CHAPTER ONE
Calista
The pregnancy test taunted me from the edge of the single, faux marble sink.
“Come on, come on, come on,” I mumbled as I subconsciously rubbed the thin scar on my chest.
“You know you can't speed it up by talking to it,” Gina's muffled voice came through the closed bathroom door.
“Boundaries!” I huffed, gripping the sides of the basin and glaring at my haggard reflection in the streaked mirror.
Gina, my best friend and once roommate—before we realized one of us would end up in a morgue and the other in jail—chuckled sarcastically. “You only say that when you don't want to hear the truth.”
She was right. I'd never met one single person who liked to be smacked in the face with truth when they didn't want to hear it.Even with something as trivial as waiting for test results. And right now, the answer to that result was essential to my future existence.
“It's still a boundary. Mind your business.”
Her voice faded the farther she moved from the door. “I will wait for the almighty oracle to determine your fate.”
I rolled my eyes then dabbed at the darkening, puffy bags below them with a delicate pinky tip. The lighting in the small bathroom did little to help my dull, pale skin. Neither did the fading purple, blue, and aqua green hair. The sandy blond roots made it look even worse. At least if my natural color were darker, it would look cooler. Sleep, water, and vitamin D were needed. All in that order. If I didn't rest soon, I was certain I'd become a zombie. I already resembled one. Then, I needed to dye my hair a normal color and find a new job. It would have to be drugstore dye. I couldn’t afford a trip to the salon—not with being fired today.
With a frown, I opened the medicine cabinet and thought about my chaotic day. Waking up late to a furious Gina standing over me. Kaiden leaning in his doorway in his boxer briefs with a cocky smile on his face reminding me of my shortcomings as of late while I chased after her. Arguing with Gina on the way to work and lying through my teeth to appease her. The satisfying smirk on my sexist boss’ face when he fired me after my shift, all while ogling my tits.
Disgusted, I looked over the diminishing stockpile in the cabinet and snagged one of the boxes. I could find more at cheap prices off the web. Setting the Plan B on the sink next to the test, I busied myself with ordering more from my phone. The timer went off by the time I finished.
Negative.
“Yes,” I hissed and returned the over-sized box to the cabinet, thankful to not have to take another one so soon. I didn’t carehow sick they made me. I would’ve taken the entire lot of them had that little plus sign developed on the stick, regardless how many days past the recommended usage I was.
When my reflection reappeared, I scowled. “You need to be more careful, you idiot.”
I pulled the door shut behind me to block the mirror. There was nothing scarier than stumbling around half asleep at night, seeing your reflection in the dark, and thinking there’s an intruder in your home. Well, maybe there was one thing.
My rampaged bed taunted me from the corner of my eye. A chill overcame me as last night’s dream replayed in my mind. Ast—The Goblin King chased me around, reminding me of all I suffered in his land. His eyes swirled as he stalked me, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember anything else about him. Only those hypnotizing eyes. Terrifying. I shivered again, closed that door, too, and returned to the living room.
Gina sat curled up on the couch and tapped at her phone screen with a twitchy finger. I didn't say anything until she completed finding all the hidden objects before the timer ran out. It was her newest obsession and how she decompressed from work. She needed it after today. When she looked up, I knew I was safe to speak.
“Negative. Or faulty test.”
“You're surprised?” she sniffed and dropped the phone to her lap. “You get them from the dollar store for a buck.”
“They work; otherwise, they wouldn't sell them.”
“Maybe. But you can't get an accurate result five hours after sleeping with someone for a dollar.”
“It's been ten.” Days. I’ll let her think hours, but it had been ten long, grueling days of panic and disorder and nightmare after nightmare. I hadn’t had a pregnancy scare like this in a while. Every time I did, my subconscious loved to screw with me.
Gina ignored my response and took her empty cup to the kitchen. “Not like you'd ever get pregnant. It would have to be Superman's sperm to make it through the fortress you've built around your uterus.”
I wanted to laugh, but her joke struck an eternal wound in a part of me that ached to be filled someday. I didn’t get the choice to have children and live a normal life. Did I want that? If I wasn’t predestined to give them up to a sadistic demon—maybe. I’d never know if that was something I would truly want. And I couldn't even tell her because she would never understand.
“Damn right, I have.” My phone vibrated, and I opened my notifications to a private message on HookUp. There would be none tonight, but it wouldn't hurt to decide the next one. “This baby factory is out of order.”
Gina laughed and propped her hip on the back of the couch when she returned to the room. “Plans for the night?”
Lost in the image of my newest interested tryst, I shook my head and tapped on his details. Bryan. He was cute in a somber, solemn way. A picture like his usually meant one or all of a few different things. One, psycho; two, depressed/needy; three, drug addict. I learned that last one the hard way. Nothing killed a libido faster than rotting, missing teeth. I would have to request a photo of him smiling.
Her hand covered the phone and pushed it down. “You just had a scare. Get off that damn app and get your head together.”
