Page 40 of Tore Up

He shook his head. “No. I will do it. Go read the book you got from the library at school today.”

“You’ve still got your homework to finish,” I argued.

He rolled his eyes. “I’ll get it done. Like I said, almost finishedin here. Please, go read your book. I know you want to. You talked about it nonstop on the bus.”

Reaching up, he turned on the water and rinsed the last dish.

“Thanks for helping me.”

He shrugged. “No big deal.”

But it was a big deal. Ares was always doing things like that. Sometimes, it felt like he was the only person in this house who liked me. Once Carina grew out of this baby stage, I was hoping she’d be my friend too.

Turning, I went back to the room I shared with Carina to read my library book.

Seventeen

Bane

I stood outside the bathroom door, waiting on Halo to finish. Linc stepped out of the office, and his eyes met mine.

“That’s enough for today,” I told him. I knew he had more he was going to tell her, but it would have to wait.

“Better to get it out there so she can move on,” he began.

“No,” I said. “No more.”

Linc looked like he was going to veto my decision, but he hesitated, then nodded. “Fine. But we are telling her the rest of it. We aren’t keeping it from her. She needs to know.”

My molars ached from the clenching I’d been doing all fucking day. Ares being strung up underground, still breathing, was making it hard for me to remain calm. The more I learned about the sick bastard, the more I wanted to slice his throat. Take him out of this world.

I nodded my head once.

Linc glanced at the closed bathroom door. “She might be betteroff at the ranch. With your mom.”

“No,” I snapped. “Mom isn’t ready for that.”

Linc cocked an eyebrow at me. “All right. Your call. We need to finish it up underground.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. I was tired of looking at the bastard strung up down there.

I heard the toilet flush, and Linc turned to leave. Relief that he was gone and we weren’t doing any more of this shit today was immediate. Stress wasn’t good for the baby. I’d read about it online. I wasn’t allowing anything to happen to all we had left of Crosby. Protecting Halo was the only way to make sure the baby was safe. I’d do whatever I fucking had to, including going against Linc, if it came down to it.

She turned off the water, and I stepped back as she opened the door. The vomiting thing was supposed to have stopped by now. I’d read that, too, but she was doing an awful lot of it. Had she mentioned that to the doctor?

Her eyes were glassy as she stared up at me.

“You said you had an ultrasound.”

She nodded.

“Don’t you get pictures of that?”

She nodded again.

I paused before asking, “Can I see them?”

The surprise in her expression shouldn’t have insulted me, but it did.

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