Sweat beads along my forehead, and I lick my lips, “I’m late.” I whisper aggressively. There’s no point in lying to her. She doesn’t fall for that anyway. She would just continue to question and harass until I gave up.
“How late?” Her eyes wide as saucers.
“Umm…” My face pinches, “Four weeks?” I squeak.
She grabs my hand, pulling me out of the bedroom and immediately into her room. “Where are we going?”
“You are taking a test!” she hisses like she’s pissed at me.
“And you just so happen to have one on standby?”
She yanks me into her bathroom, slamming the door shut and clicking the lock. She pulls open the drawer under her sink and retrieves a pink and white box. “Here. Take it.”
“You’re gonna watch?”
“We all have the same shit,” She waves her hand at me. “Pee on it for five seconds and let it set for three minutes.”
When I’m done, I slide the test back inside the white aluminum wrapper and place it on the counter. This will be the longest three minutes of my life. I set the timer on my phone and step back to wait. Jessie sits on the edge of the clawfoot tub, so I join her. We both stare blankly at the test on the counter.
What if it’s positive?No shit, Kelsey. It’s going to be positive.What will Jessie say? Scratch that, what will Ryder say? I can’t blame him if he chooses to leave. Well, I guess I would have to leave. At least after the house is officially sold and finalized, I’ll have money to find my own place. Thankfully, I graduate in two short months also.
The timer on my phone beeps, and my heart starts palpitating. Jessie looks at me, and I look at her. Fear written all over my face, “I don’t think I can look.”
She places her hands over mine, “Want me to check first?”
I nod silently, and she stands, walking over to the test and sliding it out of the wrapper. I watch her face as she takes in a deep, steadying breath. Her face flushes, and I see tears well in the corner of her eye. I take a deep breath of my own and ask, “Well?”
She swallows, and her watery gaze meets mine. She doesn’t answer, but she nods twice. Now it’s my eyes that are tearing up. I cup my mouth with my hand, muffling the sob. Jessie drops the test on the counter and comes to wrap her arms around my shoulders. “It’s going to be okay,” She sniffs.
Ryder
Where the hell are they? I’ve texted and called both girls’ phones and haven’t gotten an answer. I press Jessie’s name again and hit call, just as the garage door opens and they both step out. Jessie locks the door behind them.
Kelsey’s face is red, her eyes puffy like she’s been crying. She slides into the passenger seat, and Jessie takes the back, leaning forward and sticking her head between the seats. “Everything okay?”
She sniffs, “Yeah?—”
“She’s just emotional about the house selling,” Jessie interrupts, and Kelsey nods, glancing at Jessie with a sad smile.
Something feels off about it, but I knew the emotions from selling her childhood home would hit her sooner or later. So I guess it could be that. I told her there was no rush to sell it, that I would pay the bills until she was ready, but she insisted it needed to be done. She wants to be able to put it all behind her and move on. To heal, and I respect that. Kelsey is the strongest woman I know, and one day, maybe I’ll get to call her my wife.
I never wanted to grow a family, but something about Kelsey gives me that itch. As if she were created just for me. My heart beats harder when she’s with me, like there’s a reason for it to beat.
I put the Noire in reverse and take off down the road tothe bank. Kelsey turns the volume down, muting the song “Kryptonite” by Jeris Johnson. “Did Lilith say anything to you this morning?”
“About?”
I see Kelsey shrug out of the corner of my eye, “I don’t know. Anything?”
I try to think back on what all might have been said, but it wasn’t much besides Lilith threatening that we’ll all be killed oncehefinds out. But the “he”is still in question. Everybody has somebody higher than them. I used to think I was at the top of the food chain, turns out I was wrong.
“No,” It’s not really a lie, but why give her something to worry about? I won’t let anyone come after her, and I hope I’ve proven that to her by now. “She was just pissed off.”
I park the Noire in the back of the bank and choose to take the back entrance. I unset the alarm, and we walk inside, taking a right at the end of the hall to the staircase to the cellar.
“Are you going to kill her?” Kelsey asks from behind me.
The wooden steps creak under our weight. “Yes,” Jessie hisses. “She wants you dead, Kels.”
