Still Waters

Chapter 37

I grinned painfully, face still swollen, but now almost down to only twice its normal size. "Hundred grand."

"Ok then." He patted my hip lightly and motioned for me to move so he could get up. "Goodnight."

"You're not sleeping in here with me?"

His eyes involuntarily crawled over my oversized pregnancy boobs and stopped at my stomach. "Uh, no." And with that he was out the door.

After the last sliver of light disappeared behind him, I also looked down at my stomach. One thing I hadn't considered was that if Collin really and truly didn't want me anymore, what chance would I ever have of finding someone else? I mean...beyond the fact that I was already pretty fucked in the head by that point, according to Collin I was also a butt-ugly fat ass mess... with a kid. Really, who the hell would want me? Another tear dropped when I made a mental note to force myself to look in the mirror when I got up the next morning and take inventory of the mess that Collin had once again made of my face.

I guess Kenney slept on the couch that night, because he heard me loud and clear the next morning, and was by my side in a flash when I unleashed a scream that could shatter a crystal vase into a million pieces.

"Tashi! What?" He flew into the room and stood there with this look that I'll never forget. It was so funny. Like Holy shit! I know she didn't just have the baby in my bed! To confirm what I thought he was thinking, his eyes traveled down my legs and then scanned over to the bed. When nothing looked bloody or out of place, he then looked back at me like What. tha. Fuck?

All I could do was stand there in front of the dresser, speechlessly looking from him to the mirror and back to him. But the thing was...I couldn't possibly be looking at what I thought I was looking at. Was that...me?

"Hell no, Kenney. Hell no..." was all I kept saying. He just stood there nodding in agreement like that's all he had been saying in his head since the day he had come to get me. "Kenney..."

"I know."

"Kenney..."

"I know, Tashi. I know..."

"But...Kenney..."

"I know, darlin'. Come here."

I couldn't move. I just kept staring at whoever...whatever this was staring back at me. That couldn't be me. Just...couldn't be. He came over to me and put his arm around my shoulder.

"Man...you shoulda seent ya'self when I came to pick you up! Ooo-weee!" The only thing that would have made Kenney joke about something so horrific was the fact that he must have known that I was about to flip. the hell. out. "What a hot mess. Least the blood is gone..."

"Blood..." I repeated numbly.

"Yeah. And the swelling's down a lot." He inspected me like he had spent at least three years in medical school. "I think you should be ok. The cuts don't look as bad today..."

"Cuts..."

I turned back to the mirror and saw that beneath the huge...everything else...there were also cuts on my face. Deep ones. I must have been a nauseating sight when Kenney came to pick me up.

"That damn ring..."

I whispered it to myself, but realized that I should have kept it all the way to myself when I saw a shadow pass over Kenney's face and his eyes began to cloud over. It was so weird how his eyes always did that right before he...went for broke. Like that was the internal hazard light that started flashing when he was about to check out.