Twisted Pursuits (9 page)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

A BLOOD CURDLING
SCREAM TORE
through the mist of his sub consciousness. He shot upright in bed, his heart thumping rapidly, his body glistening with perspiration. He laid his head in his hands; it was just a nightmare he told himself.  He was in his hotel room and not at home. Two weeks had passed since that awful night and still he could not have a moment’s peace; images of her ashen face or the dead remains of their child haunted his every thought.

Doctor Hedley had called shortly after Jordan had left the hospital to notify him that Lauren had received complications, hence he could not release her on her own and he did not know anyone else to call. His resolve had wavered. His house was big enough; hence he did not have to see her at all if he did not want to and in two weeks or so she would be well enough to take care of herself. So he had hired a nurse and sent his driver along with Mrs. Stewart to collect her from the hospital the very next day. He left early for work in the mornings and came home late at nights trying hard not to think of the woman upstairs.

On her first night back from the hospital, he was jolted from a restless sleep by her shrill cries, rushing up the stairs before he thought better of it only to stop short at her door as he heard the nurse’s calming tone reiterating that it was only a nightmare. It had been like that every night  since, only he had known better than to seek it out and after a week he could not bear it anymore thus, he'd moved into his suite at the hotel. It was useless, even after a week away from the house he still heard her guttural shouts, in his thoughts or when he finally fell into exhausted sleep each night. They pulled at his heartstrings, made him want to do everything in his power to heal the pain he heard in it.

He laughed coldly, why
would she be hurt, she had made her choice and now she would have to live with it. Moreover, he still believed she was playing a sympathy card; his heart hardened at the notion. He had been played out; she would have to find someone else to toy with.

He showered and dressed, she must be well enough to leave by now. He had had enough of this; he wanted her out of his house and out of his life for good. His heart clenched at the thought of not seeing her again but he stiffened his resolve, he would not be taken for a fool twice.

Mrs. Stewart met him at the door, “Good morning Sir, would you like some breakfast?”

“Yes, thank you, I’ll have the usual toast and eggs with coffee”, he had been in such a hurry to get to the house that he had not stopped for breakfast, not that he had much of a stomach for food these days.

“Ok, Mr. Myles, just give me a few minutes to prepare it”, she answered, moving towards the kitchen.

“Where is Nurse Bell, I’d like to speak to her”, he muttered, impatient to be done with this whole affair.

“Here am I”, he had barely spoken before the woman materialized; “I wanted to speak to you as well, come with me, please”.

She did not give him time to protests before she started in the direction of her patient’s room. Shock rooted him where he stood near the entrance of the room; all the scathing remarks he had planned to throw at her died on his lips. He had expected tears, hysteria, pleading anything except this. She just sat there staring at the walls, a faraway look in her eyes. She had not even given any indication that she heard them enter the room.

“That’s all she has done since I’ve been here”, the nurse said, a pitiful expression on her plump face, “she should be better by now but she’s just getting worst”.

“My God, what have you been feeding her, she’s paper thin”, he rasped.

She turned lifeless eyes on him and the ice that had been surrounding his heart these past weeks thawed. She looked horrible, her skin had a sickly pallor and there were dark circles under her eyes, the vibrant woman he remembered was nowhere in sight. He saw a spark of emotion in her eyes and her face contorted in an ugly mask of anguish. He blinked as she became the lifeless creature again; wondering if he had imagined the momentary lapse as her attention refocused on the wall.

“She won’t eat, she hardly sleeps, she hasn’t spoken one word since I’ve been here”, Nurse Bell went on, “in fact this is the only sign she’s made that she understands what’s happening
around  her”.

“What should I do?” he heard himself ask.

“Considering the circumstances I think she needs counseling”, Nurse Bell responded, “She’s obviously depressed”.

