Page 117 of Ruby Malice

Lana shakes her head. “It’s the Garner curse. I’m just delaying the inevitable with Mitch.”

I look to Alexis, but she’s staring straight ahead at the wall. No help, as per usual. I reach around her and grip Lana’s shoulder. “Things aren’t so bad with Mitchell, are they? You have Brady and Lily. They’re amazing.”

“I got an abortion,” Lana blurts. She chews on her bottom lip and sighs. “I was pregnant last year, but I didn’t tell Mitchell. I scheduled the abortion the next day. I knew if I had another baby with him that it would be even harder to… to, I don’t know. To something.”

“To leave?” Alexis suggests quietly.

I elbow her in the side. “She’s not going to leave Mitchell.”

“You suggested it last week,” Lana reminds me. “You said if I wasn’t happy, then I should leave.”

“Yeah, and you got pissed at me about it! I’m not going to make that mistake again.”

“I didn’t get mad because you suggested it. I was mad that you could see through the facade, I guess? I don’t know.” She shrugs. “I thought I was doing a good job of hiding how shitty things are. But then you said that and I worried that maybe everyone can see it.”

There’s a long pause before Alexis leans forward. “Dustan is cheating on me,” she confesses.

Lana and I turn to her, mouths open. “Are you… are you sure?” I ask.

She nods. “Positive. I saw the two of them together. I was coming home from the gym and Dustan snuck her out the back door. She’s from his office. A college-aged temp. They slept together in our bed. I found a hair.”

“I’m so sorry, Lexi,” I breathe. “What are you going to do?”

“I already did something.” She grins. It’s part mischievous, part heartbreaking. “I slept with my boss.”

Lana slaps her arm in disbelief “You did not.”

“I did,” Alexis says. “Multiple times, actually. How do you think I got all this time off approved?”

“Are you going to leave Dustan?” I ask.

“I have no idea. Things with Anders are… complicated. He wants to keep things purely physical. So leaving Dustan for him feels like a mistake.”

“But if you aren’t happy—”

“Maybe I am happy,” she says suddenly. “I have a nice house and a retirement account. I have nice friends. And when I’m feeling stressed, I pull a late night at work and ‘work out my frustrations.’”

“Ew,” Lana laughs.

But I’m not laughing. I don’t find any of this funny.

Maybe because it hits too close to home.

“That’s working for you?” I ask. “Keeping things purely physical?”

Alexis nods. “I like him, if that’s what you’re asking. But I’d rather have him like this than not at all, you know? And maybe we’ve made monogamy out to be something it isn’t. Maybe people need more than one person to fulfill all of their needs.”

Lana slashes her hands through the air. “Don’t get all weird and culty on us, Lex.”

“I’m not. But maybe that’s how we break the Garner family curse. Instead of getting a divorce, I’ll take a little boyfriend on the side. Meaningless sex is good for the soul.”

“It really is,” I mumble.

Both of my sisters turn to me, and I realize all at once what I’ve said. My face flames, and they both know exactly what it means.

“You boinked him!” Alexis says at the same time Lana shouts, “I knew it!”

I duck my head. If there was a way to disappear, I would. “One time. And there will not be a repeat.”

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