Ruthless Creatures by J.T. Geissinger

“In a nutshell…yes.”
Now I’m really angry. The heat in my cheeks is warming
the interior of the car. I demand, “That’s what you think I
deserve? Some kind of half-assed booty-call status?”
“No,” he says, his voice hard. “And if you have any sense,
you should tell me to fuck off and never see me again.”
Livid, I stare at him. “I should.”
“Yes. You should.”
Dammit. It’s impossible to argue with someone who’s
agreeing with you.
He takes a corner too fast. The car swerves, tires squealing.
I don’t look away from his face for a second.
“Okay, so what do we do now?”
“I think it’s obvious.”
“Be condescending to me one more time, and I’ll smack
you over the head.”
He presses his lips together, I suspect to keep from
laughing. “You have a decision to make, Natalie.”
“Keep seeing you or tell you to fuck off?”
“Exactly. Oh—there’s one more thing you should know
before you decide.” He glances over at me. “It’s bad.”
I throw my hands in the air. “Worse than you being a
mobster?”
“I can’t have children.”
I thought I was speechless before. I really did. But that
little gem just knocked my ability to form words right out of
the park.
He takes my stunned silence as an invitation to keep
talking.
“I had a vasectomy when I was twenty-one. There’s no
way I’d bring a child into this life. My life. It’s too dangerous.
It would be unfair. So you should take that into consideration
when you’re deciding whether or not you want to keep seeing