Authors: Miss Merikan
“Do you have wedding plans yet?” Kat,
Milk’s wife asked Tooth when Lucky finished clearing plates and started serving
up dessert. Hunter was salivating as he watched the pies, cakes, and cookies
emerge on the table. Some had been made by other guests, but it was still
amazing to Hunter that two guys could pull off such a feast.
Tooth scratched his head. “We want to get
married when it’s a bit hotter and then ride to California for our honeymoon.
Lucky’s really excited.”
“I’ve always wanted to go,” Lucky said with
a smile. “Beaches, concerts, a true vacation for just me and Tooth.”
Milk snorted. “You gonna adopt next?”
Tooth grunted and glanced at Lucky with a
face that made Hunter think of
grumbling
. It looked especially silly
with the green, white, and red hat Tooth still had on.
“We’re not planning, no. Tooth won’t even
let me get another cat. If you’re wondering about prolonging the Horton
bloodline, you need to look to the other side of the table.” Lucky shook his
head and sat down next to Tooth after putting a bowl of whipped cream on the
table.
Asty shifted in her seat while all the
older members of the club chuckled, as if they all found her obvious discomfort
hilarious. Don grinned, combed back his thinning hair, and winked at her like a
sleazy uncle. “When will we hear the good news? I bet Priest can’t wait—”
“I’m pregnant,” said Asty, and the table
grew silent before a few awkward laughs erupted on the other side.
Hunter froze. His heart stopped. Even his
toes became cold. Was she joking? If she was, it was a pretty fucked-up joke to
make next to him.
Lucky frowned. “Like what? You’re getting a
baby goat?”
Asty’s fingers grabbed the edge of the
table, twisting the tablecloth. “I’m not joking. I’m pregnant,” she said a bit
more quietly as she looked around to the stunned silence.
She was serious. Now Hunter became hot all
of a sudden, burning up like a furnace fueled with a bucketful of questions.
He’d been sure she was on the pill. That was why they had been doing it bare
all this time. If she wasn’t on the pill, then what was she thinking saying
no
to condoms?
Priest turned to her with a deep frown, his
body somehow stiffer than usual. “Asty, who did you get pregnant with?”
Hunter still couldn’t wrap his mind around
this. He was going to have a baby? With Asty? Did she choose this moment to out
their relationship without consulting him? This was so not on. She was the one
who wanted to hide it in the first place. But as fucked up as this was, so be
it. He would not try to wiggle out of responsibility.
Asty cleared her throat and gathered the
tablecloth in her small fists. “This one guy I met at a Halloween party. He’s
not from Detroit,” she said in the end.
Even Milk was stunned into silence and
stared at the empty plate in front of him.
Hunter started playing with his fork. So
she didn’t want to out them. She was just fucking pregnant and didn’t even tell
him
first. What the fuck was up with that? Bile rose in his throat. The
baby had to be almost two months now. His temples pulsed so hard he couldn’t
think clearly.
And to top that, Lucky had to speak. “You
had a one-night stand two months ago, and you didn’t tell me?”
Priest punched the table so hard everyone’s
cutlery jangled. “Shut up. This is not about you.”
Asty jumped in her seat and slumped into
the backrest, looking everywhere but at Hunter.
“Let’s try to be calm about this, okay?”
proposed Tooth, who kept tugging on his beard. “Don’t you have his name? Phone
number?”
Asty shook her head. “No. He told me he’s
visiting someone for a few days. I can’t get in touch with him. And I don’t
want to look for him,” she said stiffly.
Those last words were like a stab in the
heart. So she was having his baby but considered him just a fling? What the
fuck? Hunter looked around the table, wanting to tell everyone the baby was
his. The words were on the tip of his tongue. Enough with the lies.
He looked into Asty’s eyes for a prolonged
moment, about to speak, but she pushed her heel into his foot, so he pursed his
lips and looked back at his plate. It was her choice, but it didn’t feel any
less unfair because of it.
“So …” Priest frowned. “Do you want to keep
it? It’s a bit fucking late to tell me.”
Kat cleared her throat and leaned forward.
“I know of someone good if you don’t want to.”
Hunter gripped the fork so hard his
knuckles went white, and he barely contained the need to stab someone.
Asty shook her head. “No, I want to keep
it.”
