Fae Escape

Chapter 16

Bailey

My desk had been rearranged. It took me the better part of a week to readjust things to exactly the way I like them, but the temp they had filling in for me while I was gone made a mess of everything. I settled back into my rhythm and tried to focus on work, but once every two hours my milk would let down and I would cry because I missed Sienna. It would remind me of how I missed Killian too, but there was nothing I could do about it.

He sent me the money I asked for on Venmo and that was that. I hadn't heard from him since. It had been ten days now and I knew it would be months before I really got over him. I buried myself in my job and caring for Sienna. Dad had me eating at his house every night now "to make sure I was eating healthy enough for a nursing mother." Part of me believed that was Aunt Margret's influence too.

Life had returned to the monotony of work, eat, sleep, repeat, and I hated it. I craved the adventure I had just lived with Killian, pretending to have this relationship and covering it with a torrid affair, sneaking around behind my dad's back. I wasn't meant to live behind a desk away from my daughter, who at barely six weeks old still needed me.

My fingernails clicked on the keyboard as I typed in invoices and purchase orders. Even the job I used to love doing felt boring and repetitive. Two of my coworkers seemed to notice I was down and one of them, being a mother, had all the advice for me to get over my depression. I just didn't think this was a simple case of postpartum depression. I missed Killian too, and I felt like I was missing out on life because I didn't have someone to share it with.

Six months ago I'd have told anyone I was content being single because people were assholes, men specifically, and I liked being a lone wolf. Now, after faking being so close to Kill and actually falling for him, I knew I needed it. Not wanted, not desired, not "It would be nice." This was a need. I needed a partner, and I wanted it to be someone I could never have.

"You okay?" Janice asked, and she leaned on the cubical wall that separated my desk from the woman on the other side. She had a stack of files hugged against her chest so large it looked like she'd drop them, but she managed to stop by and say hi.

"Uh, I mean... Not really, but who is anymore?" I forced a chuckle like any self-respecting adult would, but I just wanted her to go away so I could do my work in peace and go home, only to rinse and repeat tomorrow.

"Honey, mental health is health. You know that, right? If you're not feeling well mentally, it's okay to take a few more days." Janice, the bossy, bitchy, manager wannabe was being nice to me, which was odd. Her normal demeanor was to live life inside the lines and black and white at all times.

"Like, I'm fine..." I mumbled, but even as I did, tears started to well up. I wasn't fine. I wasn't anywhere near fine and I didn't know when I would be again, and for once I knew it wasn't hormones. My heart was broken.

"Go home, I'll cover for you." I had a feeling if Janice could have patted my back she would have but the load she was carrying prevented her from doing so.

I packed up my things and left work. I didn't pick up Sienna right away. I went straight home to cry it out so I had a chance to calm down before I got her from Aunt Margret. I didn't want questions, and this way I'd have a chance to fix my makeup. If I waited until my normal quitting time they would think I just got off work.

At home I curled into a ball with a box of tissues and a sappy movie for the afternoon. I cried a lot--more than I should have. I knew this would be the outcome from my first interaction with him that day in my hospital room and I let myself get attached. I was foolish for being so emotional but I was human too.

Once I managed to put myself together and redo my makeup. I picked up Sienna and met Lila at the park for a walk. I parked near the entrance where we planned to meet and kept the car running while I lugged the new stroller out of the back end. After I didn't spend any of Mike's money, he went out and bought me a bunch of baby stuff I didn't even have room for--just another reason for Dad to complain that I should be with him. The stroller--Mike said--was a must.

I couldn't figure it out, but when Lila pulled up she had the thing set up and ready for Sienna in less than ten minutes.

"Easy peasy," she gloated, and I got Sienna out of her car seat and strapped into the new contraption. "You seem down. And your eyes look like you were crying but your makeup is fresh so tell me; what the hell happened?"

I shrugged a shoulder and shut the car and locked it, then started pushing the stroller toward the path. It had been easy to convince Margret I was just tired, but Lila was my best friend and knew me better than anyone.

"I cried, so what?" Playing it as no big deal wasn't going to work, but I was ashamed to admit how hard and for how long I had ugly cried.

