Chapter 48: Chapter 48

DRAYA

That day, Marcus pulled Draya away from filing, saying, “Hey, come to my office for a sec.”

As she followed him, she asked, “What’s going on? I already took a break for lunch. I still have work to do before I leave for class.”

~He better not be dragging me here to gossip about Camille. I’m not in the mood for the drama right now. I’ve managed to stay off the internet and avoid paparazzi all this time.~

When Marcus opened his office door for me, Draya felt like she might hurl for the first time since getting pregnant. It was because of a lingering smell knew all too well and hated so much.

Then she saw who waited inside the office, and she thought about hurling again.

The woman who called herself Draya’s mother was sitting in Marcus’s office in the same dirty outfit as their last unfortunate run-in.

~What the hell does she want? I will gladly give her my entire paycheck if it means she will leave me alone.~

Draya turned to Marcus, furious. “Seriously?” If this was a cartoon, there would be steam coming out of her ears. “What is she doing here?”

Draya tried not to make eye contact with the woman. Now that she was about to be a mother, she wanted to forget what her own mother did to her and move on. She didn’t want her fucked up way of parenting to rub off on her.

~I deserve a chance to have a toxic-free pregnancy and a worry-free child. The sad kid I was back then deserved better for a mother, and the woman I’ve become now deserves better as well.~

“Okay, before you freak out, just listen to her for five minutes,” Marcus begged.

Draya stared at him, wide-eyed. “Why should I? How could you do this to me? I thought you were my friend. You know how screwed up my past was because of her, and yet you bring her in here.”

Beyond pissed, she yelled at the top of her lungs, not caring who in the office or the lobby heard, “You also know my condition and that I can’t be stressed out right now! What the hell were you thinking?”

Marcus walked over cautiously and placed both of Draya’s hands in his. “Listen to me very carefully. You’re like a sister to me, and I would never do anything to hurt you. I know about your past and how difficult it was to stand on your own two feet back then, how you struggle to trust anyone even today. But that’s all the more reason to listen to her.

“She has information that could turn your life upside down, and I won’t allow that information to get to the media. I’d rather you be mad at me for however long it takes than to allow the media and Camille to strip you of your joy.”

“Enough of the run around, Marcus. Why the hell is she here? How could she possibly help me?”

“I’ll let her tell you that. I’ll be outside.”

Marcus left, and Draya’s eyes roamed everywhere but on that ghostly figure of a woman. When the silence became maddening, she ordered, “Speak!”

In her peripheral vision, Draya saw the woman shaking. She knew those shakes; they’d been burned into her memory so deeply that she could spot an addict a mile away. ~All these fucking years, and you’re still using.~

The gentle rattle of her teeth and the soft, painful moans she let out should’ve tugged at Draya’s heartstrings. She knew she should feel something for the woman who gave birth to her, but she didn’t.

~How can I love someone who left me to die? I was a child! I’ll never forget that no matter what she says.~

Draya grabbed a blanket from the patient bench and threw it at her. Any closer and she’d throw up from the stench the woman left lingering in the room.

Her mother carefully wrapped the blanket around her upper body and looked up at her with a weak smile.

~God, she looks terrible.~ Her eyes had long sunk into dark holes, and she’d lost weight since their last encounter. Her tresses stuck to each other in thick, uneven knots.

“Okay, you got me in here. What do you have to say to me?” Draya didn’t want to stand there any longer than necessary, and there was no way in hell she would sit anywhere near her.

“I-I was fourteen when I found out I was pregnant with you,” she began.

Draya wanted to ask what the hell that had to do with anything but decided against it for now. When she stayed quiet, the woman continued, “My mom married a man named Jacob when I was ten, and he moved in with his seventeen-year-old son, Keith, that same year. Keith and I were close at first, and I kept thinking, ‘Wow, I have a big brother. This should be fun.’”

She paused as a shiver shook through her.

“And?” Draya prompted.

“But Keith had other plans. He molested me every chance he got, and every time I tried to tell my mother about it, she said I was selfish and jealous. That I was trying desperately to ruin her life and her marriage.”

The woman paused again, no doubt waiting for Draya to react, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Reece had been through far worse in her life, and she had never treated the people she loved like shit.

The woman went on, “By the time I turned thirteen, I was immune to every touch, every kiss, all of it. So much so that I didn’t fight back when he raped me over and over for seven months. What would be the point of telling my mother anymore? She would say the same thing she always said, and I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of making me feel worse than I already did.”