“Honey, you don’t even have a job,”
muttered Kat.
“Yes, and everything will be much harder
with a baby at such a young age. You aren’t even together with this guy,” said
Don’s wife, playing with her cutlery.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a long
time because I know it will be hard,” said Asty.
Hunter’s whole body was one big ache he
couldn’t soothe. She was thinking about getting rid of the baby, she was
pregnant, and she didn’t even tell him? She’d come out with it in public during
Christmas dessert? And he couldn’t say a word. He had to just sit there like a
fucking mouse and listen to people discussing
his
kid. Unbelievable.
“We’ll work it out,” Lucky said. “If you
want to keep it, you have family to help. It won’t be so bad.”
Priest shook his head. “Asty, you are my
daughter, but you need to really consider all your options. We will help you if
you want the baby, but you need to seriously rethink your future. I would have
rather talked to you about it in private, but if you come out with it here,
that’s my opinion.”
Asty nodded and nipped on the nail of her
thumb.
Hunter wanted to hug her and scream at her
all at once. What a clusterfuck. They needed to talk. They needed to talk fast.
Asty rushed into the bathroom upstairs and
rested against the door, hugging herself as her lungs struggled to keep down
enough air to sustain her sanity. Her eyes stung, as did her throat, and she
scooted down, clutching at her hair. Dad was so unhappy with her. If he only
knew she was doing it all for him and Lucky ... But she shouldn’t have done it
this way. She should have talked to Hunter first, not just impulsively reacted
to a stupid question at the table, but seeing him with the cats and hearing him
say he wanted kids made her hope that maybe he wouldn’t hate her for getting
pregnant after all. Now he was probably furious with her.
She swore beneath her breath when someone
pushed her along with the door, and she fell forward. Hunter peeked in with his
face pale and serious. Seeing her, he didn’t back away but slid in and locked
the door behind him.
“Is this some fucking joke?” he hissed, but
helped her up anyway.
Asty bit on the inside of her cheek and
squeezed his hand, enjoying how firm it was. He was the one thing to keep her
grounded. Her anchor in reality. “No ... I’m sorry, it just came out ... it was
sitting in my head for such a long time ...”
“How could you not tell me?” He leaned down
to look straight into her eyes.
Asty swallowed hard, feeling her throat
ache, as if she had gulped down too much icy water at once. “I thought ... I
wanted to just have fun together until it starts showing...”
Hunter took a deep breath and touched her
stomach, sending a flash of heat up her chest. “What do you mean?”
Asty looked down at his big hand and
shuddered. She didn’t think he’d want to stick around once he finds out. “You
should leave. What if Dad sees us together?”
“It’s not like he will kill me on Christmas
Day, though he does seem pretty fucking pissed off.”
Asty nodded, knowing just how badly she
didn’t want to go home now and have a more serious talk. “He is.”
“What happened, Asty? I thought you were on
the pill?” He grabbed her hands, and the world became slightly less shaky
again.
Asty looked up at him with a heavy heart.
“I got pregnant on Halloween, so we didn’t need any condoms ... later,” she
muttered. She knew he wouldn’t understand why she did what she did, and that
was making her feel almost ashamed of what had happened that night.
Hunter put his hands on her shoulders. “Let
me get this straight. You let two guys have sex with you without a condom on
purpose? What were you thinking? That some demons are gonna protect you from
pregnancy and STDs?”
Asty trembled. She hadn’t thought much
about STDs when she came up with her plan, and maybe she should have. Could
some of those diseases affect the baby? “No. I wanted to get pregnant. That was
what the ritual was all about. I wasn’t supposed to meet neither of you ever
again,” she whimpered.
Hunter squinted. “Well, tough luck. I’m
here, and I want to know all about why you decided to get pregnant with a
stranger.”
Asty clenched her teeth, not feeling
comfortable with telling him the truth. He’d try to out her to everyone. “I ...
a new baby in a family that lost so many people recently ... it’s a new start,
but I wanted to make it strong, and healthy, so I followed my mom’s footsteps
and went through with more than just getting pregnant.”
“You wanted some kind of satanic baby?”
Hunter looked more and more bewildered. “This is just not right. What if the
baby is born with no soul?” He took deep breaths, his face switching between
red and pale every now and then.
