Delusional Love (2nd Edition) (17 page)

How
could he even consider marrying the black whore? Well at least she had an ally
in his mother and she was going to use it to her advantage.

‘Hell will freeze over before I let her
marry my man and father of my baby.’
She thought to herself. When she heard
his mother exit the room she hurried back to the kitchen where the other women
were gathered.

---------

Adam
dropped Stephanie off at the hotel before returning to his parent’s home. There
were a few messages left at the hotel for Stephanie from Ivan saying he would
see her in the morning. After a restless night Stephanie knew what she had to
do. When she woke up she called the airport, scheduled a flight to the states,
and packed.

Stephanie
arrived home late Sunday evening. She dropped her bags on the floor and headed
towards her bedroom. Stephanie removed her clothes walked into her shower and
turned the water on she didn’t even flinch at the initial spray of cold water.
She stood in the shower and the tears rolled down her cheeks, as she sobbed
uncontrollably. She became nauseous and ran out of the shower, just making it
to the toilet bowl before she emptied the contents of her stomach.
 
She sat on the floor naked, holding on
to the bowl as she cried.

MONDAY,
AUGUST 29
^th

Stephanie
arrived at work to a barrage of questions from Betty. She rearranged Ivan and
Stephanie’s schedule so that they could make the trip together. Betty was
surprised to see her back so early. Stephanie could not answer her questions;
she was still too upset to deal with that situation. She just wanted to keep
busy and the best way to do that was to come to work.

“Ivan
and Adam are still in Italy. I cut my trip short and I really need to catch up
on my work.” Betty looked confused but sat back at her desk. Around three
o’clock Betty buzzed Stephanie to tell her she had a call on line two.

“Quinn
Corporation Stephanie Young speaking. There was silence but she could hear
breathing. “Hello.” She said

“Why
the hell did you leave?”

“I
don’t want to talk about this now Ivan. I don’t want everyone in the office
knowing our business.”

“It’s
my fucking office, I don’t give a shit about what MY employees think.” Ivan
said in a low angry tone.

“Ivan
I will call you when I get home, I can’t do this now.”

“Fine.”
He said then hung up.

Stephanie
got home fixed dinner and took a shower.
 
She did not have the energy to talk to Ivan right now.
‘I will take a nap and call him later.’
 
Stephanie didn’t wake up until the next
morning. She had several missed calls from Ivan.
‘Shit, he must really be angry.’
 
She tried to call him but his phone went
to voice mail. I guess I will have to face the music at work. Stephanie arrived
at the office refreshed and ready to face what was to come. She noticed Ivan’s
door open as she walked to her desk. She put her purse away and began to work
on the assignments on her desk.

Ivan
came out of his office and immediately knew Stephanie was there. He could smell
her lovely scent. He looked over at her desk but was too angry to address her
there. He had to prepare for an important meeting. Stephanie would have to wait
until later. He left the office without speaking to her. Her heart sank
‘
You
can do this
girl be strong.’
Stephanie was so busy that she forgot to take lunch. At
five o’clock Stephanie headed for the door glad that she avoided Ivan today.
“Goodnight Betty, I will see you in the morning.” And she walked out of the
door Ivan grabbed her arm and swung her around. “We need to talk.” He released
her arm and turned to walk back to his office. She followed him into his office
and he closed the door. Still so angry it was hard for him to speak.

“What
was that little stunt you pulled in Italy?” He said talking through his teeth.

“Stunt,
stunt, the stunt was you leaving me in a hotel in a foreign country alone while
you traveled around with your baby mama!” She yelled back.

“Don’t
be ridiculous, she needed medical attention. I was not going to let anything
happen to my baby.” “My baby? Oh now you’re sure it’s your baby, you know
what…” She put her hand up in the air. “I’m done. I can’t do this because that
conniving heifer will do anything to be with you including sabotaging our
relationship. She already has your mom hating me.”

“Stephanie
stop acting like a fucking child, yes, I do believe the baby she is carrying is
mine but that does not mean we can’t be together.”

“Now
I’m a fucking child? You know what Ivan I’m done.
 
Have a good life with your psycho baby
mama.” She turned to walk away but Ivan grabbed her by the arm and swung her
around holding her in a tight embrace.

“Ivan,
let me go before I slap the shit out of you.” She said as the tears started
streaming down her face. He held her as she struggled to get free. She pulled
away from him and tried to slap him but he caught her hand. He picked her up
and placed her on the sofa, climbed on top of her, grabbed her by her neck, and
pulled her into a kiss.
 
