Page 14 of In Her Shadow

“You can get anything if you're prepared to pay enough for it,” he chuckles. “You should see the blonde I’m looking at right now.” I can sense him losing concentration.

“This is urgent. How fast can your buddy do his thing?” I look up at Eloise’s apartment window before I step down the passageway that leads to the back entrance of the warehouse.

“Nothing like short notice to keep me on my toes. I’ll give André a call, see what he can do. But this isn’t a usual request. I’ll expect he’ll want paying handsomely for it.”

“Just get him working on it.” I hang up and start making my way up the stairs to the floor that I’ve made my home. The window up here looks out directly at hers, and when I turn on my computer, I flick straight to the camera that’s pointing toward her bed, and I rewind through the footage from a few hours ago. I watch the moment I took her virginity as I take the panties she wore before, and after it happened, out of my pocket, teasing the lace between my fingers as I bring them up to my face and breathe them in. They smell of us combined and are streaked with the blood that marks her as mine. Just knowing my girl is gonna to be walking into work today sore, has my hand reaching into the front of my jeans and pulling out my cock. I flick back to the live footage, and she’s still sleeping. Sleeping soundly with a pussy dripping full of my cum.

Deceiving her the way I intend to is brutal. But I’m starting to believe that fate wants it this way. It was fate that brought her to me in the first place, after all.

I’ve always had the sense that I was put on this earth solely for her. Eloise Meadows has owned me from the second we met.I’m not just a stranger to her anymore. I’m the man she invited through her door. I’m the one she chose, and I need to ensure that it stays that way forever.

I reach my free hand out to one of the drawings pinned to the wall – Eloise, lying on a blanket in a field full of flowers and looking up at the sun. Her hands are resting on the big, round tummy that grows our child, and the smile on her face is infectious.

The only time I ever used to smile was when I thought about days like those actually existing, and now the days I never thought would come seem within my reach.

“You just wait, Kitten.” I brush my fingertips over the image of her fertile body while spilling all over the ones that grip tight around my cock.

ELOISE

“Come on, say something.” I wait for my friend to respond to everything I just told her.

“Say something? Girl, I’m still in shock.” Katelyn laughs as we climb the stairs up to my apartment. “I mean, I’m happy that you finally popped the cork, but?—”

“I know it sounds crazy, but I felt so at ease with him,” I quickly cut her off before she can give me thatbut. I’m still on a high and I don’t want to come down. “Maybe my attraction to him counteracted all my fear?” I suggest taking my keys from my purse, ready to unlock my door, that's when I notice a small, purple gift bag waiting on the floor outside my apartment.

“What the hell is that?” Katelyn asks as I reach down and pick it up, pulling out the two boxes inside.

“Is that–” Her mouth falls open

“We were a little reckless.” I feel my skin flush with shame when I think back to my own stupidity.

“You slept with a stranger without using protection?” Katelyn raises her voice, and I quickly open my door, dragging her inside before the neighbours hear her.

“That’s just it, Ren doesn’t feel like a stranger. I feel like I’ve known him my whole life. Yes, I’ll admit, sleeping withhim without using protection was stupid, but look…he’s fixed it.” I hold up the boxes as evidence before moving over to the refrigerator to get some water. I know from the research I did online during my five-minute stop for lunch that the sooner you take the morning-after pill, the more effective it is. I even contemplated heading to the pharmacy to get one myself, but the whole idea of it was too mortifying, and thankfully, I didn’t have time anyway. Katelyn met me straight after work, and I wasn’t going to have this conversation with her in the middle of the street.

“Here, there’s a note.” Katelyn looks unimpressed as she lifts her hand out of the bag and passes it over.

As promised, Kitten

Ren x

I read it out loud and can’t help smiling to myself.

“Jesus Christ, look at you.” Katelyn shakes her head and laughs.

“What do you mean?” I stare back at her defensively.

“Well, it’s hardly poetry. You’re being such a typical female right now.”

“Again, you’re gonna have to explain.” I feel myself getting frustrated.

“You know how sex is supposed to set off this hormone inside us, that sends us all crazy, and head over heels in love? Here we have the perfect example.” She holds her hands out to me. “Eloise, you don’t even know this guy.” She rips the note back out of my hand. While I read the instructions on the back of the Plan B box. “What kind of name is Ren? And Kitten…KITTEN?” She laughs some more.

“I think it’s cute.” I pop the pill from its blister packet and knock it back with some water. Then, picking up the birthcontrol he’s also provided me with, I read the instructions for that too.

“Eloise, are you listening to me?” Katelyn snatches them from me.

“Right now, I’m ensuring that I don’t get pregnant,” I tell her, snatching them back sarcastically.

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