“You were the only Beth in the maternity wing,” she defends, but she doesn’t look in my eye.
The bitch is lying. “Sure, I was. And you, a person who has lived here forever, never realized who Skull was enough to tell me what he looked like?”
“What are you talking about?” Skull asks, but I ignore him.
“Listen, Beth, I realize that you’re upset, but I don’t have anything to do with this. What Skull and I share came along after you were gone.”
“Sure it did. You’re as fake as the blonde in your hair, Dr. Torres.”
“Bitch.” Teena makes to grab me, but Skull grabs her arm first.
“Don’t touch her,” his cold as steel voice says. My eyes go to him, but he’s barely looking at me. “Get my daughter out of here if you’re going, Beth.”
“If you would let me move out, I would have her out of here already,” I growl, starting to walk away.
“I told you, you could leave after your brothers have been found. Not before. I want my daughter safe.”
I look over my shoulder at him. “Yes, sir. Whatever you say.”
“If you had that attitude sooner, it might have saved us a lot of heartache.”
“Do you even have a heart?” He shifts, and before he can answer, I shake my head. “No, don’t answer that. Obviously your heart and other attributes belong to Dr. Torres now.” I turn away so he can’t see the pain that causes. I walk to the kitchen, not looking back even when I hear Katie behind me.
“Fucking asshole,” she growls.
I love my sister.
“You know you could just stop staring at her and breakdown and go talk to her,” Sabre says, sitting down at my table.
We’re in the compound. Beth, Katie, and a few of the club girls are in the corner planning Katie’s bachelorette party along with Briar’s old lady. In the past few days, Beth has settled in and made a place for herself here in the club in ways I never thought she would. We haven’t talked since that day in the hall, not really. A few words here and there when I get Gabby or bring her back, but that’s it. She asked me if I had any progress on finding Matthew and Colin. I lied. I know exactly where Matthew is. I could pick him up today. I’m fucking stalling getting revenge because that would make Beth’s leaving one step closer. I don’t want her here and I don’t want her to leave.
Jesus, I’m fucked up.
“When I need your advice on women, I’ll ask for it, hermano.”
“Seems to me you need someone’s.”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll have Matthew taken care of this week. Once we get Colin, Beth will no longer be here.”
“Are you sure that’s what you want?”
“Totalmente,” I tell him, and I’m mostly telling the truth.
“When are we making the move on Donahue?”
My heart speeds up in rhythm. Do I keep putting it off? What is that really helping? This is done, right? I hear Beth’s laugh ring out and I feel this phantom pain inside of me.
“Tomorrow morning. Call the boys in. We’ll have church tonight and plan. I don’t want anything to go wrong.”
“I can do that,” he says and leans back in his chair, tilting it so it’s hung in the air as if in mid-rock, studying me.
When I get tired of him staring, I finally kick my foot out, causing the chair to scoot. He flails around a moment, looking ridiculous, before getting it back under control. Fucker.
“Out with it and then shut the fuck up,” I growl, taking the last drink of my vodka.
“You’re a fucking prick, you know that?”
I shrug. I’m an even bigger one since discovering Beth is breathing, so I can’t really argue and I don’t really give a fuck anyway.
“I was noticing that Dr. Torres left rather quickly this morning,” he says and I frown into my glass, now empty of alcohol.
The ice clinks as I slam it down. “So?”
“Is it over?”
“It’s been over for a while.”
“She’s here almost every other night,” Sabre responds.
“Not for that. What are you being such a fucking busybody for, anyway? You want to tap it? I thought Annie had your dick sewn up, hermano.”
“Fuck you. Annie is all I need. I’m just saying if you’re so confused about Beth that you’re giving Teena the shove, maybe you ought to get your head out of your ass.”
“I gave Teena the shove way before Beth was back in the picture.”
“So you consider her in the picture now?”
“Fuck no. I’m just saying Teena has nothing to do with Beth. Christo! Are we seriously talking about this shit? Next thing I know, you’ll be asking me to make your cut pink.”