Instant Regret

Casey woke up with a raging headache and when she looked around, she noticed she was not at her apartment in her own room. She couldn't really remember what happened last night after Amber and her started drinking and dancing. She looked around the room, it was a typical hotel room with the white-washed walls, random pictures of scenery or flowers hanging from them, she could see a hallway from where she lay and figured that was where the bathroom was, and next to her was a gorgeous man sound asleep laying on his back with his head slightly turned away from her. She noticed that his muscular torso was bare and from the way the sheets lay across his hips, half off and half on, she figured he was naked. She peeked under the covers at herself and found that she was as well. With a start, she dropped the covers back down over her and put her hands in her face in shame. Oh God! Oh God! What did I do?? She screamed internally, letting herself have this mental break down before she quietly slipped from under the covers so as not to disturb him.

She quickly put her clothes back on and tip toed to the bathroom to make sure she could look presentable for the notorious and cliche 'walk of shame' that she was about to do. After fixing her make up and finger combing her long hair as best as she could, she went out in search of a pen and paper. She wanted to at least thank him for the night they shared, even though she could barely remember anything. Except maybe his name and how good it felt to let loose.

Once she was finished, she looked at him one last time before taking her leave and walking out of his room with her head held high.

It was around two or three when Derek finally opened his eyes. He had slept like a baby and it was all thanks to little Casey. Her warmth and of course the sex had given him a carefree sleep for the first time in a long while. When he turned to check on her, he noticed that she was gone and a little note lay on her pillow.

Thank you for last night, Derek. ~Casey

His jaw ticked with annoyance that she had left without waking him, he was normally a very light sleeper, he should've been able to jump awake at the slightest sound. He had wanted to be awake when she left so that they could at least exchange numbers so that he could attempt another amazing night from her. But I guess that was not what she wanted. Oh well, beggars can't me choosers.

He got up to take a shower to wake himself up more and to get ready for the day. He had texted Chase when he woke up to let him know to get the car ready for them to head off for the meeting with his father and the other bosses in their district tonight. He couldn't take his mind off of Casey though, no matter how hard he tried, pictures of last night flashed relentlessly through his mind, battering what was left of his soul into little pieces until he couldn't tell if there was anything left of him to care anymore or not.

Casey sighed as she stepped into her shower. She felt sore from last night, but other than that she felt amazingly free and she decided that last night was a good thing.

As she went through her morning routine, her phone chimed letting her know that she got a text. She looked at it and saw that Amber had sent her a picture of her and a sleeping man next to her. Amber didn't have the 'walk of shame' like Casey did, she had the sex gallery in her phone of all the people she had slept with so that she could keep count. Casey grinned and rolled her eyes as she got ready for work.

Chase was waiting beside the car when Derek exited the hotel with his sunglasses on and a stoic look on his face. He didn't ask his friend the questions he wanted to but he knew that Derek was somewhat off today. As they drove towards Xavier Rowan's estate for this meeting, he wondered if his friend had changed his attitude towards one night stands with random girls after being with the little brunette in the red dress last night.

Derek was quietly contemplating his choices of letting Casey go when his father looked towards him and asked for his input on how they were to settle a dispute with one of their lower level allies about an unorthodox shootout. Derek had been listening, so he spouted off the first thing that came to his mind, "Remind them who has more power. Take someone and teach him a lesson, send him back with a warning. It happens again, send a couple fingers to his boss." His father's dark eyes narrowed as if he knew what his son's actual thoughts consisted of, but he nodded his head in approval and continued with the meeting, as if he didn't really care that his son wasn't paying close attention to his words.

Derek still thought of Casey, but he tried to pay more attention to the meeting as well. He couldn't afford to get his father angry right now.

Casey threw herself into her work. After getting the promotion, which basically meant she was just a glorified assistant. She didn't want to mess anything up, so she spent the day running as many errands and fixing every mistake others above her made so as to make her shift run smoother.

She did let her mind slip every once in awhile to last night, trying to remember every detail of what happened between her and Derek. Although, her headache was long gone now, her mind was still a little fuzzy about what she had done all night. She remembered her and Amber drinking and dancing, she remembered dancing with Derek and then going home with him. She thought that was all but felt like she was missing something else. In the end, she decided not to dwell on it. Chances of her ever seeing him again were slim to none anyway.

A couple weeks later, Casey started feeling terribly nauseous and her period had been late for longer than a week. She had told Amber, who immediately suggested she take a pregnancy test, and demanded that she take it when they were together.

So, here she was, curled up in her bathtub in shock and disbelief as she looked at the test in her hands. The positive sign a vivid pink in front of her. She didn't know how this came about, she thought for sure that they had used a condom but that night was still hazy in her mind on some points. She didn't know whether she wanted to scream or cry or both.

