Still Waters

Chapter 35

AUTHOR'S NOTE: THE SONG LYRICS USED IN THIS CHAPTER ARE IN NO WAY AN ATTEMPT ON COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. THEY ARE JUST REALLY GREAT LYRICS.

**SONG LYRICS WERE NOT INCLUDED IN ORIGINAL COPYRIGHT OF THIS BOOK**

As soon as I got off the phone with Kenney, I was overcome with grief. For some reason, I just couldn't believe that Collin didn't want me anymore. I mean, I just didn't know how to accept that. There I was pregnant and now homeless, still apparently in love with a fool who had just tried to kill me. As crazy as it sounds, I just didn't want him to be mad at me anymore.

I was still lying curled up on the bedroom floor next to the phone, my body racked with sobs, when I heard a cautious voice call quietly through the apartment, "Natasha?"

I didn't answer.

Suddenly realizing that I didn't want Kenney to see me like this, I tried to stay as quiet as possible and hoped against hope that he would just think that I had already fled the scene. I had never been a fan of the dark, and Kenney knew this. I figured he would assume that I had already peaced out, and would just call later to check on me. I could fake it better over the phone anyway. It never occurred to me that he could hear my quiet sobs through the deathly silent apartment.

"Natasha?" Kenney's voice was alarmed now and coming closer to the open bedroom door. I heard his footsteps quietly crunching through the glass, like he was tiptoeing through the apartment and then I saw his silhouette stop in the doorframe while he tried to adjust his eyes to the darkness. "Tashi, you ok?"

"Kenney," I whispered through my sobs, "I...I made a mistake. You should go. I'm so sorry I wasted your time."

"Natasha," he stepped closer like he hadn't even heard me. "Tashi, why are you sitting in the dark? You...alright?" He stepped closer and I could feel him trying to see where I was through the darkness. When he finally spotted me, he squatted down in front of me and touched the still bloody side of my face. His fingers jerked back. "The hell...?" He rubbed his fingers together trying to determine what the sticky substance was, even though in his sickest heart he already knew. "Natasha..."

He reached over and turned on the lamp that had been knocked to the floor earlier that night when Collin snatched me off of the bed. As soon as the soft yellow glow infiltrated my cover of darkness I shrank away from Kenney and tried to hide my face. I hadn't looked in the mirror after my confrontation with Collin, but I already knew how I looked. I had looked that way too many times before and I knew that it wouldn't do either of us any good for Kenney, of all people, to see me like that.

"Oh shit..." Kenney froze like he was caught in the beam of my black eyes and bloody, possibly broken nose, bloody lips, cut up cheek...and then he suddenly sprang up. "Oh hellll no! What tha fuck Natasha? Where that ma'fucka at?" He stood up and started heading for the door.

"Kenney..." his name was barely audible over the sob that I choked out with it.

The sound was so weak that, as if against his will, he stopped abruptly and came right back to me. It was like my fractured heart had reached out and latched onto his solid one, and his body had no choice but to follow.

"Natasha..." he was having trouble speaking. I must have looked pretty bad, probably worse than ever before. He sat down next to me and put a gentle hand on my leg. "What happened?"