“Dude,” Mal said again. He sucked in a breath.
“Tell me,” I bit out.
“If you take a pregnancy test and you’re not pregnant, you get one pink line,” he said slowly, like he was talking to someone holding a knife.
“And if you get two?”
“Two means…the opposite.”
I dropped the phone from my hand and it clattered to the floor. His voice sounded very far away as he called my name. I didn’t pick the phone back up. I left it there.
Two pink lines. She’s pregnant. Lynn is pregnant.
Inside, my heart filled with happiness. But it was short-lived, because Lynn wasn’t here. I couldn’t celebrate with her. I couldn’t celebrate at all.
I grabbed my keys and ran for the door. Fuck waiting. I was going to get my wife back, no matter what.
41
I didn’t buzz the apartment when I got to Shelly’s building. I waited until someone else was going in and I slipped in behind him. I raced up the stairs and banged hard on Shelly’s door. She didn’t answer. I rapped again, and she still didn’t answer. I lifted my foot to kick the door open, and suddenly it opened wide. Shelly stood behind the door, staring out at me.
“I was wondering when you would get here,” she said. She left the door open and walked back into the room.
“If I’d known where you live, I’d have come the first day.”
“Mason, you and I both know it’s the only time I get with her, and when she’s here, she’s not even herself. She’s one of them. But I take what I can get. I’m not going to give her back when I just got her.”
Shelly was dressed the same as always. She had on a tan pencil skirt, a pink shirt, and she wore a strand of pearls around her neck. For the first time ever, I noticed the pendant hanging near her cleavage. That was my necklace. I’d given it to Lynn, and I hated that it was around Shelly’s neck. She lifted her hand and wrapped her fingers around the pendant, as though she could protect it from my gaze.
But I didn’t really care about the pendant. I just wanted Lynn.
“Where is she?” I asked.
She snorted. “Which one?”
Any of them. “Lynn.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know where Lynn is. I can promise you that she wouldn’t come here on purpose. She hates my guts. But you know that already, don’t you?”
She walked to the fridge and got out a bottle of water. She offered me one, but I remembered the tea. I had to decline. “No thank you.”
“Are you sure?” she teased. “You look kind of parched.”
“I’m positive.” I looked around. The apartment was sparse, but clean. Ash’s bag lay near the door. “Is Ash here?”
“In the shower.” She jerked her head toward the bedroom door. “Have a seat, Mason. I promise not to try to fuck you.”
I danced from side to side. I really just wanted to get to Lynn. Or Ash. Or whoever was here.
“I never really wanted to fuck you anyway.” She sat down and crossed her legs primly. “I just wanted Lynn to think you wanted me. I wanted her to finally worry that you were cheating. I wouldn’t have gone through with it.”
I nodded my head, but said nothing.
“I never thought you were good enough for her. Particularly not when you started sleeping with the rest of them.” She uncrossed and re-crossed her legs on the other side.
I still said nothing.
“And then the fear arose that one day, that Lynn might want a family with you.”