Amber burst into the bathroom after Casey had been in there for more than ten minutes to see her friend curled up in the fetal position in the bathtub clutching the test in a white knuckled grip. "Are you--?"

Casey nodded. Amber snatched the test from her friend to look at it. The two crossed lines extremely bright shocked her almost as much as they shocked her friend. She slid down to sit next to the tub. "What are you gonna do?" She asked quietly.

Casey wasn't sure. She didn't want a child right now, not while she was by herself with barely any money or support. But she also didn't believe in abortion and she wasn't sure she could give the child up for adoption. "I'm not sure. I need to think more on it." Her voice was small, barely even a whisper. Amber nodded and grabbed Casey's hand to give it a squeeze, silently letting her know that she would be there for her every step of the way.

The gun kicked in his hand, but only made a soft clicking sound as the suppressor silenced it. The man, he had aimed at fell to the ground with a thud. Derek's face was a mask of indifference as he shifted the gun from the dead man to the one kneeling beside him with his hands up. "I'm not going to ask again," his voice was cold and even, like he didn't just take the life of a man and was probably going to take this man's life as well if he didn't get the answers he needed to bring back to his father soon. "Where is Ricardo? Who is hiding him?"

The man shook his head, "I-I don't know where he is! But I do know who last helped him! Please, please don't kill me!! I have two little girls, please!"

Derek inclined his head, his dark eyes narrowed at the man's face. He wondered if he would be begging for his life if he was in this man's place? He wondered if he would be reduced to a blubbering mess if he had children like him. He didn't entertain that thought much longer though. "Talk." He lowered the gun slightly, aiming it for the man's chest instead of his face so he could see his eyes better.

"I heard it was Louis who saw him last. He said that he helped him get some money but he didn't say where he went."

Louis was a street thief and he liked little girls, Derek wasn't fond of him in the slightest but he knew that Louis liked to boast. He might be able to make him talk and find out where Ricardo was hiding. With a nod, he turned away from the man on the floor. Catching Chase's eye, he nodded again, his second moved swiftly, slamming the butt of his gun into the man's temple to knock him out as they left so they wouldn't be followed on the off chance he would do such a stupid thing.

They had been on this job for over a week, trying to find Ricardo for his father. They hadn't been told the specifics, just to bring the man to the estate using any force necessary. Only problem was, people didn't want to talk or give Ricardo's whereabouts away, so the only thing left was to use lethal force. Derek sighed, he didn't like guns but his father had beat it into his head that guns made people do things you wanted them to do more than words or fists. And, more often than not, they were forced to use them when fights broke out between each of the mob families considering no one fought with actual honor anymore. Cold. Clean. Metal. Distanced. Just like his father, he thought with a smirk.

He let his mind wander back to Casey for the first time in a week, he wondered how she would take him if she knew what he was reduced and forced to do sometimes. Like killing a man in cold blood because he wouldn't talk. He hoped she'd never find out.

Casey had thought about it and she had decided to keep the baby. She had checked her accounts to make sure she was financially stable enough to raise a child on her own. As long as she continued to work up until the end of her pregnancy she should be fine. Amber had even told her that she was just a call away from helping her as well. She could do this. She wanted to keep it so that she could get some sort of happiness from the whole ordeal. She often wondered if she should tell Derek that she was pregnant with his baby, but decided against it. Not only had she not given him a chance to exchange numbers with her because she had left him as he slept, but also because she wouldn't know how to get ahold of him anyway.

She pulled up to the hospital parking lot for her first appointment to see exactly how far along she was. She had an approximation of three weeks herself but she also wanted to know if the baby was growing healthy and what her options on birthing were as well. Amber sat beside her for moral support, tapping her long fingernails on the side of the car anxiously. She was excited to help with the baby as much as she possibly could, she was happy for her best friend to have a baby.

Derek watched his father beat Ricardo senseless in his office with cold indifference. He hadn't been given the specifics or reasoning behind why he and Chase had to catch this man, but he knew not to question his father or it could be turned on him instead. He had learned to keep his emotions and questions in check around the man and to show that he could be just as ruthless and calculating as the old man was so he could one day take over at his father's end. He slipped his hands into his pockets and leaned against the wall lazily, although what he really wanted was to go home and finally get the much needed rest that he had been without for these last few weeks.

Chase glanced at his friend, who's eyes were glued to the floor in thought. He often wondered if he should take the chance to look for the girl he had last been with three weeks ago. Derek had been acting strange ever since she'd walked out on him as he slept. It has always been the other way around, and he wanted to know why this one woman was different and why Derek was suddenly not acting so much like himself anymore. As soon as he got the chance he would find her for his friend, just to at least make sure she was safe and unharmed for his peace of mind.