Page 95 of Tell Me You Love Me

“Don’t go,” she whimpers. “Please.”

“I know theI’ll be with you foreverthing was said in panic. But maybe we could try it out when I get back.”

“Tommy…”

“Lie to me, Lana.” I lean in and feather a kiss to her cheek. “Say the words.”

“Idon’tlove you.” Her eyes glisten with fat, unshed tears. “That’s my lie. Idon’twant to spend the rest of my life with you, and I’mnotcarrying your baby right now.”

My heart gives a heavy knock, bruising my chest and stealing my breath as my eyes drop to her hand gently laid over her flat belly.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about this afternoon,”she chokes out. “Now, I’m terrified that if you go, I’ll only ever get to see you through three-inch plexiglass. Is that what you want for us?”

“M-my baby?” My pulse skitters faster and faster, dizzying enough to make me reconsider everything. “You’re pregnant?”

“I wasn’t sure.” She swipes falling tears. “I’ve been sick and stressed and tired. I thought it was just…” She shakes her head. “The funeral and the store and all that other stuff.”

“Lana—”

“I tested this morning.”

“My baby?”

“Tommy!” Chris slams his palm to the roof of my truck. “Let’s go!”

Alana’s eyes widen with fear. “Please stay.”

“I have control over myself.” I pull her to her toes and kiss her plump lips. “I learned that from the strongest person I’ve ever known.” Finally, I release her and take a single step back. “I promise, I’m not going to prison for this. Wait here for me.” I turn on my heels and head toward my truck, dragging the keys from my pocket as Chris slides in on his side. But when a pair of hazel eyes, just like mine and my brother’s, follow me across the lawn, I make a quiet detour and stop in front of a watchful Franky.

Not just her son. Not Chris’, either.

My father’s son.

Jesus fucking Christ, he’s one of us.

“Go to your mom, okay?” I set my hand on his shoulder and exhale a shuddering, aching breath. “She needs a hug right now. A really big, really squishy, Franky hug, alright?”

He nods in the silence, glancing his mother’s way. So I look at Caroline next. “You left Darlene’s closed and came here instead?”

“What’s going on?” Her eyes flicker from me. To Alana. To Franky. To the house. To my truck. “What happened?”

“Answer the question. Is Darlene’s closed?”

“Yes, it’s?—”

“Excellent.” I spin and yank the truck door open, sliding in and slamming it shut again as I stab the key into the ignition. “I’m sorry for thinking shitty things about you.” I start the engine and drive forward, circling the chicken coop rather than reversing and risking a kid—Alana’s or Caroline’s—unintentionally being hurt. Then I peek at my brother, shame washing through my veins as we bounce and roll from grass to dirt. “I didn’t say a damn thing out loud, because Iknewyou and Lana were too fucking loyaland decent to stoop so low. The mental hoops I’ve been jumping through this week have been insane.”

Unhinged laughter sprints along my throat as I pull out of Bitsy’s driveway and onto the road. “I lost my grip on reality at least half the time. Because the similarities between you and Franky were too much. He talks like you. He walks like you. Eats like you. Argues like you. Trying to understand it hurt my heart so much, I wasn’t sure I’d survive with my sanity intact. But having her back was more important than protecting my feelings, so I was gonna put on my fuckin’ blinders and convince myself there was a valid reason for all this.”

“I didn’t sleep with your girlfriend.” He presses his hand to the dash, holding on as I speed around a tight corner and the wheels screech against the tar. “I would never. And she would never.”

“I know.” I swallow. “She was raped.”

“So, what’s the game plan?” He opens the glove compartment and takes out a fishing knife I’ve kept in there since forever.

I should make him put it back. Fuck knows I should push him out of the truck and do this myself. But rage is my only companion now, and revenge is best served ten fucking years after the fact.

“Tommy?”

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