She tried
to resist but was unable. She felt his erection on her thigh. Her body felt
like it was on fire. She felt the moisture building between her legs. Right at
that moment, she hated that her body responded to his touch. He reached under
her skirt and ripped her panties off. She squirmed under him and he inserted
his finger into her heat. “You are so wet.” He breathed into her ear.

She
arched her back and moaned, angry that her body her body would betray her so
easily. She knew it belonged to him. He then inserted another finger and thrust
them in and out of her.

“Please
Ivan stop, someone might come in.”
 
She said with tears in her eyes. He brought his lips back down on hers.
She loved this man, she loved his body and God help her she was hopeless to his
advances.

She
felt the onslaught of an orgasm. Just as she was about to yell, he muffled her
screams with his mouth. He flipped her around so that she was on her knees bent
over the sofa. He took a condom out of his pocket and sheathed himself. He
grabbed her hips and slammed his dick into her from behind. She bit her bottom
lip to keep from screaming. He felt so good and she was angry with herself for
enjoying it so much, she was angry with him damn it. His thrusts quickened and
she backed into his erection meeting every thrust. He could feel her pulsating
around
him
as she was about to come again. Her orgasm
exploded in her body as she heard a low grunt from Ivan as his body stiffened.
They both collapsed on the floor. Once their breathing returned to normal, Ivan
turned Stephanie’s body to face him. He cupped her face, and looked into her
eyes as he spoke.

“I
love you baby. It’s going to be challenging but we can make this work, I know
we can.” He leaned over and kissed her as he laid his forehead against
hers.
 
“It exerts too much energy to
be angry with you and I don’t want to fight. Let’s go home.
 
I need you in my bed, under me.” He
kissed her again and she could feel his need because she had it too. They fixed
their clothes, Ivan grabbed his jacket and they headed to his condo.

----------

Over
the next several weeks, Ivan tried really hard to keep their relationship as
normal as possible but he was being pulled in several different directions and
Ashley was demanding more of his time. Something had to give and she had a
feeling it was going to be her.
 
The
stress of the entire situation caused her to eat more and
she
 
started
put on weight. She really
needed to get her life together.

CHAPTER TWELVE

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 23
^rd

They were suppose to have dinner together on Friday evening
but as usual something
was
wrong with Ashley and he needed
to check on her. He got to Stephanie’s house about 11 p.m. He looked tired as
he sat on the sofa “Stephanie, we need to talk.” Stephanie sat next to him and
he pulled her into his lap. He inhaled deeply. “You smell so good, God I love
you so much.” He said so low she did not think it was meant for her to hear.

“I love you too baby.”

He kissed her on her lips softly. “I can’t do this anymore.
I love you so much but I can’t do this.”

“You can’t do what? US?” She questioned and looked into his
eyes.

“Yes, it’s not fair to you, I can’t give you the attention
you deserve. We need to end this.” She jumped up.

“What are you talking about? You are the one who said that
it would be challenging, but we could work through it. We can work through this
baby, please don’t do this, don’t do this to us.” She grabbed his face and
looked into his eyes. The tears streamed down her face.

‘I need to make a
clean break and get out of here, otherwise I’m going to lose my nerve.’
 
He couldn’t stand seeing her hurt so
badly. He needed to leave while he still had a shred of courage. He stood to
leave and she grabbed him around his waist and held onto him tight.

“No baby, don’t do this. Let’s just go to bed and we can work
this out in the morning, you look so tired.” If she only knew, he was tired and
his heart was breaking in a million pieces. The last thing he wanted to do was
break her heart, but he gave his word and his word was his bond, and he would
have to live with the consequences.

He pulled out of her embrace and walked towards the door.

“Look, let’s not make this harder than it already is. We are
over Stephanie.”

She was stunned. Ivan felt her body shake and wanted to hold
her, but he knew that would confuse the situation. “What are you doing Ivan, we
can work this out, I don’t need a lot of time.” She wrapped her arms around his
neck and started kissing him. “Don’t do this baby, I need you.”

He pulled her hands from his neck. He was so cold. How could
he be so cold if he loved her? “You can still stay with the company, but you
will be transferred to a different office.” Stephanie’s head was spinning. She
felt like she was in a bad dream.

“Please I need you. Don’t do this.” She labored over every
word as she sobbed uncontrollably.

