Chapter Thirty

Tatum tried to get up the next morning but sank straight back into her pillow. Clearly today was not going to happen; she felt so drained. She pulled her duvet around her more as she tried to make herself comfortable again.

A soft knock on the door woke her up two hours later. "Tate?" her sister asked softly.

"Yeah," Tatum groaned, rolling onto her side towards the door.

"You okay?" Isabella asked.

"I feel dead," the redhead groaned again. She smiled when the brunette came over and crawled onto the bed with her to give her a hug. "How are you?" she asked as she hugged her back, feeling her shrug. "Good thing we're not generally open on a Sunday huh?" Tatum said with a soft chuckle, making herself more comfortable next to her sister.

"Definitely."

"Izzy, can I ask you something…" she said hesitantly. She wasn't even sure how to go about this conversation or if she should even bring it up.

"Sure," the brunette nodded, closing her eyes as she tried to relax. She'd had a long night with David wanting beer, and then a snack, and then wanting sex. She managed to hold off long enough until he fell asleep from the alcohol, but he'd grabbed her arm a couple of times during his attempts.

"Is everything okay… with you and David?" Tatum asked slowly, trying not to look at her sister's eye.

"Why do you ask?" she asked, her brown eyes fixing on her sister.

"You guys just seem very tense," the redhead started. "And he still doesn't have a job or seem to be doing much about it."

"Yeah well, it's a small town, it's not that easy to find one," Isabella reacted. "And, you know, we're fine," she added, sounding as tense as her sister thought she was.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, get off my back Tatum," the brunette said annoyed, pulling away slightly.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Tatum quickly apologised, reaching out to pull her sister back in for a hug, but stopping when she flinched. "Izzy, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" she asked, pulling back one of her sleeves before the brunette could do anything. "Oh my god, what happened? How did you get this?" she demanded when she saw the new bruise on her sister's forearm.

"I bumped into the bar at work yesterday," Isabella quickly lied as she pulled her arm away and covered the bruise with her sleeve again.

"Izzy," the redhead implored.

"No, Tate, please. I'm fine. Can't we just lie here and not talk?" she asked hopefully. When she saw her sister wasn't going to let it drop, she started getting up.

"No, okay, I'll stop. If you say you're okay, then you're okay," Tatum stopped her. She didn't really have the energy to pursue this argument, even if she wanted to, and Isabella was obviously not ready to share whatever was going on in her life. "Let's just cuddle," she added, putting in the effort to hold her arms out for her sister to lie back down.

"Thanks sis," Isabella said with a small smile as she hugged her back. 

"That's okay," the redhead nodded, making herself a bit more comfortable again, wondering if she would ever open up fully.

"What were you doing in there?" his angry voice made her jump after she'd closed Tatum's bedroom door behind her.

"Nothing. Tatum was too tired to get up, so we just lay in bed together," Isabella answered, trying not to sound like she was arguing with him, but also wanting him to know that he was being ridiculous in his suspicion.

"Doing what, talking about us?" David almost growled as he grabbed her by the back of the neck and brought her in closer.

"Ow, no David, I didn't, I swear," his girlfriend almost cried out in pain. He was holding her much tighter than usual and she couldn't help feeling scared of what he might do.

"Be quiet," he told her off as he dragged her towards her room, to get away from where her sister might hear them. "You know, I'm getting kind'a sick of your attitude and having Tatum around. Either she finds somewhere else to live or we head back to the city soon," he said, slamming the door closed behind him and pushing her away towards the bed.

"Wh-wh-what?" Isabella asked, definitely sounding petrified now. She didn't want to move back to city with him and she didn't want to force her sister out of the house either; he had been worse since they lived here, and she wasn't sure how long she would survive living with just the two of them.

"You heard me," he said menacingly as he moved towards her on the bed, almost like a predator sizing up his prey. The brunette couldn't help flinching when he grabbed her by the neck again, expecting him to hit or pinch her. Instead his mouth roughly claimed hers, bruising her lip with his teeth until she could faintly taste her own blood. She meekly held her hands against his chest, trying to get him to stop, but he ignored her as his free hand roamed her body. Normally, no matter how angry he'd been before, he would still be quite tender or reasonable when they had sex, but today everything seemed to hurt or be uncomfortable. His grip was a little too hard to still be exciting or sensual for her and, more than ever, she found herself praying it would be over quickly.

