The Love of Lies

Inflated

Ashton’s POV

Cori texted that she had a meeting, so I took the time to find a place where I could buy her something to eat. I don’t want to buy her just anything, so I text my brother, wanting to know what he usually gets for her. His response is to call me, but when I answer, it’s not him on the phone, it’s Julia.

“Cori should be done with work any minute now; it’s too late to buy anything for her.”

“Hello to you too, and relax. She’s in a meeting, plus I gave her back her phone, so she can call me as soon as she’s done.”

Julia apologizes, tells me what to get, then ‘allows’ my brother to take over the call. He obviously hasn’t done what he planned, and because I know that he’s due back in two days, he’s either setting the mood or too nervous to get the job done.

“You guys relaxed yet?”

“We’ll be even more relaxed if Julia wasn’t worried about ‘home.’”

“Sorry bro. I’ll have Cori call her soon.” I hope that it works to calm the woman, because if she’s too stressed it could ruin their trip.

“You better,” he snarls, making me chuckle before he hangs up.

My brother isn’t a short or small man, but he’s not a fighter. We both played sports growing up, but he’s better built for basketball, while I played football.

I was good enough to play in D II college, and while I love the sport, I love my brain more. Besides that, I already knew that I was taking over for my father, and coming from a family with money, playing long-term was never in my plans.

With that said, my brother and I have completely different body structures. He has lean muscle, while I’m a little more built.

I’m also used to physical contact, Troy isn’t, so anytime he threatens me, it’s funny. We’ve fought before, oddly enough, it was because of Julia, who he thought I was interested in, so we know which of us is stronger, not that it matters.

At the time though, I didn’t know why he kept posturing against me, and it wasn’t until after they started dating that he told me why he punched me for ‘eating his leftovers.’

I’ve never felt that way about anyone. In fact, Cori is the only woman who I’ve felt even a little possessive of, but I’m sure it’s just because I feel responsible for her, nothing more.

Once inside the deli, I order two bagels, wanting to know what vegetable cream cheese with salami tastes like, because honestly, it sounds amazing.

Seeing that only a half hour has gone by, I’m not in a rush to get back to the hospital, but at some point while parked, I noticed Cori practically stumbling out of the building.

Fear prompts me to jump out of my car and run toward her, thinking the absolute worst-case scenario.

I’m not ready to be a father, but I don’t want anything bad to happen to Cori or the baby, and right now, she looks as white as a ghost.

I keep shouting her name, but she isn’t responding to me, and she doesn’t acknowledge that I’m around until I’m holding her shoulders.

“Cori, what’s wrong with you? You’re scaring the sh*t out of me right now.”

“Ashton please, I need to sit down.”

I don’t know why my response is to carry the woman, but that’s exactly what I did, and because I reacted so quickly, my car was left running so the air conditioning is still on.

“Cori, please talk to me Hun. Do you need to see a doctor?”

“NO! Ashton… Just… Please take me home.” I quickly get into the car, shaking because I’m that scared.

I don’t even know when we got back to the house, but Cori hasn’t moved or spoken, and I suddenly feel so helpless that I shout for my mother after pushing open her door like a mad man.

She comes out barefoot and still wrapped in a housecoat, making me feel terrible about disturbing her, but I’m so scared that I don’t know what else to do.

“Something’s wrong with Cori.” My mother quickly goes to the passenger side of my car where she checks the woman’s temperature with the back of her hand.

I’m of no help because I’m panicking, so my mother sends me to run a shower for Cori, and I do just that, hoping that the woman doesn’t feel violated by the fact that I busied myself by rummaging through her things to find a change of clothes.

I was just heading back out when Cori ran into the restroom and slammed the door, putting me back into a panicked state.

“Mom, what’s wrong with her? Is the baby okay?” I hope that my mother was able to pull something out of the girl while I was gone because I’m terrified.

“Yes, but she lost her job this morning.”

“Why? What happened?” My mother shows me a severance agreement, and I recognize the folder it’s in as the same one Cori was holding when I picked her up and put her into my car.

The worst part about it is that I physically took the thing out of her hand and tossed it at her feet before she asked me to take her home. Had I just opened it to take a peek inside, I would have been able to gauge what was happening without almost giving myself and my mother a heart attack.

“This is bullsh*t.” I read through the accusations against Cori, and while they aren’t baseless, they’ve been professionally inflated.

I never made a report against her, criminal or otherwise, she did not give anyone at Wayly medical advice, and slander implies that she maliciously spread false information, she didn’t.

“Figure out what's going on while I try to calm that girl down. She loved her job, and right now, she feels like her life is over.”