Asty frowned, taken aback. “Everyone has a
soul. And do you have something against my beliefs? Satan is taking better care
of people than God does. At least he lets us be free.”
“What are you even talking about? This is
not real stuff. What’s real is that you’re pregnant with my baby, and you won’t
even ask me if I want to come out about it. No, you’d rather make up some
bullshit one-night stand.”
Asty shivered and crossed her hands on her
chest as the blackest thoughts climbed out from the depths of her mind. “How do
you know it’s not Ray’s?” she asked quietly, looking Hunter straight in the
eye, even though she didn’t want to mention that possibility.
The moment what she said sank in and she
saw all the hurt in his eyes, she regretted having spoken out, but there was no
taking it back.
“I just do. I can feel it. We have a
connection.” Hunter swallowed, and she stopped breathing when he went down to
one knee in front of her, right there on the fucking bath rug, and he pulled
something small out of his pocket. He quickly ripped up the gift-wrap and
opened a box with a pair of onyx earrings. “I’m sorry it’s just these, I got
them for Christmas. I didn’t think—I …” He grabbed her hand. “Will you marry
me?”
Asty was falling down the rabbit hole, her
mind twisting and turning as she stared at him. This was so wrong. She was to
die. They couldn’t marry. Why would he do this? It made no sense, but looking
into the hope and worry on his handsome face, she was on the verge of taking
the earrings. But after the blunder downstairs, she needed to stick to her
reason, as difficult as this was with emotions constantly yanking her in all
possible directions since she got pregnant. He was making a mistake, and he
couldn’t see it yet.
“No ... no, Hunter, I can’t ...”
“I know it’s quick, but we will make it
work. I’m staying with the club, I’m not going anywhere. We have a
connection
.
You must see it.”
They did, and she wanted to say
yes
so bad it hurt every cell in her body, but she shook her head. “We barely met.
I don’t even know you all that well. We can’t make a step like this. You’re
panicking now, that’s all ...”
Hunter slowly got up, and once again, she
had to look up despite the high heels on her feet. “So you’d rather have this
baby on your own than with me?”
It was as if a knife pushed through Asty’s
heart. She blinked back the stinging in her eyes. “It’s not like that ... I
just never thought there would be a guy in the picture ... this is too sudden.”
Hunter closed the box and put it on the
sink. “I need to think about this. These … They’re a gift for you anyway,” he
mumbled and pushed back a few strands of hair that fell into his face.
Asty nodded and slowly sat on the edge of
the tub, twisting her locket in her hand. The earrings were so pretty. He must have
shopped around to find something that matched her style. “I know ... we both
do,” she said and slowly picked up the jewelry box.
“I can’t stay here anymore, so Merry Christmas
…” He shook his head and wouldn’t look her way as he moved to the door.
“Merry Christmas,” whispered Asty,
clutching the box in her hand. She wished everyone would just leave her alone.
She didn’t need all these emotions in her life. She should have moved somewhere
and secretly had the baby there.
But despite wanting to be alone, the moment
Hunter was gone she missed him already.
She locked the door and paced around the
small room, trying not to ruin her makeup too much as the inevitable tears
came. She was such a wreck. Everyone would hate her now. Dad and Hunter for
obvious reasons. Tooth and Lucky for ruining their party. Everyone else for the
lousy mood. Everyone would be better off without her around.
She eventually gathered all the pieces of
herself together and left the bathroom, unsure whether she was ready to face
everyone downstairs. At least it wasn’t completely quiet. The TV was on, the
kids were noisy, and Tooth was talking to Priest while the others sat at the
table and chatted. Only Lucky was in the kitchen, washing dishes in the sink
despite having a dishwasher.
Asty drifted toward him, knowing he was the
only person who wouldn’t judge her as quickly. “You need help?” she offered.
Lucky gave her a glance, and Asty dreaded
seeing the whites of his eyes reddened. “I’m fine. It calms me down.”
“Lucky ... I’m so sorry,” she whispered,
slowly leaning against him with her shoulder. “I shouldn’t have said anything
here. I ruined your party.”
“Dad’s right. It’s more important than me
and my stupid Christmas party.” He rubbed his eyes with his forearm.
“No. It’s not.” Asty put an arm around him
and hugged him as hard as she could, gagged by her own tears. “I could have
waited ‘til tomorrow ...”
“I just wanted it to be perfect, you know?
