The Monroe Legacy - G.3. Chapter 3 - Wicked Games

Gray woke the next morning to an empty bed and an overwhelming feeling that he should have stuck to his guns and talked to Aisha. Now he'd missed his chance and with their shift patterns they wouldn't be back in the same place again until bedtime.

For the first time ever that day, Gray made a mess of things at work, arriving home in a foul temper after a confrontation with the chef. Knowing he was in no mood to have a serious conversation he went along with Aisha's plan, which seemed to be a repeat of the night before.

The pattern began to stick. When, for whatever reason, the evening wouldn't be the right evening for Gray, Aisha would distract him. On the evenings when he steeled himself and rejected her advances, she would retreat with hurt feelings or harsh words and the next night would be spent in a roundabout making up process, which usually ended in the bedroom.

Gray knew it wasn't healthy, that he had to find a way, but this new, almost aggressively seductive Aisha was so different to the girl he'd known that he had no idea where to begin.

Three weeks later.

It had been the week from hell, Cai was back at the doctors with a suspicion of a secondary cancer in his bladder, Sienna had announced that she would be deferring University to spend a year touring with Ethan and his band and the argument was raging.

Feeling that things couldn't possibly get worse, Gray was resolved to end the communication gap in his relationship. Dreading the potential for drama, he opened his bedroom door and was relieved to find a dressed down and smiling Aisha waiting for him.

She bounced to her feet, and pulled him to sit next to her. Taken aback, Gray sat awkwardly, wondering if perhaps their weird phase was over.

'Honey, I'm pregnant' Aisha beamed, moving his hand down to rest on her flat stomach.

Gray didn't move. Didn't speak. How was this-

'Gray? We're going to be a family! Say something!'

Aisha's excitement was pouring off her and Gray just felt completely cold, like he was watching her through a window.

Finally he managed,

'But you're on the pill. Ever since we've been together. You said you were on the pill' his voice was flat and quiet.

Aisha dropped his hand and her face fell. 'I am! I mean was. It must have failed I guess. Gray aren't you happy? This is what we wanted, right?'

Gray nodded, 'Yes. But it's what we wanted in the future. Aisha we're not even 25 and this is going to change our whole lives. We live with my parents, we don't make any money yet. I just... I can't believe this happened.'

Now it was Aisha who looked shell-shocked. Gray stood up and walked towards the door.

'I'm sorry Aisha, I just need to think it all through. I'll stay in the spare room tonight, I need some space.'

He could hear her starting to cry as he closed the door and trudged down the hallway in a daze.

Gray tossed and turned all night, barely sleeping. Where would they put a baby? The spare room was full of mismatched furniture and nowhere near child-friendly. With his parents retired, how would they pay for everything once Aisha was off work? His job was steady but the pay was low and babies were expensive. As the hours wore on he began to feel bad for how he had handled the announcement, Aisha had been so happy and he'd just pushed her away.

And then a horrible thought occurred to him. She had been happy.

Could Aisha have planned this? Was this why they had suddenly started sleeping together more than they ever had before, even when they were horny teenagers. Had she deliberately missed a pill? He seemed to remember reading that they were 99.8% effective, did they really fall into the 0.02% or had his girlfriend taken his mother's advice to chase what she wanted too literally.

When the clock showed 7am and he heard Aisha get up and start to prepare for work he turned his back to the door. He wasn't ready yet to face her and as he heard the door creak open he slowed his breathing and didn't move.

He heard a quiet sigh from the hall and then a whispered, 'I love you' that began to defuse the anger he'd been building up.

Knowing he needed to sort his head out he called in sick and drove over to Violet's house, she knew Aisha had a different perspective from living separately and she'd just had a baby. She would know what to do.

Seeing her brother's haggard face as she opened the door, Violet poured him a large scotch and settled down on the sofa with the baby monitor by her side.

'Aisha's pregnant' Gray stated bluntly.