"Over him? That douche?" Lila's words made me wince and I looked down and away. I knew she would never understand how I felt and I didn't want to have this conversation. We planned this walk at the park before I really allowed myself to feel heartbroken.

"Oh god, you're in love with him..." It wasn't a question; it was a statement, and it sliced through my heart and made me bleed tears. "Oh babe," she hummed and she grabbed the stroller and stopped me from moving forward. Then she pulled me into her arms and I hugged her and cried hard.

"I don't know what happened. One second he was this perfectly awful jerk and cocky. His friends were nasty and mean, and then..." I couldn't say what I felt. She'd never believe me even if I could.

"And then you slept with him and you always catch feelings... Bay, I tried to warn you--"

"No," I snapped, pulling back from her. I swiped at my eyes angrily. "You didn't see it, Lila. He bought me that shelving unit and tools to put it together too. He had never even used tools. He didn't know the difference between Phillips head and flathead screwdrivers. He had to buy them because he had none. And no one even told him to buy that. He just saw how I needed it and thought of me." My chest was heaving as I vehemently defended him.

"He wasn't like his friends. He defended me and stood up to them and took me to the fair and..." I covered my eyes and wished I could hide. If I could just teleport to far far away where no one knew me and start over, maybe some of the pain would stay behind too.

"Okay okay, I get it. I don't know him as well as you do." She took my hands away from my face and made me look her in the eye. "I get it, and while I don't see in him what you see in him I believe you. I see how bad you're hurting. Why can't you just call him?"

"He doesn't want me, Lila. If he did he'd have called me or shown up at my apartment. He is done with his end of the deal. The entire thing was a way for him to get out of trouble. He doesn't love me." I shook my head and stared at the path ahead of us. Even after all that wrestling with the stroller I had no desire to take a walk. It was probably the best thing for me, but I didn't want to.

I wanted to take Sienna to Dad's house and confess that life was too hard and I would just move back in with him. He'd be a drill sergeant but I wouldn't have to think or make adult decisions anymore and if I was too depressed to work and pay bills, he would pay them.

"Call him," she said gently, and she took the stroller and started pushing and I was forced to walk alongside her.

"No. I don't want him thinking I'm after his money."

"So you're willingly losing the man you love because you're afraid of how he'll see you? That doesn't sound like you." Lila was right. It didn't sound like me. But everything about me had changed in the past six months. I was a mother now, and I had this life-changing experience of falling in love.

"I'm not calling him. I just need some time to process my emotions and move on. Okay?" We walked in silence as I chewed on what she said.

If everything about me had changed so quickly, it could change again. I could get into a new rhythm and remake myself again, and this time there would be no man or authority figure involved. Just me.

I had to... My heart couldn't take much more.

Chapter 17

Killian

"What do you think son?"

I stared into my father's eyes and felt like they hit the bottom of my soul with a hollow thud, the way a rock sounds at the bottom of an empty well. He was offering me one of his many property management companies to manage and learn on, along with a mentor to teach me everything I needed to know and one hundred percent of the profits. I just didn't know what to think.

The change in my behavior, being more responsible, not wrecking cars and getting speeding tickets, it was all because of Bailey. She charmed me with her presence and made me want to grow up and be better. I hadn't thrown a single party, hadn't drunk a single beer, and hadn't talked to her in two weeks. I figured she'd have called or messaged me wondering where I was, but after her uncle chased me off I knew my place.

Either she had been brainwashed into thinking I was the very monster Mike Matthews thought I was, or she wanted nothing to do with me. It should have been obvious when she left that puddle of cum on my bed and walked out, but I was stupid. Or maybe I just had a hard time letting go of what could've been.

Either way, I wasn't the man my dad thought I had become. I had a party planned tonight just to prove it. We ordered three kegs, several bottles of top-shelf liquor, and I even hired a few strippers just to make things a little more exciting.

"I don't know, Dad. I've never even had a job, let alone been in management. And you want me to run an entire company?" I rubbed my face, the decision just too much for me to handle right now.

Being some business bigwig just wasn't my personality. Meeting Bailey, however, had made me start thinking of what I actually would do if I could have a company of my own, or a job for that matter. It definitely wouldn't be realty or property management. I figured it would be something outdoorsy or connected to the ocean in some way. But the only thing I was in the mood for lately was a good fuck and some heavy liquor to drown my anger and disappointment.

