Sweet Temptation (47 page)

Once he saw the lift doors close behind them, he made his way to Dom’s truck and used his spare keys to start it. He quickly sent a text message to Dom letting him know he was borrowing his truck. He reversed out and drove home; he needed time to himself to sort out what he needed to do. The only place he could go for that was his parents’ cabin up in the mountains. Once that was decided, he planned what he needed for the stay there.

* * *

Skylar woke as someone walked into her room. Smiling, she sat up and expected to see Nate walk in, but it wasn’t.

“Hey, Sky.” Walking up to her, Chantal gave Skylar a hug. She didn’t want to cry in front of her, but she couldn’t help it. Dom pulled a chair closer to the bed for her as she sobbed. “How are you?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine in a couple of days, Chan,” Skylar smiled at her.

“It could have been worse,” Chantal whispered.

“I know, but it wasn’t, thanks to the guys.” She looked over towards Dom and thanked him with a nod. Dom returned her nod with a smile. “Did you see Nate out there? He left about ten minutes ago,” Skylar asked.

Both Dom and Chantal looked at each other and frowned. “No, we didn’t see him at all,” Dom replied.

Skylar looked over at him. “What’s going on?” she asked.

Dom came over and sat beside her on the bed. “He rang Craig and said for one of us to come up and see you since you were awake.”

“And?”

“He sent me a text saying he borrowed my truck. He’s gone.”

“What do you mean he’s gone? He was just here with me, before the doctor came in.”

“Did he say anything to you at all?” Dom asked.

“No, but he was acting a bit weird; I don’t know why.” Skylar leaned back onto her bed, trying to think of why he would have acted that way. “Do you know if Craig or Alex said anything to him?”

“Not that I know of, why?” Dom frowned.

“Nothing.”

“Sorry, darling, but you can’t just ask me that and then not give an answer.”

“Maybe he heard me and the doctor talking and didn’t like what he heard,” she whispered.

“Like what?” Chantal asked.

She really wished that Craig were here to tell them instead of her. Breathing out, she said, “I’m pregnant.”

Both Dom and Chantal looked at each other, then her. “OMG, really?” Chantal screamed and threw herself at Skylar and hugged her tight.

Skylar wasn’t really expecting that reaction, but she took it.

“How far along are you?” Chantal said after she settled down.

“Eight weeks on Saturday.” She was so happy they knew now besides Alex, but the main person who needed to know still didn’t.

“Maybe that’s the reason he never came back into the room,” Skylar said.

“You got it all wrong, Sky. Whether he knows or not, that’s not the reason.” Dom really hoped it wasn’t that. If it was, he was going to kick his ass for it.

“Okay, say it’s not that; what else would it be then?”

“I really don’t know,” Dom answered. “I’ll head downstairs and give him a ring and find out what his plans are.”

“Okay, thank you,” she whispered.

Dom leaned over, kissed her on the forehead and left the room so the girls could have some time together.

* * *

“I can’t believe you’re actually pregnant,” Chantal told her.

She couldn’t believe it herself. She had always wanted kids. She just had to find the right person for that to happen with; now she just wanted to know how he felt about becoming a father. If he didn’t want anything to do with the child, she could deal with being a single parent. She really wanted him to be involved, though.

“Earth to Skylar,” Chantal tapped her on the leg.

“Huh?”

“Where were you just then?” Chantal asked.

“Just thinking about things,” she replied.

Chantal shook her head. “Anyway, I was saying we get to go baby shopping. Do you know the due date? What sex it is? God, it’s going to be fun designing that spare room of yours into a baby’s room.”

Although Skylar was excited about the baby, it seemed Chantal was even more excited than she was. “So I’m guessing you don’t want to come shopping with me or help me set up the spare room?” She knew what Chantal had said before, but she liked to pull her strings just a little.

“Weren’t you listening to me before? Jesus.” Chantal crossed her arms over her chest and frowned at her.

Skylar laughed. “I was just pulling your chain, sweetie. Once I get out of here, we’ll go shopping for some things, but not everything. I want Nate to be a part of this, since he is the father. So, either he’ll come shopping or help design the room, okay?”

“I know, Skylar. I’m not taking over his part, just being there for you.”

“I know,” Skylar answered.

“So what did the cops have to say when they saw you?” Chantal asked.

Sitting up slightly and trying not to groan at the pain she was in was proving a difficult task. “They wanted to know exactly how it all happened. I explained everything to them that I could, and what I went through with Lucas last year. One of them got away and they have a warrant out for his arrest, and Adam is in custody. He will be charged with rape, kidnapping and grievous bodily harm.”

