The Monroe Legacy - G.1 Chapter 5 - It's A Dog-Eat-Dog World

Warning - this chapter contains a tiny amount of bad language - please don't read on if you're likely to be offended. Rose X

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Marlie woke late the next morning to a deafening howl. At first she couldn't figure out where she was, there were walls and it wasn't freezing cold. Then she remembered Ben, his trailer and his dog. That must have been what the noise was. She shuffled out front looking for a drink of water and was horrified to see Ben's dog giving birth on the floor.

'BEN' she shrieked, 'BEN THE DOG....' But there was no answer. Checking all around outside the trailer Marlie realised that Ben had not come back since leaving the night before. With no choices available Marlie ventured back inside to help the dog, but it snarled and growled at her so she went and hid in the bedroom.

'Marlie Dee Monroe' she said to herself, 'this is a pretty mess you're in.

You're knocked up and the dad is an ass, without him you're on the streets and with him you're little better than a servant, left to look after his responsibilities. You, my girl, need to get it together'.

Before she had a chance to come up with a plan, a slamming door and a loud belch announced that Ben was back. '

'Huh. Two puppies - well done girl', he cooed at the dog. We'll get Marlie to clean that mess up'.

'That's just perfect' huffed Marlie, 'what am I gonna do - he has all the power because I need him to shelter my baby!'

That decision was forgotten the second she heard a woman's voice outside.

Stopping only to slip on a clean dress, Marlie went to see what was going on.

A skinny, pretty girl, garishly attired in expensive but mismatched clothes was standing looking into the kitchen with disgust all over her face. Marlie recognised her from the local tabloids as Lauren Hurley, the socialite that had been linked to Ben in the past and she could smell the tequila on both of them.

Seeing Marlie Lauren drawled, 'Oh heyyy, Marlie right? Sorry the trailer is such a state, it's my gardener's old one and that man is a pig'. 

Marlie was speechless, had Ben really tried to pass off a freebie trailer as big gesture of support, just to get his way? She looked over at him to see he was casually chopping up the vegetables she'd brought to nurture her baby in to batons to dip in salsa. Her heart hardened and she gritted her teeth, thanked Lauren with a grimace for her generosity and locked herself in the bedroom.

Voices filtered through the wall,

"Ben honey, does she know about our bet? I bet she won't be too happy if she finds out we're competing to see how many hearts we can break, I don't think chubby hormonal women like being #7 on a list!!" 

Marlie was fuming.

An hour later she heard them go back out and knew that she needed to make some decisions. She started snooping in Ben's things and hit the jackpot after only a few minutes. In the mailbox she found a letter for Ben from the county, it gave him a court date and she read her own name listed as a character witness. The charges? Failure to pay child support.

A plan began to fall into place.

When Ben got in at 4 am, Marlie was ready.

'Did you really think you could buy my support with a crappy trailer and a creepy grin?!' she screamed waving the letter under his nose.

Ben paled. 'H-h-how did you find out' 

'If you're stupid enough to have your lawyer drop a letter to my address, after the sh*t you pulled earlier then you should expect me to open it. You want me to testify? I have some conditions'. 

Ben knew he had no choice, if he lost the case he'd go to jail.

'Firstly, I keep the trailer. I want a signed deed so you can't threaten to take it away when I won't do what you want.

Secondly, that dog stays outside, it tried to bite me and I won't endanger my baby.

Third, this is MY baby, you can see it weekends if you hold up your end of the deal but I don't want your drama near this kid.

Finally, you can stay for now, you sleep wherever you can fit a sleeping bag, I don't care if you're cold. And when I say, so, you move out, take the dog and all of your crap with you.'

Ben thought before offering his hand to shake on the deal, it was a small price to pay to stay free and continue his lifelong goal of breaking hearts and taking names.

'Oh and one more thing Ben, Lauren is not welcome on my property.'

With that Marlie returned to the bedroom and felt as though maybe things might be going to be okay. She had secured four walls and a roof for the baby, Ben wouldn't interfere any more. Now she just needed to rest and try to convince her boss to keep her on.

As she plugged in the mystery TV she found a note wrapped around the power cord. It read,

You can't believe everything you see

-NJ

Confused, she slipped the note in her diary, put on an old romance movie and for the first time in forever, began to relax.

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Next on the Monroe Legacy - Marlie faces the music at work. Another mystery package stirs some powerful memories and a medical emergency changes everything.

Read it now in Chapter 6 - The Past and The Future