Page 58 of Endgame

All day, I had felt like death warmed up; the memories of embarrassing myself in front of Rourke and his friends eating away at me – not to mention the horrifyingly embarrassing memory of me telling him I love him that Rourke thankfully hadn’t remembered. But when Mom dropped the twin bomb earlier? Yeah, that news had made my heart fall into my butt.

Twins.

Feeling angry and sorely disappointed, I hurried to the sanctity of my bedroom, grateful for the first time that I was in Gabe’s house because that meant I actually had a room to run to.

I threw myself down on my bed and curled into the smallest ball I could.

Breathe, Mercy. Just breathe…

I didn’t want to cry over this.

I should be happy for her.

Goddamn, I really wanted to be happy for her, but it had been hard enough for me to accept one baby. Now there would be two?

This wasn’t about me. I knew that. It was about Mom and Gabe. But it infuriated me that she could be so reckless. I didn’t want any child to grow up like I did, to see what I had seen, or to endure what I had endured.

I loved my mother, but this stung. She had made a lot of mistakes when I was growing up. Some bad ones, and some downright unforgivable ones. Knowing that soon there would be two more children thrown into the mix made me feel physically repulsed.

My bedroom door opened and my eyes locked on Rourke. He was walking towards me with a troubled expression on his face.

My heart pounded in my chest at the sight of him.

What was he doing here?

Had he come to check on me?

I didn’t believe that, but my body still warmed at the sight of him.

He was here, and right now, that meant a lot to me.

More than he would ever know.

Rourke

SIX WAS CRYING WHEN I walked into her room without knocking. Surprisingly, she didn’t scream at me and tell me to get out. No, she was too busy trying to mask her emotions from me.

I looked at her, sitting on her bed, hugging her knees, and something propelled me forward. She was upset and it wasn’t my fucking problem, andstillI walked over to her bed and sat down beside her.

Dammit.

“It’s not worth crying about,” I finally muttered, unsure of what to say. I knew she was hurting, I knewwhy, but there was nothing I could do to fix it. I didn’t want her to think I cared. No, scratch that;Ididn’t want to think Icared.Fuck!

“It’s like you said,” I grumbled. “In another few months, you’ll have graduated from school and be long gone from here.” It was all she talked about with Amelia. I’d overheard them many times since she’d arrived. Six had big plans. She was getting the hell out of this town as soon as she got her cap and gown next June.

“She’s so stupid, Rourke,” she choked out bitterly. “So fuckingstupid. She thinks the whole damn world is all sunshine and flowers.” She shook her head. “She hasnoclue.”

“Accidents happen,” I offered lamely. I was just as fucking allergic to having new siblings as Six was, but I also knew what it felt like to make a mistake with a girl.

“Always toher,” Six shot back, voice laced with anger. “Always to the people aroundher.”

“Are we still talking about the pregnancy?” It didn’t sound like it. It sounded like it was about something entirely different.

“I’m just sick of it, Rourke,” Six shot back, looking down at her knees. “I’m done taking care of her.”

I knew the feeling well.

“Do you want to get out of here?” I stood up then because I had to. Sitting next to a crying girl wasn’t something I felt comfortable with. Especially when I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hold her or wring her damn neck. “We could go for a drive or something.” I needed to move… Put some space between us. Get out of this bedroom.

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