BREEDERS

Chapter 10

I raised my hand to knock on his door, my knuckles turning white from doing it so hard.

Sam opened the door, his face hard at first and then softening up when he realized it was me.

"Sam," I breathed. An involuntary twitch came from the lower part of my body when I spoke his name and I shuddered.

"Salice, what are you doing here?" Sam asked, his voice colder than usual. Sarah appeared in the doorway then and crossed her arms. I waited for Michelle to appear in the doorway but when she didn't I put half my body in the door frame.

"Sammy," I said with my soft voice. It was something I did when I knew he couldn't resist me.

"Just tell me what happened," I pleaded. He looked exhausted and angry and I couldn't

help but think that his anger was directed at me. He moved to the side to let me through despite Sarah's protests.

"Bunch of Darkside babies have been popping up. Lots of girls pregnant with no one to turn to. Apparently Franky has been selling birth control to those girls. If they are still managing to get pregnant, then that means the pills are fakes." Sam corralled me into his bedroom and shut the door.

"We don't know that," I whispered.

"Don't we?" He asked in a way that made me freeze. I met his gaze, my mouth opening and closing like a fish.

"Salice, what the fuck!" He hissed. He grasped my shoulders with both his hands and shook me, hard. I resisted the urge to scream.

"I didn't know! Not at first. Not until after I had found out about Sarah," I swore.

"But you still knew, and you didn't tell me," he accused. I winced when I felt his nails dig into my skin and he loosened his grip.

"Redman and Poplar are the few guys that are in Franky's pockets. They said someone was selling merch that wasn't approved. They found nothing on me, but threatened that they'd plant it. They asked over and over again who I got the pills from," he said."

"Did you tell them?" I couldn't look at him.

"They already knew. I didn't need to say anything. Your mom's been reckless, and Darkside wants her head."

"Shit," I whispered. "I swear I didn't know before. I only just recently found out. I didn't know how to tell you. I didn't want you to hate me."

"This was Franky's way of saying he owns us. No one wants to take unregistered babies from Darkside. That place is far worse than here. Those girls don't have a means to provide for themselves. The only choice would be to sell those kids at The Market," he said.

"You've been to The Market. Have you seen-"

"No. But there's fake registries. They could be making fake ones and selling those kids to different sectors under the table. Douglas Reed has been working so hard for his perfect breeding program, and this would eliminate everything."

"So there's a place where the babies are being registered as legitimate children from breeding programs? Won't that show an influx of births in the database?" I asked earnestly.

"Yeah, which is why we are so royally fu-"

The door flew open and there stood Sarah.

"I knew it," she bit out. "I knew it. I knew this all had something to do with your slimy scheming drug addict mom."

"Easy Sarah," reproached Sam. I flinched at her words.

"Me? Easy? What about her?" She pointed a dainty finger at me. "All she has to do is lay down for you and you'd forgive her, right?"