Violet's mouth gaped, she had thought he'd been dumped. Struggling to compose herself she asked gently, 'I'm guessing it was an accident?'

'Yes. Well I think so. Maybe not' Gray took a big slug of the liquor and explained the conversation he'd overheard between his mother and girlfriend, the tumultuous weeks of passionate sex and ridiculous fights which had followed and then the happenings of last night.

Violet listened patiently, a slight widening of her eyes the only sign that she was shocked or surprised. When he was finished he drained his glass and looked at his sister expectantly.

'Do you love her Gray?' Was her first question.

'Yes!' He threw back, 'but-'

'I've already heard your buts Gray. So you love her. Do you trust her?'

Here he hesitated, 'I think so, I'm sure she's faithful and loves me and all, if that but I am worried that she might have planned all of this to get what she wants. If she'd asked me... I would probably have given it to her. I just wanted to go slow.'

Violet nodded and looked longingly at the bottle of scotch, drawing a breath before looking Gray in the eye and starting her sisterly lecture.

'I understand why you don't feel sure you can trust her. That she should have spoken to you months ago. But you're to blame too, conversations work both ways and it seems that you sure did a lot of talking about what you wanted. You're single-minded and I know how hard it is to try and get you to engage with something you don't want to do.

If there was no baby then I'd say it was simple, you either love her enough that you will work to rebuild the trust, or you accept that it's over. But there is a child involved now.

You're both so young and naive. If she did do this deliberately then she's a fool but you have to decide how you're going to cope with it. It takes two people to make a baby and it sounds like the pair of you thought you would do this eventually. So it's early, but it's happening and you have to make some choices.

You can confront her about it or not. You can break up with her or not. But either way, you are going to be a dad. Decide now what kind of dad you are going to be and then choose wisely how you want to deal with Aisha, the choices you make now will already begin to affect this child's life.'

Gray nodded, his gaze fixed on his shoes as a wail from the monitor broke the tense silence. Returning a few minutes later with her daughter in her arms and a softer expression on her face, Violet regarded her idiot brother with sympathy, before putting the baby in his lap.

'For what it's worth Gray, I think you'll be a great dad. I spent the whole of my pregnancy freaking out, driving Derek crazy and obsessing that my life and career were over. But now, none of that matters, Amelie is the best thing that ever happened to me and Derek is my rock. Sort things with Aisha, she's going to need you even more if she's done something dumb that she's not ready for. You need to win back her trust as much as she does yours.'

Gray drive home feeling more peaceful. Violet was right, he would never turn his back on his child so he had to figure out a way to deal with it. To deal with Aisha.

He walked into the house and asked to speak to her in private. Hallie and Cai exchanged worried glances. Returning to the positions they'd occupied the night before, before everything had changed, perched side by side on the end of their bed.

'I'm here for you Aisha.' Gray said simply. 'I can't pretend that this is exactly what I wanted at this moment but I would never abandon you, or our child. I love you and we will make this work'

Aisha's shoulders sagged with relief,

'Last night I kept wondering if you'd leave, or ask me to get rid of it' she whispered.

'I would never do that,' Gray snapped back, slightly hurt that she would believe that of him.

Aisha laid a soothing hand on his leg, 'I'm sorry I thought that. Now I know that we have a future, we'll have a baby, we'll get married, do all the things we always used to talk about doing'.

Gray shook his head.

'Its not that easy Aisha. I love you, I will love our baby. But right now, I have to know one thing, before I can start to plan all of those things with you. Answer me honestly, please just tell the truth, your answer won't change what I've promised you.'

He turned and fixed her with a pleading gaze, his blue eyes fixed upon her wide, fearful brown ones.

'Aisha, Did you plan to get pregnant?'

He heard her breath catch, watched her pupils dilate and knew her answer. Even as she nodded once and crumpled in on herself, curling in a ball on the floor Gray felt the angle of his world shift.

He had promised to be there for her, and he would be. But everything had changed and he didn't know how he was going to make it right.

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Read the next chapter - Keep On Trying