Battle-Hardened, War Weary Ch. 04

The sound of her gasp caused Ryan to stare at her face. Her eyes were wide. Her mouth was slightly open. She held a facial expression of shock.

He stepped into the house and she walked away from him. She was afraid of him. He felt ashamed of himself, for making her feel that way. 'No, no, no baby, please don't walk from me,' he thought as he stared at her. Ryan had made another attempt at getting close to her. She made a few steps away from him.

He had taken a step backwards to close the front door. Then, he proceeded to back Kali into the living room. When she was standing under a better light, he came to a stop. Now there was a foot of space between the two individuals. Once again, he surveyed her body. His eyes settled on her swollen belly.

"Ryan," she sighed. He thought that she sounded tired rather than scared or surprised.

His eyes left her stomach and landed on her pretty face. He noticed that she possessed fullness to her face. The slight pudginess that she carried made her look healthy. There was a glow to her.

"How are you?" he asked her.

Kali stood in front of Ryan, who was gazing at her with fury in his bright, sea green eyes. She was shocked and feeling disappointed at the moment. She was shocked to see him and she was disappointed because of the same reason. She thought that the beatings that he had suffered from Jack and Daniel would've deterred Ryan from continuing with his blackmail plans.

'Of course not,' her mind reasoned. 'Men like Ryan Whittler are too fucking stubborn to even do something like concede.'

"How are you feeling?" she heard him ask her.

She almost didn't catch his inquiry because she was so focus on watching his movements. Her hands held onto her stomach. She saw that his eyes shifted from her face to her hands. The fury in his eyes disappeared and its place there was another emotion. She figured that it was a look of longing. He was staring at her stomach with a look of longing.

'Well, I'll be damned,' she thought as she stared at him. She swallowed, before she spoke. "I'm fine," she said to him. She saw his eyes drift back up to her face. His jaw twitched.

"How's the baby?" he inquired.

Hearing Ryan refer to her unborn child ignited a need to protect her daughter. She wasn't afraid of him. If there was a small part of her that was frighten, it was slaughtered. Now, in its place was anger.

"My baby is fine," she informed him.

She watched his eyes narrow and a blush seep into his cheeks. His nostrils flared. He was angry at her implication about the baby. Kali didn't care. He could spend the rest of his pathetic life being angry at the truth, which is her daughter was her child and not his.

"That baby is a part of me," he said to her with his jaw clenched. "I am partly responsible for him—

"Are you sure about that one, Ryan?"

She knew that her inquiry was going to make Ryan angrier. His face formed a scowl and his face turned a shade of beet-red. She continued speaking.

"How do you know that this baby is yours, huh? After all, you had me service all of your friends as if I was your whore and you were my pimp! How do you know that my baby belongs to you? How do you know that my baby doesn't belong to Daniel? Or, how about Carlo, your best friend and fuck partner? He could be the father to my kid! Or, perhaps, maybe there's another man out there that I have been screwing. Maybe it could be his kid!"

Kali was now panting. Her brow was peppered with sweat. She was standing in front of Ryan with only a centimeter of space between the two of them. She glared at her daughter's father with intense anger. She noticed that he was staring at her with the same amount of animosity.

"I know that the kid belongs to me," he told her. "If I have to take your ass to court, in order to—

'I know that you did not just threaten to take my kid away,' she thought. Her anger grew.

"In order to do what, Ryan?" she growled at him. "No judge in their right state of mind would give you a child!"

"He is—

"She, I am having a girl, you sadistic-red haired-bastard!" she shouted at him. She had taken a few steps away from him. "No judge in their right state of mind would give you custody of a girl, especially with the way your treat women! Then, there's your reputation as a playboy, club-hopping, arrogant, irresponsible jackass! There's no way that a judge will grant you custody!"

"I am getting married—

His statement was interrupted by Kali's laughter. The laughter was over-dramatic and sarcastic in demeanor. It irritated the shit out of him. She turned her back to him. He watched her hands arrange her bathrobe as she laughed. She turned back around to face him. There was a grimace on her face.

"Yes, I've heard about your engagement to Suzette Garrison! Shit, for the past three months I have been reading about it in the Daily News! Just because you're marrying her doesn't mean that you're responsible and you're capable of taking care of a child! And besides, you're marrying Suzette Garrison!"

