TEMPORARY MATES PERMANENT CRAVINGS novel Chapter 131

One hundred and thirty one

Lisa POV

The rain hammered the hospital window. It sounded like gravel hitting the glass. Thick drops moved in jagged paths toward the sill. I lay on my side and followed the trail of one specific drop until it merged with another. My mind felt just as scattered.

I missed him.

It was not a simple longing. It was a hunger that made my throat tight and my skin itch. I hated myself for it. I was lying in a sterile bed because of a world he built. My body was failing because of a contract I signed with him.

It had to be the hormones.

They were tricking my brain into craving a man who belonged to a different woman in a different life.

There was nothing about Cameron worth this ache.

I reached for my phone on the plastic bedside table. The charging cable pulled tight as I brought the screen to my face. I opened our message log. The early texts were short. They were cold. He sent dates, times, and financial figures. He was a client. I was an employee. But the blue bubbles changed as the weeks passed. The sentences grew longer. He asked if I had slept. He asked what I had eaten. We had stopped talking like strangers.

I closed the app and dropped the phone. It was self-inflicted pain.

My stomach let out a sharp growl. The sound was so sudden it made me jump. I had been nauseous for days, but now a hollow ache settled in my gut. The IV pole stood beside me. The clear liquid dripped into the tube and disappeared into the vein in my arm. It was enough to keep me alive, but it did not stop the hunger.

My mom pushed the door open. She carried a paper bag filled with clean clothes.

“I’m hungry,” I said.

She paused. She looked at my pale face and then at the monitors.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea right now, Lisa. Your stomach has been so sensitive.”

“Mom,” I groaned. I shifted my weight, feeling the paper sheet crinkle under me. “Just ask the nurse. I need real food. Besides, aren’t you supposed to be at James’s orientation? You’ve been here all day.”

“I couldn’t go,” she said. She set the bag on the vinyl chair. “I am not leaving you alone in this place.”

“I was fine while you were gone two hours earlier. I am stable now. Please, go get me something to eat and then go to James. He will be angry if you miss his big day.”

The door clicked open. A nurse in blue scrubs pushed a metal cart into the room. My mom turned to her immediately. She asked if solid food was allowed. The nurse moved to the bed and checked the digital readout on the heart monitor. She inspected the site where the needle entered my skin.

“That is a positive sign,” the nurse said. She adjusted a dial on the pump. “Her stomach should be able to handle something light now that the vitals are steady.”

“I want a thick milkshake,” I said. I didn’t give my mom a chance to argue. “And a chicken burger. Extra mayo.

“Is that safe?” Mom asked. Her hands were gripped together. “With the toxins they found?”

The nurse nodded. “There are no dietary restrictions from the medical side. She can eat whatever she is able to

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keep down.”

Mom left the room with a worried look. When she returned twenty minutes later, the scent hit me before she reached the bed. It was salty and heavy. I grabbed the wrapper with shaking hands. I took a massive bite. I didn’t bother to chew thoroughly. I just wanted the void in my stomach to stop burning.

“You are going to choke,” Mom warned. She sat on the edge of the chair and watched my throat move.

I was halfway through the milkshake when the doctor entered. He held a manila folder. He made a small comment about my appetite, but his eyes stayed flat. He pulled a stool over and sat down so he was at my eye level.

“Lisa, I have been looking at your latest blood work,” he said. “Your body is under severe stress. It is not supporting the pregnancy the way we expect. The abnormal markers are still present in your blood. The strain on your heart and kidneys is increasing.”

I stopped chewing. The burger felt like a lump of lead in my mouth.

“We are managing it for now,” he continued. “But if your condition worsens, we will have to prioritize your life over the pregnancy.”

I swallowed hard. “What?”

“I am saying that if it comes down to a hard choice, we choose you. We will save your life even if it means we cannot continue the pregnancy.”

The milkshake felt cold in my hand. I looked at my mother. Her face had gone white.

“Am I losing the baby?” I asked. My voice was a thin whisper.

“The baby is still viable right now,” the doctor said. He tapped the folder. “This is a contingency plan. We are preparing for the trend in your data. We are not saying the baby will die today.”

“But it could,” I said.

He nodded once. He didn’t offer a platitude.

The walls of the room felt like they were moving inward. I looked down at my stomach. I had spent months dealing with the exhaustion and the constant vomiting. I had felt every cramp. I had given up my body for this. The thought of it being over because of a bottle of poisoned vitamins made my blood boil. If Franklin was right about Evangeline, she had tried to kill the very child she claimed to want.

“Take it away,” I told my mom.

The smell of the chicken made my stomach flip. The hunger was gone. It was replaced by a cold knot of dread.

“Lisa, please,” Mom said. She reached for the tray. “He was talking about the worst-case scenario. You are getting better. The food stayed down.”

I didn’t answer. I watched the door where the doctor had disappeared. He had spoken about the baby like it was a secondary factor. A line item in a ledger.

My phone buzzed on the bed. The screen showed Cameron’s name. My mom saw it and gave me a sharp look. She wanted me to be calm. I ignored the look and swiped to answer.

“Somebody poisoned me,” I said. I didn’t give him a chance to say hello. “They found toxins. Now the doctor says my body isn’t supporting the baby. I could lose it, Cameron.”

I gripped the phone so hard my fingers went numb.

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“I did everything right. I ate what I was told. I took the pills. And now there is poison in my system. Why would someone do this?”

“Calm down, Lisa,” Cameron’s voice was deep and steady. It sounded like he was in a hallway. “I already spoke to the doctor. If it comes to a choice, they save you. We cannot lose you over this.”

The words felt like a punch. He was willing to give up the child he had paid for just to keep me breathing. It should have felt like he cared. Instead, it felt like a calculated move. If Evangeline was the one who did this, he was just cleaning up her mess.

“So you and Evangeline already discussed it?” I asked. I felt a surge of bitterness. “She is okay with giving up her dream? She is fine with the baby dying as long as the evidence goes away?”

The line went silent for several seconds. I could hear his rhythmic breathing.

“Evangeline does not get a say over your body,” he replied. “If terminating the pregnancy is required to keep you alive, that is what happens. I want you safe. We will find out who tampered with the vitamins before we make accusations.”

I stared at the rain on the window. He was defending her without saying her name.

“It is your baby,” I said. My voice was harsh. “If you decided you are willing to throw it away, I guess I have no choice. I am just a rented womb. I am just the surrogate.”

“Do not say that,” he said. His voice dropped an octave. “You are more than that to me. I just want you to be safe.”

He wanted me safe, but he had let someone put poison in my hand every morning.

“I need to sleep,” I lied. “I feel dizzy.”

I ended the call before he could respond. I dropped the phone onto the thin blanket. I wiped the tears away with the back of my hand, but they kept coming. They were hot and fast. My mom stood by the bed, her hand hovering over my shoulder, but I couldn’t look at her. Everything was falling apart, and I was trapped in a bed while the world decided if I was allowed to be a mother or just a survivor.

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