Jenalyn: Crossing Lines (#4) [Complete]

Chapter 26: Hayden

Sunday, 1:11 P.M. EST

“Please don’t make me do this…” I please, though my voice is weak and trembling. “Please, if you loved me, you wouldn’t-”

Dane cuts me off, turning down a unfamiliar road without breaking. It sends me crashing into the passenger side door with a thud. 

I don’t notice Evelyn in the backseat until I straighten myself up to see her now sprawled out on the seat unconscious, high on something.

I am not prepared to deal with any of this…

“I do love you, Jenalyn. That’s why I need to do this,” Dane says, his voice stern after letting out a laugh. “Do you think I’d let you run around with a little bastard, if not? You can have a baby when someone wants to settle down with you. How about that? Keep your legs shut long enough for someone to love you, marry him, and then talk to me.”

I feel like my stomach is in my throat. I wasn’t expecting him to jump right into this! He’s not giving me any time to try to manipulate him, and that’s what I need!

“It could be our baby, Dane!” I cry out before I know my lips are even moving. “We could have a family together! I-I’ll marry you! I love you!”

He lights another cigarette only to put it out, a clear sign he’s growing frustrated with me. I can’t stop myself though. 

I promised McKaiden I was going to give it my all. I don’t for the life of me know what I can do at this point, but I have to try!

“One, that’s not my fucking kid. And I told you that when an abortion was still legal, but you didn’t want to listen,” he states. “Two, I never wanted a family, which I also told you! But again, you didn’t listen! And three, I don’t need marriage; I already fucking own you. And you know what? You still spread your legs for every man you can. Know why? You guessed it! You don’t. fucking. listen!” 

He pauses, but purposefully not long enough to allow me any room to talk. He turns onto the highway, cutting off an SUV, and flicking them off in his rearview. 

“That leads us to now. On our way to a man that I don’t trust to perform this operation!” he says when he continues, his shoulders shrugging. “But, hey! You had your fun these last couple of months, right? You’ve been living out your dreams!”

The sarcastic tone in his voice isn’t enough to mask the underlying frustration. It only grows stronger when I speak again. 

“Please, Dane! I’ll do anything!” I plead, trying to stop myself from throwing up all over his truck. I try to catch my breath before I go on. “Please don’t make me do this! I’m sorry!”

His eyebrows raise, but a sense of malintent is fast to follow it. “Anything?” he asks after a second, a laugh escaping his lips. He glances at me out of the corner of his eye. Moments pass before he reaches his arm behind him until he can reach the center console. Pulling out three different baggies, he scoffs. “Take your pick then, Lil Bit!”

I let out a loud cry feeling more panic rise in my chest. I assumed this was what he was going to turn to in the beginning, but the thought of it still twists my heart up in my chest. “I can’t!” I shake my head. 

Dane reaches back again to return the baggies before shaking his head. “See, I don’t like that,” he says matter-of-factly. “We have a very distinct lifestyle, Jenalyn. A lifestyle that is only… inconvenienced by a little bastard child. I’m a creature of habit, you know that. When something impedes that? We need to eliminate it.”

My mind is racing a mile a minute. I’m having a hard time processing my thoughts. 

McKaiden kicks me in my ribs, subtle but strong enough to remind me of her strength.

“So I’ll do it!” I blurt, wiping my eyes. My mind can calm itself knowing that I may be able to buy myself a little time. “I’ll do whatever you want! It’ll be like I’m not even pregnant! And when... and when she’s born, I’ll give her up! Just please don’t kill her Dane…I’ll do anything, I promise!”

He’s silent for longer than my nerves can handle. I’m about to pass out from anticipation by the time he opens his mouth again.

“You sure about that?” he asks, his brow raised in skepticism as he glances at me in his peripherals.

I’m sure that means Hell. 

It means he’s going to try to pump me full of drugs again until McKaiden dies on her own. It means that if I fuck anything up, he’s going to beat me hoping to harm her. It means that even if the Golds were to take me back after what I’m pulling again, that I’d have no choice but to decline because I’m giving him back my life…

But… I know she’s strong. I can feel her strength, and I have to do this. 

“I’m sure,” I say after my hesitation. “I’m sure!”