Ryan was offended about Kali's snipe about his fiancée. It surprised him, momentarily. "What the hell does that mean?"

He watched her gave him one last glance before waddled over to where her sofa was located. She gingerly sat down. In her new position, the opening in her robe widened. Her belly and her legs were revealed. Seeing her exposed body parts caused his prick to throb even more. He's possessed a hard-on ever since he first saw her. To alleviate the discomfort, he discreetly adjusted his sweat pants.

"Your blushing bride has one nasty reputation herself and the last thing I want my daughter to experience is to have that woman as her step-mother. Let's see, she is a Bainbridge drop-out, who already has been to multiple rehabs for her drug addictions, shopping addictions and for her eating disorders. She has a modeling career, even though no one has ever seen any of the ads that she has done. Her parents are screwed up themselves. Her mom is a former rock and roll groupie while her father is a broke, drug-addicted, has-been of a rock star, whose been accused of owning child pornography! What else?"

Kali contemplated for more reasons as to why Ryan's girlfriend would make a terrible step-mother. She found one.

"Oh yeah, and she is a hoe! I refuse to have my child, a girl, learning anything from that woman! What is she going to teach my daughter? How to suck a dick while riding in the backseat of a limo? How to obtain a sugar daddy? How to shoplift items from department stores? How to snort a line of cocaine without stopping? How to finagle her way into a nightclub with a fake ID? How to date two guys at the same time while faking a pregnancy, in order to keep them around? But then again, you would know about that one. After all, she was dating you and that player from the New York Pirates, until he dropped her like a hot potato. What was his name again?"

"Enough," he spat out.

Kali stared at her child's father. He was irritated. She had bite down on her bottom lip, in order to keep from smiling.

Ryan walked closer to where the seating arrangements were located. He strolled over to where the loveseat was located, which was adjacent to the sofa. He pressed his hands onto the back of the sofa and he leaned forward.

"In case you have forgotten, I still own that video," he informed her. He smiled, cruelly. He knew that he had her. Ryan knew that just as long he had that footage, she would do anything that he demands from her. Also, he couldn't let her have any control, he concluded. In regards to the child, she had control over him finally. She had his child growing in her belly and Kali was going to forbid Ryan from being a parent to his daughter.

Ryan noticed that an expression of resignation had come across her pretty face. Her purple eyes became dull and lost its luster. They were burning with passion, a moment ago, as she cursed his ass out. He wanted the brightness to resurface.

"Why are you here, Rye?" she asked him. Ryan thought her voice sounded tired.

She stared at him, as if she waited for him to answer her question. He didn't answer her. He didn't know how to answer her inquiry. He couldn't answer her honestly. He couldn't tell her that he was in love with her. He wouldn't explain to his love that he wanted to spend his life with her. He believed that expressing his emotions would've given Kali the upper hand over him.

When Kali realized that he was not going to answer her question, she let out a sigh of disgust. He watched Kali lift her ample body out of her seat and then travel over to the coffee table. She plucked the remote control off of the table. She turned the television off. With her right hand, she picked up a plate of food while her left hand placed the remote on the coffee table. He realized that he interrupted her meal time. He experienced a pang of guilt.

"Kali, why don't you finish eating?"

"No, I'm not hungry," she said in a monotone, as she walked out of the living room.

Ryan followed Kali into the dining room, as well as, into the kitchen. He stood in the doorway. He studied the room. The room was altered since the last time he was in this house. The last time he was inside of the kitchen, the walls were painted a bright yellow and held a wallpaper trim. The floor held pale yellow, linoleum tiles. There was a Formica table in the center of the room with four brown leather dinner chairs. On the right side of the room, there used to be two pantries that lined up against the wall. In between the pantries was a buffet and hutch.

Now, things were different and more up-to-date with the times. The walls were painted with a cream-off white color. The floor was replaced with hardwood floors that were polished to perfection. The set of pantries, as well as, the buffet and hutch was gone. The wall now possessed a bay window with a seating nook. In front of the window, was a table and chair set. The original yellow, metal cupboards and cabinets were gone. In its wake, there were new wooden cabinets and cupboards that held doors with a window pane facade. The counter tops were now granite and sleek. The appliances were updated as well. The refrigerator, microwave and the stove was updated with modern versions. There were a few new additions to the kitchen as well. In the middle of the room, there was a kitchen island and two bar stools.

