A Baby for the Dragon

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

I stood there watching them as they came. It felt like my world was shattering, but I couldn’t look away. How could Bethany sleep with Nolan?

It was made all the worse when they fell to the bed and I could hear the sweet words that they were whispering to each other.

“Baby, I’m going to give you something that my sister never could.” Bethany said in her soft, breathy voice. The sounds of kissing followed. The sound was louder to me than when they had been f*****g. Or maybe I was just going into shock?

“What’s that?” Nolan asked.

“A baby. I’m pregnant with your baby.”

My breath caught in my throat and I turned away from the open door, unable to take what I had just seen and heard. My sister had slept with my husband and this wasn’t the first time. It had been going on long enough for her to conceive a child with him.

It felt like my heart was breaking from the betrayal of them. This wasn’t how things were supposed to be.

I didn’t understand how Bethany could sleep with Nolan. She had listened to my cry and about not getting pregnant after months and months of trying. She had held my hand and comforted me when I had confided in her how my relationship with my husband was struggling.

The entire time she had been sleeping with him and now she was having his baby. It was better this way; better for me to find out before he knocked me up and I was tied to him forever with a child.

I made my way down the hallway, passing the framed photos of us from our wedding day. Our smiling faces pressed close together as he whispered words of love and promises of forever to me. My sister standing off to the side, beaming at the camera as she clutched her flowers to her breast.

It felt like a lie now. Everything felt wrong. I felt numb, but I knew that I needed to get out of here. I didn’t want to face either one of them. Even though I knew that I hadn’t done anything wrong, I just didn’t want to look into my sister’s eyes. I didn’t want to see her hating herself for sleeping with Nolan or, worse her hating me for what she had done.

I wanted to rage, but I couldn’t find it in me to feel that way. Instead, I made my way down the hallway and then down the stairs like I was in a daze. Only stopping when I reached the front door to grab my purse and shoes.

Quietly, I opened the door and slipped outside, being careful to close the door softly. The night air was cool against my skin and I breathed it in deeply before making my way to my car. The paved driveway felt good against my feet and I let out a long sigh.

I’d spent all day working at the store and my body ached from being on my feet all day helping customers. It wasn’t that bad of a job and my boss, Glenda, was pretty awesome, but it was demanding due to the clientele that we had come in.

That artist, Leonardo Philips and his wife regularly came into the store for him to buy her clothes now that she was pregnant and nothing fit. We also took care of a drummer for an upcoming band and his soon to be wife and several other high-profile customers who I wasn’t supposed to know about. Like the handsome red-headed man with gold eyes that reminded me of a bird of prey’s eyes. His partner had the prettiest gray eyes I had ever seen and when she smiled, it was like her whole face lit up.

It was just some days were very demanding and today had been one of those days. We’d had so many orders to take care of that I’d had to work later than usual and then to come home to this.

It just sucked.

I opened the door to my can and climbed inside, being careful to not slam the door. Putting my keys into the ignition, I pulled out onto the road, not sure of where I was going but knowing that I couldn’t stay here.

I drove aimlessly out of the suburbs until I found myself in the city. The bright lights were a sharp contrast to how I was feeling. Everything was cheery and that wasn’t what I needed right now. I just wanted to find someplace that was dark where I would blend in and could drink my sorrows away as I tried to figure out what I was going to do next.

Reaching over to my bag, I dug around inside of it until I found my cell phone. I pulled up the web browser and tapped the screen. Searching for something in particular.

When I found what I was looking for, I selected the address before entering it into my GPS. I drove through the crowded streets until the traffic thinned out and the street lamps were spaced out further apart, leaving plenty of dark places for people to hide in.

This wasn’t the good part of town, but I didn’t care. Pulling up to the bar, I knew that it was exactly what I was looking for. The plain brick building had a red neon sign over the door. The bar’s name was brightly lit and it was slightly seedy. But it was just what I needed right now.

‘The Full Moon’ sign flickered slightly as I pulled my car across the street into the small parking lot.

I opened my door, slipping my shoes back on before grabbing my bag and slinging it over my shoulder as I stood up, closing the door to my car. I made my way across the street to the bar, my heels clicking loudly against the concrete sidewalk.

The smell of old booze and cigarette smoke seemed to hang in the air like it was soaked into the brick and surrounding sidewalk. I didn’t let that bother me as I pushed open the door and stepped inside the darkened bar.