Authors: Miss Merikan
Fire crackled in the bonfire in front of
Asty, and as midnight of New Year’s Eve approached, people gathered around were
sharing their plans for the next year. A lot of the younger crowd chose to be
out here in the backyard of the clubhouse where Beast’s shed used to be not so
long ago. Despite the cold, everyone huddled up in jackets and tried to soak up
the heat of the flames as they drank beer and cooked sausages over the fire,
since no one thought about buying s’mores ingredients before the stores closed
earlier that day.
She glanced over the orange flames to look
at Hunter, who talked lively with one of the male hangarounds. In the trembling
air, his hair seemed to dance with color where it fell from underneath the
black hood he wore, but she tried to be conspicuous about her attention and
transferred her gaze to Prince, who reluctantly followed a barked order from
Ray, off to get even more wood when everyone else was having fun. She didn’t
fully accept this kind of dynamic, despite both Dad and Hunter explaining it to
her. Even if Prince was still trying to get his patches, it was no reason to
shout at him or refrain from doing any work yourself, especially since he
was
a nice guy at the core. She could see why Dad considered him a good choice for
her out of all his men.
The fire radiated a warmth she really
needed despite wearing a full-length coat and a long skirt underneath. Contrary
to popular belief, it retained heat much better than pants. But even with the
fur around her neck and the gloves, her face remained bare and grew numb from
the freezing cold on the way to the bonfire.
When she looked back from Prince, Ray’s
gaze burned her so badly that she frantically turned to Jewel, who hung out
next to her, roasting a sausage. Asty tried especially hard to look good for
this party, even though she ended up not wearing a corset due to the pregnancy,
as it would only make her tire faster and possibly put the fetus in danger. She
still went for the goth countess look, with a wide skirt and slim waistline,
and she never thought it would be that bastard’s thing, considering which girls
he chased at parties.
“How about you, Jewel? Any plans for next
year?”
Jewel looked at the fire with a smile. “I’m
not sure yet. I’m starting a cleanse tomorrow. I was thinking about doing a
bartender course, or something. Priest said he’d put up half the money if I can
save up the other half myself.”
Asty barely kept from scowling.
Oh, God
.
Was Dad fucking Jewel? Mom only died three months ago, and he’d go for possibly
the dumbest of all the hangarounds? She cleared her throat. “Oh? That’s nice of
him. He must like you ...”
Jewel’s smile widened. “You’re lucky to
have a dad like him. He’s so thoughtful.”
Asty nodded, anger bubbling up inside her.
“You two have been spending time together?”
“Duh, he’s the prez, and I hang out here
all the time.”
“But, you know, in private.”
Jewel laughed. “Oh, no, honey. It’s not
like that. We’re just good buds.”
Dad never had female “buds” and did not
believe in the existence of friendships between men and women. Asty smirked.
“Relax. I know he’s lonely and needs some female companionship,” she said,
cringing on the inside. If he did need some companionship, it wasn’t Jewel’s,
especially after his attempts to police Asty’s sex life. And on top of that,
Jewel was only a year older than Asty herself!
Not aware of Asty’s thoughts, Jewel took a
large bite of the sausage and then kept it between her teeth, blowing air on
the piece of meat. Asty didn’t want to know
anything
about her
relationship with Dad. But then, Jewel dropped a bomb that made Asty forget all
about her father’s secret affair.
“So, do you have any plans for next year?
Apart from … you know, the baby?”
“Oh, he told you?” Asty muttered, taken
aback. Her skin broke out in goose bumps underneath the warm coat when she
realized she couldn’t have been the only one to hear it.
Jewel stopped chewing. “Oh, my God. I
didn’t know it was a secret. I’m so sorry!”
“I assume everyone knows now,” said
Astaroth and stuffed her fingers into her pockets.
A voice she wasn’t expecting so close made
her cringe. Ray. “You’re pregnant?” He must have slid to the bench next to her
when she was turned toward Jewel.
“That’s none of your business,” Asty said
without looking back at him, even though her back felt frozen stiff. Holy fuck,
why did
he
have to be there? She quickly came up with something to talk
about, just to ignore him. “So, that bartending course? Do you want to work
here or find a job in town?”
Jewel looked between her and Ray in
confusion, but then went on about the course. Asty could barely listen and nod
when she noticed Ray and Hunter murder each other with their gazes. It was a
romantic fantasy to have two guys fight over you, but this wasn’t fun at all.
Not when it happened in real life. Hunter could get hurt, or Ray could spill
the beans about Halloween to everyone and make her look bad. Asty believed she
had the right to have sex however she wanted, but she knew most people didn’t
think that way, no matter what they declared in abstract terms. She didn’t want
to be put in a position where she would have to defend herself.
“I want to get a job in a good department
store where I can actually have a career path, not just stay in the same
position on the same paycheck as I do now,” said yet another girl, and it was a
relief that the topic of Asty’s pregnancy didn’t dominate the bonfire. Maybe
everyone noticed how uncomfortable she was with it.
“I want to get a place nearby,” Hunter said
and glanced at her. “So I can have some privacy for whatever comes.”
Asty held his gaze, and her heart jumped at
the thought that he was most likely talking about her and the baby. He was
really serious about this. He didn’t try to run or suggest an abortion, which
she would have understood. She essentially tricked him into getting her
pregnant, and yet he was still willing to give this relationship a shot. He
really would be the perfect father for little Beelzebub once she was gone. And
yet, the notion of leaving the two of them behind made her so unbelievably sad,
she had to look away. With the conversation developing around all the items on
yearly bucket lists, she stepped back into the darkness, eager for a bit of
peace to collect her thoughts. No one warned her that the last few months of
her life would only get more stressful as time passed. And she had been
thinking that getting fucked by an anonymous stranger would be the hardest part
of this process.
