A Baby For Billionaire Knox

THEME: Nothing comes easy

KNOX MARTINS BEACH HOUSE

“This is worst than I thought” Eretia muttered as she sank onto the couch. She dialed Oliver’s number and he picked immediately.

“Hi Oliver,” She smiled.

“Hello Eretia, How are you doing? And how is work?” Oliver questioned.

“I am doing okay. And my work is going smoothly. How is Ryan?” She asked.

“He is fine too.” Oliver answered.

“Can I ask you something?” Eretia spoke up after some minutes of silence. She checked to see if Knox was out of ear shot. He was in his room.

“What’s wrong?” Oliver asked with concern in his tone.

“Oh nothing… nothing is wrong.” She stuttered. “Actually.. it is not about me.” She paused trying to find the right words to use.

“Eretia just tell me about it. I am worried.” Oliver admitted.

Eretia let out a sigh. “I am doing fine. But you see… I went to work with Mr Knox today and at the office a lady sprained her ankle and now she is feeling the ache in it.” She explained.

“How did she sprained her ankle?” Oliver asked.

Eretia closed her eyes. “She fell down to the ground while on heels.” She silently prayed that Oliver won’t ask too many questions which might lead to him finding out she was the injured one.

“And I guess she stressed it too much. The spraining the ankle must have caused the pain right?” Oliver asked.

“Yes.” She nodded in agreement.

“Okay.. I see.” Oliver mumbled.

“So what’s the–”

Oliver cuts in. “Tell her to go to the hospital to get an X – ray done on it to see if it is broken.”

“Well.. she doesn’t want to go to the hospital that’s why I called to see if you can suggest a quick remedy and what to relief the pain.” Eretia rushed out her words.

Oliver was silent. He wondered how fast Eretia had started to have friends at work that she just resumed.

“Are you sure it is not about.. you?” Oliver demanded. He sounded worried.

“No.. no.. I am fine. Believe me.. Oliver.. I am perfectly okay.” Eretia stammered.

“Okay.. if your so called friend doesn’t want to go to the hospital then a massage would help a bit. Massage the ankle with a bone ointment, bandage around it and make sure she uses a pain reliever. But I still suggest that she visits the hospital to get an x-ray done.” Oliver let out a sigh.

“A massage with bone, ointment, bandage and pain relief.” She repeated the prescription he gave to her.

“Yes.” Oliver answered.

“Okay.. I will relay everything to her via text messages.” Eretia bit her lower lip. She didn’t like the fact that she wasn’t truthful with Oliver.

“Alright. Let us talk later, I am still at work.” Oliver said.

Eretia nodded. “Okay, take care and extend my greetings to Ryan.” And she disconnected the call.

“You are an expert at telling lies.”

Eretia jumped in fear when she heard his voice. Eretia looked up and Knox was there staring straight at her. She was startled by his sudden appearance and she wondered how long he has been listening.

Eretia cleared his throat. “What do… you need boss?” She stuttered.

“Are you okay?” Knox asked.

Eretia avoided his gaze. “Oh me? Yes.. Yes.. I am fine. And thank you for letting me go with you to the agency.”

Knox was silent for some seconds as his eyes did a slow crawl from her head to her toe. Something wasn’t quite alright.

“Come here.” He ordered.

“Huh?” Her head snapped up to look at him.

“You heard me. Come here.” Knox gestured to her to come close to where he stood.

“Okay.” Eretia stood up gently from the couch. She muffled back a groan and closed her eyes as she felt the pain in her ankle again.

Knox watched her as his gaze dropped down to her ankle. Eretia didn’t walk but she dragged one of her legs to hide that fact that she was in pain.

“I don’t remember seeing anyone with a broken ankle at the office.” He said.

Eretia was silent as she dragged herself towards him. She knew Knox had caught her making things up. She winced at the pain.

Knox arched his eyebrows and went to her before she could take another step.

“I asked if you were fine at the office but you kept saying yes. But how come you can’t even move your legs?” He asked in a low tone.

“Yes.. I am fine. Don’t worry… I am fine. I’ll prepare dinner.” Eretia said unsteadily. She moved away from him to leave for the kitchen but he blocked her pathway.

“How did you end up like this?” Knox asked with a concerned look on his face

Eretia frowned at him. She hated the look of innocence on his face. “You really don’t know?” She asked.

He nodded. “I don’t know.”

Eretia swallowed hard. “Then I think it is better not to know.” She shoved him aside and motioned towards the kitchen.

Knox followed her and whirled her to face him. Eretia yelped out in pain at the swift movement and she couldn’t stop the tear that slid down her cheek. She had been trying so hard not to cry ever since the pain started. The pain was all new to her. Do humans really go through this pain? She thought. It was even harder to hold it back now that he was acting as if he was not the cause of the pain.

“Let go of me!” Eretia screamed and pushed him away.

Knox was taken aback by her sudden outburst.

“You are.. so.. so heartless! What’s so wrong in trying to make a living in this world? No.. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy out here but I took the chance. I knew working and living with you won’t be an easy task but I still took the risk! And I have been trying my best to keep up with your toughness since I came around because I promised myself that I wouldn’t give up.. but then what happened?! What did you do to me? First I got buried in the snow and now this!” She pointed to her right ankle.

“All because of your silly toughness I got my ankle broken! Why?! And how did I end up like this? You say?” Eretia hit his chest and Knox staggered backward.

“Oh come on! Don’t act like you don’t know… and you didn’t see me through your rear mirror after you pushed me this morning! You knew I was on heels but you pushed me because you didn’t want me to ride in your car!” She threw her hands up in the air.

More tears streamed down her cheeks.”You are so selfish, Mr Knox Martins. And you only care about yourself! That’s so unfair!” Eretia stopped talking with her chest rising and falling.

Eretia waited for her boss to say a word but he didn’t utter a word. Knox just simply moved away from her and walked to his bedroom.

Eretia exhaled roughly when she heard the door again. Knox came back with his jacket on him. She met his gaze and she didn’t miss the pain in his expression. Knox left the house slamming the door in the process.

Eretia hated herself at that moment. She knew she had gone too far, she has been too harsh on him with her words and she regretted letting her anger take the best part of her seconds ago. Quickly she limped to the window and raised the curtain only to see that her boss was driving out of the private driveway. She wondered where he was headed by this time of the night. And she panicked at the thought of him sleeping out tonight.

What if Mrs Elaina calls to check up on him? She thought. Then Eretia realized it was best to have ignored Knox than telling him the truth or even venting out her anger.

“What have you done, Adella?!” She grumbled and knocked her head. Eretia limped back to the couch and settled on it.

*********

Knox Martins hit the steering as he drove down the silent and dark road. He looked down at his cellphone, Eretia was calling him. Every of her words echoed in his head. At that moment she was talking, the impulse to reach for her and pull her to himself was there again but he had held back to let her say all that was on her mind.

Knox Martins realized he wanted that contact with her and that was totally foreign to him and disturbing. Yes! Strange, disturbing are the word he had been looking for since the day he saw her. To be honest, Eretia had been distracting him.

Knox felt guilty for causing her pain and he flinched at the pain he had seen in her eyes while she expressed herself.