7. Talia

Arough shake of her shoulder tore her from sleep.

"You need to wake up."

Talia grumbled, rolling onto her back and peeling her eyes open—only for them to be blinded by the window opposite. Had Jay opened the curtains?

"Hey, you need to wake up. Anna said the cleaners need to get in here." Quinn's face came into view—his expression awkward. He frowned at her, his eyes valiantly attempting to stay on her face.

And then she realised she was naked. She gave another grumble, tugging the covers up to conceal her breasts. Frowning, she looked around. "Where's Jay?"

Quinn seemed just as confused as she was. "Is that the guy that bought you? He left like an hour ago."

For a moment, she stopped breathing.

The veil of sleep well and truly slipped away then, and she sat up. "Wait," she whispered, her expression stricken. "He's gone?"

She looked around the room, but Quinn was right. It was so… empty without Jay, as though he'd transformed it into something warm and homely with his presence. And his absence had somehow left the room even colder than it had been before he'd arrived.

He hadn't made her any promises, but she thought they'd struck up a friendship during the course of it. She'd given him her virginity, and he couldn't even be bothered to give her a proper goodbye.

"Yeah, I saw him leave, but I've brought you your overnight bag. Anna also sent a cup of chamomile tea for you," he grinned, nodding towards the bedside table. "She knows you British people love tea, and she said the security cameras picked up screaming in the night. It'll help with your throat."

Talia didn't know whether to be embarrassed about the fact she'd been overheard or annoyed that no one even came to check she was okay.

Because they didn't give a shit.

She picked up the tea from the bedside table, accidentally slopping a bit over the edge. "Bugger," she muttered, searching around for something to wipe it up with and coming up empty.

"Don't worry," Quinn waved a hand, heaving her overnight bag onto the bed. "The cleaners will get it. But come on, we can't be in here long now the client has left."

The lukewarm tea did help with her throat, but it didn't touch the empty pain in her chest.

He hadn't even said goodbye.

That hurt more than anything. Ignoring the sinking in her gut, Talia dressed quickly, taking a sad look back at the room in which she'd lost her virginity before Quinn led her to the manager's office.

The manager was waiting for her with a satisfied smile on his face. "This is for you," he said, handing her a cheque. His blond hair was in a tightly-coiled manbun today, accentuating his cheekbones. "It was a pleasure doing business with you, Miss Llewellyn."

Talia stared down at the paper, running her thumb along the edge. It certainly didn't feel like it was worth $1.5 million. It almost felt like nothing at all. "Likewise," she murmured vaguely, ignoring the sinking feeling in her heart.

"For safety reasons, I suggest your next destination be your bank," he carried on. "If you lose the cheque, you lose the money."

After a few seconds silence, Quinn answered for her. "I'll take her straight there, sir."

"If you have any issues of a gynaecological nature, then feel free to contact Anna." He handed her a business card. "Part of your contract includes ongoing medical treatment for any diseases or infections."

There was a wet, sticky feeling between her legs. Was that what she thought it was? "Thank you."

The manager nodded. "And let me know if you'd like a more permanent position at Lux. We always have vacancies for servers."

Those girls wearing gold robes? "I will, thank you."

A sinking feeling filled her chest when she thought of someone else—anyone else—touching her like Jay had done last night.

Somehow, she didn't think anyone else could measure up against him. Even the thought of sleeping with another man was repulsive.

Somehow, she felt like she belonged to Jay. Clearly he didn't feel the same. She just didn't expect it to hurt this much.

Talia curled into a ball, drawing her knees up to her chest. She'd missed Dad and Darcy in all kinds of ways since moving to New York, but this was a new one.

There was no one to care for her when she was in the midst of an endometriosis flare-up.

There was no one to fetch her a glass of water or fill a hot water bottle or put a fan on or plug in her electric blanket or empty her sick bucket. If she wanted it done, she had to do it herself.

Talia grumbled into her pillow pitifully, her face twisting into misery. She'd spent the last couple of months with Quinn tutoring her for her finals—free of charge, which had been a surprise to her. With Quinn's help, she'd actually been feeling confident about her chances in the exams.

And, honestly, he was nice. And funny. And charming. Was it weird that she was friends with the guy who'd facilitated the sale of her virginity? People met in all sorts of weird ways, right?

