Reaper's Fall

The sticks pointed toward me accusingly.

Okay, in my case apparently the odds were 100 percent.

“Hey, you almost done in there?” Jess shouted through the door. “I have a test this morning—I need to get showered. Not much time left.”

I ignored her because I didn’t care about her test. I didn’t care about school or friendship or anything, because I was pregnant and it was real and there wasn’t a damned thing I could do about it . . . except I could. I could just make this problem go away.

Nobody ever had to know.

It could be my little secret, just a quick visit to the doctor and poof! Problem solved. Running a hand over my stomach, I tried to picture a baby inside. I couldn’t feel it yet, but there was definitely a little more pooch around my tummy lately. I had a kid in there. For real. An actual, live baby inside me.

In that instant, I knew that I absolutely couldn’t kill it.

No fucking way.

“Open the door, Mel!” Jess called again.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the tub, trying to wrap my head around the situation. Okay, so I was going to have a baby. Counting down the months, I figured out that it would come this summer, after the semester finished. That was something . . . The door rattled again.

“Mel, if you don’t say something right now I’m breaking in,” Jessica told me, sounding worried.

“Don’t be silly,” I replied mildly. This was all so unreal . . . “There’s a skeleton key on top of the ledge over the door. That should work.”

I heard more rattling noises, then the door was opening and Jessica walked inside. She looked down at me, frowning.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Sitting on the bathroom floor.”

“Um, Mel?”

“Yeah?”

She knelt down slowly in front of me, picking up one of the sticks.

“Is this what I think it is?” she asked, her voice a whisper.

“That depends on what you think it is,” I told her, feeling distant and detached. Was I in shock? I must’ve been in shock. Fascinating.

“It looks like two positive pregnancy tests.”

“Oh yeah. Then it’s definitely what you thought it was.”

“And these are yours?” she asked carefully, looking at me like I was a very fragile glass that might shatter at any minute. I sighed, then turned my head to meet her eyes.

“They’re mine,” I whispered, feeling tears start to run down my face. “Shit, Jessica. How could I be so stupid? I know better. I’m smarter than this.”

Scooting over close to me, she pulled me into her arms, running a hand over my hair. “Oh, Mellie. We’ll get through this—I promise. We’ll get through it together . . . Whatever you decide to do.”

“I’m not killing it,” I said quickly. “I don’t want to kill it.”

“Then you won’t kill it,” she told me, her voice firm. “And if someone has a problem, you can send them to me. I’m the crazy one, remember? I’ll just cut them—problem solved.”

Then she crossed her eyes and stuck her tongue out at me.

Suddenly I felt better.

This was scary—terrifying—but I didn’t have to do it alone. Jessica was here, and despite her crazy, flaky ways, there was one thing she never flaked out on. Kids. She loved those kiddos at the community center, put her heart and soul into teaching and mentoring them.

If I had Jess to help me, I’d be okay.

“I’m headed over to the jail today,” I said quietly. “Do you think I should tell him now?”

Jessica frowned.

“Do you have any idea how he’s going to react?”

“None. We’ve never talked about kids or anything.”

“Well, maybe you can feel him out today,” she said. “Get a sense for where he stands on the subject. If the moment’s right, tell him. Otherwise just wait until you’re ready. I know this probably feels like the end of the world, but you have months and months to figure things out. You don’t have to do it all today.”

She was right.

“Thanks, Jess.”

“No worries,” she replied, tucking in close to me. “You know, I always pictured this conversation going the other way.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’d always assumed I’d be the one who accidentally got knocked up,” she said with a laugh. “Although I’m glad it’s you. I’m not ready to go through pregnancy and birth and all that shit.”

“How do you always manage to say exactly the right thing and exactly the wrong thing, all at the same time?”

“Just a gift, I guess. Everyone has their talents.”

• • •

No matter how many times I went to see Painter at the county jail, I never got used to being searched—made me feel dirty. Like there was something wrong with me, because I was visiting someone inside that place where decent people shouldn’t go.

In the weeks since he’d been locked up, I knew the club was working to figure out what the hell had happened with his parole officer. If they had the full story, nobody was telling. Officially he was still on administrative leave, although I’d heard rumors that they might be pressing charges against him.

I just hoped Painter wouldn’t get caught up in it.

On the bright side, today was my last visit out here—they’d be releasing him tomorrow. According to Reese, none of this was normal and I shouldn’t worry about Painter.

Of course, he wasn’t the pregnant one.