Chapter 15
Gema ran her hand back through her hair, pushing her bangs out of her eyes. She needed a haircut, desperately, but she had no idea where to go to get one. For the past month, Gema had been hiding from Doug as best she could, making sure to keep a low profile and steer away from places that people may recognize her and tell Doug they saw her. Despite some close encounters, Gema had been mostly successful in avoiding anyone who would know her. The hardest part about living back in New York, was going to sleep at night, remembering that last week of bliss with Vistos, and then relieving that fight over and over again. Gema sighed as she packed up her desk at the end of the day. She’d managed to get a job as a secretary at an insurance agency. It wasn’t very fun, but it paid most of her bills and kept her at a low profile until she could afford to move back to Australia, or somewhere else far from Doug and. Gema walked outside of her building, pulling at her dress shirt as she did. Most of her shirts had become increasingly tighter, and Gema had trouble even fastening her shirts these days.
“Well, well, Gema Dodge” Gema looked up at the sound of her name, and immediately wished she hadn’t. the blood drained from her face as Doug walked towards her. His blonde hair was cropped close as usual, and he was immaculately dressed in a beige suit, his light blue eyes piercing right into her. “I’ve been looking all over for you, love”
Gema closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again, trying to hold back the terror that was coursing through her. She swallowed and Doug moved closer to her.
“Aren’t you happy to see me?”
“Doug, I-” Before Gema could get another word out, his hand was firmly under her elbow as he propelled her towards his waiting town car. Gema had no choice but to scramble into the backseat ahead of him, and the decisive slam of the car door made sweat bead on Gema’s upper lip, knowing there was no escape now.
Doug calmly tugged at the sleeves on his shirt as he spoke almost idly, running through a list of things she needed to finalize for the wedding.
“Since you left me to handle most of the preparations on my own, you’ll have to make due with what I’ve picked out, though I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. I moved it to indoors, I didn’t want to risk the rain at this kind of season.”
“You can’t believe I would still marry you?” Gema asked, horrified, and Doug sneered at her.
“And why wouldn’t I? You practically left me at the altar, wasting valuable time, not to mention money, while I had to make excuses for your absence for nearly 6 months!” Doug snapped at her. “Now where the hell have you been the fast few months?”
Gema said nothing, and Doug sighed heavily. “It would be in your best interest to give me the answers I want and not be difficult” Gema still refused to answer, looking at her hands folded in her lap. Gema saw stars as she was jerked backwards by her hair sharply, then punched in the face, her lip splitting as Doug’s knuckles made contact. Gema cradled her face in her hands, her eyes swimming with tears, and she attempted not to let them fall through her fingers. Doug sighed beside her as if nothing had happened. “I’m waiting, Gema.”
“Italy” She croaked finally, her eyes never leaving the spot of blood which had fallen onto her pencil skirt.
“Italy? Who the hell were you with in Italy?”
Gema squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to answer, but Doug’s sharp tug on her hair, yanking her ear to his mouth so he could hiss in it, made her nearly scream it.
“No one! I went alone!”
The air in the car was astonishingly quiet, and it stayed that way until they pulled up at the small flat Gema was staying at. Doug all but shoved her out of the car without so much as another word, but his eyes ran over her body for a moment before he shut the door to the car and it drove off. She didn’t dare to think what would have happened to her if she had answered him truthfully. Gema drug herself wearily to bed, and cried herself to sleep, as she always did.
After being sick all the following morning, Gema arranged to meet with her doctor during lunchtime. She was thankful that the split to her lip wasn’t too bruised to be covered up with makeup, but she knew it would probably look worse and worse as the days went, and was happy for the long weekend ahead. Gema described her ailing symptoms to her doctor, describing the nausea and the occasional dizziness, but was slightly irritated when her doctor merely smiled across from her and closed her chart.
“Let’s just check your blood” The doctor suggested, and Gema sat waiting for the results, her mind drifting to Vistos. Despite the things he had said to her, what he had done to her, it was painfully obvious that he hadn’t set up a deal with Doug concerning her. In fact, Doug had no idea she where she had even been for the last couple of months. That doesn’t disregard the fact that he had known Doug was planning on going back to normal once she returned. Had he even spoke to Doug about having her parents money given back? He couldn’t have, Doug would surely have mentioned it. How could she still be so helplessly in love with him, when she had essentially sold her body for money, sold sex with Vistos for her parents nest egg. Gema shuddered at the thought, and her doctor interrupted her self loathing with a smile.
“I figured you were, but I just wanted to be sure before I said anything to you but, there’s no doubt about it. You’re 4 weeks pregnant”
YOU ARE READING
An Unexpected Romance
Fiksi Umum“Mio dio, I love the way you say my name” His voice was a husky whisper, and Gema took a step back, caught off guard. He stared at her intently, shoving his hands into his pockets. “What do you want” he snapped at her, and Gema hesitated. “Well I…...
