Descent From Grace: A Luxe Novella Book 1.5 (11 page)

Lilith held herself up by his desk, staring at her hands; he wanted to go to her, but he couldn’t in front of them. 

Karen stepped into his office. “What the hell is going on?” she snapped.
  “Give me a minute, ladies. Please take Ms. Trombley to the waiting room.” He looked at Tash. Forcing a smile, he looked at the woman he was in the middle of interviewing and told her, “I’ll be right with you.” 

  “Ian!” Karen snapped, scrunching her forehead.

Ian looked at Lilith again and he saw her gasping, but the worst part was the vacancy in her expression.

He walked Karen and Tash into the hallway. “She was on a date this morning, perhaps something happened. Can you give us a minute?” He closed the door in their face, then locked it.

Grabbing Lilith, he pulled her to him and she collapsed in his arms, forcing him to hold her up. He leaned back onto his desk, then reached behind him, turning his desk phone off to limit interruptions.
  “Baby,” he whispered in her ear with a tremble. Having no idea what happened, he was terrified. Feeling her shaking and hearing the wheezing almost made him cry. “Lily, talk to me,” he softly begged. “Take a deep breath.” He tried not to sound as scared as he was. “What happened?”
She remained silent for a few more minutes, then pulled away and plopped into the chair. Her form melted to the seat like she didn’t have a bone in her body and her vacant gaze locked on him.

After a minute, she exhaled like she were Lamaze breathing.

  “I went to the doctor,” she said in the most exhausted tone.

His heart sank and fear for her health consumed him. Kneeling in front of her, he grabbed her hand and she brought her eyes from their hands fixing them into his eyes.

  “I’m pregnant.” The words came out exasperated.

A chilling rush of relief made his hairs stand on end and he let out the smallest noise sounding like a laugh. He kissed her fingers, then knee, then fingers again.

  “Oh my god, Lily,” he breathed. “I was so scared.” He looked at her and cupped her face in his hands, feeling how clammy she was.

He’s longing to live in a dream

Just looking at her I know she’s terrified, but I’m fucking ecstatic. This explains a fucking lot! I honestly thought for a split second she was going to tell me she was dying or something. Holy shit, she’s pregnant with my baby! I think it’s my baby. It had to have happened in Barbados, but she also fucked that cop.
  “Baby,” I say and she brings horrified eyes to mine. “It’s mine, right?”

Fuck me! She slaps me across the face, and hard. How does she have the energy to hit me like that when she looks like a pile of flesh? I actually fell back, catching myself with my hands, and now she breaks into sobs. Christ, she’s not happy, not in the slightest. I don’t want kids right now, but if I want anyone to have my kids, it’s her. I want this woman to mother my children until the end of time, even if she won’t be with me. I realize how careless and scary this and I’m slowly beginning to understand her reaction. Her sobs are heartbreaking; it’s like she just witnessed the murder of a family member, or maybe even worse.

I’m holding her tightly and she won’t stop trembling, which only brings back my fear again. I don’t want her to feel like this. I need to get her home, but how the fuck am I going to manage that with Karen here?

I reach behind me and grab my coffee cup while pulling her to stand.

  “Let me get you water, baby,” I say softly and she slowly lets me go.

She’s still sobbing; heavy breathing and little squeaks are coming from her and it’s agonizing to see she’s hurting.

After crossing the room to the water cooler, I bring her a full cup of water and she grabs it with both hands. Unsure if her trembling hands have a grip, I hold my hand underneath it. She’s a mess. Not until she drinks the entire cup does she look at me. Fuck, she’s beautiful, even with makeup streaming down her face, and swollen eyes, and a runny nose, and suffocating from fear.
  “Baby,” I breathe and grab a tissue, wiping her nose. “Let me get you home.” When I say this, she nods, reaching to set the cup down.

This won’t be too weird; it’s clear she’s upset and it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve escorted one of my girls from the building. I grab a few more tissues and wipe away the remnants of running makeup, then carefully guide her down the hall. I hear Tash gasp when she sees us, but I know it’s because Lily is crying. Tash cries from everything so she’s probably going to break down any minute.

