Page 102 of With Spite

He went, looking pissed as hell that he was leaving.

No one followed Shaw and me outside.

When we got to the front porch, he had his hands in his hair and he looked wrecked. “I don’t…”

“Shaw, Katana has terminal cancer.”

He whipped his head around. “What?”

“Terminal cancer.” I paused. “Well, kind of.”

“What the hell do you mean kind of?” he barked.

I didn’t flinch at the intensity in his tone.

“Katana has breast cancer. But she doesn’t want to do treatments,” I said. “And she’s a few months pregnant. I guess, with your child.”

His eyes closed. “You’ll have to talk to her more about it. But you can come sit down and listen to what we have to say. And maybe you’ll get some insight.”

“She won’t talk with me there,” he grumbled.

“Then sit in the living room and act like you’re not here,” I said. “Listen. Learn. Then help us break through her hard head.”

He looked sick to his stomach, but followed me back inside.

He took the seat closest to the kitchen that would allow him to hear but not be seen.

I headed back into the kitchen.

“Is he…” Katana started.

“Gone?” I nodded.

She blew out a relieved breath. “I always was going to tell him. I just…I’m scared.”

Of course she was.

“Katana,” Heidi said. “We all just saw what happened. Why would you let him go?”

She covered her face with her hands. “He doesn’t deserve to have to deal with me.”

“Doesn’t deserve?” Hux asked. “How about you let the grown man choose the course of his life. If he was willing to marry you and have your babies, then he’s going to stick by you through this time of your life.”

“But I’m dying,” Katana countered. “Why would I put him through that? It’s best to just let him go than make him have to go through that.”

Since I was the closest to the living room, I heard the creak of the couch behind me.

No one else did, though.

Thankfully.

“You’re dying by choice,” Romina said softly. “You’re only in stage two. That’s very beatable, Katana.”

“I’m pregnant. I have cancer. And I don’t want to go through what my mother went through.”

“You don’t fight this, and you might not make it to the end of your pregnancy,” I pointed out. “You could die before your baby is able to live outside of your body.”

Silence.