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“You’d better be sure you don’t need anything else from him,” Kal says, voice unwavering as I work the head of the pliers between Sheldon’s top left canine.
“I don’t think I fucking care anymore.”
Kal shrugs, holding his hands up in surrender. He disappears behind me, and the smell of bleach hits my nostrils seconds later, indicating that he’s cleaning.
Sheldon sputters against me, jerking in the chair. “Hey, man, I didn’t mean anything by it—”
“I’m sick of people saying that where Caroline is concerned.” Closing the pliers around the bone, I ground my palm into the handle and begin pulling; canines and their bulbous roots make extraction tricky, but it also makes the agony in a victim’s eyes so much sweeter.
My only hope is that my mother isn’t looking down from wherever the hell the afterlife is—that she doesn’t visit me later when I’m asleep.
“I hope this hurts,” I spit into Sheldon’s face, my grip tightening and increasing in pressure. “I want you to know I’m putting that girl back together if it’s the last fucking thing I do. Her scars are not permanent; they’re erasable.Just. Like. You.”
Hiking my foot up, I suck in a deep breath and shove the sole of my loafer right into his dick. His stomach spasms, a gurgling sound ripping from the back of his throat. As I grind my shoe into him, feeling the muscles in his flaccid cock mush together, he throws his head back, assisting me in removing the tooth.
I feel the root pop out from his gum as he lets out an ear-piercing scream. Blood drips from the wound, his chest heaving, sweat pouring down his forehead.
But I don’t give him time to writhe or cry out again; tossing the pliers and tooth onto the floor, I pick up the discarded rag, ball it in my fist, and force it between his bloody lips until he gags.
Not bothering to stay and watch him seize up, I wipe my hands on my pants, turn on my heel, and leave.
Caroline
“Did you get it?”
Juliet shimmies her way into the stall, holding the grocery bag up in her hand. “Yeah, I got it, weirdo. I don’t know why this couldn’t wait ‘til we got back to your house, though.”
“This is the only place I can do it in private.”
She shrugs, untying the bag handles, and pulls out the rectangle box. “I don’t get why you’re hiding this from your husband, but whatever.”
“You should be grateful you’re even involved in this,” I snap, nerves getting the best of me. If I hadn’t already scheduled sister-bonding time with her this afternoon, she’d be out of the loop entirely.
But I can’t fucking stand the not knowing any longer. Bedrest left me with too much time to overthink and overeat. And each time Elia comes home and tries to act like a normal husband, a fresh wave of anxiety further cripples my already-battered heart.
Given the stress of the last eight weeks, being late shouldn’t be all that surprising; still, I need to know for sure. It only takes one time, after all, and even though Elia didn’t finish weeks ago, he also didn’t use a condom.
This is the first time Leo’s taken me out of the house since my night at Crimson; we picked Juliet up on the way to the mall in Stonemore, far enough away from my husband’s overprotectiveness and the gossip rags that seem to camp out in my front yard.
Juliet rolls her eyes, turning away as I hike my skirt up and pull my panties down. “Jesus, you’re gonna be a fun pregnant lady.”
I inhale through my nose, peeling the little plastic stick from its box and positioning it between my legs, trying to concentrate. When I’m done, I stick the cap back on and set the test on the metal toilet paper dispenser, double-checking the directions and then my phone to make sure I get the results right. Because there is no room for a fuck-up here. Not one like this.
Still, something deep in my soul tells me I don’t even need confirmation.
Reaching out, I grip Juliet’s shoulder and turn her toward me. She swipes at smudged eyeliner beneath her lid, eyes watery. “I can’t imagine doing this without you, Juliet. As badly as I wish I just didn’t have to. I shouldn’t have said that.”
She sniffs, shrugging my hand away. “Gross. You just peed on that and then touched me.”
I laugh, pulling a handheld sanitizer from the front pocket of my purse on the floor. I squirt some into my palm and rub my hands together, both a hygiene ritual and silent prayer.
“You know what would make me feel more appre-ciated?”
“What?”
“If you just told me what the hell is going on here. You acted like you and Elia were so in love just before you got married, and then at dinner that one night it was pretty clear how he feels about you. And here we are, hiding some pretty life-changing shit. Why the secrecy?”
I chew on my bottom lip, glancing at the pink stick. “Not everything is as it seems, Jules.”
