Page 68 of Shark Bait

Amen.

TWENTY-THREE

KEEP THE RING?

SHARK

The women stayed in the ultrasound room for another fifteen minutes while I sat on the steps that led down here, with my elbows resting on my knees, holding my head in my hands, unable to find the right words for Troy when she comes out.

A crying Troy will need comforting. I’d like to know what happened in there. I must know for sure before I jump to conclusions or say anything to Troy. It’s a good thing I don’t talk much and she won’t expect me to.

The door opens, and Troy steps out first, followed by Valerina, whose heels echo in the hallway. Tatiana spots me and nods, but I’ve no idea what the nod’s about.

I catch up to Troy on her way out of the hospital’s back exit. “Hey,” I say.

Her eyes are puffy. “Hey.”

“What happened in there?”

“An ultrasound.” She’s carrying square papers in her hand. They look like images.

“The ultrasound made you cry?”

“You’d cry too.”

I open the exit door for her. Alessio’s waiting at the carriage, and he offers her a hand, which she refuses. He’s in trouble, andI’m desperate for information Troy doesn’t have to give me. I wish she would because I’m having this baby with her.

She stops at the carriage and lets Valerina climb in first.

“I want to know what happened in there so I can cry with you,” I say.

She smiles. “I can’t imagine you crying.”

Me either. “I’ll let you punch me in the nose.”

Now she laughs. Her small hand reaches into my pocket again. “You got any more lollipops?”

“Sure.” I’m trying not to be a pervert, but she turns me on, and my dick hardens when her hand is near it. Troy’s too preoccupied with selecting a lollipop to notice the state of my arousal. She pulls out a candy with a white wrapper, unwraps it, and starts sucking.

“What’s the flavor?” I ask.

“Coconut.” She climbs into the carriage after Valerina, who sits across from Alessio. He’s quietly watching his sister cry.

I help Troy climb into the carriage and then sit across from her next to Alessio. Troy leans her head on Valerina’s shoulder. Valerina rests her head on Troy’s. I’m grateful Valerina is such a wonderful woman to have accepted Troy’s friendship so easily.

I wonder what Alessio would do if I leaned my head on his shoulder. I need a fucking shoulder too, because the anticipation of the news of what happened in the exam room is driving me insane.

“What happened in there?” Alessio asks, looking at Troy.

Alessio never has trouble reading the room, or the carriage, if you will. He’s well aware the women need a moment to themselves, but he wants to get to the bottom of the problem as quickly as possible and remove any bottleneck strangling the conversation. Unfortunately, sometimes his approach does more harm than good.

Since Troy is the subject of the inquiry, I tell him, “Leave it alone.”

“Valerina?” he prompts.

His sister opens her purse and takes out tissues. The women wipe their noses with them while the silent treatment reminds Alessio that Valerina is upset.

“What was your proposition?” Troy asks Alessio. “Yesterday, you had an offer for me, but then Shark said you had to run it by him first. Was it the marriage proposal? Were you going to propose for him?”

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