Page 119 of Deceit

There is only one reason why I’d be doing that unless I was shot up with a shit load of radiation or had Christmas tree lights shoved up my butt.

Kyson was so out of the running to go to because of how close he is to Bishop.

Marty will kill Bishop.

Wade would have Bishop assassinated.

Reagan is out of town for a wedding she is planning, and having this conversation over the phone while I pee on a stick isn’t ideal.

And Stormi, Marty’s wife, bless her sweet soul, but she’d rat me out quicker than a toupee on a windy day.

So I went to the only other person who wouldn’t judge me too harshly and who I trusted with my secret—Mills.

“His broodiness got me, I guess,” I mutter, trying to focus on peeing but can’t because I have to.

“I’m not against it,” Mills ventures, reading the back of one of my shampoo bottles. “You’d be good for him…but I don’t know about the other way around.”

Oh, buddy. Lemme tell you about how we got married.

“He has the emotional availability of a fucking rock,” I pledge.

“It just takes a while for him. I guess he got his heart pretty tore the fuck up over this blonde chick. The one we picked up at that daycare, remember?”

“Yeah.”

The bane of my existence and love life. The reason he’s not able to love me or show me any emotional outlet besides fucking me and bringing me pink flowers.

Wow, you’re a bitch. He’s trying.

“Well, I guess they dated, high school sweethearts and shit. She started snorting coke, and Bish tried to get her off it. Long story short, she wouldn’t stop for him and risked her relationship with him. I suppose he did a lot of stuff to keep her away from it. Ended up killing her rapists and—“

“What?”

Mills glances at my lavender wall. “They were high school sweethearts and—“

I wave a hand in the air. “No, I know all that, the last part.”

“Rapists. She was raped by two guys. Kyson and Bishop took care of it, of course, it got bloody. Bishop was pretty torn up about it. And it went all downhill after that.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Ky. He told me that when Bish graduated, he left her. Wanted a new life and took off for the military. Never looked back, I guess.”

“I knew he had a hard past with her, but…” Heavy guilt, the weight of an eighteen-wheeler falls on my chest. “He never spoke about the rape.”

“Would you? Bishop is a lot of things, but he’s loyal. I can’t blame him for wanting to cut ties.”

“Right.”

“Are you sure you want me in here?” Mills asks, suddenly changing the subject. ”This is weird, Em.”

“I need you to be a girlfriend right now, so…you’ve dealt with worse.”

He shrugs as I place the pregnancy test between my legs. “I’m not going to any doctor appointments with you. Bishop can do all that. Or Alexander.”

“Wow, you’re making me sound more of a whore than what I already feel.”

“Stop,” Mills groans. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

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