My mother likes Cori a lot, and I can tell by the way she’s talking that she isn’t taking this situation lightly.

Cori’s a sweet girl who minds her business because life has taught her that the less noise she makes, the less people notice her.

My family is also guilty of exploiting that part of her nature, because if she really wanted to, she could have reported all of us for false imprisonment.

The officers I called in a favor with were old college buddies who owed me, and from a completely different police district, but Cori obviously didn’t notice because she hasn’t brought it up; just like I wanted, she must think that I have the police in my pocket when I don’t.

My family has some sway when it comes to politicians, judges, and lawyers, but we are law abiding, so having the police on our payroll isn’t something we need. However, we understand that not everyone likes to play fair, and Cori’s severance letter is a clear indication of that.

Cori’s POV

I feel faint, I feel sick, I feel like crying, and I have no one to blame besides myself.

In two days, I will officially be an unemployed pregnant woman, and I’m not sure I want to spend any money hiring an attorney to review the severance letter before I sign it.

They’re offering me the chance to willingly resign and promising me silence in exchange for my signature. While that sounds like nothing, it’ll be hard for me to get a job anywhere with a claim of practicing medicine without a license on my record.

Also, paying me for the remainder of the month is not really something I want to decline.

This whole situation is so mind blowing to me that I can barely speak, and when Ashton gets me back home, the only thing I want to do is cry.

If I had just walked away, I wouldn’t have lost my job, and if I would have kept my hands to myself, I don’t think anything I said to Mr. Crosby would have been called into question.

“Cori dear, please calm down. Stress isn’t good for the baby, and right now, you look terrible.”

“I don’t know what to do.” Those were the only words that I could muster, and without warning Mrs. Lewis tugs my arm, forcing me out of the car.

“Cori, listen to me. Nothing is as important as your health. You’ve worked all night, you're coming home late, and you’re covered in sweat. Go inside, shower, take a good long nap, and we can talk about anything bothering you after you wake up.”

“Why is this happening to me?” Mrs. Lewis pinches my chin, and because she’s shorter than me, I have to look down to make eye contact with her.

“You are not a weak woman, so you need to stop acting like one. Life is never going to be easy, especially now that you're pregnant, and crying isn’t going to help.”

I’m so upset that I want to lash out at the woman for her role in my current situation, but she’s usually so nice to me that I can’t bring myself to speak, afraid that I may say something hurtful.

Angry, I run inside, pushing past Ashton who moves out of my way as though I’m poisonous.

The shower is already running, so all I have to do is get inside and cry until I can’t cry anymore, but eventually I get a headache, and my stomach tightens.

Immediately I calm down, climb out of the shower, put on the clothes laid out for me, and crawl into bed.

I take deep steadying breaths, but a few minutes later, I start sweating from the panic that I feel again.

Originally, I didn’t want to be a mother, but now, I’m looking forward to it. If I lose my job, and my baby because of it, I’ll be even more devastated.

“Cori?” I reach toward the door, wanting and needing someone to comfort me right now. Ashton quickly makes his way to my side, pulling me into a much-needed hug. “Please talk to me. You’re scaring the sh*t out of me.”

“What am I going to do? I don’t have anything. How am I going to save? I feel like I can’t breathe.”

Ashton’s POV

Cori is still scaring me, and when she tells me that she can’t breathe, I start to pick her up again, wanting to drive her to the hospital.

“What are you doing?” Cori looks so confused that instead of running out of the room, I stand in place

“I really don’t know what to do right now.” The girl giggles, but I can tell from the quiver of her chin that she’s nervous, not feeling better.

I walk back to the bed and sit down, keeping her close because honestly, I feel better holding her.

“What happened at work?”

“I got fired, and I don’t know how I’m going to support myself.” I notice that Cori is rubbing her belly, and because of my new knowledge about stress and pregnancy, I’m desperate to get her to relax.

I know that this is the first job that she’s been fired from; it’s also her dream job, and her heightened emotions are probably making the blow worse.

Cori scrambles away from me, saying that she needs her phone, and because I don’t want to assume, I ask.

“Who are you calling?”

“Syd.”

“NO!”

“Why not?”

“You're not working in a bar while pregnant. It’s just… No…”

“Please? I have to save for the baby.” I’m conflicted until an idea hits me.

“Can you work for me?”

“Doing what?” The inflection in Cori’s tone is suspicious, which is reasonable.

“How about cooking?”

“How much?”

“Fifty dollars per meal?” I brace to be cursed out, but surprisingly, she agrees.