50 Shades of Drake 5 and 6

More Life: Chapter Thirty-Two

    At some point, Aubrey's eloquent words fell on deaf ears. Destiny sat beside him. At first, she listened intently to what he was saying. After his initial confession, though, his voice turned into a distant-sounding hum that passed between her ears. Anger, frustration, and sadness failed to grip her. Her body simply shut down and started running on some bizarre autopilot mode - just functional enough to keep her torso upright. 

    Aubrey's lips were moving a mile a minute, but then they slowed down. They slowed until he was no longer speaking at all, until he was staring at her.

    She stared back at him, albeit blankly.

    "Baby?" His voice echoed in the strangest way.

    Baby. He's having one. We lost ours, but he's having one with someone else. The pain was too much for her body to even begin processing. So she just sat there, numb. Wanting to punch him, wanting to choke him, wanting to kick a hole into the nearest wall, wanting to cause destruction to something. How much pain was she supposed to take? What would it take for the universe to throw her a bone and give her a break? Would it take her actually breaking? If so, she was approaching that phase. 

    "Des."

    She flinched at the sound of his voice. Points to me for not passing out, she thought, flexing the fingers of both of her hands. 

    "Please say something."

    "Are you hungry?" 

    He blinked and frowned at her. "Am I...?"

    "Hungry?" she finished for him, feeling oddly disconnected from everything in the world.

    "I..." One of his shoulders lifted, then settled. "Come to think of it, I am a little hungry. Yeah."

    "I'll make us something. Wait here." She couldn't get out of the room fast enough. With her composure starting to crumble, she closed the bedroom door at her back and held onto the knob as if it were a life raft. A migraine was coming on, but she fought through that while stumbling her way to the kitchen. 

~~~~~~

    Aubrey remained on the bed with his hands balled into fists. All I had to do was wait for you. All I had to do was resist the urge to fuck my grief away - a stupid plan to begin with. My grief was still there, waiting for me, after that bender. With all of the crazy nights I've had, of course messing with this one woman, this one stranger, would result in a whole child. And now, after Des has already been put through it, I had to go and put her through some more BS because of my own idiotic actions. 

    Somewhere outside, a dog barked. The bark was piercing enough to vibrate through the windows of the house.

    Aubrey raised his head, but didn't move to stand until the bark sounded for a second time. Then he found himself standing and moving to the side of the window. Cautiously, he moved the curtain aside and separated two flat blades of the blinds covering the window. 

    There were two figures creeping from the opposite side of the street towards the house Destiny was staying in.

    Probably the FBI agents tailing her, Aubrey reasoned. 

    Something about that assumption didn't ring true. Maybe it was because of the way the two figures were moving. It wasn't the type of stealthy where someone was trying to perform a security sweep of the property without being labeled a government operative. It was the type of stealthy that you saw cat burglars mimic in classic cartoons. 

    The hairs along Aubrey's arms prickled as he removed his hands from the blinds. He turned his head and looked towards the bedroom door. This place is bugged up the wazoo. If I pop up in the kitchen, the FBI agents are going to know about it.

    Maybe the FBI agents should know about it, if two suspicious figures were approaching the house.

    He didn't hesitate another moment. Quick steps brought him to the bedroom door. He flung it open, tore down the hall and tried to ignore how loud his footsteps sounded to his own ears.

    Destiny whirled around from the stove in shock as he advanced on her.

    With a shake of his head, he shot across the room and clamped a hand across her mouth. 

    A knock sounded on the front door. 

    Aubrey glanced over Destiny's shoulder towards the back door. 

    The silhouette of a broad man filled the curtained window of the back door.

    Destiny's eyes widened in panic.

    Keeping his hand clamped over her mouth, he swept Destiny to the back corner of the kitchen, just as the doorknob on the back door turned. 

    The door swung open, partially concealing the panicked couple. A wide-backed man strode into the room. His gaze darted over to the stove. Then he moved further into the room, leaving the back door open behind him.

    Another knock sounded on the front door.

    Swiftly, the man moved through the kitchen and into the living room.

    Aubrey held a finger up to his lips and removed the hand he had over Destiny's mouth. Then he nudged her forward and by grabbing her shoulders, steered her around the open back door. His breath was caught in his throat and he didn't release it until they made it to the back porch.

    "Oh my God," she whispered fearfully. "The stove is still on."

    "They're going to have to turn it off for us," he muttered, tugging her off of the back porch. 

    A bunch of banging sounds could be heard inside of the house, but the two of them crept along the length of the beach bordering the backyards of the homes on that street. 

    The backdoor of another house was thrown open and one of the FBI agents stood filling the doorframe. His eyes narrowed when he saw Aubrey standing beside Destiny, but he was quick to act. He made a sweeping gesture, indicating for them to come inside. Once they were inside, he spoke briskly into a microphone clipped to the collar of his button-down shirt. "Suspects are inside of the assignment's house. Approaching." He withdrew his sidearm and disappeared down the porch steps until his shoes hit sand.

    Destiny backed away from the back door to the FBI agent's house. 

    Moments later, shots rang out.

    Aubrey shook his head. "How are we supposed to know who shot who? How do we know the agents aren't the ones being taken out?"

    She shrugged helplessly.

    "We can't stay here. If those guys knew you were staying in that house and two FBI agents storm the place, it doesn't take much for them to realize that those guys were living in houses near yours. We have to go."

    So they fled.