The Burning by Anna Todd

Author:Anna Todd
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group
Published: 2023-06-08T17:49:37+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Kael

The baby shower turned out to be more beer bottle than baby bottle vibe. Essentially, it was a backyard barbecue with a few baby-themed decorations here and there. Which was fine, but it hardly differed from the typical Good Luck! theme of an on-post BBQ.

When I first pulled up to the house, I wished that Karina would have agreed to come with me. Or that I would have stayed at her place just a little longer or talked to her more, asked her more questions about how she was and what she’d been up to. Part of me liked to have her as my little secret, but that was selfish; I hadn’t introduced her to the guys’ wives, but I knew the women would like her attitude and maybe even be inspired by her independence. I knew these wives weren’t her crowd, but they weren’t that bad, and at least Mendoza and Gloria would be around. If Karina would at least try to be friends with people, she would actually like Gloria. Their van was parked in front of the house, right next to Lawson’s green Mustang. Lawson was that kind of fucking guy: patriotic Army stickers decorated his bumper like he bought them in bulk and a pair of fuzzy dice from the whack era of the 2000s hung from the rearview.

I rang the doorbell and Tharpe’s wife, Toni, answered immediately. She was a tall woman, mostly legs and a big smile. Her cheekbones were harsh but pretty and her eyes were blanketed with lack of sleep, or too much to drink; I couldn’t tell just yet.

“Martin! I can’t believe you actually came!” she said, hugging me. She smelled like a keg of beer and the glittery body spray my sister used to wear when she was in middle school.

I pulled away, but with a smile. “Thanks for inviting me.”

Toni’s brown eyes were pretty bloodshot, as were those of the other women on the back porch standing with Elodie. I walked by their separate clusters, waving, and stopped to double-kiss Elodie, who was describing to Fischer her love for American television. They were having the classic Friends-versus-Seinfeld debate. I shook Fischer’s hand and looked around the yard, wondering if his sister would tell him I had been with her today. Everyone else was huddled in different pockets on the sloping grass. The food table, the grill, the sitting table. About twenty-five people in all, though I would have thought it would have thinned out more by this time. The yard smelled like tobacco and gristle from the grill.

“We have plenty of food left,” Toni told me. “And drinks. Beers are here.” She pointed to a blue plastic cooler on the ground.

“Thanks, I just ate,” I lied. I wasn’t hungry. I was fucking worn out and wanted to lay my ass in my bed at the soonest possible convenience. My leg was throbbing as I stepped off the deck and started walking down the hill. I was driving so I declined the beer too.

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