Perfectly Toxic (Sterling Shore 9)

“Is that Fiona?” Brin asks. “Dale’s ex?”

“Yes,” Rain says, trying and failing to get up when Tria all but sits in her sister’s lap to keep her stationary.

“You can’t stab her in a crowded restaurant,” Tria whisper-yells.

“No one will see it. It’ll be like on the prison movies,” Rain goes on. “Just walk in front of me for cover.”

I don’t know whether to laugh or be worried.

Allie’s expression says the same thing.

“You can’t stab her here. This is one of the few nut-free establishments I can eat at,” Ruby says to Rain, only adding to the lunacy of our current conversation.

Fortunately, Brin’s phone rings, and she answers while Tria keeps Rain from reenacting a prison shanking scene.

“Oh! Oh! Yeah! Oh! We’re on our way!” Brin squeals, hanging her phone up and standing so fast her chair flips over.

“What?” Tria asks as Rain stops struggling.

“Ash! She’s in labor! Baby on the way!” Brin yells as she starts racing toward the door.

Allie and I get up too, and Allie tosses down some money for the drinks they’ve ordered. Rain grabs a roll from the dish in front of her, and I laugh when she launches it across the restaurant and pegs Fiona right in the back of the head.

Rain flips her off, and Fiona’s eyes widen when she sees her assailant. I’m worried by the fact she turns pale, and I start to wonder if Rain really would stab her.

“Baby!” Tria reminds Rain, dragging her away as Allie and I race outside.

“I’ll catch up to you,” I call out, not willing to tell anyone my car is still at the hospital.

So I start jogging, happy that I wore sneakers.

By the time I reach the maternity ward, everyone is already there, and Allie frowns when she sees me. It wasn’t much of a jog, so at least I’m not sweaty, but I am a little breathy.

“What’s the word?” I ask the very full waiting room.

“Nothing yet,” Wren states as he chews on his thumbnail and bounces his knee.

Allie leans back, relaxing. All the men look nervous, including Kade Colton. I think there’s wedding cake on his face.

Raya walks in with a round of coffees, passing them all out. I frown when I notice one face missing. I mean, even Maverick is here, cracking jokes about anything and everything. But Ethan isn’t.

Surely he’s not so pissed at me that he’d miss the birth of a friend’s kid.

Grabbing my phone, I send a message to him. He was their friend long before I was.

ME: You can come to the hospital. I’m heading home. You shouldn’t miss Tag’s baby being born. And honestly I shouldn’t be here for it, considering Ash and I aren’t that close yet.

I read it three times to make sure autocorrect hasn’t fucked me over, then I press send.

“Hey, I need to get back to the house. I forgot there’s a guy coming to fix my sink,” I tell Allie, hating the fact that I’m the one who’s lying now. But I can’t tell her what’s going on in front of everyone.

“Okay… It’s messed up again?” she asks, confused.

“Yeah. Damn thing is a pain in the ass. Call me and let me know when the baby is born. Okay?”

She nods, but I get out of there before she can ask any questions. She seems to know I don’t want to answer anything in front of anyone, so she doesn’t follow me.

I never should have messed with Ethan even a little. Now I’m lying to my best friend and losing the group of friends I just got. It’s not like Ethan and I did more than just a kiss. It’ll die down eventually, then we’ll get used to being around each other without all the crazy sexual tension between us.