"Nice updates," Ryan complimented, as he gazed around the kitchen.

"Thanks," she muttered.

Kali brusquely walk passed Ryan and left the kitchen. Once again, he followed Kali. This time, she led him to the second level of the house. They entered the hallway. She strolled away from the staircase and traveled to the bedroom that was closest to the stairs. Ryan recognized the bedroom as being Kali's childhood room. He was about to enter the room, when he took note of the master bedroom which was at the other end of the hallway. The bedroom was lit up. He noticed a bundle of clothes on the floor.

"Whose room is that one?" he asked her as he entered her bedroom. He noticed that her girlhood bedroom was still the same. The walls were painted pink. There was a plush pink carpet on the floor. There was a four-post, wooden canopy bed with the awning that was above the mattress. A bookcase was positioned in the corner that was across the bed, in an angle. A dresser was pressed against the wall that was across from the bed. The mattress was bare.

Kali was standing in front of her queen-sized, canopy bed. She slipped out of her robe and revealed her nude, pregnant body. For some strange reason, she felt self-conscious of being naked in front of him. He made her feelings of inadequacies worse by his ogling. She used her left arm to cover her breasts. She glared at the bed.

She remembered the question he asked her. "The room belongs to me now. After Mama left for Georgia, I had taken over the bedroom," she informed him.

"If that is your bedroom, then why are we in here?"

"Because..." she sighed. She was hesitant to tell Ryan the truth. She knows that he is short-tempered and sensitive. "I don't want you in there. I don't want..." She turned her attention to his face. "I don't want to taint my bedroom with this."

Ryan leveled her with a heated stare, in response. He was offended and she knew. He let out a scoff and then a smirk. He walked out of the bedroom. He made a left turn into the hallway. She knew where he was going. He was heading to her bedroom.

She let out a scoff of irritation. She adorned her bathrobe again. 'Fucking asshole,' she thought as she exited the bedroom.

Kali entered the corridor. She stared down the hallway to her bedroom's doorway. She heard the sounds of movement in her private quarters. 'What in the hell is he doing now?' she wondered. She strolled into the hallway. As she was in mid-step, there was an unexpected burst of music. It was coming from her bedroom. The sudden sounds frightened Kali and it caused her to flinch.

'Fucking asshole,' her brain growled.

When she entered the bedroom, she saw Ryan stand in front of her dresser. She saw that he stared down at the group of body moisturizers that she own. He still wore his clothes, but he removed his sneakers and socks. He gave her a glimpse. "Which one of these do you use?" he asked.

Kali believed that he shouldn't be inside of this bedroom. This was her only place of solace and now he has ruined it with his presence. She was occupied with her thoughts about how she thought of Ryan as an interloper that she didn't hear his question. "Huh?" she murmured, appearing unprepared for the question.

Ryan stared at her and then at the inventory of bottled lotions again. "Which one of these lotions do you use?"

Kali walked over to the right side of her bed and sat down on the edge of the mattress. She glanced, over her shoulder, at Ryan. "I use any one of them," she answered.

"Okay," he muttered before grabbing one of the items. She noticed that he chose the bottle of Ren Moroccan Rose Otto Body Oil, which is the most expensive bottle of oil that she own.

'Figures,' she surmised.

She witnessed Ryan walk away from the dresser. He walked over to the side of the bed where she sat. He placed the bottle of body oil on her nightstand and then he stood in front of her. He settled his large body in the space that was in between her opened legs. There were a few centimeters of space between the two individuals. From their positions, they stared at each other in silence. Her stereo system continued to play music into the bedroom.

'Just get this over and done with Kay, so he could leave and you can take a shower,' her mind suggested.

