Chapter 11
The kitchen door swung open before Jessica, Eric, Tina, or I could say another word. "I'm home!" Antonia the werewolf called, Garrett right behind her.
"Not now, Toni. "
"How many fucking times I have to tell you? AnTONE-ee-uh. Just because your lousy stepmother has the same name doesn't mean I have to change mine. "
"Not now. "
"Oh. " She looked down at me. Garrett did, too. "Jessica finally told you, huh?"
Eleventh!
"Duck and cover," Tina muttered, but I was in no condition to launch myself at our resident psychic werewolf.
"You saw it in a vision?" Jessica asked.
"Hell, no. You smell totally bland. What, you guys didn't know?" Toni was looking around at all of us. With her short, Aeon Flux-like dark hair and big brown eyes, she should have looked more innocent than she sounded. And I didn't know what was up with the old T-shirt and Daisy Duke shorts (and flip-flops! In April!) but right now, her grotesque fashion screwup was the least of my problem. "Huh. Guess I should have said something before I left. "
"Think so?" I snarked from the floor. "As your punishment, you are now and forever known as Toni. "
"The hell!"
"Jessica's sick," Garrett said helpfully. "Also, there's a zombie in the attic. "
"Shut up. Help me up. Goddammit, I'm kicking some serious ass in a minute. "
"I'm outta here," Toni said at once, turning to leave. "Just wanted you to know I'm back from the Cape. "
"Well, thanks for sharing. " God, she was the most fucking annoying person in the fucking history of fucking people! Ever! Though, to be fair, I may have been feeling overly sensitive at that moment.
"Come on up to the bedroom and welcome me back," Toni was saying to Garrett as they left the kitchen. Ugh. I prayed I wouldn't be able to hear them doing it.
"What are your immediate plans?" Sinclair asked Jessica as he grabbed my elbow and lifted me effortlessly to my feet. Apparently, I was done wallowing.
"Chemo, probably. We're still figuring out options. "
"How sick are you?" I asked anxiously.
"Not sick at all, compared to how I'll feel when they shoot radiation into me," she said with glum humor. "I'm just tired a lot these days. I actually thought I might be. . . well. . . "
"Pregnant?" Tina suggested quietly.
Jessica nodded. "Yeah. I'd been tired, and I'd-well, there were other symptoms. And Nick and I-anyway. I was wrong. Definitely not pregnant. "
"Does Nick know?"
She looked away. "Nobody knows except you guys. "
"Oh. " I knew Jess very well, better than anybody (I was pretty sure), and I knew why she hadn't said anything. I didn't like it, but I could figure it out.
"If you thought you were carrying his child, then perhaps you should tell him you're ill. "
"I don't want to. I didn't want to tell you guys, remember?"
"Oh, I remember. " I still had tile marks mashed into my butt, for God's sake.
"It's like-it's not real if nobody alive knows. Right?" She smiled crookedly, dark eyes filling with tears. "It's not happening to me if the only people who know are dead. "
I felt like a total toad, watching her cry. "Come on, don't do that. " I hugged her. Had she lost weight? Was she bonier than usual? I was embarrassed that I didn't know. And why hadn't I smelled anything different? Sure I was still rather new at this, but couldn't I learn stuff like that? Was I that damned selfish? So wrapped up in my own troubles that I didn't care when my best friend caught cancer?
And hey, could you catch cancer? I didn't know a thing about it. That would change as soon as I could get my ass to a computer. Or my hands on those seven fucking specialists.
"You're living with the king and queen of the vampires, a werewolf, an actor, and a doctor. "
"And a Libra," Tina piped up, a rare joke.
"Right. We'll help you. We'll fix it. "
"You're an idiot," Jessica sobbed in my arms.
"That's the spirit!"
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you," she finally offered. Finally. "It's just all this stuff with Sophie and Liam and Alonzo. And your birthday and your wedding. I didn't want to be the downer, you know?"
I knew. And that's when I got my idea. My really, ridiculously, atrociously bad idea.
Undead and Unpopular Page 11
