Page 14 of Last Resort

At least her stomach could handle it. Thankfully it had settled since this morning. Hopefully the bug was gone for good.

The last thing she needed was the flu plus three days of one-on-one with Chance. It was going to be hard enough to keep her wits about her at full strength.

Thai food would help.

She’d just put the bags on the floor of the passenger seat when her phone rang. It was Claire, Luke’s fiancée.

“What’s going on, woman?” Maci and Claire had become good friends when Claire had needed Luke’s help a couple years ago. He and the other Patterson brothers had helped clear her name of murder.

“You have no idea how much money I would give to have seen you talk Chance Patterson into using you as bait for this stalker.”

Maci winced as she put the phone on speaker so she could drive. “I’m not using myself as bait. Chance would’ve freaked out. I’m a decoy.”

Claire chuckled. “You and Stella do look a lot alike. I still would’ve liked to have seen you talk him into it.”

“Actually, I just suggested it and played up my makeup to look a little more similar to her. The other brothers were the ones being reasonable and listening.”

“Chance is not known for his reasonableness when it comes to you.”

Maci knew Claire suspected the truth. Her friend had never asked Maci outright if she and Chance had slept together, but she’d been closer than anyone else to putting the pieces together.

“Probably the most dangerous part of this entire operation will be the next few days with Chance attempting to train me. After that, a swarm of ninjas would probably be a breeze.”

More laughter from Claire. “You be careful. And if it all starts to feel like too much, let someone know. Heck, you can let me know and I’ll make sure Luke understands. You don’t have to do anything you’re uncomfortable with.”

“I know. None of them would want that, even if using me is the best option. But I’m actually excited about it.” She pulled up to her apartment and grabbed the bags from the passenger side.

“Good.”

Maci heard some purring over the phone. “Is that my buddy Khan I hear?”

Claire’s giant Maine coon acted more like a dog than a cat, and Claire loved him to pieces.

“Yeah, he’s hanging here on the couch with me. I’ve got awful cramps and he’s my emotional support animal for the day.”

“He’s a good one to have. Okay, I’m home. I’ll talk to you later.” She disconnected the call and headed inside, hoping her own period wasn’t going to make the next few days even more difficult.

She froze in the process of setting her food on the counter.

Maci couldn’t remember the last time she’d had cramps.

Dread bubbled up in her stomach. Her period had been regular since she was thirteen, and for the first time ever, it was off.

“No, no, no,” she whispered, swiping to her period tracking app only to groan again. She’d missed not one buttwoperiods. One month she could chalk up to the stress of everything that had been going on, but two?

Two was unprecedented, and something in her gut said she was out of her depth.

Don’t freak out when you aren’t sure what’s happening. The first step is to pee on a stick.

The next thing Maci knew, she was standing in the drugstore with no idea how she’d gotten there. She threw test after test into her basket. One test wasn’t enough. It could be a false positive. That happened sometimes.

Checking out and the drive home were also blurs in her timeline. She shoved the Thai into the fridge—there was no way she was going to eat now—and dumped every test she’d bought onto the bathroom counter. She picked up a random one and opened it, shoving the rest into a very un-Maci-like pile to the side.

A quick pee and two minutes later, she was curled up with her back against the tub and the test clenched between her shaking hands.

Two lines.

“No. This cannot be happening,” she told herself. “Take another one. You have to be...” Positive. The mental pun was just terrible enough to send Maci into near-crying laughter.

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