Page 20 of The (Maybe) Murderer Who Knocked Me Up

Jake shakes his head. “No. That can’t be right. He was on top of me. He was going to...”

I crouch down in front of Jake. “I believe you. That’s why I gotta do the time, okay? If I say I killed this guy to protect my little brother, they’ll go easy on me. I’ll be out in a couple years. No sweat.”

That’s a lie. I’ll do at least ten years for murder, and I know that. But Jake doesn’t need to yet. Lots of kids get tried as adults in the Texas court system. I can’t let him spend the rest of his life in jail, or worse.

“This isn’t your fault,” Jake says.

“It wasn’t yours, either.”

Jake shrinks in on himself, his eyes hollow. “But you’re the good one.”

“I’m not?—”

“You are. And now I’ve ruined your life. It isn’t fair.”

I take a deep breath. “This won’t ruin my life, okay? I won’t let it. But we do need to have the same story when the cops come. You called me to come get you because you were scared. You were hanging out with this guy, and he didn’t want you to leave. When I arrived, he was on top of you with the knife. I took the knife and stabbed him in the back to save you.”

I tell the story to Jake again. Then I ask him to repeat it. We go over it five more times, until he has it memorized.

When I pull out my phone to call 911, I see a new text from Quin. It’s a photo of him smiling at the camera with a loaf of bread in his hands, along with the message:Look what I made for our weekend together. My heart aches as I realize he’ll never visit me in Austin. I’ll never get to hold him in my arms again.

I guess I always knew that loving Quin was too good to be true.

10

SEQUIN

It’s several minutes before I get a response from Slade. I was hoping for a photo too, but all he sends are two words:I’m sorry.

I text him back,Sorry for what? He doesn’t respond to that at all. I wait until midnight before I give up and climb into the hammock with Tin. I don’t know what to think. Did Slade break up with me? That can’t be right. Otherwise, he would say he didn’t want to see me anymore or at least cancel our plans.

The next morning when I check my phone, there’s still no response. The breakfast table feels horribly empty with just Tin and my moms. I never thought I’d miss Link eating without his utensils to get a rise out of our moms or Coin’s snarky responses. But I do. I especially miss Silver whispering to me soft enough that no one else can hear.

I take my time eating my toast and eggs. There’s no need to rush to catch up anymore. Tin and our alpha mom eventually leave the table, leaving me alone with our omega mom. She’s eating as slowly as I am. She probably misses them, too.

“Georgina stopped by this morning,” she says.

“Really?”

I can’t remember a time when Georgina came to our house. The only time we’ve ever spoken was when I brought bread to her.

“She had some bad news. Slade was arrested last night.”

I almost choke on my toast. “What?”

“He… killed a man.”

My stomach drops. “That can’t be true. They must have the wrong person. Slade would never do something like that.”

Mom reaches across the table to grasp my hand. “He confessed, sweetie.”

I don’t know what to say to that. It doesn’t seem real. I laugh, even though I know it isn’t funny.

“Quin, it will be okay.”

I get up, leaving my plate and coffee for Mom to clean. My stomach churns, and for a moment, I almost lose my breakfast on the dining room floor. I stand there, waiting for the world to stop spinning. All I can think about is the text he sent me last night:I’m sorry.

Silver and Link tried to warn me that Slade was dangerous, but I wouldn’t listen. I wanted to believe he was good so badly.

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