“Goodbye Stephanie.”

Stephanie grabbed his jacket and yelled. “Why are you doing
this Ivan, I gave you every part of me and this is how you treat me, you rip my
heart out.” He yanked her away and her body slumped to the floor as she
continued to cry, his heart sank, he knew exactly what she meant because his
heart was also ripping. “Take care of yourself Stephanie.” Was the last thing
he said to her before walking out the door and out of her
life.

“Fuck you Ivan, I hate you, you hear me I hate you.” She
screamed through the door.

He leaned against her outside door and willed himself to
move as he tried to compose himself. Ivan got in his car placed his head on the
steering wheel and allowed the tears to fall. He never remembered shedding one
tear in his adult life, but he sat there unable to control his emotions. He
allowed others in his life to dictate his fate, now he would have to suffer the
consequences.

SEPTEMBER 26
^th

Stephanie tried to pull it together. She cried so much over
the weekend that she made herself sick. When she arrived at Ivan’s office Betty
had her stuff boxed up and showed her to her new office. Betty gave her a
gentle hug and told her to call if she needed anything. She could see tears in
Betty’s eyes.

“Don’t Betty, if you start it is going to make me start and
I won’t be able to stop.”

Betty wiped her tears gave Stephanie a smile and walked
away.

Stephanie settled into her new position. She was working
with one of the managing directors, Peter Cummings. He was an older gentleman
who was married with two kids in college. The workload was not nearly as
demanding as Ivan’s office, but it was the same pay and it kept her busy.

OCTOBER 6
^th

The best part of her new job was that it was on a different floor
and she did not run into Ivan. She had been working in the new office for
almost two weeks and was adjusting well. Stephanie had also managed to avoid
Brianna and Tara. She did not want to talk about the breakup. How could she
explain something that she did not understand herself? She left them a couple
messages, making sure she called when she knew they wouldn’t answer. She tried
to leave upbeat messages so they wouldn’t get suspicious. Just thinking about
him caused her heart to hurt. She could not allow herself to think about him so
she redirected her attention back to her work.

Mr. Cummings came out of his office. “Stephanie I need you
to check your calendar and see if you are available to attend a meeting with me
on October
12 .”

“Sure thing Mr. Cummings.” “Peter, please call me Peter.”

“Okay Peter.” She pulled out her calendar and realized
something disturbing. “Shit.” She looked at the calendar again. “No, this can’t
be happening.” She whispered.

“Is everything okay Stephanie?” Peter asked.

“Yes,
I’m…..uh
I’m fine I just
realized that I have a doctor’s appointment that I forgot about, but yes I am
available to attend the meeting.”

“Good now if you’re not too late, go to your appointment.”

“Thank you Peter, if I leave now I can just make it.”
Stephanie quickly grabbed her purse and headed out the door. As she rushed onto
the elevator she did not notice Ivan and Ashley. Ivan was looking down at his
phone, answering emails, of course Ashley noticed her right away and seized the
opportunity.

“Ivan when we leave the doctor’s office can we go by that
baby boutique we saw yesterday, they have the cutest little clothes in the
window.”

Ivan inhaled deeply trying to calm his nerves. When he
inhaled he could smell that wonderful scent that he had missed over the past
month. He looked up to see the back of Stephanie’s head. His heart instantly
ached and his breathing and heart rate rose. Ivan did not acknowledge Ashley’s
silly question because he knew she was saying it for Stephanie’s benefit.
Stephanie tried to regulate her breathing but she was having a hard time
catching her breath. She needed to get off the elevator. When they reached the
garage level Stephanie practically ran off the elevator as she walked towards
her car she felt a soft tug on her arm.

“Are you okay Steph?” Ivan said in a soft voice that melted
her heart. She yanked her arm away.

“I’m fine. Shouldn’t you be tending to your baby mama?” She
said with venom.

She heard him
say
“I’m sorry” as
she got in her car. She sat there for a few minutes while the tears streamed
down her face.

----------

“No, God please don’t let it be.”
 
She headed to the drugstore, brought
three pregnancy tests and headed home.

Stephanie sat on the toilet and cried as three pregnancy tests
stared back at her all showing the plus sign. Her phone rang and she picked it
up without looking at the caller id. “Hello.” She said as her voice started
cracking and he could hear the pain in her voice. “I just wanted to make sure
you were okay you did not look well early.”

