but Stephen, after barely seeing his pregnant wife for weeks, was unlikely to be keeping it in his pants.
A lot of the women seemed to accept the fact their husbands strayed, and others bitched about it in the common rooms. Enough that I knew Lena had been right when, all those weeks ago, she’d said the Pointers were rarely faithful to their spouses.
She’d said it to warn me, but I knew, deep down, Finn wouldn’t cheat on me. Maybe if I stopped putting out just to be a bitch he might, he was a man after all, and they were led around by their cocks, and I knew Jenny had several guys cheat on her—and she was not only hot as fuck, but had the flexibility of a pole dancer. If a guy would cheat on her, I sure as hell wasn’t safe.
But Finn felt guilty I was wounded, and he was in the middle of a war that hadn’t started because of me, but to him, it had. He’d taken it as a personal affront and wanted to ‘avenge’ me.
I almost shook my head at the thought.
It sounded like something from a comic book, except gunshot wounds really fucking sucked. I was like a modern day Helen of Troy, but I just hoped in this version, my Achilles didn’t suffer an arrow to his heel.
So, unlike Finn, Stephen didn’t have the same goals. He was just a soldier being steered this way and that, who suddenly had an empty bed…
Perhaps it was mean of me to judge him without even having met the guy, but Mary-Ellen was so sweet. I really hated the idea of her being cheated on, especially for her lack of knowing how to please a man.
The way she pinkened whenever I brought up sex made me wonder if those twins had been conceived through divine intervention.
I cleared my throat, trying to think of a way to prompt her to spice up their nightly phone call. It was a long shot, but it could work if he loved her.
“You know the things he does to you in bed?” She nodded, but kept her eyes on the potatoes. “Do you like them?” This time, her nod was a little more eager than before. Aha! So no divine intervention had been necessary. I grinned at her. “Talk about that. Pretend you have to say the things instead of just doing them.”
“Isn’t that hard, though?” Her blush was almost as potent as mine—made sense considering we were both redheads.
“Very hard, I imagine.” I shrugged. “Everything gets easier with practice though, doesn’t it?”
Her eyes caught mine, and this time we both grinned at each other. “I might try that tonight. I miss him.”
“You mean you’re horny.”
More pink appeared in her cheeks. “Maybe.”
“Definitely.” I laughed. “I am too, and I’ve been shot. You’re only pregnant. Doesn’t that mean your hormones are all over the place?”
“They were at first,” she said with a shrug. “I-I didn’t want him at all. But now?” When she blew out a breath, it made her bangs flutter a few centimeters off her forehead.
Nodding my understanding, I murmured, “Totally get where you’re coming from.”
“For God’s sake, do I need to peel the damn things myself?” Lena spluttered. “Doreen, Linda, Jane, Maisy, and Laura finished ages ago. What on earth’s taking so long?”
I scowled at her. “We have several pounds of vegetables to peel. They didn’t have much to do.”
Lena doled out her chores like Father Doyle would penance. Except I wasn’t being punished—peeling was all I could really do. I wasn’t able to stand for long periods of time still, not without feeling shaky. Being perpetually weak was wearing on my nerves. I was used to being strong, not so goddamn fragile.
Lena glowered at me but went back to stirring a shit ton of onions in a bucket load of butter. Colcannon was on the agenda today, mashed potatoes mixed with sautéed onions, cabbage, and bacon, and that was enough to put me in a shiny mood.
Mary-Ellen whispered, “You’re the only one who can talk back to her.”
I shrugged. “She’s like my mother-in-law.”
“All the more reason not to.” Mary-Ellen shuddered. “Aren’t you scared of her?”
“Nope.” Before, maybe, but now?
Being shot changed things.
I’d taken a bullet because of the Five Points. Someone had infiltrated my home, and they hadn’t done it to come and tuck me in and give me a box of chocolates. Not once had I complained about any of that. I wasn’t scared of Lena.