CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
ONE WEEK LATER
Martha was on a day shift at Noah's. It wasn't very busy; only a few people sitting at a table. But she was sure that as soon as it hit three o'clock, all the school kids would come swarming. Thank god she was finishing before then. Plus, Tasha and Robbie had just arrived back from their honeymoon, and Martha was looking forward to seeing them.
Over the last week Martha had kept herself pretty busy. She was willing to do anything and everything; as long as it kept her mind off Jack. But of course that had been pretty hard; everytime she turned around, he seemed to be there. But it was okay. They'd talked about the baby a little, and they seemed to be getting on quite well. No fights as of yet.
But the one thing she had noticed, was that he was constantly teasing her. It wasn't the normal teasing; it was more of a sexual teasing. She knew he was doing it on purpose. He was trying to break her, but she wasn't going to give into his advances. She had enough power to resist him; but the question was, did she want too?
"Get your mind out of the gutter women," she muttered to herself, as she went about the task of cutting up strawberries. Martha was in such deep thought that she hadn't even realised that someone had snuck up behind her.
"Nice strawberries," they whispered in her ear.
Martha got such a fright that she jumped. And in the process knocked over the bowl of strawberries; scattering them across the counter. She knew straight away who it was.
"Friggin jerk," she shot out, as she spun around to face the culprit.
Jack just stood there with an innocent look on his face. "What?" he said.
"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Martha snapped at him.
"Of course not," he laughed.
Martha huffed and turned back around to continue with her job.
"What are you doin?" Jack asked her.
"Giving you the time of day," Martha sighed. Jack just laughed.
"So what were you thinking about before? You looked like you were in a deep thought. Must have been important if you didn't even notice me coming up behind you," Jack said to her, as he sat on a stool opposite her.
"Oh, it was nothing," Martha told him. She wasn't about to admit that she was thinking about him.
"So you were thinking about me then?" Jack smirked, as he leant across the bar towards her.
"Don't flatter yourself," Martha scoffed at him.
"I wasn't," Jack laughed. "I was just stating the obvious".
"The obvious?" Martha smiled across at him.
"Yeah. You still want me, and you're not going to be able to resist me for much longer," Jack teased her. "So lets just hook back up now. Save all the hassle," he continued.
Martha laughed at him, and this time, she was the one who leant across the bar towards him. She kept leaning until there was only a few inches between their faces. "Not if you were the last man on earth," she whispered to him.
Martha was so close to him, that she could feel his soft breath on her cheek. And she knew he was about to kiss her, so she did the first thing that came to mind.
"Strawberry?" she smirked, as she brought one up to his lips. She heard him groan as he moved away; snatching the fruit from her hands and shoving it into his mouth. "Tease," she heard him mutter under his breath.
She couldn't help but laugh at him; she knew she had won this round.
"Martha," she heard a voice call. She looked up and saw Beth approaching the bar.
"Hey Beth," Martha smiled.
"You can go now sweet," Beth told her.
"Are you sure?" Martha asked.
"Yeah, of course. And plus, Tasha's eager to see you," Beth reassured her.
"Okay, thanks," Martha grabbed her bag from under the counter. She made her way to the door, but Jack stopped her before she left.
"You know, pay back can be a bitch," he smiled at her.
"Yeah, I know," Martha nodded. "But in the mean time, I have a suggestion for you," she smiled sweetly at him.
"What's that?" he moved closer towards her.
"Go home and have a cold shower Jack," Martha roved her eyes down his body. "I think you need it".
And with that, Martha gave him one last smirk before walking off. Jack heard a soft laugh come from behind him. He spun around and found Beth trying to control her laughter.
"It's not funny," Jack said to her and walked off; definitely in need of that cold shower.
Martha was on her way to the diner with Tasha, Robbie, Lucas and Matilda, when she spotted Megan. She was sitting at a table outside the diner.
"Oh, joy to the world," Martha muttered.
"Don't let her get to you," Lucas said. "She's not worth it".
"Hey everyone," Megan stood up when they approached her.
"When did you get back?" Lucas asked her.
"This morning. And guess what? I'm staying for good," Megan smiled.
Oh hell no, Martha thought to herself.
"I'm sorry. What?" Lucas questioned in disbelief.
Megan laughed. "Yeah, I decided to move to Summer Bay. I wanted Grace to be closer to Jack," she began. "I'm renting one of the apartments in that new unit block down the road," she told them.
"Is it on 'who cares' avenue?" Matilda snarked.
"Excuse me," Megan glared at Matilda.
"You heard what I said," Matilda smiled sweetly.
Megan just shook her head and ignored her. "Jack's just gone inside to grab us a coffee, he should be back soon. Why don't you all sit down," she suggested.
"How bout no," Matilda exclaimed.
"What is your problem?" Megan glared again.
"You are," Matilda scoffed.
"Listen sweetie. You might still be in high school, but I'm not," Megan started. "So why don't you take your childish behaviour back to the playground," she finished.
"Don't talk to her like that," Martha finally snapped.
"Oh, so she speaks," Megan snapped her gaze onto Martha.
"Do you have a problem with that?" Martha asked.
"No, of course not," Megan said. "By the way, you look well. Pregnancy obviously agrees with you," she smirked.
"So nice of you to say," Martha said sarcastically.
