Page 65 of Seven Ways Back

Now Ridge is watching me with skepticism, like maybe there is some truth to Zach’s words.

“I’m not drunk, you assholes.”

They both eye me like I don’t know what I’m talking about, so I roll my eyes at them. I decide to change the subject.

“When are you getting Brooke pregnant again?” I eye my brother knowingly. That little girl he wants won’t be brought by a stork, that’s for sure.

“We just want to enjoy Levi for now,” he grins in his wife’s direction. She is chatting away with Lexi Cavalli, both of them patting the cute little butts of the babies they have resting on their shoulders.

“That’s so weird, Ridge,” I continue watching Brooke as she is laughing at something that Lexi just said.

“What is?” My brother sits up straighter, ready to go kick the ass of whoever is giving his wife a hard time.

“That Brooke and Lexi are friends,” I look at him like he is losing it. How is this not weird?

“Lexi is a good girl,” he shrugs. “I should’ve never gotten involved with her.” He then stands up and walks toward his wife. His best friend, Marco, has also joined the small group.

“How are you feeling?” I am startled from my random thoughts by Zach’s voice right into my ear.

“F-fine,” I mumble, my eyes almost incapable of meeting his. I just have a hard time looking at him in general. He confuses me with his actions, and I don’t understand why we are still together three months after he told me I wasted his money by marrying him.

“Are you sure?” He is watching me with suspicious eyes, and now I am getting upset. All the anger I’ve been bottling up inside is threatening to spill over.

“Are you secretly poisoning me? Should I feel sick?” I spit out, then snatch my bottle of beer back from his hand with the intention of guzzling it all down.

“No, but I’ve been fucking you without a condom for three months now, and you’re still not pregnant. What gives?”

Beer flies out of my nose when I aspirate it instead of swallowing it. The more I try to cough it out, the more I am chocking on it. My hands are blindly searching for a napkin, but I can’t find anything helpful. Zach starts patting me on the back, but that’s just making it worse.

“Baby girl,” I hear my mom’s voice coming from the side, and I also hear a baby crying. To say that I am making a spectacle of myself doesn’t begin to cover it. Also, this could be it. This is how I am going to die, and everyone will be talking about it for years to come.

Finally, about five minutes into one of the most embarrassing situations I have ever found myself in, I can take a deep breath again without feeling like I am going to suffocate.

“Zach,” I growl at him, and I swear I think he just smirked at me. It was fast, and he got himself in check pretty quickly, but it was there, and I saw it. I am all hunched over, snot and spit, and God knows what the rest of the wet stuff running down my face is, blending in and dripping onto my shirt.

“Honey, are you okay?” Mom is rubbing circles on my back, and I want her to go away. I am done letting Zach walk all over me.

“Fine,” I stand up abruptly and start marching toward the house. I am going to clean myself up, then I am going to knee my husband right in the balls. So hard that they’re gonna choke him in the back of his throat, the same as I almost died choking on the beer I was drinking only minutes ago.

“Kick his ass, baby sis,” Ridge hollers at me as I get closer to the slide door that leads to the inside of my parents’ house.

“Fuck off,” I mutter to the side of my mouth.

“She said a bad word,” I hear Emmy, Zach’s niece, hell, she’s my niece now, too, whispering to someone.

I stop abruptly to look at her. I know I have to be looking scary with all this shit running down my face, and Emmy’s face only proves it when she takes me in. She is scared of me right now, but she is not backing down either. I have to respect that.

“I’m very sorry, Emmy,” I wince when I smile, and her eyes get bigger yet. “Could you please tell your Uncle Zach that I need him inside for a minute?”

“Is he in trouble?” I swear I think she says the last word as toable, and I want to melt on the spot.

“Only if he doesn’t follow me inside this house as soon as possible,” I give her what I hope is a re-assuring smile. Her little face remains serious, but then she gives me a short nod and takes off in the yard, presumably to send Zach my way.

I march inside the house and up the stairs to my room. When I walk into the bathroom and see myself in the mirror, I yelp in surprise. I look even worse than I thought, what with my makeup running down my face and mixing with the rest of the liquids marring my features. I’d look great and on point if this was Halloween.

I am scrubbing away at the mess when I hear a light knock on the door jamb. I know it’s Zach. I can feel it in the way my heart kicks into gear, almost like I can smell him.

Neither one of us says a word as I continue to clean my face. When I am done, I run a dry towel over my cheeks, forehead and down the front of my neck and chest. I am not ready to face Zach yet, so I open and close random drawers until I find some eye and face cream I had left here over the summer.

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