“Wasn’t decomposing?” Ruby supplies.
I shake my head.
“It was right before they moved us. I’m not sure how long ago it was, but I think it was the same day, or the day before. Time was different down there. I don’t know. But I wasn’t moved long before you found me. And she was—” She swallows her emotions. “She was shot before that.”
Something to tell Casper. It might be a coincidence, or they got wind that we were coming and were taking out liabilities. But if that was the case, why not kill Ruby or Natalie? Why just this other person? We didn’t have time to do more than see that she didn’t have a pulse before wemoved on. Maybe if we had, we could have gotten prints to find out who she was. Tell whoever was looking for her that she was found. That she had some peace finally.
“They….” Again, she takes a second to control her emotions, even closing her eyes, removing the tears that had appeared a second before. “They raped her. Not sure how many, but we heard. We heard it all. They killed her and then separated us. I think… I think we were next. If you hadn’t shown up when you did, I don’t—”
“Shhh.” I shift closer to her. “You never have to think about the what-ifs. I did show. And I always will.”
“Oh good, you’re both here,” General says, interrupting our closeness.
I glare, and he only smiles.
“Did I come at a bad time?”
“Yes.”
“No,” Peaches says at the same time and swats at me. I move down a bit so she can see him a bit more but still hold my glare.
General’s smile widens. “Ah, patient wins.”
“What’s the verdict, General. Am I going to live?” Her joke makes my heart stutter a bit at the thought. Something I won’t get over soon, I’m sure.
“Wouldn’t be here if you weren’t. I still want to keep you for a few days to get your fluids back up and make sure you put on a few more pounds before I let you go.”
“Trust me, I am willing and ready to eat. Just not Jell-O. You bring it and I’m chucking it at your head. You get me?”
He grins, as do I. “Noted.”
“There something else?” He wouldn’t be here just to say that. I know him. Not as well as my girl, but enough to know when he’s stalling.
“Yeah.” He looks at his clipboard and then back at us, resolve showing on his face as if he battled with a decision and just now made the call. “We did a full scan when you were out. We wanted to make sure there wasn’t anything in your system that we didn’t know about that could be harmful to you. We took some blood.”
“Okay.” She doesn’t seem worried but still looks at me for guidance. Something I find pride in.
“What’d you find, Doc?” No need to pussyfoot around this. I hold her hand tighter. Whatever it is, we can do this together.
“We found a higher-than-average level of hCG, or human chorionic gonadotropin.”
“English, Doc,” I grumble. Stupid doctors are always saying shit that no one understands.
“You’re pregnant.”
Chapter 41—Ruby
“Run it again,” I blurt, so quick that I feel as if I’m out a breath. Or maybe that’s just because my heart stopped pumping, and the oxygen isn’t circulating.
I can’t be pregnant. I just can’t. I had sex… what? Once?
Technically, it was like nine times.
Shut up, brain. It was once. One night. Sure, we went at it all night, but that still counts as once. Right?
“I ran it three times to be sure.” General looks at me with kind eyes. Something I’m sure he does with all his patients who receive news like this.
Like… shit. Is this good news or bad? I don’t know.