She needed to hitch up the front of her
coat and skirt to walk comfortably in the deep snow behind the buildings.
Normally, grass and weeds covered this part of club-owned land, and asphalt
roads used for racing and testing out equipment crisscrossed the area, but at
this time of year, it was nothing but thick white mounds that creaked under her
feet. The few trees that grew there were completely bare, except for a white
layer that would have transformed them into something out of a gothic picture
book if it weren’t for the naked brick skeleton of a new building the Nails had
started working on in the fall. The work had stopped halfway through the second
floor, and the whole thing now looked as dead as an abandoned church, albeit
with less soul.
When Asty heard footsteps behind her, she
looked over her shoulder, thinking it could be Hunter and they’d steal some
time for just the two of them, but the moment she recognized Ray’s tall frame,
she started moving faster.
“How far along are you?” he asked,
following her at the same pace.
Asty cursed beneath her breath and wondered
whether she could just change direction and walk around him somehow, back to
all the people gathered for the party. Her temples pulsed, and her legs became
heavy. “A month. Stop following me!”
“You sure it’s not two months?” Ray sped
up, and she wished he could just disappear, go back to his old club, and never
come here again. “Bitch, I’m talking to you.”
“It’s a month. Fuck off,” she said and
grabbed the fronts of her coat and skirt, rushing forward to the building.
Something told her he would not let her just run back, so maybe she could at
least confuse him near the unfinished structure and rush to the clubhouse. Her
heart thudded at double the usual speed as she hopped through the thick snow
despite her ankles protesting in the big platform boots. All she could see was
the dimmed white of the snow and the dark form of the house ahead.
Just as she reached the bare brick wall,
Ray grabbed her arm and shook her so hard it got her head spinning a bit. “You
sayin’ you slut around with no rubbers all the time?”
Asty pushed back at him, but he just stayed
in place, like a rock. “Let me go. I don’t want to talk to you,” she uttered,
but the fact he dared to manhandle her, the daughter of the club president,
made her gasp in fear. With the moon shining from above, Ray’s face was
obscured by shadows as he leaned over her, and not being able to read him made
her even more frantic on the inside.
“Do I look like I care? If this is some
stint to get me in trouble or paying child support, you’re gonna regret it.”
Ray swung her back and forth again and pushed her against the cold wall,
towering over her.
She took a deep breath, trying to be calm.
She needed to take him by surprise, and for this, she needed to get his
attention on her words. Her muscles were stiff where he touched her, and she
exhaled some steam into the cold. “It has nothing to do with you. It’s been a
month.”
Before she could go through with her plan
of kicking him in the nuts and running, Ray was hauled back, and Hunter shoved
him away with a hiss.
“The fuck do you think you’re doing here?”
Hunter said but looked at Asty, and she could sense the question without him
asking. He was trying to work out if she invited Ray’s attention, and it stung
her more than she could have imagined.
“He followed me,” she offered weakly,
leaning back against the wall as relief coursed through her body.
Ray spat into the snow and rustled his
short hair, stepping uncomfortably close to Hunter, as if wanting to prove who
was an inch taller. “She’s pregnant, haven’t you heard?”
At least Hunter didn’t doubt her words, and
pushed Ray’s chest again. “I know she’s fucking pregnant, I’m the father, so
fuck off. You follow her again, and I’ll fucking kill you!”
Ray stepped back and released a sharp
laugh. “Really? You can’t kill for shit, choirboy. How far along is she?”
“It’s none of your business.”
Ray’s mouth spread into an unpleasant
smile. “It’s two months, isn’t it? The bitch wanted this, that’s why she had us
without rubbers. And what? You’re in love with her now, or something?” he
mocked, and Asty’s heart sank.
“Just shut the hell up!” she yelled into
the night, balling her hands into fists
“I’m in love with her for a thousand other
reasons, you cunt! But the fuck could you know about that? And now that you
know it’s mine, you can fuck off. There won’t be any paternity testing.” Hunter
grabbed the front of Ray’s jacket and shook him. “Or do you want to lose more
teeth than you already have?”
Asty pressed her back harder against the
cold wall, as blood drummed in her lips and made her face hot against the
freezing cold. She watched Hunter’s broad back as it rose and fell, and his
words echoed through her mind like a boomerang that got stuck in there and
refused to go back where it came from. Hunter was in love with her? No one was
ever interested enough in her to ever say that, or fight for her. She
wanted to say something when Ray suddenly charged at Hunter, delivering a
surprisingly sharp blow to the center of his chest. Hunter folded and stepped
back, and she screamed out.
Ray shook his head as his gaze alternated
between them. “That’s fucking typical. You finally found a slut to save, your
mom would be so fucking proud. And that kid? It’s not yours. I fucked her
first, remember?” He walked up closer and leaned down to look into Hunter’s
face. “I pushed her to the floor and fucked her dirty cunt. Before you did.”
“Shut the fuck up!” hissed Asty, though
humiliation snaked its way up her body and settled in her stomach as the held
on to Hunter’s back, trying to steady him.
“Don’t you fucking dare talk that way about
her!” Hunter pulled away from Asty and charged at Ray, grabbing him at the
waist and throwing him down to the snow.
The white dust flew into the air as they
rolled on the ground, wrestling and throwing punches, too quickly for Asty to
intervene and try to somehow pull them apart. “Ray, go fuck yourself,” she
finally shouted. “Go now, or I’ll call everyone over. I bet Tooth would
love
to have some fun with you again!”
Hunter spat at Ray and got up, somewhat
wobbly. “Did you not hear her? Fuck. Off.”
Ray grumbled as he got to his feet as well,
both of them covered in snow and heaving steam. “I can’t wait to see you regret
all of this,” he said in a low, menacing tone and turned around without waiting
for an answer.