Page 74 of Body Tox

Alex loved to push my boundaries, torturing me in all the ways he could think of, but never once did I scream. He could take everything from me…but my voice.

Cali stopped wiping me down and swallowed, looking away.

I laced my fingers in her springy black hair, bringing her lips to mine.

“What is it, Cal?” I asked, concern written in my eyes.

“Eira...” I swallowed. The fear of hearing my true name on her lips meant something was wrong.

“Yes?” I said, desperate to know what she feared saying to me.

“You haven’t had a period for a few months,” she said softly, and my brain slowly clicked.

“I had a sample of your blood tested for HCG...You need to know the results.”

Two pink lines stared back at me on a white strip.

Bright and solid.

True, overwhelming agony overtook me.

I screamed. The sound was raspy and broken. Cali caught me in her arms, holding me as I cried harder than I had ever thought possible.

This monster…he…

“No,” I said, shaking my head on her shoulder. Her warm, sage-filled scent gave me an anchor to keep me from drowning.

“I can’t. No.” I repeated my denials over and over. Cali was there to hold me, to soothe me.

“Eira,” she said through her own tears. “We can raise this baby together. We can leave this fucking gilded cage and raise your child with the purity and kindness you have in your heart.”

I stared into her chocolate eyes, her words confusing yet so hopeful.

“I know you want to escape, Coco,” she said, determination, a hard edge to her beautiful features.

“I will get you free,” she promised. “We will get you out of here, away from him, and when you can breathe…then make your decision about the baby.”

I couldn’t even speak.

Baby…

“But we can do it, Coco,” she said, smiling sadly. “You lost your mother so soon. You can be the mother you remember, and I’ll be there. I love you.”

I loved her, too. I knew there was truth to her words. I just couldn’t comprehend what was going on.

Free? I could escape?

“Meet me at that old arcade. We can get a bus and get the fuck out of this miserable shit town.”

“But what about your father?”

She snorted.

“My father? The one forcing me to be a doctor like him when I can’t even do basic math or tell your tongue from your spleen?”

I bit my lip, her father was an overbearing douchebag, and her mother ran off before she could even talk. She pretty much lived at my house, and my father was too stupid to be able to differentiate her from the servants.

“Cali. This is crazy. It’s dangerous,” I said, holding my stomach. The knowledge there was…life there was trippy.

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