AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She whips around. “What? Now you don’t want me to talk? You’re the one’s been telling me to come clean for days!”
Tripp’s blinks over at me.
“Do it onyourterms, Allie.”
“Oh, these are my terms. I am sick of all this.” The set of her face is ominous.
At some point, Avery slipped onto the scene, lip caught between her teeth. She knows Annalise’s secret, I see it in her eyes.
“If you must know,brother,I spent all last week in the hospital with an infection, and I nearly died. I had—”
She’s having second thoughts, but…
“I had a miscarriage, Tripp. I was pregnant, and I had a miscarriage. Got it?Preg-nant.” Her voice begins to wobble. “But the miscarriage didn’t go right, so I got sick. I got sick and nearly died.” She slams her arms over her chest and stares down her brother. “Happy now?”
I almost—almost—feel sorry for Tripp. If I were in his shoes, if this were one of my little sisters leveling me with her truth…well, I confess I’m overjoyed I’m not in his shoes. Not that the present circumstance is all that much better.
His jaw sags, moving soundlessly. “Pregnant? Wait…” I watch it fully register, and then, “What on earth were you thinking!”
Don’t go there, bro…
She points a finger in his face. “Don’t you dare be throwing your judgment around at me, Mr. OG Bad Boy!”
He scowls. “I’m not judging, but…pregnant?” There’s a moment of dead air and then, “Well I want to know who in the—” He freezes. Slowly, he turns…
And there it is.
Annalise smacks his bicep “Don’t be an idiot. Marco and I met less than two weeks ago. And while we’re on that subject, you should be thanking Marco, not attacking him. He saved my life. If it weren’t for him, I’d be dead."
Tripp’s glare is microscopically less toxic.
“Shouldn’t we be worrying about getting Annalise to the hospital?” I cut in.
Avery steps into the melee. “Marco’s right.”
Tripp takes both of his sister’s hands. “You really think the infection’s come back?”
Eyes welling, she nods. “I feel miserable.”
“We can take my truck.” I’m behind the wheel already. How’s that for efficiency?
Tripp squeezes her hands while tossing me a look rife with accusation, not gratitude. “No. I’m driving. But I need to throw on a shirt first.”
While the fiancés go for shoes and purses, Annalise, face wet with fresh tears, lays her hands on my open window. “You’ll come, right?”
I press my palm across the warm, soft skin. “Not so sure I’m welcome this go-round, Allie.”
“Forget Tripp. I…I need you, Marco.”
And there’s not a chance in…the bad place…I can walk away when Allie looks at me like that.
CHAPTER 34
Marco
So much for being a hero. The scowl I got when Tripp watched me climb into the back of his truck was nothing compared to the death glare he fired off when his little sister curled into my side, practically wrapping herself around me during the five-minute drive to the university’s medical center. But no way was I shoving her aside. For some crazy reason, it’s me she wants right now. I can’t stay long, but I will be here until we know the facts—and Tripp can just deal with it.
I help Allie from the truck, and she clings to me as I walk with her into the blaring lights of the emergency room. Her fear, not to mention my contemplation of worst-case scenarios, ties my gut into a knot Houdini couldn’t undo.
