The Sire

Chapter 47

It had been three days. Three days without seeing him or talking to him. Three entire days being ignored. Three entire nights sleeping alone in their bed. They had never been without talking a day, let alone three. Ever since the hospital when they separated at the parking lot that she had laid her eyes on him. Stone went to his parents' house and she went back to their house with Zane. While she was taking Zane to daycare, he had been there to pick up some clothes. Iris noticed it when she got to their bedroom and she saw a couple of his jeans missing. He used to go see Zane at his daycare just before she picked him up. Zane always told her how daddy had been there. Every day she texted him or sent him voice mails trying for a chance where they could meet and talk like two adults, but Stone had truly ghosted her and he had never done that. Even on tour, there wouldn't be a day, depending on time difference, where they wouldn't speak three or four times a day. Her heart was so broken she didn't know if she could pick up the pieces. Iris felt lost as if the world didn't make any sense. His decision broke her in ways she never imagined. Iris always thought they were unbreakable. Now everything around her was shattered in a larger number than every star in the universe. She sent him a text saying that life without him had no meaning and that their love had meaning, but Stone didn't answer. Everything around her was a blur. The sun didn't shine. The birds didn't chirp. The green of the trees didn't seem so green. Only when Zane was with her, she tried to put up her best smile on her face for her little boy needed her stable. During those days, she also didn't go to the office but she was working from home or trying to. Most of the times, she would break into tears. She loved him so... she missed him so...

She also had warned him again that she had an appointment at the doctor to check on her pregnancy, but as he also didn't reply she didn't know if he was coming. Iris put down the magazine she was reading on her lap and stared at the white wall in front of her remembering how at the beginning of the week, they were so happy the baby they had been planning was a reality and now, sitting on that orange chair all by herself, Iris felt abandoned and lonely. She felt the loneliest ever. She took a deep breath trying to sustain the tears that probed in her eyes when she heard the doors of the elevator opening and someone getting out of it. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw him. She was sure he had seen her because he was walking in her direction, but he put his eyes on the floor, his hands shoved in the pockets of the black jeans he was wearing and the sound of his boots raping the immaculate silence of the doctor's office every time he took a step nearer. Stone sat by her side a few seconds after with his heart beating incredibly fast, just like hers but he didn't look at her. He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees staring at the wall in front of them. It was Iris, once again, who tried to break the ice.

"I didn't know if you were coming..." Her voice almost a whisper and her lips trembled as she tried to hold back the tears.

Stone turned his head to look at her over his shoulder. His huge eyes, always so alive and so joyful, were sparkless and around them two halos so dark that it seemed he had his eyes buried in his skull.

"It's still our child. I am the father of that baby." He replied in a low tone.

Iris didn't know what to say next. She had so much to tell him and at the same time she felt like she'd better say nothing. He raised his eyes to look in hers and they just stayed there, staring at one another in a soul consuming silence. Not taking his glare, she looked down and when her eyes hit his hands she wished she didn't. She wished she had endured his glare. His hands were nude. There was no ring on his finger and that was too much for her to bear. Tears assaulted her eyes and she cleaned them with the tip of her fingers. She was still wearing hers and Stone looked away acknowledging so. It was not just her who was heart shattered. He was too. He had spent nights without being able to sleep and days without being productive. For the first time, he felt music was not a healer. Nothing seemed to glue the pieces of his broken heart. He felt like he was living in a parallel reality which was a huge nightmare. Only Zane made him smile and yet he only reminded her of her too. Stone started bouncing his legs up and down feeling anxious and Iris tried to control her emotions.