"Well, you take a few days. Geoffrey is an excellent mentor and he can show you the ropes. You won't make any decisions on your own until you know the whole process and then only when you feel you're comfortable. And he can stay on as your operations manager for as long as you'd like." Dad sighed contentedly and smiled at me. "I'm proud of you son. That Bailey Matthews is quite the catch. She's gotten you to grow up in ways I never could."

My stomach knotted at the mention of her name and all I could do was smile and nod. If Bailey was the only reason my father was proud of me, I had failed as a human being and I'd never earn his approval.

"I'm gonna go, Dad. I have some friends waiting for me." I stood and walked out of his office as he called his goodbyes after me.

Nothing felt right anymore. I was angry and moody all the time. I beat off three times a day to mental images of my sex with Bailey. I smoked some weed to help my brain shut off, and I still couldn't get her out of my head. When I took the Bentley out on Fifty toward White Plains and opened it up to top out at one-fifty, I couldn't even feel the thrill of speed. I felt dead inside.

I sulked to my room where Cara and Misty were waiting on me. I was on a reckless path, throwing my future away and I knew it, and I didn't care. I was angry. For the first time in my life I knew what I wanted and it was the one thing I couldn't have. Mike Matthews was standing in my way or I'd have gone and gotten her. But jail wasn't something I could do for anyone.

"Ohh... Hey, Kill." Misty was draped across my bed wearing her bikini. The girls got her earlier before Dad wanted to talk business so I told them to have a dip in the pool, and it looked like they were just getting ready. Her hair was too perfect to have already been in and out of the pool and dried again.

"Uh, hey," I mumbled, not even remembering why I had allowed them to come. I didn't invite them, but Jake probably told them I was miserable and needed to get laid. Cara was handsy earlier too, but I stopped that right away.

"Just going out for a swim. Want to join us? We can help you relax." Misty sat up and the string bikini she wore showed off her perfect figure. I noticed her, but I didn't pay much attention. Even Bailey's body with a little extra baby weight and stretch marks was more beautiful to me than anything Misty or Cara could show me.

"Nah, I don't feel like swimming." I walked over to my nightstand and plugged my phone in then sat on the edge of the bed. My shoulders were hunched, my head throbbing.

But my head popped up when the bathroom door opened and Cara walked out. She had bottoms on, but her top was in hand and she was dangling it. "Too small," she chimed and faked being embarrassed when she looked at me. "Oh, Kill, I didn't know you were here."

She held a hand in front of her tits but I got a good look at them. I mean, this was every guy's dream right? Two pretty girls with perfect tits and tight pussies who wanted a threesome... I was human and I had needs. My dick started to swell a little and I felt guilty but not truly aroused. I wished it was Bailey.

The bed shook as Misty crawled toward me. "I have a different one if you want. You can try this one." I saw a flash of red and knew she'd taken off her top too and tossed it to Cara who didn't even make an attempt to catch it. Her top dropped to the ground near where Misty's fell and suddenly I had tits pressing against my back.

"What do you want to do, Kill?" Misty asked, leaning on my back. Her breath was hot in my ear and I didn't notice how Cara had knelt in front of me until I felt her hands on the fly of my pants.

"Girls, I don't know what Jake told you but--"

"Let us help you forget her, Kill." Cara had my dick out and in her hand before I could protest, and when I did it was a weak protest. I should have loved this. I should have been soaking it up but I wasn't into it. I grabbed her wrist and held it so she couldn't stroke me. The half-chub I had didn't need to go full mast.

"Come on, Kill. We want to help you," Misty purred, and she nipped my ear a little too hard.

I tempered my reaction so as not to scare them but I said firmly, "I'm not interested."

"Looks like your dick says otherwise," Cara snickered and her mouth descended on my cock, but before she could wrap her lips around me, I stood and she fell backward.

"I said, I'm not interested." I put my junk back in my pants and zipped them, and pointed at the door, staring down at Cara who lay back on the rug propped on her elbows. Her tits were gorgeous, but her personality was trash. And the soggy spot in her bikini bottom showed me just how much she enjoyed playing fem-dom bullshit, which I hated and she'd never taken a single moment to know that about me.

