Page 23 of Marked By The Kings

The animal inside me roars its approval. “But a baby,” I begin to say before she cuts me off.

“Would be the greatest expression of our love for one another,” she finishes for me.

This will be my undoing, but I don’t care. It’s worth it.

Sheis worth it.

17

HOLY

“Why the fuck would you nail a student?” Ghost raises a hand to stop me from responding. “No. Don’t answer that. I already know why. Because you’re stupid as fuck.”

I frown at my brother. “For starters,” I begin, but I don’t get a chance to finish.

Saint cuts me off this time with a disgusted sigh. “The God damn Principal’s daughter, no less,” he adds, pursing his lips in judgment. “As if we don’t have enough trouble with the police.”

“She isn’t an officer’s daughter,” I tell him, disgusted.

“No, because that would be worse.” Razor, half-heartedly interested in this conversation, yawns. “Could you imagine, though?” With a chuckle and a shake of his head, we can tell he’s taken something from Jackal’s backpack pharmacy. “We barely survive under them as it is. I got pulled over the other day for going thirty-six in a thirty-five. One fucking mile per hour over the speed limit,” he scoffs. “Officer made me do a whole intoxication test, too. For fuckingfunsies.”

This immediately changes the entire tone of the conversation. “He didwhat?” Saint asks with a clench of his fist. “Were you swerving or some shit?”

Razor shakes his head. “I was headed to see my girl. It was still broad daylight. Plenty of people were zipping past me, going faster than thirty-six; I’ll tell you what.”

“Fucking ridiculous,” Ghost piles on with disapproval. “Hey, can’t you talk to the Valenti boys?” He asks Saint. “Don’t they got aninwith the cops or something?”

Saint snorts in derision. “If byin, you mean Raniero is married to the Chief’s daughter, then yeah. But I don’t think father and daughter have a good relationship.”

With a roll of his eyes, Ghost throws himself back in his chair. “What a waste. If I were gonna fuck around with a police officer’s daughter, I’d pick one that was near and dear to Daddy’s heart. I got a couple of traffic tickets I need officer daddy-o to fix.”

The room breaks into laughter, including me. It’s a brief reprieve from the tension that’s been welling up in my chest for the last two days. Though I’ve seen Danielle in class, we haven’t made any plans to see each other again. We exchanged numbers on the overlook the other day, and all I’ve heard from her was an obligatory text that she made it home fine.

“Anyway,” Saint directs the conversation back to me with a smile, “Romeo here got involved with the Principal’s daughter. She can’t do shit for us except get our buddy sent to prison.”

“She’s not going to do that,” I sigh. Though if I’m being honest with myself, I don’t know exactly what Danielle is capable of.

The men in the room exchange a look with one another. I can feel the weight of the implications of their looks. There are a lot of unanswered questions about what took place between Danielle and me. Not just that night at the overlook but everything thathasn’thappened ever since. “Alright, fine,” I admit with an uncomfortable shift in my chair, “she probably won’t do that. I don’t know for sure,” I grumble.

Saint nods his head like he knew all along I was bullshitting. “Exactly,” he says with a cluck of his tongue. “You went and fucked a girl without knowing all the facts.”

I know that the guys have mixed feelings about what I did. After all, we all want to see each other happy. But when another member’s happiness interferes with daily business, it becomes a subject of gossip. If it gets back to the President, who knows what will happen next?

But I didn’t tell them all the details. I intentionally skipped a couple of items because I didn’t want them to freak out. I think I have to come clean, though. If anyone is going to help me through this, it’s my guys. “I also might not have used a condom.” Inwardly, I cringe, waiting for the deafening roar of anger.

It doesn’t come, not immediately. The room becomes so silent that you can hear a pin drop. Every eye is wide open, even Razor’s, and they stare at me like I have three heads. “She didn’t want to get Plan B, either.” If I’m going to drop a bomb, I might as well drop two.

Ghost is the first to talk, and all he says is, “Run.”

Saint thumbs at his friend. “What he said.”

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Razor asks.

I wasn’t thinking. I took her for a ride and expected a few kisses, not the girl throwing herself at me on a filthy hilltop. “It’s not that serious.” I try to downplay it, but the men won’t let me.

“Not that serious?” Saint gets up and starts pacing. That’s usually my move, but I don’t own it, I suppose. “You’re going to get that girl pregnant, Holy. Then what? How are you going to hide that? This little affair you’re having,” he gestures with his hands, “that’s all fine and dandy. You can hide that, or at least I assume you can.”

Ghost makes a grunt of dismissal. “Depends how good she can keep a secret,” he mumbles.

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