“You really think I’d shoot her while she’s pregnant?” I bristle around my whiskey.
“Yes—” they answer together.
I glare at both of them, my glass hanging between my fingers. Abel is both a blessing and a curse. Mainly because he doesn’t have a fucking filter and doesn’t bend for the Kings. Can’t blame him, really. We probably don’t make a shitload of sense to someone like him.
Abel lifts my arm while sitting on the sofa beside me. “Fucking hell. I left you both for under an hour! Is this the only wound I need to be worried about?”
I snicker, staring right at Madison. “The only visible one.”
She laughs maniacally, her head falling back against the couch while flashing her white teeth. Fuck. Why does she have to be so beautiful? Fuck! What if they’re twin girls?
I sink back the rest of my whiskey and place the empty glass on the coffee table in front of me.
Madison finishes her manic laughing fit. “You know, it’s humorous that you continue to think this is my fault.”
Abel tenses beside me, releasing my arm while shuffling farther away on the sofa.
“What the fuck are you talking about now?”
“‘The only visible one’,” she mocks. “Are you fucking kidding me? How is it my fault that I was raped, Bishop?”
I close my eyes, squeezing my jaw to stop myself from saying something I know I’ll regret. I don’t regret a lot of shit, but when it comes to Madison, I find myself in a lot of situations where I wished I handled shit better. She’s my humanity, my weakness, and my fucking soulmate. I act irrationally when it comes to her. She’s both my karma and my curse.
“Madison,” I growl softly, keeping my eyes closed. I can hear Abel on the phone behind me, but I ignore him. “When the fuck have I ever said that I blamed you for that?” I keep my breathing level, even though my heart claws at my ribcage with every beat. It’s done with her shit. Unfortunately, the soul doesn’t care what the heart wants.
“You don’t fucking have to, Bishop!” she yells, standing from the sofa.
Here we go.
I chuckle, looking to the side while spreading my legs wide. “Girl, if you don’t sit your pregnant ass down.”
“I’ll do what the fuck I want!” she snaps.
I slowly turn my head back around to face her. My eyes narrow and the top of my lip curls. “Not while you’re carrying my kids.” I need to punch and fuck something. Preferably simultaneously.
Abel flashes his phone in front of me and Nate’s face comes into view.
“Yo! I told you I should have come! What the fuck is going on there?” He’s running his hands through his hair, his cheeks flushed and veins popping out of his neck.
“First of all,” Madison calls out. “Fuck you!”
Nate’s hand slides down the side of his face, covering his mouth. His eyes flash with pain. “Give her to me.”
I clench my jaw. “Never.”
“Bishop!” Nate snaps, grinding his teeth. “Pass the fucking phone to her.”
I shrug, handing her the phone. “Your funeral.”
Madison snatches it out of my hand, raising it to her face. “What do you want?”
“Jesus Christ!” Nate scowls through the phone. “Why is there so much blood everywhere?”
“I shot Bishop. Now what do you want?”
The way those words fall comfortably from her mouth should make me feel uneasy, but they don’t. I know deep down, and I mean deep down, I deserve it. She is right. I should have known her better and picked up the cues. I’m not going to fuck around with excuses. She doesn’t need that. Right now, even as I watch her argue with Nate, I see it. The hurt she carries deep in her eyes. The betrayal. I had tunnel vision with taking the gavel that I never stopped and took a hard look at how I was destroying the most important person in my life.
Fuck, I hate her.
Abel flicks his hand at my arm. “I’ve got a doctor coming to take care of that.”
“And what about you?” I ask, watching as he leans against the large windows. “When are you going to be the doctor?” I’ve been hammering him to go to uni. Do it now, get his MD, and become a doctor. It would be beneficial to us to have him in that field.
“Yeah, yeah.” He ignores me, turning back around to face the busy city. The sun is going down and fatigue has long since dug its claws in. “I will.”
“Good.”
Something heavy lands on my lap before Madison is storming off down the hallway.
“You gonna chase that?” Abel asks, making his way back to the bar cart to pour another drink.
I sigh, running my fingers through my hair. “Probably for the rest of my life.”
The little fridge door closes as he pops off the bottle top of a beer. Steinlager. Huh.