Page 2 of Preying Heart
Has anyone close to you ever threatened or hurt you?
His use of martial arts, the locations of pressure points, ensures he can hurt me at any time without leaving bruises or marks.
Does your partner ever hit, kick, hurt, or threaten you?
He doesn’t need to hit or kick. All it takes is that “look” and I quail.
After all, I’m only his whore, and without him, I’d be one of the many homeless camped on sidewalks and underneath overpasses all over the Emerald City.
It’s not all bad though. I have a closet full of designer clothes and shoes, and enough jewelry for the occasions when my foster parents trot me out to a fundraiser or benefit concert. I’ve met heads of state, corporate moguls, and political bosses.
I run my hand over the walnut burl headboard of our bed—my bed—and sink onto the brocaded tapestry bedspread. There’s simply no room in my life for a baby.
I guess I shouldn’t have bothered Gavin about the news.
Silly me. Did I think he’d be ecstatic and happy about me providing him a political heir? One of many things his wife isn’t able to do.
No skin off my back. I gave him an opportunity to step up, and if he doesn’t care about his baby, neither do I. Besides, I gave him a chance, didn’t I? He has only himself to blame if he regrets his decision someday.
I choose an obscure clinic in Tacoma and give them an assumed name. It’s one of Gavin’s rules. He has big political aspirations, and he cannot afford a whiff of scandal.
If I go down, you go down. Remember that. Would you rather be a president’s mistress or a crime boss’s slut?
I make the appointment and ask if there’s anything I need to bring.
“You might want to bring a driver along with you,” the lady on the phone says. “Just in case.”
“In case of what?”
“Depends on the procedure you choose. The doctor will have to remove your IUD, and then you can either have surgical termination or a chemical one.”
“What’s the difference, I mean in terms of risk and follow-up?”
“The surgical termination is pretty much guaranteed and you won’t have to return unless you experience heavy bleeding or infection. The chemical one will require a follow-up to check that the termination is complete.”
“Ugh, I just want to get it over with.” I wipe the beads of sweat from my forehead with a silk handkerchief and stare out the floor-to-ceiling window at the Space Needle. My penthouse is so high up, it’s like we’re both floating above the clouds together.
“Then you should bring a friend. You might require sedation, depending on the position of the IUD and any complications with the implanted material.”
I thank her and hang up.
I don’t have a friend, and my brother’s in jail awaiting trial. Gavin refused to bail him out, but maybe now, I have a bargaining chip.
ChapterTwo
Remi
“You sure you want to go through with this?” Slade asks as he maneuvers the old clunker he stole from his last girlfriend through the traffic on southbound Interstate 5.
“I pretty much have to. I’ve got an IUD stuck inside of me.”
“Yeah, but what about the baby?”
“I don’t know. I guess he gets taken out when they remove the IUD.”
“That’s it? It’s goodbye baby?” Slade shoots me his quasi-parental stare. He’s five years older than me and insisted to the social workers that we got placed together. That never worked because he was always getting kicked out from home to home, dragging me with him. I remember begging him not to get in trouble. At the last home we were together, he went too far and was taken to juvenile hall while I was sent to the Greasleys where I met Gavin.
“Don’t get all judgy on me,” I retort. “Where were you when I got placed with the Greasleys?”