This was not the Lauren he knew. She might have pretended to be someone she was not but he strongly believed that some things could not be imitated, they had to be genuine. He wondered for the first time since he had seen the corpse of their child, if he had been wrong. He found it hard to believe that the woman who had spoken longingly of Anna’s unborn child could so willingly discard her own without reason.

He shoved the thought from his mind? What reason could she have had to throw away his child? While he respected a woman’s decision to do with her body what she felt best, within reason, he could not understand what reason Lauren could have had. She knew that any child of his would be deeply loved. Why had she not confided in him? Did she not trust him? What about what he wanted? Why had she not given him a say in whether or not his child lived? The questions were endless, they plagued him constantly. At times he felt they would drive him crazy.

“Mr. Myles”, Mrs. Stewart’s voice broke into his reverie, “a Mrs. Anna Martinez has been calling all week for you and she’s on the line”.  She handed the phone to him.

He frowned as he took the phone from Mrs. Stewart. Why would Anna want to speak to him?

“Jordan Myles speaking
...”

“What have you done to Lauren?” she shouted, interrupting Jordan, “I’ve been calling her for almost two weeks and no one has seen her”.

“Calm down”, Jordan said, striving for patients, “Lauren is right here”.

“I’m coming over right now!” Anna huffed and the line went dead before he could respond.

He was irritated at her meddling, but decided it might be good for Lauren, after all they seemed close. Precisely five minutes later the security called, regarding access for a Mr. and Mrs. Martinez and a few minutes later Anna was barging into his living room, both hands resting on her lower back as if to support her protruding stomach with her husband running behind her, his expression worried.

“Where is she?” Anna huffed.

He barely indicated to the stairs before she began mounting them, surprisingly swift for her advanced stage of pregnancy.

“Be careful honey”, Daren muttered as Anna followed Jordan’s directions to Lauren’s room.

“Oh Lauren…” Anna’s eyes flooded with tears as she saw her friend. She strode towards Lauren “what happened to you?”

Lauren flew up out of her chair so fast it almost toppled as Anna came into her line of sight, cringing from the other woman. Anna stood there gaping as Lauren backed away from her, staring at Anna’s protruding stomach as tears ran down her cheeks.

“Go away”, Lauren rasped, clasping both sides of her head as if to hold it together.

“Lauren”, Anna pleaded softly, confused, fresh tears forming in her eyes, “it’s me, Anna, you’re best friend”.

“Anna, perhaps you should come another time”, Jordan encouraged, taken aback by Lauren’s reaction.

“Like hell I will”, Anna yelled, “what did you do to her?”

“Leave!” Lauren screeched, sweeping the contents of a nearby night table, shards of glass flew everywhere as a lamp clattered to the floor and shattered into a million pieces.

Daren rushed forward and drew Anna out of the way towards the door while Lauren began to thrash the entire room, flinging anything her hands caught and tearing the covers from the bed. She was the mad woman again.

“Look what you did to her. I’m calling the cops, you... you... aahh”, Anna’s enraged outcry turned into yelps of pain as she doubled over, clutching her middle.

Daren swore; carefully bundling her into his arms and headed for the stairs. Jordan would have offered them some assistance but he had to prevent Lauren form hurting
herself.

“Call Doctor Hedley”, he commanded as he lunged forward, enclosing her body in a death grip.

She fought against him until they fell on the bed together, grating howls escaping her. Slowly the wrestling ceased, she fell against his chest, wailing brokenly, her thin frame jerking with the effort. He tried to comfort her but it was useless, if anything she cried harder. They remained in that position until Doctor Headley came. Lauren was so still he wondered if she was breathing as he carefully untangled his arms from around her.

He watched as the doctor cleansed a few scrapes that she had received sometime during her debacle. One thing was evident; something terrible had happened to her. His mind went back to the day of the incident; she had been trying to tell him something. Now that he thought about it, she had not told him what had put her in such a state when she had gotten to his house. Could he have been wrong about the entire situation all along, hope burgeoned in his heart; he had never wanted to be wrong so badly in his entire life.