More pauses, more shakes, more self-loathing, but Draya still didn’t care. This was the most her birth mother had ever said to her, and it was a sob story about her past.

~She left me to starve to death. All those random men she had fucking her in that piece of shit house we lived in could’ve hurt me many times over. Her past knowledge of hurt should’ve convinced her to protect me, as I would protect my own daughter. Hell, Reece didn’t even know me, and she protected me in the group home. ~

~I don’t give a shit about any of this.~

“When I found out I was pregnant, I tried everything to abort yo—the child. I drank alcohol, I banged myself against any hard surface I could find, I took pills from my mother’s cabinet and tried to kill myself. After, when I was brought to a hospital, the nurse told my mom I was pregnant, and they left me there to rot. By the time I was released, they had moved away. I didn’t have anywhere to go—no friends, no money. I got so hungry.”

More shivers took over her.

~Great! My biological father is a rapist, and my mother is an attempted murderer. Some heritage my precious baby is being born into.~

Draya thought the woman was finally done talking, but she started up again. “I met someone named Mike, and when he promised to take care of me, I believed him at first. He treated me so nice: new clothes, a place to stay, food. He promised to take care of me, to never abandon me like my mom did. He didn’t care that I was pregnant and even promised to take care of you, to be there for the both of us.

“But that was all a lie. The next thing I knew, I was doing meth, then cocaine, then Molly, then all three at the same time. I used them so much that I grew attached to them. I needed them more than food, water. I needed them more than you.”

~Tell me something I don’t know, lady!~

“Every time I tried to get clean, my past came rushing back. Doing more was the only way that I could cope with it.” She took several deep breaths as whatever inner demons she was fighting rattled her.

Call it hormones, but Draya still don’t care.

“Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? Here you go, lady; here’s an invisible trophy for mother of the year. Congratu-fucking-lations!”

The shaking woman looked up at Draya with a blank expression.

“I didn’t come here so you can judge me; I came here to protect you from that girl. She knows who your birth father is and what he did, and she is going to use the information against you. Do you really think your hot, rich boyfriend will stay with you after that disgusting, embarrassing announcement?” The woman snapped back, standing shakily. “Fine, I’ll take the money she offered and release the proof she asked for.”

And there it was. There she was. For a moment, no, for a second, her mother seemed a tad bit human. But no, she was still the same disappointment she always was, and Draya didn’t have a second more of her time to waste here.

She smiled sadly. “Do what you have to do. Daniel loves the woman I am, not the people who should’ve protected me but didn’t. He’s actually been really protective of me since I got pregnant, so knock yourself out. I would love to see how he reacts to you or your accomplices stressing me in any way. Good luck.”

For once, Draya was not worried about her relationship. Daniel had proven over and over how much he loved me and how strong they were together. She wouldn’t let this woman or anyone else ruin what they built by filling her head with doubts.

The woman seemed shocked by Draya’s disregard for her little threat…or maybe shocked by her sudden admission of being pregnant. No one knew besides Josh, Daniel’s father, and Marcus, since he was her OBGYN.

“You think he’ll still stay with you?” she whispered.

Draya smiled confidently. “I know he will. You were never loved by anyone, so how could you possibly comprehend what it’s like to have someone who cares for you?” She paused. “I do feel sorry for you. You’ll never know how I feel about him or how he feels about me.”

Draya turned and reached for the door handle. “Tell Camille to give it her best shot. He still won’t leave me.”

Before she could leave, the woman sputtered two words. “We’ll see.”

***

Draya met Marcus in the filing room, and he immediately examined her body. He stuck his head out to check the hallway.

“Okay, there’s no sign of a fight, no trail of blood anywhere on the floor. So, I’m guessing things went well?” he asked hopefully.

“Wrong! Sorry to burst your bubble, but I don’t want to have anything to do with that woman. She was selfish back then, and it’s safe to say that nothing’s changed.” Trying to convince herself as much as him, Draya continued, “Just stop trying to help, Marcus. I can take care of myself. I love you for looking out for me, but I’m okay, and whatever happens next, I’ll still be okay.”

What Draya didn’t say was that if Daniel broke up with her, she would definitely feel like a zombie walking around without a heartbeat. They’d been through so much already… How much more could a relationship take before it crumbled?

~I don’t think this will come between us… I hope it won’t… But I guess we’ll see.~