Page 87 of Broken Skulls

“Sabotaging yourself again, are you?”

My arms wrap around my stomach. “He … he would make a great dad.”

His face softens, and he reaches for me. I take a step back.

“Lizzie,” he starts.

“Elizabeth,” I correct.

He runs his hands through his hair, a sign that he’s already fed up with me.

“It’s fine. I’ll be fine, but I’m going to have to let him go.”

I start walking toward the front of the warehouse, and he follows by my side. “Have you even asked him if he wants kids?”

“No.”

“Jesus, Liz. I mean, Elizabeth.”

I scowl at him out the corner of my eye.

“Just fucking tell him you can’t have kids and see what he says.”

“He’ll lie. He’ll say he doesn’t want them.”

“That’s fucking bullshit right there. That man doesn’t lie.”

“He lied about having a woman in his basement, didn’t he?”

Tank laughs. “You’re still fucking crazy, you know that?”

“Of course I do.”

I stop dead in my tracks when I see Jacob with another woman. Tank takes me by the elbow, tugging me toward the pair. The woman laughs, placing her hand on his arm. She’s younger. Prettier. Normal.

She’s normal.

Big Dan stops us. “Hey. Kelsie needs help over at the auctioneer stand,” he tells Tank.

Tank looks down at me. “You good?”

“Yeah, yeah.” I wave him away.

He pats Dan on the back. “She’s all yours.”

I blink slowly as Jacob and the woman continue to talk.

She can probably have kids.

“Are you having a good time?” Dan asks.

“Um, yeah. Um, is there a restroom inside?”

“Yeah, I’ll show you.” He waves for me to follow him.

Lily catches us on our way inside. “Hey, how is it going?” she asks.

“Good. Real good. Dan was just showing me to the restroom,” I tell her, bouncing on my toes to show her my urgency.

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