Perfectly Toxic (Sterling Shore 9)

I snatch it away, and I look back up at her. “Find me if you find out anything.”

She nods and walks off, and I rake a frustrated hand through my hair.

I dial Wren again, cursing when his phone immediately goes to voicemail. He has to be in an area with no signal the one fucking time I need him.

My mom walks in with tear-streaked eyes. My dad is on her heels, and his eyes look suspiciously wet. That can’t be right. He’s never cried. He sure as fuck can’t cry right now, because I’ll lose the small amount of strength I’m clinging to by a thread.

“The baby? Bella? Are they okay?” Mom asks in a quiet, broken voice.

I swallow down the painful knot. “I don’t know.”

It’s the worst fucking feeling in the whole world, even though the dread of the probable is choking me. I don’t tell my mother about my inner thoughts. She’d fall apart right now.

If there was so much blood, I know without a doubt, my baby is gone. And it hurts more than I ever thought possible. Bella… Bella is going to be crushed.

I sag to a seat, dropping heavily as I put my head in my hands, trying to stop the spinning as everything shatters at once.

My chest caves in on itself, and I cover my face tightly as pain like I’ve never experienced before lances through my heart and proves to me that I can still cry like a fucking ba—

A choked sound rakes against the insides of my throat as that one word—that I can’t even think—sets me off. I’m slinging a chair through the front glass before I even realize I’ve stood up. It shatters and people scream, but fuck them all.

Corbin and Rye start tackling me, trying to drag me out, telling me to calm down before I get arrested. I don’t care. None of it fucking matters. I failed the only two people who’ve ever truly needed me.

The look Bella gave me when I grabbed Star slams into my mind, and rage simmers close to the edge.

Struggling, I break free, and my fist slams into Rye’s face just as they drag me into the parking lot.

The memory of me standing shocked in that hallway after Bella told me she loved me assaults me next. More self-loathing comes out violently as I connect an elbow with Corbin’s middle, causing him to double over in pain.

Maverick and Tag come racing up, as though they arrived just in time to deal with me. When I think of the hole I punched in the wall after learning Bell

a was pregnant, Maverick takes a shot in the chin, and Tag drops to the ground after catching a shot to side.

I couldn’t even look at her. I just walked away because I was too much of a fucking coward to face it in that moment. My pride was hurt. I was scared. And I failed her.

Swing after swing, my fury pours out, and my friends bear the brunt of my own misery, because I can’t beat the fuck out of myself.

Corbin wrangles my arms back, and Rye bear hugs me, clutching me as I break down like I never have before, struggling uselessly as the pain overwhelms me.

Life is really fucking cruel.

Chapter 69

BELLA

Lights. I see lights blaring down from above me, but I’m too disoriented to focus on them.

Familiar smells taint my nose, but they’re confusing.

Where am I?

“She may have suffered a panic attack that caused her to pass out, though the blood loss was exaggerated for the injury,” someone is saying, but it’s all so out of focus that I can’t see what’s going on.

“The crowd she’s gathered is growing antsy. Are you sure we can’t tell them anything? We’ve already had to call the police because of the one claiming to be the baby’s father,” someone else says, confusing the hell out of me.

“I wish we could, but it violates all our policies. The only family listed on her employee file is Allie Thrash, and Bella hasn’t named the father of her child herself, or adjusted any paperwork. Anyone of them could claim to be the child’s father. We’ve been trying to contact Allie, but we can’t confirm anything over the phone. Again, it’s policy. It’s even stricter with employees.”

“Let’s hope there’s not a damn riot,” comes a grumbled reply.