I was still brooding about that, and being out of oysters, when Odem returned, plucked the empty plates off the table, silently rinsed them, and put them in the dishwasher.
“I’ve got a van ready for your things,” he declared when he finished.
“Fine, let’s get this over with.” As soon as I stood I realized that there was one more pressing thing I needed to do before we left. “But first, which way is it to the bathroom again?”
He showed me and was waiting in the hall when I came out to silently lead me to their massive underground garage, filled with more cars than any one family needed in my opinion, but whatever. It was clear that he could provide for the twins and that was really all I needed to know at this point. If I was going to bring life into the world, I didn’t want them to lack for the things they needed the way I had growing up.
In the van, he dialed in some grungy alternative music station that I immediately switched to pop because no, no, no way was I listening to whiny, emo singing all the way into town. He said nothing about it, nor did he attempt to turn it back, or we’d have spent the whole ride changing the channel back and forth until he’d grown bored of it and let me listen to the music I loved anyway.
It only dawned on me after he pulled up in front of my place with no direction from me that he’d known where I lived, despite us never coming here on any of our secret trysts. For a moment, I wondered if he’d asked around, then decided I didn’t care, because why, when he’d never knocked on the door, or even left a message behind to let me know he’d been thinking of me.
We’d had sex between us, that was it. Mind blowing sex that I was now paying for, but I guess all bad habits caught up to a person someday.
“Which room would you like to start in?” he asked as he carried the first stack of boxes inside.
“The bedroom,” I said, showing him the way so he could put the boxes down.
“Would you like some help?”
“Absolutely not!” I snapped. “The last thing I need is you breaking something. Just bring the boxes in, take the full ones out, and don’t talk to me.”
“Yes, your majesty,” he snarled, actually freaking snarled at me in a way I’d never heard him do outside of sex.
I used my phone to play music while I carefully boxed up my shoes, folded my clothes and tucked my makeup in its cases before packing them in boxes. Through it all, he said nothing, just leaned against the wall of whatever room we happened to be working in, not that there was much in the rest of the space. I couldn’t cook worth a damn and hated doing dishes, so everything in the kitchen was disposable, right down to the cups. The contents of my fridge fit in the cooler he’d brought. Somehow he’d even managed to have ice in it, so the perishables stayed cold. I hadn’t even thought about that.
The place had been furnished when I’d moved in, so I gathered the throw blankets from the couch, unplugged my television, and wrapped it in them before letting him carry it out. Before long I’d erased every trace of being here, or so I hoped. I walked through twice, checking and rechecking every nook, cranny, and cabinet before I was satisfied that I hadn’t forgotten anything.
“We can go now,” I declared when I’d finished my search.
“Would you like me to pick you up something for dinner so there is no risk of me attempting to overfeed you again?” he asked.
What I really wanted was more oysters, but I refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing just how much I’d enjoyed them.
“A burger and fries from the diner will be just fine,” I said. “I need to pick up my schedule for next week anyway.”
“You don’t have to work there anymore if you don’t want to,” he said. “You don’t particularly seem to like it.”
“It’s my job and I intend to keep it until I can’t waddle to the tables anymore,” I declared. “Just stay here and let me handle my own business. You’ve screwed up my life enough.”
I saw him wince as I climbed out of the van, but this whole thing was a royal shit show, and I was certain that after this morning the entire town knew I’d gotten knocked up by one of the biggest man-whores in town. With my head held high I stalked in there, ordered my food, picked up my schedule, and tried to ignore the stares coming from damn near everyone in the room.
Yeah, they knew.
“What are you all looking at!” I snapped. “Never seen a pregnant person before?”
Heads whipped back around, eyes left me and refocused on their plates and table companions.
“That’s what I thought,” I grumbled, drumming my nails on the counter until my order was ready.
I was out the door without another word after that, back to the van, and Odem, still waiting where I’d left them when I’d gone inside. Grunge greeted me when I opened the door but as soon as I got in he turned the station back to the pop channel I’d been listening to and we headed back out of town. The aroma wafting up from the bag wasn’t as pleasant as the burgers from the diner normally were, and nowhere near as appetizing as those oysters had been. It was like they were burned into my brain and my belly, which grumbled every time I thought about them.
Fucking hell.
This better not be what cravings were like because I flat out refused to ask him for one damned thing, even if it meant going without. Though there was one pressing problem that would need to be addressed.
“Do you have a vehicle I can use to get back and forth to work,” I asked. “I have a license, but my car is currently in the shop, and it may take another week before they find all the parts to fix it.”
“Yes. I’ll show you which one and where the keys are,” Odem replied, eyes never leaving the road. “There is a magnet on the fridge, you can stick your schedule there if you’d like.”
