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“Whoa,” I replied, trying not to laugh “No, twelve’s a pretty nor periods And don’t take her to the doctor unless you want to embarrass the hell out of her”

“She’s at the house and she won’t come out of the bathroom,” he said, curtly “Pretty sure she’s already ee

“Why don’t you go hoet her so to calm him down a little

“I got it,” he replied “I just need to knohat to get”

“I don’t knoithout looking at the selection,” I replied, trying to iine the store in my mind The supplies I used weren’t necessarily what a twelve year old would need, and I didn’t want her ending up with so her life “I can just run down—”

“Rose,” he snapped “I said I got it You knohat, I can just call my ma”

“Mack,” I said, trying to keep my voice even What the hell was his proble an ass when I tried to give it “Just get her regular pads,” I said finally “Ones ings Unscented Try and find so”

“Regular Wings Unscented Pretty,” he repeated “Thanks”

He hung up without saying goodbye, and I forced myself to setit across the roo deal that he was short with me People had bad moods Intellectually, I knew that But my stomach churned with anxiety, anyway

Chapter 8

Mack

I leaned back in bed and finishedthe twelve-pack into h four out of the six I’d set on htstand Still wasn’t relaxed Still didn’t knohat the fuck I was supposed to do aboutdinner because she was so da at all Still felt like shit about how I’d snapped at Rose

I cracked open another bottle and set it on ainstdepth and I knew it I’d been banking on Kara being able to talk to my noring the fact that my parents were out of state most of the year Stupid, yeah, but how the fuck was I supposed to prepare for that shit? I’d had the sex talk with Kara when she was ten and ca off bullshit she’d heard at school Both of us had been unco all the wrong shit kids her age pieced together from overheard conversations and crap on the internet

Kara hadn’t wanted ht, and that burned I took another drink ofShe’d wanted to be anywhere but at ho to anyone butet her supplies than the fact that she’d started her period I didn’t knohat to do She’d always been my little sidekick If she was hurt, she wanted her daddy If she was happy, she wanted me Hell, if she was pissed, she wanted to take it out onthat she wantedkilled me

Itready for that

When Rose had offered to get Kara some stuff at the store, for a split second, I’d considered taking her up on it Hell, it would’ve been easy to let Rose come in and save the day, with her no-nonsense attitude and knowledge of shit I had no idea about But then I’d been pissed for even considering it, and irritated that she’d asked

Rose was my woman, and I had a lot of fun with her I was crazy for her, if I was being honest But she wasn’t Kara’sinto that role There was no way in hell I’d ever give that kind of power to soh

I still felt like an asshole, though, for the way I’d handled things earlier in the day I should’ve said thanks, but no thanks, and instead I’d snapped at her and hung up on her Fuck I’d be lucky if she even answered her phone when I called Rose wasn’t exactly the forgiving type, not if her prank ere anything to go by I’d seen her refuse to talk to Tommy for an entire month once because he’d eaten the pizza she’d left in her parents’ fridge