I’ve never had a home like this before, and I wanted everyone to feel welcome,
and I’m sorry I reacted the way I did. I just thought we were … closer. That
you’d tell me things like this.”
That made Asty feel bad and she shook her
head. “We are close. I just ... it’s difficult. I never had a boyfriend because
of Dad. Everyone’s afraid of dating me. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of
something that might not lead to anything.”
“I can’t do this here,” Lucky whispered
back and pulled her along the corridor to the door leading out to the garage,
and they entered the cold space that smelled of motor oil. Lucky took a deep
breath that left a cloud of steam. “I’m scared our family will break apart.
Like it’s this precious thing I try to tend to, but it’s always on the verge of
cracking. Fuck, it’s cold.” He pointed to the car and invited her into his SUV.
Inside, it was at least a tiny bit warmer and more comfortable.
Asty shuddered and embraced herself, not
knowing what to say. She and Lucky wanted the exact same things. “Don’t say
that. Tooth just proposed to you. You’re gonna get married. And Dad’s not going
anywhere,” she added, realizing she couldn’t keep that promise for herself. She
squeezed his hand.
“I know I have no power over you falling
out with Dad or not. It’s so scary. And I feel so selfish for thinking about it
this way, but I don’t want to lose you, and I will stay with Tooth, so if you
distanced yourself or left, I would lose you. And there’s only you now since
Bell died,” he finished in a quiet voice.
Asty stopped breathing. Her? Lucky was so
worried to lose
her
? She turned her face away and squeezed his hand
harder. “I’ll do my best to make our family happy. I love you,” she whispered,
opening her eyes wide and looking up not to let the tears spill.
Lucky took a deep breath. “I love you too.
Now ... can you please tell me more about this baby? I’m not a blabbermouth.
Unless your life depended on it, I wouldn’t tell Tooth anything.”
Asty sniffed and brushed away some of the
wetness out of her eyes. The need to unburden herself became even more urgent
all of a sudden. “Promise?”
Lucky turned to her and squeezed her hand.
“Promise.”
Asty slowly turned in the seat to face him
and looked into his eyes. She could feel her heartbeat in her throat as she
spoke. “I had sex with two guys, and I don’t know who the father is.”
Lucky’s eyes went wide. “What the hell,
Asty?”
She scowled. Out of all people, she thought
Lucky wouldn’t give her shit for having sex the way she chose to.
“What? How did that happen?” Lucky urged
her on and leaned forward.
Asty shook her head. Lucky wouldn’t
understand her motivations either. And if she told him about the ritual, then
he might think she was crazy and treat it as one of those lifesaving situations
when he felt he could talk to Tooth. “It just ... happened spontaneously, okay?
I slept with this one guy, and then with the other. I don’t know which one got
me pregnant.”
“Oh, fuck.” Lucky looked out through the
front window and at the white gate. “And you don’t even know who they are?”
Asty chewed on her lip. Her heart beat
quicker. She was nauseous just thinking about telling Lucky she had slept with
Ray. “Just one,” she said in the end.
“Who is it?”
Asty pulled on her locket, and the jewelry
box with onyx earrings burned her through her clothes from the pocket where she
put it. “It’s Hunter.”
“What? You had sex with Hunter? Oh, my
fucking God. No wonder he was being so weird tonight. Fucking bastard. Won’t
even own up to his kid? I’m gonna cut his hair the next time he comes to my
shop,” Lucky hissed and clenched his fists.
Asty saw red. “What? No, don’t touch his
hair! And it’s not true. He proposed to me. In the bathroom upstairs.” Slowly,
she sank into her seat and took out the present. “With these. Aren’t they
pretty?” And just like that, she was crying again.
“Asty, you’re a mess. What the hell is
going on? He proposed? With fucking earrings?”
“That’s what he bought me for Christmas. He
didn’t know I was ... you know, pregnant,” Asty said, cradling the earrings
against her chest.
Lucky frowned. “You had him find out at the
dinner table?”
“I know ... it’s all because of those
questions.” She sighed with frustration and brushed away her tears again. “I-I
thought he wouldn’t be interested in me anymore if he knew, so I didn’t tell him,
but today he was so good with the kids, and the cats, and it just ...
happened.”
“Wait. It wasn’t just one time, was it? Are
you seeing him?”