Page 57 of Sealed in Ink

“Shut your mouth. Don’t you ever talk about her,” I growl, not into the mic, but so only he can hear.

He puts his mic down and yells over the noise of the crowd. “After I’m done with you, maybe I’ll give her a good whooping, too.”

I almost explode again. Darkness creeps in at the edges of my vision, a blackout threatening, my instincts telling me to go into pure war mode, pure destruction. I stop and practice what I’ve been doing in training: breathe slowly and use all this anger to fuel the fight.

“You think these mind games are going to help you,” I yell over at him, “but it’s just going to make it worse for you, you bastard. Before, I was going to beat you. Now, I’m going to humiliate you for ever dreaming you could say something like that about my woman and get away with it.”

I turn, walking away, promising myself that, no matter what, I’m knocking his ass out cold. I don’t care about the wrestling. I’m going to hurt him. I’m going to break him.

I walk off stage, though the conference isn’t technically over. It doesn’t matter to me now. I need to find Brad and Mary and fix this.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SIX

MARY

“Brad, wait.” I follow him into the parking lot as he bursts out of the fire escape door, angrier than I’ve ever seen him. His posture is like he’s looking for a fight. I jog after him, standing between him and the rental car. “Just wait a second.”

“Is all of that true?” Brad demands, his eyes glistening like he might cry, looking so similar to Dad that it reminds me of when he told me about the heart attack. It’s like it always circles back in families. “The baby? He’s inlovewith… Since when? The trip? When he left early?”

“Yeah,” I murmur.

“That explains the tattoo, then,” he says.

“You know about that?”

“You were wearing a tank top, and the strap slipped. You quickly covered it up. You didn’t think I’d noticed. After that, no more tank tops, but I saw it. I figured you’d tell me in your own time.”

“I’m sorry, Brad.”

“Is it true?” he asks. “Are you really pregnant?”

“Yes,” I tell him, wiping angrily at my cheeks when I feel the tears falling. I’m not allowed to cry right now. It’s not fair. Brad is such a good big brother. He always hates it when I cry. “Rust wanted to tell you right after it happened. You have to know that, but I couldn’t stand the idea of you hating me.”

“Hating you?” Brad says, then looks up when he hears people coming, spilling out of the arena. “Get in the car. We can’t hang around here. We’ll get mobbed, but get in the back and be quiet. I can’t even look at you right now.”

His words sting, but I have little choice. Crowds of people are spilling from the main entrance. If even a couple of them spot us, they’ll run over here, their cameras out, ready to get their few minutes of fame. I get into the back seat. My phone vibrates.

When I take it out, Brad says, “Is that him?”

There’s something angry and suggestive in his tone. I’ve been around Brad enough to read his tone. He’s not really asking me if it’s Rust. What he’s saying is,I don’t want to know. I need space to think. I put my phone facedown on the seat. “I don’t know. It doesn’t matter right now.”

That’s the correct answer, apparently. Brad nods with satisfaction and pulls out of the parking spot. My finger twitches for my phone, but I’ve got to have discipline here. I need to think aboutBradfor once instead of Rust and me and the future that I shouldn’t even let myself want.

Back at the hotel, Brad shuts himself in his room. He won’t even speak to or look at me. Sitting on the edge of my bed, I take outmy phone and read the three texts Rust has sent me. I’ve got two missed calls from him, too.

Where are you?

Are you with Brad?

Mary?

I bite my lip, feeling how anxious he is simply because he messaged me more than once. I want to go back and find the video from the conference when he said hefell in lovewith me. I couldn’t focus on it as I chased Brad from the arena, but I heard the wordlove.

I can’t celebrate right now. God, I’m a terrible sister.“Yes, you are.”No, the last thing I need is Mom’s voice.

He’s in his room. He won’t talk to me.

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