Free Life Support by Tess Gerritsen Page A

down, and felt a sudden chill. What is going on?
    His right hand was shaking.
    Molly Picker raised her head from the toilet and pulled the flush lever. There was nothing left in her stomach, she'd thrown it all up.
    Pepsi, Fritos, and Lucky Charms. Dizzy, she sat down on the floor, leaned her back against the bathroom wall, and listened to the water whoosh down the pipes. Three weeks, she thought. I been sick for three weeks now.
    She dragged herself to her feet and stumbled back to bed. Curling up on the lumpy mattress, she fell quickly and deeply asleep.
    At noon, she woke up when Romy walked into her room. He didn't bother to knock first, he sat down on the bed and gave her a shake. "Hey, Molly Wolly. Still got the all' stomach bug?"
    Groaning, she looked at him. Romy reminded her of a reptile, his hair all slicked back and shiny, his eyes so dark you couldn't see the pupils. Lizard man. But the hand stroking her hair was gentle� an aspect of Romy she hadn't seen in such a very long time. He gave her a smile.
    "Not so good today, huh?"
    "I threw up again. I can't stop throwing up."
    "Yeah, well, I finally got you something for that." He placed a bottle of pills on the nightstand. It had a label with handwritten instructions, Take one pill every eight hours for nausea. Romy went into the bathroom, filled a glass with water, and returned to Molly's bed. He opened the bottle, shook a pill out, and helped her sit up. "Down the hatch," he said.
    She frowned at the pill. "What is this?"
    "Medicine ."
    "Where'd you get it?"
    "It's okay. It's what the doctor ordered."
    "What doctor?"
    "Here I'm trying to be nice, trying to make you feel better, and you talk back. I don't really give a shit if you take the pill or not."
    She turned away and felt his hand pressing against her back, tightening into a fist. Then, unexpectedly, he relaxed and began to rub her back in warm, coaxing strokes.
    "C'mon, Moll. You know I look out for you. Always have, always will. " She gave a bitter laugh. "Like that makes me special."
    "You are. You're my special babe. My own best girl." He slid his hand under her shirt and stroked across her skin. "You been so prickly lately. Didn't feel like showing you no favors. But you know I'm always watching out for you, Molly lollipop." He tasted her earlobe and murmured, "Yum."
    "So what's in the pill?"
    "I told you. It's so you'll stop puking and start eating again. A growing girl's gotta eat." His lips slid down her neck, to graze her shoulder. "If you don't eat, pretty soon I'll have to bring you to some hospital. You want to wind up in a hospital? Bunch of strange doctors?"
    "I don't want to see no doctors." She regarded the pill in her hand and felt a sudden sense of wonder, not about the pill, but about Romy. He hadn't been this sweet to her in months, hadn't paid her much attention at all. Not like before, when she had been his special girl.
    When they'd spent nights together in bed, watching MTV, eating ice cream, drinking beer. When he was the only one who'd touch her. Who was allowed to touch her. Before everything between them had changed.
    He was smiling, not his usual small, mean smile, but one that actually touched his eyes.
    She swallowed the pill and washed it down with a sip of water.
    "That's my girl." He eased her back down to the pillow and tucked her in. "You go to sleep now."
    "Stay with me, Romy."
    "I got things to do, babe." He stood up. "Business."
    "I have to tell you something. I think I know why I been sick�" "We'll talk about it later, okay?" He gave her a pat on the head and left the room.
    Molly stared at the ceiling. Three weeks is too long for the stomachflu, she thought. She placed her hands on her belly and imagined she could already feel the swelling there. When did I mess up? Which guy pumped in a live one? She was always careful, always carried her own rubbers, had learned to apply them with the silky strokes of foreplay.
    She wasn't stupid, she knew a girl could get sick