Page 26 of Haven

She grabbed my hands, squeezing them slightly. “I missed you!” she chimed. “You won’t miss me for long, though. After graduation, I’m coming home.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why? Not that I’m not stoked to have you back, but I thought you wanted to be a doctor?”

She sighed. “I did. I do. I’m homesick.” Babs’s voice rose while she was lying and her cheeks turned red. Right now she could hit a high note, and her face was three shades darker.

I furrowed my brows. “You’re lying. What’s the real reason? You know you can tell me anything.”

She huffed, falling back onto my bed and covering her face. “I’m pregnant.”

My jaw hit the floor. “Excuse me? Can you repeat that?”

She moved her hands from her face and sat back up, her hand going to her stomach. “I’m pregnant, and I don’t know who the father is. I mean, there are three guys to choose from, but yeah.”

I knew my girl had game, but goddamn. “Three?!”

“And they are all friends. Oh, and I have a girlfriend.”

Babs was pansexual. I was actually her gay awakening when we had a slumber party slash study session for the first time. She told me she had feelings for me, but I was not ready for anything remotely close to serious. A few drinks later, we quickly learned some things about each other. And that was how I kissed my best friend—and by kiss I mean we were one layer away from fourth base. Cinder interrupted us, and Babs was too embarrassed to continue. I told her we could be friends with benefits, but she didn’t want to make our friendship weird. Ever since, things have been strictly platonic. It was fully her choice, but I was her wingwoman when it came to women and sex.

She was my lifeline when I had days where I didn’t want to get out of bed. I still had my good and bad days, but before, Babs would force me out of bed, make me get dressed, and force me to go out, even if it was just to the gas station. She was number one on my hit list if I was irritated and didn’t want to be touched. Babs said she loved me and didn’t want to see me in a dark pit. It helped sometimes. Once I got my bike, I never allowed myself to stay sad for too long. When I kept my mind busy, I could forget how fucked up my brain was.

“Bitch. You mean to tell me you have three guys and a girl, and I can’t even date! I’m moving to Florida.”

Babs never showed interest in relationships, let alone being polyamorous. Get a girl away from her roots, and she could blossom into her authentic self, I guess. I was glad she finally got her nose out of a textbook and had fun.

“I would love you to come live with me. There’s also another thing.” If she told me she was having twins or she was married, I would squeal. “All of them, except for Cass, are from Crestview.”

“Do you expect me to shun you?”

“I know how your sister feels about anyone associated with Crestview.”

“Well if we’re confessing our dirty little secrets...You cannot—and I mean it on our graves—tell anyone, especially Cinder.” She nodded. “I had the hookup of my life with a woman from Crestview, and I am contemplating on seeing her again.”

She squealed like a child. “Girl! Tell me everything!”

We both dove into our shared sexual experiences since the last time we saw each other, and goddamn was I proud of my best friend. Babs was the good girl. She was sickly sweet, so much so that she made my teeth ache, but we clicked instantly. Even when I dove in and told her about my trauma. Meeting her was the greatest thing that could've happened to me.

Babs wore a tight black dress that barely covered anything, making her vibrant blue hair pop. I couldn’t believe I was going to be an aunt. My excitement could barely be contained, if it weren't for the inconvenient detail that I had to wait to tell the world since no one else knew. And of course, the father should be the first to receive the news before I went and spilled it throughout Briarwood.

Reject’s Paradise was packed. I took Babs’s hand and pulled her to the bar, ordering her a Sprite and myself a mocktail. Some people—meaning the patrons, not the Vipers—thought it was odd that I went to a bar and never drank. I hated drinking in public; alcohol scared me thanks to Mom and Jude.

I shook the memories from my mind. Tonight was about being with my best friend, not my demons.

There was always peace before the storm. And tonight the storm manifested itself in the shape of a dumbass that pushed Babs against the wall and grabbed my ass, thinking I would spread my legs and fuck him right then and there in front of God and everyone else.

“Consent goes a long way dickwad,” I growled. “Get the fuck away from me.” The rest happened in a blur. There was a searing pain that erupted from my nose, followed by Babs screaming as the asshole fired a gun before pointing it at my chest, all while blood poured down my face.

I was tired of men ruining my goddamn night.

Twenty-Three

Widow

Ihated Friday nights and how loud everything was. The clubhouse was quiet, yet Cinder insisted I come here tonight as added security. It was solely because Rory was here with her friend. I loved Cinder; I would take a bullet for her, have taken bullets for her, but I was not a babysitter. Cinder trusted me enough to watch her sister and protect her, but she didn’t trust me enough to date her. That was out the window and nonexistent now, but it was still annoying. I’d die protecting Rory regardless, but Cinder’s overprotective older sister personality got old when she wouldn’t let her live. I called her out on it several times, but she said it was her way of making sure her sister didn’t get hurt again. Cinder didn’t realize she was hurting her more by keeping her in bubble wrap.

Vesper slid me a glass of whiskey on the rocks before jumping back into the rest of the patrons. I didn’t know how she did it, but a lot of the Vipers had various hobbies outside of the club. Vesper’s happened to be bartending, music, and mechanic work. How she squeezed in murder and decomposing bodies, I’d never know.

I saw her from my corner of the bar. My phoenix was in a tight pair of leather pants that hugged her curvaceous figure, with a distressed band tank she made that left little to the imagination. Her full breasts drew every wandering eye in the room, while her soft stomach and plush thighs made my hands itch to touch her. The world spent years trying to make Rory hide, but she never bowed. She moved with unapologetic ease like the space around her adjusted itself without complaint. Rory didn’t shrink in a crowded room.