Page 4 of The (Maybe) Murderer Who Knocked Me Up

“I will. Happy birthday, Quin.” He turns away from me. I guess I just can’t take a hint.

Someone tugs on my arm. I turn to see Silver standing beside me, his hand on my elbow. “The bus will be here any second.”

I know he’s right, but I don’t think preventing me from being late is the only reason he came back for me. He isn’t loud and obnoxious like Link, but Silver still tries to take care of me. Sometimes that’s nice, like when I’m sick or I genuinely need help, but sometimes it feels patronizing.

“Fine,” I say. I shoot one last look at Slade before I walk away. His piercing brown eyes are fixed on me again, and for amoment, I swear they drag down my body. I swallow hard, not sure how I should react.

He looks away, muttering something to himself. I can’t hear what.

Silver takes long strides with legs much taller than mine. I have to run to catch up to him.

“Lucas said Slade is mixed up with the cartel,” Silver whispers.

“How would he know?”

Silver slows, taking a deep breath. “The cartel is scary, Quin. You know they’ve been coming after raccoon shifters for a while.”

Raccoon shifters aren’t exactly celebrated in these parts. Most shifters only bond to another shifter of the same species. We’re the opposite. Our paws don’t work on other raccoon shifters.

People aren’t thrilled when their kids show up with a raccoon shifter mate in tow. Especially because we only have raccoon shifter children. Most shifters want their grandkids to shift into the same animal they do. That’s why people don’t like to give us jobs, and historically, it’s been safer for us to stay in trailer parks rather than move into other parts of town.

It’s also the reason we’re more vulnerable to the cartel. They like to get us under their thumb, because once they have control, it’s more difficult for us to escape.

Don’t get me wrong. I love being a raccoon shifter. Even when the kids in elementary school called us mongrels or weeds, I’ve never wanted to be anything but what I am. But Silver is right. We have to be more careful. That’s just the way things are.

“What if he isn’t mixed up with the cartel?” I ask. “Lucas could be wrong.”

Silver sighs. “Or he could be right.”

We reach the entrance to our trailer park, where Link, Coin, and Tin are already boarding a yellow bus. Silver waits for me to go first. He’s done that ever since the bus accidentally left me behind in second grade because I was so small, the driver didn’t see me.

Sometimes it feels like Silver doesn’t see me either. He only sees who I was—a tiny kid, too weak to fend for myself.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with being nice to Slade,” I say, then climb the steps into the bus before he can respond.

If all of them are old enough to move away from home, I’m old enough to flirt with whoever I want.

It’s my Becoming Day too.

3

SLADE

Iwatch Quin walk away with his brothers. That boy is like sunshine with his cute little dimples that pop every time he smiles and the adorable way he shuffles back and forth when he’s nervous. He’s my exact brand of kryptonite—sweet, a little flirty, and so fucking wholesome his brothers guard his innocence like a pack of protective dogs. He even brings over bread while it’s still warm. There’s nothing in the world better than warm bread.

I need to remember that I’m only here for one more week. I can’t start something with the boy next door right before I leave.

Instead of taking the bus where Quin will inevitably try to sit by me again, I go back inside to grab the keys to Georgina’s old Buick. She’s in the kitchen in her pink fluffy robe, humming to a song on the radio while her eggs crackle on the grill. She smiles and waves at me as I walk in.

“Good morning, Sunshine,” she says.

I give her a kiss on the cheek. “Mornin’, Mom.”

That’s what she likes me to call her, even though I have two moms already. Not good moms, but they’re still mine. A few years in the foster care system doesn’t change that.

“Do you want some?” she asks.

“Nah. I ate breakfast a few hours ago. The car out front is fixed. It just needs a new set of tires, and it’s good to go.”

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