On Monday morning, Tatum was surprised that no one was in when she came downstairs. She was right to assume that her sister had gone to open up the bar, but she had no idea where David was. Though, she had to admit, she was rather pleased to have the house to herself for the moment. She felt like she had a little more energy today, even if she wasn't sure yet if she'd be able to work her late shift.

She pottered about making herself a big breakfast before settling in on the front porch. She knew she still needed to ring her ex-boyfriend to tell him about her pregnancy, and that she really shouldn't try to put it off for more longer. So, once she'd finished eating and made herself a big mug of steaming mint tea, she made herself comfortable in the rocking chair outside and took out her mobile. The redhead stared at Kenny's number for what felt like forever, before finally pressing the call button. It rang four times before she heard an aloof, "Hello?" She could clearly imagine the stupidly smug look on her ex's face, knowing he was probably thinking that she was contacting him to grovel and ask him to take her back. Well, fat chance at that.

"Hi Kenny, it's Tatum," she told him, and she could hear him chuckle to himself.

"Well, well, isn't this a nice surprise?" Kenny said, almost sounding like he was congratulating himself on this turn of events. "I knew it wouldn't be long before I heard from you, wanting me back," he added outright now, making her roll her eyes to herself.

"Yeah, well, I hate to disappoint but that's not why I'm ringing you," she told him straight. It was almost as if she could hear him frown now, her statement confusing him; he wasn't used to her staying strong.

"What then?" he asked, the civility in his voice turned down a notch.

"I… need to tell you something," Tatum started, feeling butterflies in her stomach. She gently rubbed her belly, knowing it couldn't be the baby moving, but it made her feel a bit better. "I eh… I… well, I found out…" she paused as she closed her eyes. It was almost physically killing her to have to tell him this; she didn't want him to have anything to do with her baby.

"Spit it out Tatum, I ain't got all day," Kenny reacted impatiently now.

"I'm pregnant," she blurted out her news.

"Wha-?" he made, and she could visualise him frozen in place; his brown eyes wide open, mouth half-open with his cigarette stuck to his lip, his stupid cap on backwards and a half-drunk can of beer in his free hand. "So, what? Don't mean it's mine," he tried to posture nonchalantly after a minute or so.

"Kenny, don't be a dick. You know I wouldn't be calling you if I didn't know it was yours," Tatum told him, thinking it was typical he'd try to divert the blame.

"Yeah, well, what do you want from me then?" Kenny asked, slight panic setting in that she would want monthly payments and he would get saddled with the kid on the weekends, cramping his style. He took his cap off to go through his spikey hair and put it back on.

"Nothing. I'm not expecting anything from you and I'm not going to ask anything from you. If you want to be involved, fine I guess. But I just thought you should know," she answered, trying not to be obvious as she took a deep breath and prayed that he didn't want to be involved.

"I don't want no kid," he reacted, almost insulted, and she gratefully closed her eyes as she sank back into her chair. "If you're stupid enough to keep it, you can pay for it. You ain't gettin' a dime from me," he added, the nastier side of him coming out now. It was funny that it was this conversation that made her gladder than ever to be rid of him.

"Like I said, I'm not asking you for anything," she sighed, starting to get a little tired of needing to have this conversation.

"Good!" he emphasised now. 

"Okay, great. So, now that we agree that I will be having this baby by myself, without you, we never have to talk to each other again."

"Agreed. Good luck, you're gonna need it," Kenny said, almost with a sneer, at which she ended the call in disgust; he was such a douche bag.

Tatum sighed to herself as she curled up in her chair, relieved that conversation was out of the way. Like she said, she didn't have to worry about ever having to talk to him again if she didn't want to and the weight of needing to have this conversation had been lifted from her shoulders. She could now concentrate on being healthy and resting for the little boy or girl growing inside of her.