"But you know what's stumped me? Why you and Jack aren't back together. Yeah, he told me that you're not together any more," Megan continued to smirk. "Ah well, more Jack for me".
Martha could feel her temper starting to flare. If this girl didn't shut up soon, Martha wouldn't be held accountable for her actions. Tasha and Robbie must have noticed that she had gotten tense, because they had both all of a sudden moved closer to her and were grabbing for her arm.
"So, why haven't you and Jack gotten back together?" Megan wanted to know. "There could be a couple reasons, I guess. One; you're just not attracted to him anymore. Two; maybe he doesn't want you anymore, or three; hey, maybe Jack isn't the father of your baby," Megan stated.
That was it. Martha was not going to stand around and let her her say things like that.
"You bitch," Martha lunged at her.
"Hey hey, calm down," Robbie grabbed Martha and had to hold her back.
"Did you just hear what she said? She said Jack wasn't the father of my baby. How the bloody hell would she know?" Martha yelled, trying to get away from Robbie.
"Martha, you need to calm down. Think of the baby. You, getting into a fight right now, isn't healthy for the baby," Robbie tried to calm her.
"What the hell is going on?" a voice roared. Martha stopped struggling and looked up. Jack was running towards them.
"She's crazy. She just tried to attack me," Megan exclaimed.
"Maybe you should keep your own opinions to yourself next time," Martha yelled at her.
"See, she's nuts," Megan told Jack.
"Let go of me Robbie. I'm out of here," Martha pulled herself out of Robbie's grasp. She turned towards the diner and stormed off towards the flat.
Once she got upstairs she slammed the door. Only to have Jack burst through a few moments later. "What just happened down there?" he asked.
"Why don't you go and ask your stupid girlfriend," Martha shot out at him.
"How many more times do I have to tell you? She's not my girlfriend, he said.
"What have you been saying to her about us? She's been back in town for all of five minutes, and she already seems to know what's happening in our personal life," Martha snapped.
"What are you talking about?" Jack was confused.
"She was down there raving on about why you and I aren't together. Have you told her that you don't think you're the father of my baby?" Martha started to cry.
"What? Of course not. Why would I say something like that," Jack replied. "I know I'm the father, and I know that you would never betray me in that way. Look, if Megan said that, she was probably just trying to upset you," he finished.
"I think you should go. I'm too angry to talk right now," Martha told him.
"I don't think that's such a good idea. Your upset, I don't want to leave you alone," Jack insisted.
Martha groaned. "I swear to god Jack, if you don't get out of here, I will punch you," she snapped.
"Alright, I'll go. But I'm coming back later when you've calmed down a bit," Jack told her.
"Whatever," Martha fobbed him off.
She waited until Jack left, and then finally fell onto the couch in tears.
Martha was sitting on the couch, in the dark drinking a hot chocolate, when there was a knock on the door. She stood up and quickly moved to the door and opened it. It was Jack. Damn, she forgot that he was going to come back. She moved away from the door and went and sat back on the couch.
Jack closed the door behind him and walked over towards her. "How are you feeling?" he sat down next to her and flicked on a lamp, so he could see.
"Peachy," she said sarcastically. "According to Megan, you're not the father of my baby. Oh, and to top it all off; she's moved here," Martha continued.
"I was as shocked as you were when she told me that she was moving here. And I told you earlier, I know i'm the father, so stop beating yourself up about it. Megan said it because she knew it would upset you," Jack told her.
"Yeah, I know. But it really hurt," Martha said softly. "I would never cheat on you, and the fact that someone would even suggest that makes me sick to the stomach. See, I told you she would do anything to keep us apart," she exclaimed.
"I know that you would never do anything like that to me, okay. And just forget about Megan. Stressing about her all the time is not healthy for you or the baby," Jack said. He picked up Martha's hand and gently caressed it with his own. He then reached out his other hand and softly ran his fingers across her cheek.
Martha closed her eyes; his touch made her feel so calm. When she opened her eyes again, Jack was watching her intently. Martha couldn't help but smirk at him.
"Just because I'm letting you touch me and look at me like that, doesn't mean you're gonna get in my pants," she smiled.
"Trust you to ruin a nice moment," Jack laughed at her. "And because of that, I might keep this for myself," he said as he pulled a cherry ripe bar from out of his pocket.
"You wouldn't dare," Martha glared at him.
"I would," Jack smirked.
"Aww Jack come on. You'd actually let your child go without," Martha pouted, as she rubbed her stomach.
"Here's the deal. I'll give you the cherry ripe, if you give me one kiss," Jack tried to bargain.
"One kiss? Alright," Martha agreed. "But you have to hand it over first," she held her hand out.
"Okay," Jack handed it over reluctantly. "Now, pay up," he smiled as soon as Martha had the chocolate in her hand.
Martha smiled back at him. But then she moved forward quickly and grabbed his face; kissing him quickly on the cheek. "There ya go," she giggled.
"Hey, no fair," Jack growled. "I meant a real kiss. And I seriously thought you were going to give me one too," he sighed. "I gave up that cherry ripe for nothing," he sooked.
"It wasn't for nothing. It was for the baby," Martha patted his hand.
"Ah well, lucky I brought two then," Jack pulled another from his pocket.
NEXT CHAPTER: Martha gets a surprise.
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