Steamy Love

Part 40: My Baby

Sal's POV

    I stayed with him that night. And the next, and the next. In fact, I packed a couple suitcases good enough for a couple of weeks. I'll move in with him if he wants; despite his cats. But he hasn't said anything about that, so I'm not getting my hopes up. Anyways, I stay because he's terrified. Of what, I'm not really sure, but I think he's scared of the guy that manages our bar. Yes, I've come around and agree that it's not Faith's fault... entirely. I can't help but blame her slightly; it's just my nature. Without her... actually I can't even say that. If he saw anyone - especially if it were a woman - get hit like that, he would've intervened. He's a good man like that. But god, it gets him into so much fucking trouble sometimes.

    And he wastes no time in getting into more trouble. He's set on exposing her boss and getting him locked away; we just need one thing. Faith's confirmation. She's not answering her phone, so all four of us call her job and find out her schedule. Turns out she's working tonight, which is a Wednesday night, so after work we all head over there. All of us feel differently about this. Of course, Q is going insane with nerves and fear, but he does a really good job at hiding it. It's like scary good... Joe, on the other hand, seems to be confident that we've got this one in the bag, although that's kind of far from true. So far the only thing we have to go off of is Q's vision, and that won't be good enough in a court, unfortunately. Murray is pretty antsy, but ready to talk and bullshit his way through whatever needs to be bullshitted through. I'll admit, he is quite useful for that. It's the reason why he's so good at presentations on the show. And as for myself, I'm pissed, and protective. Yeah, I think that's what I feel the most. Oh, and worry. I'm worried about my baby.

    We walk through the doors and take our usual booth. A man walks over, dressed casually; not anything like what the other employees wear. That, plus the fact that Q tenses beside me when the man looks at him pointedly, tells me that he must be the guy. And I've never seen him here before, so he must be new. I instantly hate him. "Hey guys, may I take your orders?"

    "Actually," Murr speaks up, smiling. "We were wondering if Faith could serve us today. She's a good friend of ours, but we hardly get to see her since she works so much and goes to school."

    "No, she can't serve you today," he says in a snappish tone. "She's assigned to a different part of the restaurant, and will get in trouble if she's conversing with friends on the job. Especially close friends." At that he stares Q down again. I'm not sure what he means by that; maybe because he knows about their relationship from before?

    "Listen, bud," I say. "Are you new here?"

    "Yeah. What gave it away?"

    "The fact that you're so fucking rude and creepy." Q kicks me under the table, but I've got a plan. "We've been coming here for a very long time, and none of the other employees are like that. I have half a mind to file a complaint to the owner. I'll throw in the part where you're not in uniform, too. Not to mention that I used to run this joint, and am really good friends with the owner. He pretty much does whatever favor I ask of him. So I would really appreciate it if you would go and get Faith for us, if you don't want to be written up and possibly lose your fucking job."

    His reaction isn't one that I expected. He smirks eerily. But he still does what I ask of him, and Faith appears around the corner shortly after he leaves.

Holy shit, that's a lot of bruises!

As soon as she sees us, she stops dead in her tracks, then walks over with her head down like a fucking dog that just got a beating; which she probably did. "H-hi, what c-can I get for you g-guys?" Her voice and hands are shaking as she waits with her pen and notepad.

    "The truth, sweetheart. Please," Q practically begs.

    "Oh, you want three beers and a pepsi?" She says in a weird tone as she frantically scrawls that down.

    "No-"

    "I'll get that out for you right away." She turns her body slightly towards Joe and discretely hands him a page from her notebook before hurrying off to the kitchen.

    "What the fuck?" I ask Joe, who begins reading under the table.

    "Oh guys, I almost forgot! I need to pick Milana up from daycare! C'mon, let's go!" His tone is genuine, but we can all tell by the look on his face that we need to just listen. We get out to Joe's car, and he gets in the driver's seat. "The note read, 'He can't know I told you to leave, or where we're meeting, but if you want answers, meet me at the fountain in central park ASAP.'"

    "Well then, drive Joe." Murr demands, and the car starts moving. Q and I are sitting in the back, and suddenly he just bursts out in sobs.

    "I can't do this! I can't ever do that again!" he cries.

    "Brian," I wrap my arms around him and he cries into my shoulder. I can't help but shed a tear or two with him. "It's okay, I'm here, we're all here. No one's going to hurt you ever again. Especially not that son of a whore. Shh, shhh..." He doesn't say anything after that and is calm again by the time we reach the park and walk to the fountain. Faith doesn't show up for a whole fucking hour, and when she does, she's holding an ice pack over her eye. "Holy shit Faith," I say. "You've gotta dump him."

    "We aren't dating. That's just part of his stupid fantasy. Now listen closely, because I don't have much time before he figures out that I left." She's talking in a hushed, hurried tone. It makes the conversation really tense. "I never wanted to get any of you involved, but Brian, you're gonna have to be now. What do you remember of that night?"

    "He uh, forced us to um... have sex."

    "Okay, anything else? Do you remember specifics?"

    "To be perfectly honest, after he stuck my neck with a fucking needle, the details went out the door." I didn't know that part. I guess it would explain why he couldn't remember at first.

    "Okay that really sucks... But guys, he's watching everything I do. He tracks my phone - don't worry, I left that at the restaurant - and my car. I called a cab to get here. And I'm pretty sure he somehow got cameras set up in my house even though I never told him where I live. And of course, he watches the bar. I've tried calling the police, but they won't listen to me for some reason. I think he has a friend in the police force that's messing with shit. Either way, I haven't been able to leave. I haven't been able to do anything, because every little thing I do that he doesn't like, he beats the shit out of me for."

    "Holy hell, this is like some CSI shit or something," Murr says. Needless to say, we're all shocked and horrified. "But, why can't you leave? Just pack up and go?"

    "Are you kidding, Murr? I tried! He's tracking everything! Even my damn debit cards. I can't use them to get a plane ticket, 'cause he'll know I'm leaving the second I do. I can't pull out cash either, because he'll be suspicious of that too. Every time I try to get out of this fucked up situation, he's got the upper hand in some way shape or form. Until now."

    "Why now?" I ask.

    "Because of Q. Bri, you can help me testify. Actually, you kind of have to."

    "Why would I have to? I mean, I will, but why would I have to?" he asks, confused as hell.

    "You forgot one little detail about that night, Q. He didn't make us use protection, and now I'm with child. Your child."

**********

And there's the big reveal/cliffhanger that's closing off this book. But don't worry, I'm starting a sequel to this. It's just that this one is getting really long so yeah. Speaking of which, I need title ideas cuz I suck at choosing names and stuff.

So what did you think? How will Brian react to being a father? How are they going to get rid of her jackass of a boss?

Please vote and comment! :D

P.S. The reason I've been able to update so often is because I've come down with bronchitis and haven't been able to go to work or school. But at least I can update!