“I can’t believe they did that to you, Sky.” Reaching for her hand and holding it tight.

“I’m fine, Chan. It’s over and I never have to worry about Lucas again. All I need to do is sit down and talk to a counsellor then I can move on with my life.”

“I’m so happy that you are ok.”

“So am I.”

“I’m going to go and let you rest for a bit and catch up with Dom. I’ll come back up later. Do you need anything?” she asked.

“Surprise me,” was the only thing she said to her.

She laughed. “Okay, see you later.”

Skylar watched as Chantal left the room. Skylar thought about ringing Nate to find out what was going on with him, but she didn’t know where her phone was. She’d ask Chantal about it when she came back, and then she’d call him. That seemed to be the best idea so far. She decided to get some sleep, rolling over onto her side carefully.

* * *

After Nate returned home to grab some things, he made his way to the supermarket to grab items he knew he needed. It was only an hour away from his home. He could still get back in time if something happened. That’s why his parents had bought the cabin in the first place. At least he could get away at any time from his hectic life, and one of those moments was now. He stocked up on all the essentials; meat, veggies, ice cream, bread, beer, and toiletries. When all the items were in his truck, he drove towards the cabin. It had been years since he was last up there, but this time he was going alone.

The last time he was at the cabin was with Natalie, Greg, and his now sister-in-law, Nikki. Those were the good old days. The four of them did a lot together, but after his split with Natalie, that was the last time. She was the only one he had ever brought up there. He had a feeling she wasn’t into camping, although they were all in the cozy cabin.
How much can one person complain about the outdoors?
It wasn’t that bad, they all had a comfortable bed, hot water, and a proper bloody roof over their heads. So, why would one person complain so much? He was really glad that they weren’t in a tent. There was no way he could have handled that. If one person could bitch a lot about a cabin, which for him was romantic, a tent would have been much worse. He would have left the same day they arrived, as that was the idea of going up there in the first place, to get away from civilization.

He didn’t want to think about the past anymore; pushing all those thoughts aside, he grabbed the bags full of groceries and put them away. Grabbing a beer, he sat down on the back porch. Nate knew he should have said more to Skylar instead of running away from her. But every time he thought about her, all he saw was what that guy was doing to her in that room while the others watched. He couldn’t understand how sick some people were, but now he knew. Reaching for his phone, he noticed that he had at least ten messages and more in voice mails. Sighing, he placed his phone back in his pocket. He would go through all the messages tomorrow, after a good night’s sleep.

Chapter 27

It had been three weeks since Skylar left the hospital. She hadn’t heard from Nate since then. She missed him; even their arguments. She still couldn’t understand what was going on with him, or where he was. No one had seen or heard from him since he sent Dom that text about borrowing his truck from the hospital.

Maybe he did hear what the doctor told her about the baby, and he really didn’t want any children. Or maybe he didn’t want any children with her. Well, if that was the case, he could go to hell. She could do this all by herself, though she knew she wouldn’t since she had Chantal, Alex and Craig to help her out; even Dom would help her, but it wouldn’t be the same. Nate should be the one to go through everything with her considering it took both of them to create this miracle she was carrying.

Chantal would be arriving soon; they were going shopping to start designing the spare room and grab her first baby items. Although it was early in the pregnancy, she wanted to be prepared.

“Are you ready yet?” Chantal yelled from the hallway.

She made her way out to where she was in the lounge. “Do you really think I would keep you waiting any longer?” Skylar answered.

“Something this important, yes, you would.”

Skylar couldn’t help. “Let’s go, before you have a heart attack. I might decide to change my clothes, again.” She knew Chantal was giving her the death stare, which put an even bigger smile on her face.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Chantal growled.

“Try me.” She giggled. Making their way towards her car, she caught Chantal looking over towards Nate’s house.

“So, has he replied to any of your text messages or voice mails yet?” Chantal asked, as she hopped into the driver’s side.

Skylar looked over towards the house again, and sighed, “No.”

“Well, he better have a really damn good excuse for his actions and not answering anyone.”

Skylar agreed. She wasn’t going to tell him over the phone; first she wanted to hear what he wanted out of this relationship, if there still was one. She didn’t want him to commit to her just because she was carrying his baby. Skylar wanted much more than that.

“So, where do you want to head first?” Chantal asked, pulling Skylar out of her thoughts.

“Um, I think we should go to that new decorating place over on the south side. We can get some ideas from what they have and work from that. Then we’ll head over towards Babies Galore. Sound good to you?” she asked Chantal.