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“I’ve already texted Shawn, and he’s on the way. I’m not a fucking amateur.”

“Of course you have,” I said, laughing for real this time. “I’ll see you soon. Oh hey,” I said quickly before I hung up. “Has anyone heard from Zach?”

“He sent a message to Crash about ten minutes ago. Damien was late, as per fucking usual, but they’re in the meeting now.”

“And everything seems to be going, okay?”

“As far as we know.”

I let out a sigh of relief. “So, things are going to be alright?”

“I told you they would, didn’t I? Go do your shopping. I’ll see you soon.”

“See you soon.”

“Soon” turned out to be two hours.

I paid for one of the storage lockers, and deposited my phone in there, laughing to myself as I pictured the look on Dante’s face when he tried to track me and realised I wasn’t moving.

Two can play these games, buddy!

I then went for a leisurely stroll, grabbing myself a hot chocolate before letting my feet lead the way.

I went into a shop, telling myself I was looking for some clothes for Bee, since she had lost so much in the fire. But that was a weak excuse, and I knew it. We had already ordered her everything she could need online, and just as I knew they would, my feet moved with a mind of their own and took me to the baby section.

I spent ages looking at tiny baby grows, bibs, little socks that seemed impossibly small.

It was hard not to imagine Dante with a son. Holding him in his arms, teaching him to walk, putting him on his first bike… My ovaries almost burst at the thought. It was enough to make me reconsider not telling him.

But then I thought of what we had been through recently, and the loss he had already suffered. If this bleeding was serious, I didn’t want to bring further unhappiness to his life.

You’re getting soft in your old age, Rachel!

What about your own happiness?

I couldn’t think like that. If this went wrong, and the baby wasn’t meant to be, I would hide my grief. Dante had enough on his plate, and I could shoulder this one thing.

For the first time in a long time, I really thought things were going to be okay. Things had been quiet lately. The Riders hadn’t shown any sign of retaliating for us murdering Callum and Macbeth; they were calling peace meetings, wanting to calm things down as much as we did. There seemed a calmness in the air, and a sense of peace.

Perhaps Dante had been right when he said that it was a minor blip, and no one really wanted to go to war.

My steps were lighter as I walked around the shops, grabbing small presents for Bee, and even a cup for Mama. Fair enough, it was a cup with the letters “unt”, and the handle shaped like a “C”, but it was the thought that counted. I’d have laughed if someone got me a cup like that.

I was just at the counter paying for makeup, when a sound came over the speaker system that had my heart climbing up my throat.

“Rachel Brooks, can you please make your way to customer service? That’s Rachel Brooks. Please make your way to customer service. You have a call waiting.”

No. He wouldn’t…

I knew he fucking would.

I hurried over to the small desk at the front of the shop where the customer service department was, apologising as I pushed past people waiting in line for their returned items to be processed.

“Hi,” I said as I approached the woman. “I’m Rachel Brooks. You said there was a phone call for me?”

She grabbed the phone and thrust it at me with all the force and hate that she would throw a bomb with.

“I don’t know who the fuck that is. He didn’t deem me important enough to give his name, but he’s an asshole. And you can tell him that.”

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