Page 61 of Forced Pregnant Mate

“I swear to God, Jack, if you don’t give me a few minutes’ peace, I will go completely out of my mind.”

“Just call me if you need me!” he yells as I walk away.

“I’m calling your mother, that’s what I’m going to do! Maybe she can talk some sense into you!”

I go out the front door and give it a good slam. Even though I’m having trouble believing the boys are completely serious with this, it is nice to feel so well looked after. I don’t think anyone has cared so much for me, ever.

After I finish my breakfast and get ready for work, we head out and drop Sam at school before going to the warehouse. We know that the instant we tell Jack’s family, they will arrive in force, so we decide to tell them at the end of the day. Meanwhile, I start on some office tasks while Jack goes to his office for his usual morning calls.

Near morning teatime, I have a huge box of shredded paper that needs to go to the recycle bin. I barely think about it as I lift the box and head out to the dumpsters at the side of the dock. The stock boys have gone on break, and Betty is still in the office, so no one hears Jack shriek.

“What now?” I jump and spin around, expecting to see the walls crumbling or something. All I see is Jack running towards me with an expression of pure terror on his face.

“What are you doing?” he says, gently tugging the box out of my hands. “Let me help with that.”

I glance at the box, then back at his face.

“Jack, it’s literally shredded paper.”

“It’s a big box, though.”

I can’t help it. I let out a big snort of laughter. I try to hold my giggles in, but they escape and turn into big gasps of pure, joyful laughter.

“What?” Jack asks, confused.

“Jack,” I shake my head and lean towards him, brushing the curls from his forehead. “I’m not going to lie, this is irritating as fuck, but at the same time, I can’t be mad. It feels so good to be well taken care of. No one has ever bothered before.”

Jack smiles. “It’s no bother at all, believe me, and don’t think it’s going to stop when the baby is born. I’m going to treasure you every day of your life.”

His words bring tears to my eyes, and I giggle again, thinking that these mood swings will probably become more frequent the further along I get.

“Let me take this to the trash,” he says. “Then I’ll take you for morning tea.”

“Yeah, I’m up for some real food this time. I hope they have that caramel pudding at the diner.”

Jack scowls. “We’ll talk about that in a second.”

I shrug, giggling. “Got to give the baby what it wants.”

“Wait one minute,” he says sternly, heading off towards the bins with the box. I watch him go, and the sense of being cared for and spoiled suddenly crashes into all the memories of my past.

It hits me so hard that for a second, it’s hard to breathe. I know it’s common for trauma survivors to get hit by flashbacks when they feel safe and loved, because those times make it abundantly clear just how horrible the situation used to be.

The sight of Jack carrying a very light box all the way out to the dock because he doesn’t want me to do it is such a simple, small thing, and it touches me beyond belief. While I watch him dump the shredded paper, I’m hit with memories of all the cleaning and heavy lifting I’ve done every day of my life for as long as I can remember.

Where are Father and Kelly now?

It’s a disturbing thought. Father isn’t the type to just give up. If Decker won’t take them back, where would he go? I want to believe that he knows this is a situation he can’t win, and he just took off into the world to take his evil somewhere far away from me.

But his threats still ring in my mind. Would he come back here and try to hurt me? Try to destroy everything good that has happened to me since I was able to get away from him?

It is of some amusement to me that Father arranged this as a punishment for me—or at least an excuse to use me—and it turned out to be my escape and his defeat.

So why do I feel like it’s not over?

I watch Jack walking back towards me, and I want to feel free. I want to forget about my past and embrace the future.

But I can’t shake the fear that Father will return for me—or for Sam. He promised me he would hurt my brother if I didn’t obey, and the only promises Father ever keeps are those related to pain and revenge.

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