But then her flare-up had hit—probably due to the increased stress from finals week approaching, and, god, had it hit hard.

She'd never felt more homesick than she was now, puking her guts up and unable to sleep. Not that she'd admit it to anyone, but she'd cried every night, wanting nothing more than to be back home in Covent Garden with her family looking after her.

Her academics may have improved, but nothing else had.

Talia sniffed. Christmas wasn't far away, and Quinn had promised he'd take her to see New York's Christmas sights, but there was no chance of that now.

A few days ago, he'd insisted on dragging her out to the health centre downstairs. Now she just had to go and get the results and, hopefully, whatever drugs she needed to make this go away.

She grimaced at the knock on the door.

"Talia?" Quinn called, his voice drifting through the thin wood. "It's time to go."

Talia responded with an indistinct groan, and she could almost see his answering grin. Slowly, she made her way to the door, unlocking it with an audible clunk and pulling it open. "Gimme a sec," she mumbled, not even bothering to look at him. "Need to lock up."

Quinn leant in the doorway, phone in hand, watching her unplug her electric blanket. "How're you feeling today?"

Her dead-eyed stare was enough of an answer.

Talia joined him at the door, stumbling out into the deserted corridor. In any other circumstance, she would have been relieved that no one saw her dressed in her pyjamas and coat, but right now she couldn't have cared less.

The walk towards the lift was slow. Halfway down it, Talia swayed. Lightheadedness swarmed her, and she reached out blindly to steady herself on the wall. The stupidly long hall is the worst part, she assured herself silently, feeling Quinn's hand resting on her waist. Once that's over, the health centre is just across the square.

The square was a nightmare.

Every student studying at Columbia was here, it seemed. The lift doors dinged open, rattling slightly. Talia slowly crept forward on a wave of nausea, and she was pleasantly surprised by her fellow students moving around her rather than mowing her down.

When the health centre was in sight, Quinn stopped her. "Here," he murmured into her ear, one hand across her spine and the other sliding down to the back of her thighs. "Let me help."

He lifted her into his arms with surprising ease, holding her against his broad chest—although she narrowly avoided kicking some poor girl in the face.

"You good?" he asked, close enough that she could see the golden striations of his eyes.

It was a relief to finally be off her feet. A week of illness had seriously reduced her range. "Good," she sighed, leaning against his collarbone. Her breath probably stank, but Quinn made no complaints.

Talia swallowed, deciding that not opening her mouth would be the best bet—both because she was trying not to be sick and trying not to breathe toxic fumes into her friend's eyeballs.

A loud, shrieking wolf whistle made her jump, forcing her eyes open in shock. They were at the health centre entrance, but her attention was drawn to a pair of young men nearby. The left one wore a grey Columbia hoodie, whilst the other was dressed in a beanie and a camo jacket, his jawline sharp enough to cut steel. The latter whistled again, cupping his hands around his mouth to shout, "Get some, Quinn."

Now that she was off her feet, she didn't even have the energy to snort.

After her experience with Jay, no one would be getting some any time soon.

"Ignore them," Quinn murmured, shouldering through the doors beneath the HEALTH CENTER sign.

The health centre was just as packed as the square outside had been, with the exception that all the students in here were snivelling or coughing. Quinn deposited her in front of the check-in desk before accompanying her over to the waiting room. It was decked out in Christmas decorations, but Talia was feeling a world away from merry and bright.

By the time Natalia Llewellyn was called, Talia sagged against the wall next to her, trying to concentrate on how cool it was against her skin rather than how much she was trying not to puke all over the floor.

The nurse wasn't the same one she saw last time, and for that she was grateful. Instead of being brusque and abrasive, this nurse held out her arm for Talia to take, escorting her into the nursing room.

Talia collapsed into the chair, faint and sweating. She could feel the vomit coming, her eyes frantically searching for where to aim. Not a second too soon, the nurse thrust a sickbag into her arms, stroking between Talia's shoulders as she retched so violently she was sure the blood vessels in her eyes were going to pop.

"There, there, sweetie," the nurse murmured, handing Talia a tissue. "Get it all out."

