Fire & Brimstone
Page 60She should have waited for the test results, she realized as she carefully stepped over Mojo, who had apparently given up trying to make it to the kitchen and had flopped down on the hallway floor to conserve his energy. She walked into the bathroom and grabbed the test. As soon as she had it in her hand she walked back to her room, sighing when Mojo forced her to wait so that he could slowly flop over onto his other side.
As she stood there, waiting for Mojo to finish the impossible, she couldn’t help but wonder how they’d ended up here. Her best friend was pregnant and she’d had absolutely no idea that she was even seeing someone, which made her realize just how selfish she’d been lately. She was so damn wrapped up in Lucifer and everything else going on in her life that she’d forgotten to make sure that her best friend was okay.
Melanie was pregnant, she thought, slowly exhaling and shaking her head in wonder, because it didn’t feel real. Shouldn’t one of them be panicking? Because this felt like a panic kind of moment, but she just couldn’t wrap her mind around it. Maybe once Melanie started puking day and night or became a crabby bitch who had to waddle everywhere it would finally sink in.
That’s probably around the time that they would both panic, because they weren’t ready for this and yes, they were in this together. Melanie was her best friend and pretty much the only family that she had. She was going to need help and even though Rebecca had absolutely no idea how to work a diaper, she was going to be right there by her side.
The small, disgruntled grunt let her know that Mojo had given up and was ready to allow her passage. After leaning over to scratch behind Mojo’s ears, she carefully stepped over him and headed back to her bedroom where she’d left Lucifer on the verge of another nervous breakdown.
Walking into the room, she gave him a reassuring smile as she raised the pregnancy test and-
“Oh, what the hell,” she said, shaking her head in disgust as she turned around and walked back out of the room. “How old are these pregnancy tests?”
“What?” Melanie asked with a frown as she came into view, holding a spoon and a tub of raw chocolate chip cookie dough.
“The pregnancy tests. How old are they?” she asked, holding up the faulty pregnancy test.
“I just bought them yesterday. Why?” Melanie asked as she took a bite of cookie dough.
“No, they’re not,” Melanie said, frowning in confusion.
“Yes, they are,” she said, because clearly the one in her hand was broken.
Reminding herself that there was still a good possibility that she wasn’t allowed to beat Melanie for the next nine months, she forced herself to take a deep, calming breath, because obviously Melanie wasn’t seeing the big picture here. “They don’t work,” she said evenly.
“Yes, they do!”
“No, they don’t!” she yelled back, getting more pissed with every passing second.
“How the hell would you know?” Melanie finally asked, realizing that they weren’t getting anywhere like this.
“Because according to this test, I’m pregnant,” she said in exasperation as she held up the white test that she was barely resisting the urge to throw against the wall.
Melanie eyes widened at that announcement while her mouth worked soundlessly for a few seconds before she finally managed a gasped, “You whore!”
*-*-*-*
“Not. Fucking. Funny,” he bit out, wondering how Rebecca had managed to resist the urge to wring her neck.
“Bitch,” Rebecca added with a glare of her own.
“Did you want me to go over this again?” Melanie offered, smiling as she pulled out another condom.
Instead of answering her, he reached over and snatched the banana out of her hand. Pulling the condom off, he tossed it aside, peeled the banana and took a big bite out of it, all while glaring at the woman that was taking too damn much pleasure in their downfall.
“So,” Melanie said brightly as she clapped her hands together, “what shall we talk about?”
They simply glared at her until she took the hint, tossed the condom back on the kitchen counter with a sigh and muttered, “Kill joys,” before she walked back to her precious couch. As he stood there beside Rebecca, staring at the kitchen cabinets, he realized that he had absolutely no idea what he was supposed to say to her.
He didn’t know if she was happy about this, scared, or pissed since she’d decided to shut down once Melanie had explained that she’d gone to the doctor yesterday morning to confirm the test results. He glanced at the clock on the stove and realized that it had been forty minutes since she’d realized that the positive reading might be correct.
“Any chance that Aidan would be willing to see me today?” Rebecca asked, sounding pissed.
So, he had his answer.
Great, the one response that he had absolutely no idea how to deal with, but at least she’d given him something to do besides standing around, trying not to panic.
“He’ll fit us in,” he assured her, tossing the banana peel in the trash.
“Good,” she said woodenly with a nod as she headed for the door. She opened the door and paused. “You coming with us?” she asked Melanie, who was now lost in the world of computer code.
“To see that annoying asshole that was obviously dropped on his head as a child?” she asked, not bothering to look up from her computer.
“That would be the one,” Rebecca said, sounding distracted while he stood there feeling like he’d been hit by a mac truck.
“Yeah, I’m good. Thanks.”
Nodding, Rebecca turned around without another word and headed out the door. Taking another deep breath, he walked after her.
“I’d better see a ring on that finger by the end of the week!” Melanie called after him.
He didn’t answer her as he closed the door behind him, because there was nothing left to say. If that test came back positive, he’d be putting the birth certificate that he’d found in her room to good use and making a trip up to New Hampshire in just a matter of hours.