"Kill, please..." Misty's hand on my lower back was the final straw.

"Get out!" I shouted loudly, and both girls scrambled off the bed and the floor. They scooped up their bikini tops and the pile of clothing from the chair in the corner of the room and rushed out muttering apologies and I sank onto the side of the bed again. The simple fact that they were able to get me hard infuriated me. My body was betraying my heart and I hated myself.

I was fucked in the head over all this Bailey shit and I needed to reassess my priorities and figure out who my real friends were. One thing was for sure, those two would not be at my party tonight, and I had to have a word with Jake. He couldn't send them over like that. I didn't need a replacement; I needed time.

And I needed to go beat off again while picturing Bailey's ass in the air in front of me or I was going to go insane.

Chapter 18

Bailey

For two days Sienna had been running a mild fever. She had sniffles and I'd been using the little blue bulb syringe to keep the mucus out of her nose but I couldn't keep up. I bounced and swaddled and medicated but I was exhausted and she was cranky. She hadn't stopped crying in two hours so I sat in the pediatrician's office almost on the verge of tears myself. Lila wasn't able to come help me and Margret was dealing with her own bout of a tummy bug not related to whatever Sienna had.

"Ms. Matthews?" a nurse called and I stood slowly and with great concentrated effort--thanks to my physical exhaustion--I followed her into the exam room.

"How's she doing? We got your updates in the app." The nurse led me to an exam room where I sat on the chair as she prepped the thermometer for Sienna's ear.

"She's fussy and no matter what I do she won't stop crying. I don't know what's wrong with her. She's not eating, not pooping. She hasn't even been napping." I bounced her until the nurse came with the thermometer, and the instant I stopped bouncing she started crying again. Or maybe it was the device shoved into her ear canal.

"Oh dear, one-oh-five. That's not good." The nurse backed up looking concerned. "Let me get Doctor Howard right away."

The way she rushed out made me scared. I knew she was sick, but I didn't know what was wrong. Based on the web searches I'd done she was either dying of some horrible disease I couldn't pronounce or she was just teething. There was no in between, and since I wasn't a hypochondriac I figured it was the flu. But that reaction worried me.

"Hey, shh," I soothed, kissing her hot temple. At seven weeks old she was so vulnerable and susceptible to anything. She hadn't even had her first round of vaccinations because I accidentally missed the appointment.

I only had to wait a few minutes for the doctor, who rushed in with a stethoscope. "Let's see what we have," she said, picking Sienna up from my arms. She stripped her down and laid her on the exam table and I hovered nearby chewing a fingernail. I hadn't even told Mike or my dad where I was or what was happening. I didn't figure it was such a big deal.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I couldn't stand still. Watching Dr. Howard do her exam was nerve wracking. She bent Sienna's joints and took her temperature rectally then sighed and shook her head.

"We need an LP, Donna... She has to go to the ER." Her comment, directed at the nurse, brought tears to my eyes.

"LP? What's that? ER? Does that mean she is really sick?" I felt tears welling up.

"Alright, try to take a deep breath." Dr. Howard draped the stethoscope around her neck as Donna got Sienna clothed and wrapped back up. "Baby's fever is substantially higher than we like it to be. I see no physical signs of infection and the best way to tell what's wrong is a lumbar puncture. That's where they put a needle in her spine and drain a few drops of fluid to test for infections that don't present with outward symptoms."

"Oh my god, the hospital?" I backed up and plopped onto the chair feeling sick to my stomach.

"Yes, and we'll send a squad to take you both. Is there anyone we should call for you?" Dr. Howard stood next to me with a hand on my back as I shook my head. I could call my dad myself. "Okay, well try not to worry too much. We'll make sure Sienna is in the best care possible, okay? It could be something as simple as a sinus infection that hasn't shown any bad symptoms yet."

"But it could be bad though?" I didn't want to know the answer to that question so I didn't know why I asked it.

"It could, but don't worry about that right now. Just get anything you need from your car and Donna will call the squad while we get Sienna's fever down and ready her for transport."