When it was over, Talia wiped the sweat away from her forehead, letting the chair hold her upright. Her eyes were lowered from her sleepless nights, her remaining energy draining more and more with every breath. "Please can I have some medication now," she begged. "I have endometrio—"

"Actually," the nurse interrupted, "I'd like to go over your test results, if that's okay."

Feeling like death warmed over, Talia nodded. Just do it quickly before I keel over.

The nurse smiled, as though she knew exactly what Talia had refrained from saying. "We tested you for a variety of things. The doctor initially thought it might have been gastroenteritis, but the test came back negative for norovirus."

Talia zoned in and out, focusing on the flashing Christmas tree earrings the nurse wore. Vomiting had used all of her reserves, and her body had apparently taken it as a sign to deflate.

"However," the nurse said, raising her voice slightly. Talia swallowed, attempting to concentrate. "One test did come back positive, Miss Llewellyn."

"Mm?" Talia mumbled, her head slowly dipping with exhaustion.

"The one for hCG. Otherwise known as the pregnancy hormone."

Talia blinked, her eyes going wide. Adrenaline pumped through her in an almighty rush. "Sorry?"

"You're pregnant, Miss Llewellyn. Seven weeks or more, judging by the hCG levels detected."

A slap to the face couldn't have woken her up quicker. She sat up in her seat, the blood rushing to her head. "But I'm infertile. I was told barely a year ago that both of my fallopian tubes were blocked. Both of them."

The nurse looked at her, her eyes overflowing with compassion. "Sometimes these things just happen, even when medical science suggests otherwise."

"But… but I can't be." Talia grappled with the suggestion, fighting for purchase. "Aren't false positives a thing? Isn't that more likely than someone with two blocked fallopian tubes falling pregnant naturally?"

"If we were referencing a home pregnancy test, I would agree with you and suggest redoing the test. But this was a blood test done by a laboratory."

Her lips parted, and a laugh burst forth. "A year ago I was crying myself to sleep after getting the news I'd never fall pregnant naturally."

The nurse shared her smile. "Sometimes nature has different plans. I noticed there was a young man sitting out in the waiting room with you, would you like me to fetch him for you?"

"Oh," Talia cottoned on to what the nurse was getting at. "Oh, Quinn. He's just a friend, he's not the…"

Father.

Oh. Oh god.

Jay.

The father had disappeared after giving her the best night of her life… and a child.

The father would never know he had a child.

The child would never know their father.

She clapped a hand over her mouth as the magnitude of the realisations hit, one after another. There was no question of whether she was going to keep the child; she was keeping it. After being told it would never happen, how could she not seize the chance when it arose?

Except it was the wrong time. She was a year into the decade long process of becoming a doctor.

Except it was the wrong place. She was thousands of miles away from home, from everyone she loved, from her family

Except it was the wrong man. Because now he was nothing more than a memory.

Somewhere in the middle, Talia dimly heard the nurse say she was going to fetch Quinn, but by the time he entered the room, she'd made up her mind.

She didn't remember pulling her phone out, but suddenly she was unlocking it, flicking through it, and hitting the call button.

"Talia," Quinn said, crouching next to her, his face a mass of worry as he watched her every move. "Are you okay? The nurse said—"

Talia shook her head decisively. She appreciated what Quinn had done for her, but she'd already decided. This is what her mother had done, wasn't it? Put her career aside for her children. And now she had to do the same. Perhaps she wasn't as gifted as her mother academically, and perhaps she'd never be a doctor, but she'd sure as shit put her child first.

Every ring solidified her decision more and more. She was doing the right thing.

It was a relief when he picked up.

"Nattie-bun," Dad said, his voice as warm and comforting as a blanket settling over her.

"Hey Dad," she whispered, attempting to keep her nerves out of her voice.

"Are you okay, cyw?" Dad said instantly; his native Welsh always came out when he was worried. "What's wrong?"

Of course he knew. He'd always known whenever anything was wrong, and she loved him for it.

"I need your help." She paused to swallow the lump in her throat, but he didn't wait for the rest.

"What do you need? Do you need me to come over?"

She couldn't say it normally, so she settled for a whisper. "I need to come home. I'm pregnant."

Quinn's dark eyes bugged, his jaw dropping.

Dad didn't so much as pause. "Don't worry, cyw. I'll be on the next plane out of Heathrow. You don't need to worry about a thing. I'll take care of you. I'll take care of you both."