Page 49 of Used By the Unicorn

A wail from Sapphy and Knight’s bedroom lets us all know that’s exactly what’s happened.

I start down the stairs with Stirling at my back, his heavy hoof-falls behind me making me feel way more confident than I would otherwise about this situation.

My pulse still thuds in my throat as I approach the door. “Who’s there?”

The thudding stops.

“Hello?”

“Jade?” The voice is sickeningly familiar.

Fear disappears, replaced with disgust when I realize it’s Carston. I don’t even open the door. “Go home, Carston.”

Instead of leaving, he starts thumping the door again until Bliss is screaming and my blood is boiling.

“I said go home!”

Carston stops beating on our door long enough to press his face to the panel of glass beside it. The action pushes up his nose into a pig-like snout. “Jade? Lemme in. I gotta talk with you.”

“You know this asswipe?” Boaz sneers.

I sigh. “Unfortunately. I used to be married to him.”

I grasp the door handle and abruptly yank it open. Carston stumbles and catches himself on the frame.

Stirling steps forward until his warm body is pressed against my back. “You don’t have to deal with this, Jade. We’ve got you.”

I take my eyes from the pathetic image of my drunken ex-husband for a moment to look up at Stirling’s serious expression. “Yes, baby, I do. I need to deal with this now and draw a line under it. Or I’ll be dealing with his shit for who knows how long.”

I turn back to Carston. “What do you want?”

“I wanna talk with you. I miss you, baby.”

Stirling doesn’t say anything, but his large hand comes to rest on my shoulder as a sign of support. Then Carston’s expression changes. He finally notices the possessive way Stirling touches me. I watch the disbelief form when he takes in exactly who I’m living with.

“What the fuck, baby? You didn’t need to shack up with no monsters. I would have made sure you had a real man. You know that.”

I let all my disgust show in my face. “Carston, you never were, and never will be a real man. So you can cut that bullshit right this minute. A real man wouldn’t have left me home by myself every weekend out drinking with ‘friends’.” I make the quote sign over my head as I spit out that word. We both know the women he fucked weren’t his friends. He probably can’t evenremember their names. “And a real man sure as hell wouldn’t have saddled me with thousands in debt.”

“Aw, don’t be like that, baby.”

I raise my hand in his face. “Imma be however it takes to get you to realize that we are through. We should never have started in the first place. If I’d been smarter when I was sixteen, I’d have known that. If I’d been smarter the last time you tried this shit, I would never have let you through the door. Well guess what? I finally wised up and that’s never happening again. Now unless you’re here to tell me you’re going to pay back some of that money, you need to get off our porch and out of my life.”

Carston sways back, looking me up and down. “You’ve changed, baby.”

I stand a little straighter. “Yeah. I guess I have.” If I’ve changed since I left him, it’s for the better. I can’t go back to being that stupid little girl anymore.

His gaze drops to my belly and his eyes narrow. “You—you’re pregnant!”

I freeze.

I deliberately haven’t told him. I don’t want him involved in any way shape or form.

“Is it mine?”

I glare at him. “No.”

“It’s mine, isn’t it. I know it. Don’t fuck with me.”

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