I look up at Karen. “Please postpone with Ms. Trombley and hold my calls. I’m going to get Ms. Tudor home.”
  “Ian.” She sounds baffled and it worries me a little that this is more suspicious than I thought.

  “I’ll return,” I say, walking around the corner to the elevator.

When the elevator doors close, Lily looks up at me with dazed eyes.

  “Was that Karen?” she asks in the weakest voice.
  “Yes,” I answer and she begins sobbing again and throws herself at me; I pull her into my chest.

We don’t have long before the doors open to the lobby and I need to get her to calm down. I hold the ‘DOOR CLOSE’ button for a minute while she composes herself. As we exit the building I hold her close and she’s gasping for breaths every couple minutes. It’s like a child who’s had a good cry.

When I get into the car, I hold her hand then maneuver one handedly out of the parking garage, trying to warm her cold trembling. I see her car on my way out and she’s in a handicapped spot. She’s going to be ticketed, but I’ll take care of that. I’m just glad she’s in an actual parking spot and didn’t leave the car in the middle of the street.

At the condo, I try to get her in the shower, but she refuses and pushes me away. I watch her walk to the bed and curl up, still in her dress and heels. Zoned out, she lets me undress her, but doesn’t make it easy. I pull her shorts on, but I’m not able to get a shirt on her unless I make her move and she’s making it clear she doesn’t want to move.

  “Baby?” I say kneeling next to the bed; she won’t even look at me. “I’m going to make you something to eat and get you some water.”

Still nothing and her glare looks petrified; it’s making me uncomfortable because I don’t want her to feel this terrible about our mistake. There’s nothing we can do to change it, but shit, I hope she doesn’t have a nervous breakdown before she even has the kid.

I make her grilled peppers and tomatoes with olive oil. Getting her to sit up and eat is frustrating; she won’t move and she’s still staring at the same spot of the room.

  “Please, baby, eat something,” I say and my phone begins to ring again.

Karen has already called me three times, but I don’t dare answer anywhere in earshot of Lily.

  “Dammit!” Quickly exiting the bedroom, I step outside before I answer. “Hello?”
  “Ian, what the fuck happened?” Karen boasts.
  “I’m having Dr. Russo come see her now. I called Ashley and she’s on the way. When they get here I’ll return to the office.”
  “What happened to her, Ian?” Karen asks and there’s actually a tinge of concern in her voice.

  “I’m not going to discuss that, Karen.” She knows we don’t discuss private matters of the girls, but she’ll nag me until I finally tell her. I’ll deal with that later.

  “I don’t want you staying there. Once your sister is there, you can leave.”
  “I will. Don’t worry about it, okay? Can you focus on your job?”
  “I love yo—” I hang up on her before she gets her sentence out.

Lily’s in the same position, but I manage to pry her arms from her knees and stretch her out down my side; she latches on tightly, crying again.

  “It’s okay, baby.” I don’t know how to comfort her in this situation.

I kiss her face over and over while telling her everything will be okay, but judging by her reaction, that may not be true.

*LUXE*

Stiffness set in and Ian had to move. It’d been an hour. Not knowing if she fell asleep, he adjusted so he could look into her face; she wasn’t sleeping and her eyes were drooping and swollen from crying.

  “I have to get Karen home,” he whispered.

Lilith nodded slightly and her grip around him loosened. He stood and looked at the food she still hadn’t touched.

  “Will you eat?”

She shook her head no.

  “What can I do?”
With a scratchy, exhausted voice, she responded, “Nothing.”

Sighing, he left the room.

  “Sup?” Ashley answered his call.

  “Busy? I need you to come to Lily’s.”
  “For what?”
  “I have to take Karen home from work and I need you to stay with Lily.”
  “What do you mean?”
  “Can you come here, please?” he snapped with urgency.

Alarmed by his tone, she asked, “What’s going on, Ian?”

