After Midnight: (A Penguin Special from Signet Eclipse) (Killer Instincts) Read Online Free PDF

you better than that.” The mocking tone faded as Noelle pursed her lips in thought. “You’re worried you’ll screw up the kid’s life, huh?”
    Surprise jolted through her. “Why, is that what
you’d
worry about? Screwing up your children?”
    “I won’t be having any children.”
    The swift, confident reply made her frown. “Why not?”
    “Because no child deserves a fucked-up bitch like me for a mother.”
    Abby bit her lip. “I . . .” Pain clogged her throat. “I don’t know if I can keep it.”
    “There may not be anything to keep.” Her old boss offered a careless shrug. “Take the fucking test, honey.”
    “I am. I mean, I will. I just . . . don’t know . . . when.” God. She was stammering, but she was too damn distressed to feel embarrassed about it.
    Noelle pointed to the bathroom. “How about now?”
    Abby had to roll her eyes. “You don’t just go pee and then a voice from above announces whether or not you’re knocked up. You need the damn stick.”
    “You mean this one?” Noelle reached her arm around. For a second Abby thought the woman was going for the gun, but to her extreme shock, Noelle’s hand came back with a narrow cardboard box that she mockingly waved in front of Abby’s face.
    The same pink box she’d stashed in her duffel.
    Her mouth fell open in indignation. “You’re fucking kidding me! You went through my stuff?”
    A hint of a smile graced the other woman’s lips.
    “How?” Abby blurted out. “You just got here this morning.”
    “Last night, actually,” Noelle said smugly. “I waltzed right into your room while you and hubby were snuggled under the covers. You disappoint me, Abby. Again, I trained you better than that. Which raises the question—what the hell kind of amateur Scooby Doo team does Jim run? In the three years he’s had you, he’s totally stripped away everything I taught you.”
    Ignoring the rant, Abby snatched the pregnancy test, still furious. And mortified. And confused again.
    “Why the pretense then?” she muttered. “Why ask if I’m cheating and then pretend to be surprised that I’m late when you knew the whole time what this was about?”
    “You know me, I never pass up an opportunity for some good, old-fashioned deception.” Noelle grinned. “Do you need me to pull your pants down for you and offer encouragements while you pee?”
    “Fuck you.”
    “We don’t have all day, Abby. Get this over with already so we can get out of this hellhole.”
    Despite the anger still coursing through her veins, she clenched her teeth and headed toward the small bathroom, clutching the box so tight the cardboard began to bend. She relaxed her grip, shut the door behind her, then inhaled deeply.
    As she tore open the cardboard and pulled out the plastic white stick, she nearly backed out, but knowing Noelle was on the other side of the door rendered that impossible. She got the feeling the woman would hold her down and
force
her take the test if she didn’t do it herself.
    Her heart had never pounded so fast, drumming out a frantic beat as she quickly read the test instructions. The toilet looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in years, so she grabbed handfuls of toilet paper and laid them out around the seat before reluctantly lowering herself down.
    A minute later, the stick sat on the dirty counter. She busied herself by washing her hands, but time seemed to have come to a torturous standstill, and two minutes suddenly felt like eternity.
    Wiping her hands on the front of her pants, she left the stick on the counter and stumbled out of the bathroom. Noelle was waiting outside the door, just as she’d expected. A questioning brow cocked up.
    “Another minute left,” Abby mumbled.
    God, she didn’t want to know the answer. A huge part of her wanted the test to be negative, but then she thought about Kane and what a good father he’d be, and her resolve wavered. No, Kane would be a
great
father. He was strong,