Danica POVDuring the car ride, Dax held my hand and glanced over at me often. He seemed very concerned about my well-being which made feel appreciated. We didn't converse while we drove along. I wasn't quite ready to talk again, or my voice would betray me. I still wasn't over the stress of being imprisoned by criminals. It had felt so unreal, almost as if it hadn't happened to me.Dax must've understood that I didn't want to talk and didn't try to press me to say anything. We had comfortable silence in the car. I wanted to thank him for getting me out of that situation, but no words could describe how grateful I was.He had gone beyond what I expected of him. I glanced at him and noticed that he looked at ease now that I was back with him. I had no idea how Dax was so affected by hearing about what happened to me. I didn't like how I had caused him more stress by getting involved in that mess. It made me feel guilty that I hadn't tried to tell him about it before. But back the
Danica POVAs the next few days went by, things started to get back to normal. Each day I got less and less anxious. Dax made sure to be around as much as possible and was trying to do some work at home. I was shocked that he had given up being at the office for me.He was really showing off how much he cared for me. I knew he was still feeling terrible that I had been kidnapped. It was easy to see on his face when he thought that I wasn't looking. Part of me wanted to tell him that it wasn't his fault.No one could've prevented that from happening. I didn't want anyone to feel guilt for that. I would try to reassure him as the days went by.The first day back, I had been more nervous than usual. Dax helped a lot that day to calm me down. He made sure to stay around me for most of the day. At one point, he made me popcorn and cuddled me on the couch. I knew he disliked seeing me suffer like that.I was glad to have been back to routine at the mansion after my experience. As much a
Dax POVIt was so hard to believe that my own sister-in-law would stoop so low for Jared. In the past, I had never cared for Wendy that much. There was something about her that felt off at times.At least she would never be able to return to my home. I would have to ban Jared from coming back. There was no way that I could trust him ever again either. He may have been behind Wendy's actions. It was if I couldn't trust anyone these days. I definitely couldn't let my guard down quite yet. Things had been quite dangerous. I'd make sure to keep Danica safe for the remainder of her time with me. Almost losing her made me value her even more than I used to.A little after Wendy left, I wanted to offer Danica some comfort after that close call. I had seen that she had gone up to her room and headed there myself.I knocked on her door and she let me in. Danica was lying on her bed, and I looked at her."Would you like some company? I understand if you want to be alone for awhile.""Sur
Danica POVDax rushed me into the hospital and talked to a nurse immediately. I was put onto a gurney and taken down a long hallway. I got more nervous as this was finally happening.We got to the delivery room quickly, and doctor was already prepared with his team. The contractions were bringing me a lot of discomfort in my lower abdomen. I wanted this to be over as soon as it could be.I knew my mom had taken hours to deliver me. She said it had been the most pain inducing experience of her life. More nerves started to build inside me at the thought of having to go through that.The fear and nervousness must've shown on my face. The doctor came to my side and looked at me with kindness in his eyes. He spoke in a calm tone and said, "I've delivered a lot of babies in my lifetime, so there's nothing you should be worried about. Everything will be okay."His words gave me some reassurance, but I couldn't calm down. I was worried that something could go wrong. I had gone through too
It took me extra long to clean the tables after the dinner rush was over at the diner. Some teens thought it'd be funny to stick their gum underneath their table; I had been scraping it for at least fifteen minutes. How much gum had they been chewing?The diner was one of those retro restaurants that tried to imitate the fifties and had a jukebox playing 24/7. All of us waitresses had to wear fifties style dresses and roller-skates while serving. By the end of a shift, I was pretty exhausted.Callie was the only one remaining on the shift with me, though she wasn't much help. She had one reason for staying late and it wasn't to help me out. The secret smiles and winks shared between her and our manager made me want to vomit, but I just put my head down and finished cleaning my section.It had been a couple years since I had been hired for this job. I knew it wasn't something that would help my nonexistent savings account, but at least I could make ends meet.I knew that I shouldn't
I arrived at the headquarters of Ryan Inc. without any major traffic on the way. It was my lucky day. Slowly, I walked into the tall and looming building. It was almost the height of a skyscraper but fell a little short. I went up to the fifth floor where the ad said to go for the interview. There was a short line in front of the receptionist's desk. I saw one other woman in front of me. She looked around my age and was pretty with a tall and slender build. The woman was being overly perky."I can't wait to get interviewed for this position! I can't believe that I found the ad."The receptionist looked bothered by this woman's enthusiasm and motioned for her to sit down.Shortly after, the perky woman got out of her chair and left the room. I was relieved that she wasn't going to stay around me any longer.I took the opportunity to walk up to the receptionist. I said, "I'm here for an interview for the position of a surrogate. Where exactly do I go?""You can sit over there an
I drove to the hotel which housed the restaurant I had agreed to meet Dax at. My stomach felt a little nauseous.I reluctantly handed the valet my keys and twenty bucks. Unfortunately, this emptied my wallet.The hotel looked elegant and luxurious and stood several stories high. It had gold on the name of the hotel sign and entrance. Even the bellhops wore expensive looking uniforms in the shade of a royal purple. When I walked in, people stared at me without trying to hide it. I felt majorly underdressed with my black slacks, flats, and bright blue blouse. Why did these people have to judge me? I was already out of place without their staring. I had to go up to the sixth floor to get to the restaurant. I noticed elegant light fixtures throughout the restaurant, and the servers had black and white formal wear on.Their tables had expensive looking glasses, tablecloths, and napkins set on them. I could even see the view of the city skyline from the windows. The sun was just star
The following day after work, I went back home and changed into casual clothes before going to my sister's apartment. I touched the mace that I always keep in my purse, reassured by its presence. I knocked on the door, and she answered it after a couple minutes. A look of relief shone on Lola's face as she let me inside. Immediately, Lola closed the door and latched it shut tightly.I noticed that she seemed kind of on edge, and her hair wasn't even brushed well. No makeup was on her face, which was unusual too. Her blonde hair didn't look as shiny as it normally did either.Lola's apartment seemed to have gone downhill from the last time I saw it. Her place was normally clean and organized. I saw a pile of clothes on her living room floor, and dishes were piled in her sink. Then there were old food wrappers scattered all over.She must've been stressed out from what she was going through. I wondered how long she actually kept her troubles from me. I felt so bad that she had to be