  “Just get over here.” His phone beeped in his ear with an incoming text from Karen wondering where he was.

Waiting for Ashley to show up, he sat on the bed, softly stroking Lilith’s arm.

  “I’ll be back, baby.”

Wondering who came into the house, Lilith moved her head to look at him, then she heard, “Ian? Lily?”

With a look of betrayal, she gasped, “You told her?” and began to cry again.

  “No!” he quietly assured. “I didn’t tell her anything.”
  “Why’d you call her?” she asked through the onslaught of tears.

  “I’m not leaving you alone until you’re okay. I’m dropping Karen and I’ll be back over.”
Before Ashley entered the room, Lilith wiped her face and stopped crying. With the hopes she’d kiss him, he leaned toward her face, but she turned into the mattress. Ashley stood in the doorway completely confused and watched Ian kiss Lilith’s face with a huff then stand. She put her arms into a shrug, silently asking what was going on and the only explanation she got was he shook his head softly while walking out. Getting into the bed with Lilith, Ashley put her arm around her.

  “Babe, what’s going on?” She stroked her hair.

Fighting hard to keep her tears at bay, Lilith lost them with a groan of anxiety and swiftly turned, burying her face in Ashley’s chest. A few emotions were running through Ashley and the first was she wanted to kill Ian because he must have hurt her. Knowing it wasn’t the time to push for answers, she held Lilith until soft snoring hums came from her. Ashley slipped from the room to try and call Ian, but he didn’t answer. A knock at the door startled her and she checked on Lilith before answering to Dr. Russo, the psychologist Ian employed for the girls of Luxe.

  “She’s sleeping,” Ashley explained.
  “I’ll wake her,” he said with a kind voice and softly knocked on the bedroom door.

Lilith sprung up with a yelp then began to scream for Ian. “Ian!” Her screams echoed through the house; Ashley rushed into the room, grabbing her.

  “He’s not back yet. Hey, look at me, Lily, what’s going on?”
  “I need Ian.” Her voice was shaken and desperate. Trembling, she got off the bed and looked around for her cellphone. “I don’t have my phone!” she said as if it were tormenting. “I have to talk to Ian!”

  “I’ll call him!” Ashley blurted, fumbling with her phone.

  “Lily, I’m Dr. Russo.”

Looking at him with confusion, she desperately said, “I need to talk to Ian.”

  “Ashley will get him on the line and then I’d like to talk with you.”
Who he was or why he was there was a mystery, but she didn’t care at the moment, she only wanted Ian.

Walking into the room, Ashley softly said, “He didn’t answer, babe, but I text him.”

ASHLEY:
Lilith needs you now!

The desolation on Lilith’s face scared her.

  “Lilith, what is going—” She paused when her phone began to ring. “It’s Ian.” She pushed it at Lilith.
Walking toward the bathroom, Lilith answered, “Ian, I left my phone and my coat!” Anguish laced her words.

It was gut wrenching for him and trying to stay calm, he asked, “Where, baby?”

  “I left it at the doctor’s office. I need my phone, Ian, I need it!”
When Ashley heard Lilith mention doctor office, she got sick with worry. Similar to Ian, her initial thought was something life threatening.

The need to help her made him feel like he was going crazy because he didn’t know how to chase away the hurt inside her.

  “Where’s the doctor’s? I’ll get it.”
  “When are you coming back? I need you here. I need you, Ian!”
He hated the despair in her tone; she sounded like she was going to completely lose it.

  “I’m leaving work right now and I will drop Karen then stop by the doctor’s. Tell me where the office is, baby.”

  “Michigan and Lake street,” she whispered.

  “Okay I—”
  “Ian,” she squeaked. “I need you here, please.” Her tones going from one desolate extreme to another gave him chills.

  “I’m coming right now, baby. Listen to me, okay? I’m going to do that stuff and I’m going to bring food. I’m going to bring you you’re favorite: tortellini with pesto, medium-well strips, and a side of broccoli.”