When Bad Boys Fall II

Forty-One

Jackie's POV

I still could not believe that Cindy had left Paul with me. Since yesterday it has been like a nasty dream. I wanted to wake up and pretend that everything that had happened so far was just a dream, including whatever troubles Lucas was going through. I couldn't even focus on my studies or classes. Worst of all, Matt had not shown up for the presentation of the project which I was glad about, but the only problem was we ended up with a C on the project. It was better than nothing as far as he was nowhere near me.

After my class ended, I went to Andrea who was holding Paul, since Evangeline was not around to take care of him, and Jared was busy with whatever he had. On seeing me, Paul started to kick his tiny legs. It made me smile, happy that he knew nothing of how his mother had abandoned him. It made me wish he didn't grow up to find out the nasty truth of how he was abandoned. The stories I heard about parents leaving their kids felt different but experiencing it was a huge blow.

"Oh, hey," Andrea said when she saw me. "Are you done with classes?"

"Yeah. I'm done for the day. I am so sorry for keeping you here with him."

Andrea giggled. "It's no problem. He's so cute. By the way, you never told me whose kid this is."

I didn't want to reveal too much of what was happening in our lives. I still kept Andrea at arm's length. Unless it was important, I could tell her. So, I smiled and took Paul from her arms and held the baby closer to my chest. He held my cheeks and squeezed them, his nails digging into my skin.

"How are you?" I asked in a baby-ish tone, and he giggled then I looked at her. "He's the son of one of Lucas' friends from our hometown, Redside."

It was a truth that sounded like a lie to me.

"Oh. He's so cute. He's giving me massive baby fever."

I sat down beside her on the bench, and we talked for a while before Paul started to get fussy. I put him in his baby stroller and told Andrea goodbye before walking away with Paul. When we got to my car, I opened the back seat and put him in his baby seat then folded the stroller before putting it in the trunk. As I closed the trunk, a sharp but dull pain hit my abdomen, making me keel over the closed trunk. I held my hip as the pain made the muscles of my abdomen to throb. I was due for my monthly checkup, but this pain was new to me.

I leaned on the trunk of my car, trying to wait for the pain to stop. I hissed when the pain increased for some seconds before it subsided. I could not drive like this. It was dangerous. I suspected it was just cramps due to the baby, but I didn't want to think so. I needed to go to the hospital to find out what's wrong.

"Are you okay?" Someone with a deep voice behind me, asked.

I shook my head and took deep breathes as my body started to break out sweat. I felt a hand on my spine and exhaled hard. I gritted my teeth when the pain became high again for a few seconds before it stopped.

"Is this your car?" The person asked and I nodded. "Do you need to go to the hospital? I see you're pregnant."

"Yes, please."

Whoever it was, held my arms and helped me walk to the other side of the car. Once we got to the back seat, I saw through the curtains of my hair, a tattooed arm extended toward the handle of the door. The hand held the handle and pulled the door then helped me sit on the seat beside Paul who babbled away with his hand in his mouth. I exhaled and looked toward the man who shut the door and went around the car.

I could only see the clothes he was wearing which was a dark shirt and jeans. I could tell he was muscular from his physique and when he boarded the car, I stared at the back of his head which was covered in brown locks.