On the Edge (The Grange Complex Book 1) novel Chapter 40

Sasha

Dexter was lying to me. He had never before taken a phone call in the other room, so last night I stood by the bedroom door and listened to his conversation. He was talking about some sort of package, about me being suspicious. My heart had been beating the whole time, as I wondered what had changed between us in the past forty-eight hours. Maybe my gorgeous, bipolar boyfriend was done with being good. Maybe he was bored and needed to boost up his ego in the arms of another woman.

There was a possibility that he was buying drugs. He hadn’t touched any dodgy pills or weed since he had been hospitalised. Yesterday, my doctor had confirmed that I was four weeks pregnant. He talked me through what would happen over the next few appointments. Everything was happening so fast. Gina tried hard to cheer me up, but I felt lost. I thought that I could wait until dinner with the news and I was ready to tell him, but then he took that phone call. We were both pretty honest about everything. He knew how sensitive I was about lying. I waited for him to tell me about this mysterious package, but straight after he was done talking, he vanished to see Harry for some reason. Bad vibes began stirring my mood.

“Have a good day and think about my cock,” he said when he was leaving today at 6:00 a.m. My shift in the hospital wasn’t starting until eight, so I had a bit more of a lie in.

Normally I would have replied with something snarky, but I was too absorbed with my own worrying thoughts. Feeling like a right possessive girlfriend, I started checking his office in the spare bedroom. Opening drawers, the cabinet and in his desk, looking for anything that could tell me what was going on.

I exhaled sharply when I found nothing. This wasn’t normal behaviour. Dex had proven to me time after time that he loved me and now I was carrying his baby.

An hour later, I dressed and went to work unable to shake off that annoying feeling that hung over my shoulder.

***

Days started to pass by and I couldn’t seem to find the right moment to tell him that he was going to be a father. It was a good thing that he kept leaving early, not seeing me throwing up in the mornings. Nausea shook my body and weakened me a bit, but my work in the hospital kept me going. Things began shifting. Since that conversation in the bedroom, Dexter began shutting himself inside the office for at least two hours every day after he was back from work.

When he didn’t make love to me for two days I started to become paranoid. He never ditched sex, so something was definitely going on. Then on Thursday we had a quickie in the living room, which should have put things back to the way they were. I still felt left out. My head was all over the place. I was wondering, deciding how best to bring up the subject, but the time didn’t seem right.

None of this was good for us and I was slowly freaking out. My parents were visiting this weekend. Dexter was either cheating on me or he was taking drugs again.

I managed to get out of work early enough on Friday. Gina didn’t want to see me in her class. I was told that I had to rest and tell my loving boyfriend what was going on.

Maybe I was selfish keeping the news about the baby from him, but since Spain it seemed we were living separate lives. Drugs were not acceptable and I was considering speaking to Bishop.

Dexter had another secret phone call last night. This was the second time that he lied to me this week, fobbing off my nagging questions. I could have talked to him about it, but in some ways I needed to see for myself what he was up to. Last night, he confirmed that he was picking up the package today. Stupidly enough I talked myself into going to the street that I overheard him talking about. This was stupid and naïve, but Dexter was hiding something.

I drove to the city, trying to justify to myself what I was doing. The area that I parked in was filled with clubs and bars. Dex and I had really liked a restaurant nearby.

My heart leaped in my throat when I spotted my beloved walking along the Greyfired Road, looking as handsome as always. My reasonable side screamed to get out of here, but instead I started following him.

I wasn’t the kind of girlfriend that spied on her boyfriend, but sure enough I was turning into one. I had to fight for my happiness. He walked for another hundred yards, glanced around and then disappeared inside a strip club.

I had to stop and take several breaths. My hands were trembling, pulse speeding. There was no point jumping to conclusions about anything yet. Maybe he was meeting a client. The possibilities were endless, but I wasn’t planning to hang out on the street.

I stood there a couple of minutes desperately waiting for him to appear. When he didn’t, I went inside. A couple of men inside turned to look at me as I passed through the narrow entrance. It was early afternoon, and the club was quiet. The objective was simple: he couldn’t see me. He couldn’t know that I had followed him here. Well, until now I had never really bothered checking up on him or gotten jealous about other women. I had always been secure in our relationship. We were a good team and I thought that he could be trusted.

The club was a small, stylish and discreet place. I quickly sat down at the back where I had a great view of the bar area in front. I hid myself at the back in the shadows, where no one could see me. Dexter stood by the bar talking to a woman while she poured him a pint of beer.

My internal voice of reason reminded me that I was being stupid. He wasn’t meeting anyone here; he simply stopped for a quick drink. His grey, expensive-looking suit looked good on him and waves of desire shot down my spine. I smiled to myself, knowing that I was turning into an obsessed girlfriend. He wasn’t doing anything wrong. Then, I saw a very tall brunette approaching him. She was definitely a stripper with long legs, dressed in a short shiny dress. Dexter smiled.

They started talking, in my opinion, too comfortably. I didn’t like that stupid smile on his face. It simply said that he was ready to fuck her. I kept breathing, watching them like a hawk. When the woman started touching his arms I was ready to scratch her eyes out. I had no idea how much time had passed, but when she started playing with his tie, I was ready to throw up. I thought that the last three years had changed him, that he wouldn’t go back to being a total manwhore.

There were a few other people inside, mostly men and a few other girls sitting by the bar, watching my boyfriend’s exchange with this other girl. Dexter laughed loudly when she whispered something into his ear. Then he took something out of his pocket.

I couldn’t see what it was, but he handed it to the dark-haired woman. I waited for him to kiss her, or do something, anything proving that he was a cheating, lying bastard. The woman lost her smile and I didn’t know if I should have felt relief or anger.

They talked a bit more until he finished his beer and left, using the other entrance. There was no way that he noticed me. My thoughts spun. The meeting was strange and I had no idea what was going on or what he was lying about. And what was it he showed that brunette slut?

I sat there trying to pull myself together and stop shaking. His mother had warned me that I was supposed to keep an eye on him.

I waited an hour, asked for glass of water at the bar and then left knowing that I had to confront him tonight and reveal the truth. The problem was that I had no idea how he was going to react.

Dexter

My plan was coming together nicely, but Sasha was acting odd. In the past two days she barely spoke to me. I tried to ask her a few times what was wrong, but she kept blaming work, saying that she had a stressful shift.

Harry nearly hit me when I asked him to recommend me a good strip club. It took a while to explain what I was planning to do. He knew all the dirty details about me and Sasha, and he liked her.

When he finally calmed down and allowed me to get my words together, he patted my back and said, “You’re the most fucked up guy that I have ever known.”