No Longer

Chapter 17

“Well, do you see that right there?”

“Yeah”, I said with giddy, school girl like excitement.

“You are having a boy my dear.”

My heart sank. I mean, I knew that with the two options I had, a boy was maybe slightly less devastating than a girl and I don’t know what I was hoping for. A boy meant that he would be taken away at birth and made into one of Brenda’s henchmen, or worse, into one of her “assets”. I couldn’t bear the thought of my baby being raped, or being a rapist but I had no idea how to get him out of the situation. Being almost five months along, I wasn’t exactly in any condition to be running away…or waddling away. Not that I could find a way out.

“Laken, I know what you are thinking, but it’s no use. You can’t pine over the future. You know what is inevitably going to happen. He’s going to go be a trainee just like all the other children. But I-“

“No, you’re right. I’ve known about what happens to kids here for a long time. I chose to keep him and I have to deal with the fact that his life will be hell just like mine and it will be entirely my fault.” I broke down crying. As much as I wanted to believe that someone was going to find me before I gave birth, I knew it was just a delusion. That was the mainly only reason I chose to keep my son, because I thought that someone would find that hell hole and free me.  Marshal tried everything to get me to calm down but I couldn’t. Then, more than ever, I wanted to die.

“Laken, your baby boy needs you. If you want him to remain in his perfect health you have to keep calm. Please try.”

“Okay”, I said in between sobs, “I’ll t-try.”

“Good girl. I’ve got to be going. Please, when your client comes in, be on your best behavior. That little man in there needs his mommy to be strong.”

“I know.” And with that, Marshal was gone and I was alone again, awaiting my next rape session. I couldn’t believe that men would pay so much money to have sex with a pregnant woman. When I found out I was pregnant I was thrilled because I thought it meant I would be left alone for nine months. Boy was I wrong. I was the most requested “asset” and the most expensive. One guy told me he paid four hundred and forty thousand dollars ($440,000) for me for twelve hours. Apparently some freaks really got off on a pregnant girl’s extra “features”. As if my swollen ankles, sore back, enlarged breasts and bitchiness were attractive.

I laid down on my bed and waited. My ankles killed me and my son kicked all through the night, I was so tired. I knew the client wasn’t to be there for another hour so I allowed myself to drift into a peaceful sleep.

*45 minutes later*

It was like my body had its own internal clock that would go off when it knew I had a client arriving. I woke up and had fifteen minutes to get ready. I waddled to the bathroom to find my specifications for the evening. ‘Where the sexiest thing you own.’ Was all the card said. Great, I thought, what the hell do I own that I would look sexy in being 5 months pregnant?

I decided to go with an oversized top that really accentuated my breasts and a very tight, revealing black skirt. Damn I hoped he really liked that outfit.

“Laken, I really hope you don’t mind me showing up unannounced.” That voice, I recognized it from somewhere. I was still in the bathroom and so it was stifled a bit, I thought maybe I was just hearing things. There was no way I was prepared for what was about to come next.

I walked out the bathroom door and I could see all of him. It was…no, it couldn’t be. Could it? It’d been so long since I’d seen him I couldn’t tell if I was hallucinating or if I really was seeing Jaxon, right before my very eyes. He must have read my mind because he said, “No, you’re not crazy. I really am here.”

“But, but you’ve been gone for so long. I- why are you here?”

“My mom’s out of town for a day or two and I’ve been dying to see you.” He walked over to me and almost hugged me before finally breaking eye contact and looking down. “Oh my God, you-you’re pregnant?” He said it so quizzically that I had to smile. I thought about saying something like ‘no jackass, I’ve just been eating a lot’ but instead I settled for, “Yeah, crazy huh?”

“How-when? To who?”

“Umm, I think you know the how, I’m almost five months along so that takes of the when, and I guess I’ll never really know the who.”

“I had no idea. No one told me. I wasn’t ever even allowed to think about you. My mom made Michael and me go back to training so we could learn what we were supposed to act like here. Laken, I- I missed you so much. And, you were right about Michael. He was just scared and trying to protect you. But, he didn’t pass training, at least not yet. He keeps trying to escape which makes him have to start from square one again. Rule number one: ‘No way out.’”

“Wow Jaxon, I’m so sorry you had to go through that. It must have been really hard, especially since you had to see your brother go through it.”

“No, that wasn’t the hardest thing. The hardest thing was being away from you. I knew my mom was going to do horrible things to you because of me and our relationship. I felt, no I still do feel bad that I wasn’t here to protect you. Everything, from start to finish, is my fault. I did everything by the book so I could get back here to you. Laken, I love you.”

It felt so odd talking to another person again, especially Jaxon. I mean, I wasn’t cut off from human contact all those months but the contact that I did have, aside from Marshal’s and occasionally Jason’s, was cruel. The men were just here for sex and treated me like a toy. I missed talking to Jaxon so much. We used to have late night conversations, ya know, before all that happened, and we would sometimes fall asleep with the phones still up at ours ears, listening to the other snore away to a peaceful place.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and nuzzled my face into his neck. I inhaled his sweet aroma and felt the strength I had from within starting to come out. He put his arms around my waist and just held me there, for what seemed like hours all we did was stand there in that position. No words, just listening to the sound of each other breathing.

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A/N Again, kind of short but I have caught up to where I had already prewritten. Now I am writing it as I post. I hope you all like it. You finally get answers to a couple of those buring questions....but there's still plenty more to come. Enjoy, vote, comment!