’re both quiet all through dinner, Sandra occasionally trying to make conversation, but my mind is too far away.
Finally, I drive back home, and my head feels like it’s full of water. Things will go back to the way they were before now. I don’t need to think about Hank, or about Milo, and all the complicated things that come with them. I can return to my regularly scheduled life.
When I get home, I dump my purse and head to my tablet where I usually sit and work late at night. After my day job, I switch over to my work. Right now, I’m painting koi fish in a pond, trying to get the reflections on the water just right.
But I feel nothing looking at it. I have no urge to paint, so instead, I shed my clothes and head for the bathroom. I light the candles around the tub as it fills, then drop in a bath bomb for good measure. Once the bath is filled, I slide into the warm water and let out an immense sigh.
He likes broccoli.
My son, who’s out there in the world somewhere, likes broccoli. He’s rambunctious and has a kitten backpack. I wonder what he looks like—how much of me he has in him.
Hank said he wouldn’t tell anyone if I contacted him. If we met in the real world, he promised it didn’t need to be complicated, and we wouldn’t get discovered by DreamTogether. But it would inevitably become complicated, given the fact we already have one kid and there’s another on the way.
Complication is the last thing I need in my life. I don’t want a boyfriend, a family, when my plate is already full. And someone like Hank... He can’t break my heart again if I don’t let him inside it.
I lie back in the tub, drifting lower and lower as the warm water seeps into my skin, heating me from the inside out.
I’m never going to see him again. I’m never going to touch him with my own pair of hands. It’s over now, and we have no more reason to interact.
I don’t realize I’m crying until a tear slips over my lips, tasting salty. I simply close my eyes and let them fall, sliding down in the water until just my face is above the surface. I can’t help but wonder what it would be like if I did reach out to him, if I did send him that message, if we did meet face-to-face.
Would we have sex again? How would it feel to look in his eyes as he took me?
Slowly, everything fades into darkness. Except for that photo of Hank in the orange pants, the sound of his low voice in my ear, his warm hand skimming up and down my back. His marvelous cock, slowly rocking inside me, bringing me higher and higher until I’m a hot-air balloon ready to pop.
I’m carrying his child again. What will he say when he finds out?
I’ll never know. My mind breaks free of my body, floating up above it, letting me drift away to a place where I can forget about all of this.
REE! REE! REE!
I snap awake at the shrill shriek of an alarm. And when I open my eyes...
Everything is on fire.
