Page 110 of Saved

“Yeah. Don’t worry about me. You have enough on your plate.”

“Don’t be silly. What’s wrong?”

She sighed heavily. “I got my period today.”

“Oh, shit. I’m sorry.” I knew she and Shark had been trying to get pregnant for a while. I remember Macbeth had once told me she cried every time she got her period. Back when he was still pretending to be my friend and grooming me to trust him.

“I just thought something would have happened by now, you know?”

“It will,” I said, scooting my chair closer.

“But when? We’re at it like fuckingrabbitsand still, nothing. Every fucking month it breaks my heart seeing one line on those stupid tests.”

“Have you…?” I said, my words trailing off awkwardly.

“Been tested? Yeah, both of us. We’re both fine. There’s no logical reason why it hasn’t happened for us yet.”

“Itwillhappen,” I said again. “I can’t say when, but it will happen. You’re both young, you’re both healthy. And if it doesn’t happen naturally, there are treatments to help.”

“I know. And Dante has already offered to pay for IVF, but I really want to keep trying naturally.”

“And there’s nothing wrong with that. And it’s so much fun to keep trying,” I said, nudging her shoulder with my own. “Come on, if this month isn’t your month, have a drink with me. We could both do with the pick-me-up.” I said, catching Dante’s eye and putting up two of my fingers, gesturing to me and Jenna. He nodded his understanding and grabbed another glass from behind the bar.

“I shouldn’t…”

“Why? You’re not pregnant,yet.And you’re not ovulating. There’s no point denying yourself a night of fun. Stressing won’t help your chances either. Drink with me, have a dance, and maybe we’ll even call a meeting of Sin into attendance,” I said, smiling at her.

“Alright. You’ve twisted my arm,” she grinned back. “And Rachel?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

“Piss off, you old softie. Here,” I said as Dante arrived, grabbing the drink from him. “Get this down you before the waterworks start. I deal with them enough from Dante.” I grinned at him, earning myself a soft punch to the arm.

Chapter 41

Dante

I sat on the barstool, watching the party.

Bee was sitting with Vienna, turning his long hair and beard into braids as he told her a story about a fairy princess defeating a dragon. Mama and Crash were slow dancing in the corner, and Rachel and Jenna were in the process of getting more and more drunk, making it their mission to annoy everyone here.

They had called the rest of the old ladies over, and proceeded to pile them with drinks, too. They were currently messing with the snooker table, deliberately shaking the table whenever someone made their move, or shouting “miss!” down their ears as loudly as they could.

“Carry on, you’ll be bent over this table and spanked with this cue until you’re black and blue,” Hacksaw warned them all.

“Why, Hacksaw, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you were flirting with me,” Rachel said, her voice breathy.

I wanted to kill him. And her.

It didn’t matter that Hacksaw was into men. It didn’t matter that Rachel flirted with almost everyone, knowing it wound me up and she would be punished for it. It didn’t matter that I knew the logic and facts.

The fact was, I wanted to kill them both.

“Violence your thing, is it, murderer?”

“Oh, keep talking to me like that. It gives me the most amazing feeling.”

---