“I swear I won’t share your secret with anyone until you’re ready.”
Narrowing her eyes, Maude shakes her head. “You’re so full of shit.”
“Well, I’ll have to tell Goliath and Taylor. River and Shane will need to know too. They’ll probably tell their women. Oh, and Kelsi and Hugh will find out.”
“So, everyone?” she mutters.
I swallow hard and exhale deeply. “I swear I won’t tell anyone until after the baby is born. No hinting to anyone either. I’ll keep my mouth shut until you’re in labor, and then I’ll blurt it out to our friends and probably a few strangers. Still, you’ll have time to figure out your situation.”
Maude strokes her belly as if asking the baby what to do. I guess Carina is a risk taker because she encourages her mother—psychically, of course—to open the door to possible trouble.
“I don’t know his real name,” she says, gripping my hand in a panic. “We didn’t talk much. He was so handsome, and I got stupid.”
“I will never judge you, Maude. Remember how pathetic I was about Goliath? Following him around like a dipshit, begging for him to fuck me. When you’re horny, you’re horny.”
Relaxing her hand around mine, she smiles. “I never get impulsive, but I also never find men that attractive. Anyway, I don’t know his real name, but he lives in Elko. There’s a town in Ohio with that name, so maybe that’s where he’s from.”
I hold my breath, terrified she’ll stop talking.
“He was wearing a vest like the Reapers with the name Elko Executioners on the back.”
I think Maude might have heard that name before from our group. She hesitates as if she might be in trouble. Based on how she’s sharing the information, though, I doubt she knows anything about the old battles between the Skullz and Executioners.
“What name did he give you?” I say in the calmest voice I can manage and still end up sounding weird.
“Bronco.”
Fighting a gasp, I mumble, “Well, that happened.”
“Do you know him? Is he a bad man?”
“I do know him. Kinda. Not personally, but I’ll have no problem finding him.”
Eyes bright with fear, she asks, “Is he the enemy?”
I smile at Maude’s tone. “Not really, I guess. We’ll find out everything there is to know about him, and then you can decide. I do know he has a daughter, maybe two. Not sure about a wife. We’ll deal with that bridge when we reach it. Right now, we know where he lives, and that he seems to shoot predominantly girl sperm. We’ll find out the rest later.”
“And you won’t tell anyone until Carina’s born?”
“I swear. For real too. I won’t even tell Goliath, and I blurt shit out to him constantly.”
Maude exhales deeply as if relaxing, but she actually looks more worried now. I take her hand in mine.
“No matter what happens with Bronco, you won’t be alone. You’re family, and Reapers take care of their kin, okay?”
Maude gives me a little grin, always willing to bend to my charms. She trusts me to keep her secret, and my word is good. That doesn’t mean I won’t spend the next few weeks dying to blab over how the Reapers and the Executioners are about to get much closer.
A FINAL WORD FROM THE GOLIATH
Never in my life have I been as scared as when Shelby goes into labor. I’m convinced she’s gonna die. I don’t admit this fear out loud. But I know women can die in labor. The baby can die. What if Kirby’s too big and gets stuck? I made the mistake of looking up shit on the internet about large babies, and all those fucking horror stories fill my head when Shelby gets her first contraction.
“Our baby is normal-sized, remember?” Shelby says when I stare at her and refuse to speak. She knows my head is in a bad place, but it’s not like I’m going to fucking cry about it. “She’s probably like eight pounds. No biggie. You pounded out a large opening for her.”
Despite her jokes, I can’t relax. Shelby’s going to die. The baby’s going to die. I’m going to blow my head off. We’re all going to fucking die!
After we’re barely checked into her room, Shelby announces she has to push.
“Can you wait?” asks the nurse.
Shelby answers with, “Do I need to kill a bitch?” Turning away from the nurse, she calls out, “Someone wash their hands and get ready to catch my baby. Kirby’s feeling impatient.”