Page 96 of Ricochet
Especially if it was conceived with somebody she loved, and judging by everything she told me about Nathan, she truly did love him.
“Woman, if you don’t start talking, I—”
“I’m pregnant,” she whispered. “Holy fuck, Ophelia.” She finally looked at me. “I am pregnant.”
She started waving the stick in front of my face, and no matter how much I loved her, I didn’t want to get the remnants of her urine on me.
“Okay, okay.” I grabbed her hands. “Is that good? It’s good, right?”
I didn’t know how she would react to all of this. She seemed pretty reluctant the last time we spoke about this, but who knew, maybe she really was ready to be a mother?
I mean, she was already mothering me, asking me if I ate, if I drank enough water, did I sleep—of course I did none of those things properly.
Adulting fucking sucked, and when you were meant to be killing people for a living, having three meals per day, and drinking two liters of water took a backseat in your mind. It wasn’t really important if you had a balanced diet. What mattered was that you didn’t leave any fingerprints at the crime scene.
Now that was some important shit.
“It’s amazing,” she squealed, throwing herself in my arms. “Oh God, oh God, oh God, Ophelia. I am going to be a mom.”
Yay for her, fucking shit for me. Don’t get me wrong, I was really happy for her. But fucking hell, couldn’t all of this happen at a better time? Ah Ophelia, of course it couldn’t. This baby was happening, and you could suck it up and show some fucking emotions for a change.
“You’re going to be a mom.” I squeezed her to me. “Congratulations.”
“And you will be an aunt.”
An aunt? Oh fuck me sideways and six ways from Sunday, that kid was going to be screwed with me. I never thought about having kids, mine or anybody else’s.
Being a mother never even occurred to me, least of all being an aunt.
I guess I could suck it up and be an adult for once. I just hoped she wouldn’t think of leaving that kid with me. Because that, that would be a bloody disaster.
I was good with knives, locating arteries, torture techniques, handling a gun, but diapers, milk formula, and washing somebody’s ass, even if that somebody was a tiny human, that shit terrified me.
What the fuck was I supposed to do if it started crying, huh?
“You’re too quiet.” She looked at me skeptically. “Aren’t you happy for me?”
Here we go, the pouty face. How could I explain to my best friend that anything related to normal human interactions terrified the shit out of me?
“Of course I am.” I started walking back to the room, with her following me. “I am thrilled for you. But there are other things on my mind right now, so I am a little bit distracted.”
Yeah, other things, such as cutting Nathan’s balls off and feeding it to pigs. I wondered if he would be keen on seeing them in a meat processing machine.
“I know it isn’t the best timing.” She sat on the bed, crossing her legs. “And maybe I could’ve waited for a couple of years, but it’s my baby, Phee. It’s mine and Nathan’s baby, and I already love him or her so, so much.”
Fuck.
How was I supposed to shatter her dreams when she looked like she just won that special set of knives? Okay, scratch that. That would be me.
She looked like angels sang in her ear.
“I am really happy for you, Ava. But,” I sat on the floor, our feet touching, “you know what this means, don’t you?”
A somber expression took over her face, and I hated being the one to bring the bad news. Unfortunately, somebody had to, and if she were to stay alive, she had to face the facts.
Ava and Nathan couldn’t stay here, and I think I knew just the way for them to get away. Or well, I knew a person who could help them disappear.
“We have to get away, don’t we?”
