Page 89 of On the Double

“And you!” she shouted at Lock. “Is that a highlighter?”

He quickly capped it, shoving it behind him. “What?”

She marched over, reaching behind him, holding up the highlighter had just been using. “Do you have no respect?”

The way she was yelling at us, you would have thought we were burning books like Hitler had.

“Listen, we’re buying them. It’s no big deal,” I said, standing and walking over to her.

“No big deal.” Tears actually formed in her eyes as she watched me. “Well, I hope you’re not as careless in the bedroom as you are with these books.” She took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes. “The store is closing. You’ll need to take your purchases to the counter.”

As she marched out of the room, I widened my eyes at Lock. I wasn’t about to tell him how fucking crazy she was with the cameras watching us. I looked at the clock and cursed. “I can’t believe I spent all day here.”

“Juliette’s gonna be pissed I was gone so long,” he said, stretching as he stood.

“Why?”

He started picking up his books, grinning at me as he stacked them in a basket. “She uh…wanted me home to make her dinner.”

“Wow,” I said in a bored tone. “That’s… Why is that so important?”

“She hasn’t been feeling well lately.”

I nodded. “Did she catch a bug or something?”

“Nah, this is more…permanent.”

That was horrible. It had to be cancer or something. And she was so young. Why the fuck did he look so happy? “Man, I’m really sorry.” Iwasn’t sure how much I should ask, so I kept it at that. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

He barked out a laugh. “Nothing you would want to do.”

“Dude, I’m your friend. Hell, we’re practically family. I’d do anything for you guys. Hospital runs…doctor appointments…whatever you need.”

Surprised etched his face as he looked at me. “Are you gonna take her to her gynecologist?”

“Fuck,” I hissed. “Ovarian cancer?”

“What?” he laughed.

“It’s not fucking funny. That shit is deadly.”

He bent over, hugging his stomach as he laughed harder. What the fuck was his problem? Maybe it hadn’t really sunk in yet.

“She’s not sick like that. She’s pregnant.”

“She’s—” I paled at the thought and slumped in my seat. “It’s worse than I thought.”

He slapped me on the back as he chuckled. “Man, you should see your face. It’s not that bad. We’re happy about this. We both want a big family.”

A big family. He had no fucking clue how bad that could be. A baby. I just couldn’t believe it. Logically, I knew it could happen. Everyone around me was getting hitched and knocked up. But I had hoped that it would get out of control in this way.

“Are you okay?” Lock asked.

“No, I’m not fucking okay. What part of this is okay?” I snapped.

“You’re not having the baby. I am. Well, Juliette is. Why are you acting like this is happening to you?”

“I know it’s not,” I argued. “But…”

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