Page 6 of Please Open Me
Mason wasn’t getting pregnant again. Not if I had anything to say about it.
Not while Dale was watching all of us like a guard waiting for their prisoner to escape.
Deep down, though, this was a little disappointing for me. I wanted one more baby. Just one more. But three kids were already a lot. Four felt like a goddamn circus, even with five adults in the house—six, if you counted Mason’s alleged girlfriend who none of us had ever seen. Mason swore she had been to the house a few times, but the rest of us adults were all too busy to confirm her existence. It was complete chaos.
Beautiful, exhausting chaos.
So, no. There wasn’t going to be an heir. Not for Dale. Not for this church. Not from me.
“Are you sure?” Dale asked, leaning closer as he did. “Someone of your age should be fertile. Are you sleeping with the right woman?”
A sweet, rotten stench emanated from him. Bitter bile rose to my throat, and I swallowed it down.
I shrugged and forced myself to remain neutral. “I am fairly certain. She survived Cameron’s spawn… she should be ready for me.”
For the first time, Dale’s face contorted. His smile fell, and his eyes bore into mine in a look of skin-shaking disappointment.
“That one is rather…small. Why don’t you use the other woman in your home?”
I nearly jumped back.
“Sophia?” I laughed.
He nodded.
Blinking twice, I wondered if I should tell him the truth. Sophia had her tubes tied the second she legally could. She loved kids, and shelovedwhen Mason was pregnant, but she had absolutely no desire to give up her body for nine months.
And anyway, even though I’d slept with her in group situations, Sophia was alotof woman. Where Mason had lean muscle and hard lines, Sophia had plush surfaces and ample curves. Mason was easier to fuck in every way; she let me do what I wanted, and coached me through ways to dominate her. I could throw her around and manhandle her with ease.
Sophia, on the other hand, was dominant. And, though she’d not been silent about her desires to fuck me one-on-one… deep down, I was afraid of her. I wasn’t very experienced, and I didn’t want her to make fun of me. As shallow as it was, my manhood would never recover.
But all of that information was best kept to myself, so I stood straight and squared my shoulders.
“I’ll think about it,” I whispered. “Can we get on with the meeting?”
It was a half-hearted attempt to derail the conversation, but Dale nodded. He placed his hand on the small part of my back and guided me up the steps of the pulpit. My mind should have focused on the faithful zombies in front of me, the disciples craving my first words.
But, suddenly, Sophia’s absence this morning consumed my thoughts.
What the fuck was she doing?
Chapter 3
Sophia
I groaned as I twisted in my office chair, staring at the ceiling instead of focusing on the virtual meeting I’d been pulled into. Seriously—what had it been, three hours? This should count as cruel and unusual punishment.
My position at S.H.A.D.E. was a simple one, with little to no detective work and only minor interrogations from time to time. All I had to do was kill rogue agents when they played God—usually men.
And Ilovedkilling men.
Did that make me sexist? Should I aim for more equal-opportunity killing? Most of my executions started with a date, and honestly, it was kind of tragic that I didn’t see more women...
“Sophia—are you even listening?” my mom’s voice echoed through the speakers.
No, I wasn’t. But telling her I’d checked out because she sounded dumb wasn’t a great idea. So instead of saying that, I forced a smile.
“Mhm!” I twirled a strand of hair around my finger. “Just trying to figure a few things out.”