The tears started to flow again. “How do you expect me to
feel Ivan, huh you ripped my heart to shreds and then threw it back in my face
before walking out of my life. You know what, no I’m not fine, but I will be.
Goodbye Ivan.” She ended the call and slammed it against the wall. It shattered
into pieces; she did not have the energy to argue with Ivan. She knew their
relationship was over and all she wanted to do was cry
herself
to sleep. The faster her heart mended the better she would be. She ignored the
fact that her phone was in pieces. A few seconds later her house phone rang,
she walked into the living room, ripped the cord from the wall and threw it in

the
trash. She headed back to her
bedroom and climbed into bed. She realized that no one would be able to contact
her but she just wanted to sleep. Stephanie woke up the next morning sick to
her stomach. This emotional shit was not healthy for her or the baby. She
decided to call in sick and stay in the bed the rest of the day. She realized
that she couldn’t call because she broke her phones. Not having the energy to
go out and get a new phone, she climbed back into bed.

The days turned into nights, then into days again, she still
had no desire to talk to anyone including her best friends. It hurt so bad she
just wanted to sleep. She got up to go to the bathroom and saw Ivan’s robe
hanging on the door. The tears started again. On her way back to bed she
grabbed his robe and wrapped it around her she could smell his scent as she
laid back in the bed and went to sleep. When she woke up again she forgot what
day it was. She needed to eat something, she went to the kitchen and made a
sandwich and got back in bed. She ate the sandwich and went back to sleep.

----------

OCTOBER 12th

Brianna called Tara. “Hey Ty have you heard from Steph?”

“No, but what’s new, lately she’s so busy up Ivan’s ass that
she doesn’t have time for us.”

“Whatever.” Brianna said agitated. “Adam called me today and
asked me if Stephanie was okay because she had not been to work in a week and
she did not call. I told him we’ve all been so busy we haven’t seen each other
in a few weeks. I’ve been playing phone tag with Stephanie for the last week,
when I asked him why, he told me that Ivan broke up with Steph a few weeks ago.
Ivan has been trying to call to check on her but she won’t answer her phone”.

“What, why is he just telling you, he should have told you
when it first happened.” Tara was angry.

“Yeah, but she’s our girl, we should have checked on her sooner.

“I’m on my way to her house now.” Tara said with worry in
her voice.

“I’ll meet you
there
do you have
your keys for her apartment.”
 

“I’m getting them now, see you there.” Brianna and Tara met
in the lobby of her building. “I’ve tried to call her phone but it keeps going
to voicemail.” Brianna stated to Tara as they headed for the elevators.

They walked through her apartment calling her name. They
found Stephanie in bed sleeping, looking disheveled.

“What the fuck.” Tara whispered.

They walked over to the bed Brianna looked at the way her
friend looked and it brought tears to her eyes, she shook Stephanie lightly.
“Sweetie wake up.” Stephanie look up startled at first but realized it was her
friends and she started crying again.

Brianna pulled her into a hug.

“It’s okay Steph we’re here.”

When she stopped crying Tara said, “No offense, but you
stink baby girl.”

Stephanie laughed for the first time in a couple of weeks
but then started crying again.

“Let’s go baby girl we have to get you in the shower.” Tara
stayed with her while she showered and changed into clean clothes. Brianna made
her some soup and they all sat in the dining room eating in silence. Stephanie
was the first to speak.

“I didn’t guard my heart. I didn’t guard my heart and he
stole it and I don’t know how to get it back.” She said just above a whisper as
the tears rolled down her face. Stephanie explained everything that transpired
over the last few weeks, including their devastating breakup.

“So that’s it, you’re just going to let it go without a
fight. You are just going to hand your man over to her?” Tara
said
as she was unable to stop her own tears from falling at
her friend’s pain.

“I don’t know how to tell you the worst part of this entire
mess.” Stephanie said as she started to sob unable to get her breath.

“What is it sweetie?” Brianna asked in a panic.

“I’m pregnant.”

They both looked at her in total shock. Brianna walked over
to her and pulled her into an embrace and Stephanie stayed seated. Tara sat on
the floor and laid her head in Stephanie’s lap as all three women cried. Tara
was the first to speak. “I just have to ask one question. “Has he never heard
of condoms?” They all started to laugh.

“We always used condoms. That’s what’s really crazy about
this situation. Before we broke up Ivan swore to me he never sleep with Ashley
without a condom and that’s why he couldn’t understand how she got pregnant.”