THIEF: Part 6 Read Online Free PDF

face.“Vaguely.”
                  He knows.He’s figured it out already, but he’s going to make me follow through on this, just to watch me squirm.I deserve it.I deserve a lot worse.
                  “It did.”I pause, tracing the logo in the middle of my steering wheel with my fingertips.“Just once, a few months ago.It…it was at Jane’s wedding.”
                  Tears are sliding down my face, but I’m afraid to move and wipe them away.I’m grateful for the rain outside, the rumble of my idling engine, so that I don’t have to hear his breathing.
                  “So…you slept with that guy at Jane’s wedding.”
                  My neck feels like steel, but I get out a nod.
                  “The same day you slept with me.”
                  Again, I tell him yes without a word.
                  Alex turns to his window, and I risk a glance.He’s staring at the sky, but not focusing on it, and his hands are flat on his thighs.His jaw tenses once, but other than that, he doesn’t look mad.I’m surprised at how frightened this makes me feel.
                  “Is the baby mine, Erin?”
                  His question has no inflection.He knows what my answer is already.
                  “I don’t know.”
                  Alex shifts his jaw again, molars grinding.His face is shadowed, brow slightly furrowed, as he blinks water from his eyes.
                  “I want a paternity test,” he says, after a headache-inducing stretch of silence.Finally, he looks at me again.“Like, today.Now.”
                  “It’s not that easy,” I mutter.The lingering taste of hot chocolate cramps my mouth.“I already asked the doctor, and she said if I did the test in-utero, I’d need a court order or something.And it increases my risk of miscarriage.And as much as I really, really hate not knowing if you’re the father yet…I don’t think I can do that.”
                  Alex shuts his eyes, tilting his head back against the seat.“I can’t believe you would do this to me, Erin.”
                  Unlike everything else up to this point, he says this without steeliness.His voice wavers, then cracks.My chest hurts so much, hearing it, that I start to cry again, full sobs.Alex cries too, but quietly.
                  I can’t stop.Even when Alex’s lunch break ends and he says, “I’ve got to go.We’ll talk more about this later,” my eyes keep welling up and flushing themselves out.My face feels raw from saltwater.
                  “I’m sorry,” I manage, as he steps out into the rain.I look up at him through his open door.“I’m so, so sorry, Alex.”
                  He shuts it so hard, my hot chocolate splashes onto my feet, almost cold.
     
     
     

Chapter Five
     
     
                  “Are you sure you can’t get the test?I…I’ve got to know, Erin.It could change everything.”
                  I squeeze my eyes shut and take a deep gulp of air; I don’t want to hear this, though I’m not entirely surprised.“It’s too big of a risk to the baby. I can wait ‘til September. You’ll just have to wait, too.”
                  “Think about it, though.If you find out now, I could…I could be there for you.Through all of it.”
                  “Please…don’t do this.”I switch the phone to my other ear, rubbing my temple with my free hand.“It won’t work out.And you know that, Silas.”
                  “Why not?”
                  “Because you’re going to prison.”I say it sarcastically, even though it’s true, because saying it seriously would hurt both of us all the more.Unlike Alex, Silas hadn’t taken the news like a trumpet fanfare, although he hadn’t been