I know that just seeing her like this will get me killed. Her father will have my eyes gouged out and my tongue cut off, but one taste of her would be worth it. Just one little taste.
Chapter 1
Piper
I skim my fingers over the small baby bump and I know I’m going to have to get bigger clothes soon. It is getting harder to hide and it doesn’t help that I can't stop eating every five seconds. I somehow bypassed the throwing up stage of my pregnancy and went straight to wanting to eat everything.
I’ve really gotten myself into it this time, but I’m lucky Camp Hardwood took me in. I had nowhere to go and I’m still not sure what else I’m going to do. Can I really have a baby at camp? Mrs. Cyprus knows I’m knocked up after my dramatic trip to the hospital. Thankfully the baby is fine and the bleeding was normal. My iron was super low and I passed out. I have to keep eating more, which was really a wonderful thing to hear. That little scare almost did me in but it made me realize how much I truly want this baby. I knew I loved it before, but after thinking that it might all be taken away, everything changed.
I sit in the kitchen waiting for Tia to come back and I can smell cookies baking. I think she and Van snuck off somewhere, but she has to come back soon. They’re all over each other and I hate how much I wish I had that. I did at one time, but look where it got me. Pregnant with nowhere to go.
I keep waiting for my father to turn up. It’s that or he’s completely written me off. He probably told his friends or colleagues that I’m off at some fancy school or something. He’s good at hiding what’s really going on. He would lose his mind if he found out I was pregnant. And not only am I pregnant, but it was one of his top men who put this little baby inside my belly. I can’t help but wonder if Hawk is looking for me too. If my father wanted me found he’d send Hawk to carry out the search.
It’s ironic since he’s the one who left me. When I woke up the next morning he was nowhere to be found and I kept thinking he’d come back. I thought maybe he only slipped out to get us breakfast or something. Our night together was intense and everything I could have hoped for. He wanted me with an almost angry passion and I’d never felt so alive.
I waited for hours and hours until I finally left the hotel room, realizing it was all pretend. It was my eighteenth birthday the day before and I’d wanted Hawk. I lured him to the hotel and gave myself to him. He took what I offered and was pissed about it, but he still did it.
I lost count of how many times he’d taken my body. I might have been a virgin that night but he had me over and over again. I still can’t wrap my mind around how he fit inside me because Hawk is almost four times bigger than me. He’s as big as the ranger Moose who keeps watch on everyone around here. I’m tiny and it’s why my belly is already showing.
My father isn't a good person, but that didn’t stop me from lusting after a man who was willing to do business with him. I asked my father once what Hawk did for a living and he told me nosy little girls come up missing.
We lived in a fancy home in the richest part of town and everyone knew who my father was when we walked down the street. They’d all smile but it was as fake as my own. He doesn’t care as long as everyone falls in line.
I knew that day when I checked out of the hotel I wasn't going back home. I took the money I’d slowly tucked away and bought a car. I let it take me as far as the thing was willing to go. That’s how I ended up in the middle of nowhere. Well, not nowhere exactly. Camp Hardwood. This place is full of sun and smiles, and happy unicorn hearts dance over people's heads here. I don’t want to go anywhere else but I don’t know how I’m going to have a baby here. I’ll figure it out—there’s no other option. I’m not going to raise my baby in my father’s world, even if he’d let me. I want a world like Camp Hardwood for my baby. Its life will be full of warmth and love.
“I made cookies!” Tia says as she walks back into the kitchen. Her cheeks are more pink than normal as she slips on her oven mitts.