Chapter Fifty-Two

Finley

I couldn’t control my beating heart. I could literally hear the blood rushing through my veins. He was here, he’d been standing just here a second ago before leaving. He must think I’m insane for staring at him like that! I couldn’t believe it, Damon was back.

“He doesn’t remember me,” I whispered to myself as I felt my heart breaking just a little.

I blinked away the tears as I sat down in the living room and rubbed my hand over my protruding stomach. I was thirty-two weeks pregnant and the only people that knew were Harley, Wells and Mimi. I hadn’t told Archer or Kat yet and I wasn’t exactly sure why, I guess I was afraid that the clowder would have some sort of claim on the baby.

“Hello,” I answered my phone, still staring into space.

“Finley, it’s Connor,” he said.

“Hey,” I said and snapped back to reality.

“Are you okay?” he asked me.

“I just saw Damon and he really doesn’t remember me,” I said to him.

“I’m sorry, I just heard that he went to St Albans,” he said to me.

“It’s okay, it was just a shock to see him,” I said and took a deep breath.

“He quit, Finley, he gave the Alpha seat to Jared, he packed all of his stuff and left last night,” he said.

“What? Why would he do that?” I asked him.

“I don’t know, he hasn’t been himself since he got out, something there changed him,” he said sadly.

“He seems colder, harder,” I said.

“He really didn’t recognize you?” he asked me.

“No, he came over to introduce himself since we’re neighbors,” I said to him.

“Wow, shit,” he said.

“You can say that again, I don’t know if I can stay here with him just across the street from me,” I said.

“Do what’s best for you,” he said to me.

“You’re a great friend, you know that, Connor,” I said to him.

“Yeah, I’m just the best,” he said and then chuckled.

“Are you busy this weekend?” I asked him.

“What did you have in mind?” he asked me.

“Dinner because I need a favor,” I said to him.

“You know I’d do anything for you Finley, you don’t have to cook me dinner, in fact, please don’t, I’ll make dinner,” he said and laughed as I gasped audibly.

“It was two times and not my fault that the kitchen caught fire,” I said to him as he kept on laughing.

“Yeah right, anyway, when do you need me?” he asked.

“Saturday morning will be great, I just need some help putting some furniture together,” I said to him.

“I’ll bring my toolbox,” he said.

“Thanks, Connor,” I said with a smile.

“Anytime, see you soon,” he said and ended the call.

I was definitely not going to ask Damon for any help. It was already awkward seeing him and I knew it would only get worse for me if I spent more time with him. He didn’t know who I was and he didn’t know that I was carrying his child. What good could come of any of this?

At five pm I changed my clothes and let myself out of the house as I started walking down the street. I did this every day since I found out I was pregnant because I never exercised but at least walking a few miles every day felt like I was doing something good.

“You shouldn’t walk alone,” he said as he fell into step next to me and I slightly jumped with fright.

“Can you stop doing that?” I asked him as he laughed.

“Sorry, I saw you head out, do you mind if I join you?” he asked me.

“As long as you stop being weird,” I said and smiled despite my earlier promise to myself to stay away from him.

“I promise,” he said with a smile.

We walked in silence for a bit and I could feel Damon’s eyes every time he glanced at me. It was making my pulse race and I knew he could hear it but I couldn’t calm my heart rate no matter how much I tried to.

“I know you’re a familial, how did that happen?” he asked me.

“You know?” I asked him.

“Yes, it’s in your scent so I know that you also know what I am,” he said.

“It’s a bit complicated,” I said to him.

“I get complicated, my life is one big complication,” he said and looked at me again as we circled the block.

“He marked me without me knowing so I had to take the oath,” I said to him.

“Damn, that’s punishable in Brightnight,” he said looking at me.

“What exactly is Brightnight?” I asked him.

“It’s like a prison, you work, you get three meals, you try to survive until you’re released, violence is the order of the day, it’s not a nice place to be,” he said and I could feel that pain shoot through me at what he must have gone through.

“So why would you move to a place like this?” I asked him.

“The house belongs to a friend, I needed a break from everyday life, the clowder more specifically, I thought I’d fix it up until I decide what to do next,” he said.

“I see, so you’ll be leaving again?” I asked him and I could feel the tears threatening to spill from my eyes.

“Eventually I guess so,” he said. “How about you?”

“It’s not like I can exactly go anywhere right now,” I said and he laughed.

“Boy or girl?” he asked me.

“I don’t know, keeping it as a surprise,” I said and he smiled.

We were heading back to our houses now and we stopped in front of his as he looked at me frowning. I wasn’t sure what to expect because I had this urge to touch him, nothing had changed for me, even if the bond was broken I still remembered how I felt about him.

“Look after yourself,” he said and turned around to walk into his house.

I kept to myself for the next few days and I wrote like a maniac. This always happened when I felt emotional, I poured all of it onto paper or in my case onto the laptop screen. I switched my walks to the mornings to avoid Damon and so far it had worked.

I was up early on Saturday morning and the kettle had just boiled when I heard knocking at the front door. I was in a t-shirt and tights which at this stage was the most comfortable thing for me to wear given that I looked like a baby elephant.

“Connor,” I said with a smile.

“You’re pregnant,” he said as he looked at me.

“Surprise,” I said and looked at him.

“So that’s why you kept me away,” he said and placed his hand on my stomach.

“Sorry,” I said to him.

“Why haven’t you told anyone?” he asked me as he hugged me and kissed me on the cheek as he walked inside with his toolbox.

“At first I wanted to make sure that everything was fine and then I don’t know, I was afraid you guys would take him or her,” I said honestly.

“We’d never do that, Finley, it’s your baby,” he said as he looked at me with strange emotions going through his eyes.

“So everything’s upstairs in the nursery,” I said to him when he asked me what needed fixing.

“Finley, I feel honored that you’d ask me to assemble the baby room for you,” he said with a smile.

I followed him upstairs as he stood in the middle of the room and looked at all the boxes. He took his jacket off and handed it to me as he started opening all the boxes and pulling the pieces out. I left Connor to do his thing as I went back downstairs as another knock fell on the front door.

“Hi,” I said as Damon stood there.

“Is he the father?” he asked me angrily.

“What? Connor?” I asked frowning.

“I’ll kick his ass so hard for doing this,” he said as he walked around me inside my house and headed upstairs.

“Connor! How fucking dare you?” Damon said loudly and I heard him slam Connor into the wall.

“Damon!” I yelled as I rushed up the stairs.

“It’s not what you think!” Connor said as he tried to pry Damon’s hand from his throat.

“He’s not the father, he’s my friend!” I said as I hit his arm with my fist.

“Fuck Damon!” Connor said as he let go of him and he started coughing.

“Sorry,” he said as he looked from Connor to me.

“Are you insane?” I asked him.

“I said I’m sorry,” he said as he extended a hand towards Connor and helped him to his feet.

“It’s all good, I can do with your help anyway,” he said and smiled at Damon.

“I’ll never get you guys, he just tried to strangle you,” I said to Connor.

“He didn’t know, so it’s not a problem,” Connor said.

“So you drove all this way to assemble a crib?” Damon asked him.

“Yeah, we’re friends,” Connor answered.

“You could’ve just asked me to help you,” Damon said as he picked up the instructions page.

“You’re helping now,” Connor said as he gave me a sly smile. I shook my head at him before Damon turned to look at us.

“Fine, let’s get this thing together,” he said.

“I’ll be downstairs, try not to kill each other,” I said as they both laughed at me.

“We’ll be fine,” Damon said as I left them alone.

“Idiots,” I mumbled as they both laughed again, obviously having heard me.