Her fingers latched onto the soft cotton of his sweat pants and then she gave the fabric a gentle tug. She knew that the tugging wasn't enough to withdraw his pants. 'You can do this, Kay,' her conscience suggested. She let out a gust of air and then pulled on his pants again. She used enough force to have his pants slide down his thick legs. She saw the black fabric drop down to the floor. He wore another layer of pants, a pair of black thermal pants. She dug her nails into the itchy rayon and pulled them down his legs to reveal his bare skin. Her fingers made soft caresses against his bare skin as she pushed his thermal pants. She saw his body tremble and heard a trembling groan leave his body, as a result. He sounded as if he suffered a small orgasm.

She stared at his muscled thighs. 'If he is this revved up, then he should pop easily tonight,' she pondered. An idea had popped in her head. 'Do whatever you have to do to make him cum quickly,' was her idea. 'The quicker that he busts his nut, the quicker that he leaves your house.' She ran the idea inside of her mind. The idea appeared to be infallible. She weighed the pros and cons of her idea and concluded that there were more benefits than detriments. The only negative that she could think of was the notion that Ryan could refuse to leave the premises. But, she could easily solve that problem. She could call Jack and have her godfather deal with him. Or perhaps, she could call her uncles.

Kali didn't waste any time with getting rid of his designer briefs. She peeled the pair of Armani Exchange briefs off of his body and he kicked them off of his feet. His dick bobbed up and down with the movement. She briefly glimpsed at his cock before she drew her attention to his shirt.

Her hands touched the hem of his sweat shirt. She rubbed the material in between her fingers before she slid her hands underneath his tops. Her hands lied flat against his chiseled, powerful stomach. His skin felt chilly against her warm hands. In a seductive stroke, she ran her hands up his torso. She could feel the ripples of his obliques underneath her fingers. Once again, he let out a sign of his pleasure.

Kali stared at his face. His eyes were shut closed. His jaw was slack and his mouth was slightly opened. There was a vulnerable expression of his face. She gave the handsome young man a quizzical expression.

'How long has it been since you've gotten laid, Rye?' she wondered.

She quickly removed her robe. She tossed the embellished fabric onto the floor. She finagled her body around Ryan's bigger one, so she could kneel on her mattress and in front of him. She was a little bit taller, thanks to her bed. The top of her head reached his chin. In this angle, she was able to help him take his sweat shirt off. She grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it further up his torso. Ryan, even in his pleasure-induced trance, understood her order. He lifted his arms up in the air. She pulled both shirts off of his body. She tossed the items on the floor.

He was naked too. Her hands sought his body. Her fingers explored his wide and built torso with soft caresses. Her manicured fingernails lightly scraped at certain spots that she knew could have been ticklish. His breathing morphed into pants. He sounded as if he was losing control.

Curiosity has gotten the best of her; she wanted to know the reason for his current condition. "How long has it been for you?"

Ryan opened his eyes and gazed down at her. "How long has it been for me to do what?" he inquired.

"Sex, how long has it been since you fucked?"

She watched his face hold an expression of amusement. Then, his lips formed into a smirk. "When was the last time that we've fucked? Once you find that answer, then you have mine," Ryan remarked.

The answer to his remark crossed her mind. She remembered how frighten she felt, on that night. She remembered the pain that she felt, as well as, the humiliation. She remembered screaming her pleas at Ryan to show her mercy. She remembered hearing the cruel dismissal that he had given her, after he used her body as a cum-dumpster. The memory of the events from that night caused Kali to experience sadness and anger.

She stared at Ryan with an expression of anger. "December 2nd," she answered him with certainty in her voice. "I know it was on that day because that was the night you've..." Kali looked away from his prying eyes and gazed into his chest.

'Got-damn it, shit,' she mentally sighed as her eyeballs stung and her vision had become blurry. She didn't want him to see her cry. She promised herself that he wasn't going to upset ever again.

She steeled herself. Then she glanced at him.

"That is the night that you ass-raped me and it is also the night that Athena was conceived."

She felt two fat tears rolled down her face. 'Fuck,' her mind screamed in anger. "Fuck," she said softly.

She didn't want him to know that he was able to make her feel emotional pain. She knew that she handle the physical stuff: the cuts and the bruises. She knew that he was able to inflict some damage to her emotional state of being. Kali started to back away from him, but his right hand clutched onto her left shoulder. He pulled onto her shoulder, an effort to draw her body closer to him. She used her strength to pull away.