Page 33 of Homecoming

“Ohhhh… Oh look, it’s mybigbrother.” Digby staggers as a drunken grin fills his face.

“What’s wrong with you?” Noah frownsas QT tuts in loud displeasure and they both study the intoxicated pair presented in front of them.

“Where’s Kat?” Digby looks up with a creased brow. “I need to talk to Kat, I need...”

The front door slams as Kat storms inside the houseandignoring them all, she stomps straight up the stairs without a word.

As the door opens again, she’s quickly followed by Marco and Darius, who stop in the hallway and study the dirt-painted bodies of Digby and Zak.

“What the fuck happened to you?” Marco frowns, looking at the mud and fire cinder that covers their skin.

“Oh, yeah… yeah Zak, Zak, we need to go take a shower. Oh, man… we are so drunk. We gotdrinkin’and… Man, that stuff is off the chart. I’m gonna get Rhys some for his birthday,” Digby laughs. “Where the hell have you been?” he frowns, looking at the stern faces peering back at him.

“Where havewebeen? We’ve been out sorting your fuck up!” Darius snaps.

“What? Whatfuckup? What did I do now? Hey, I didn’t donothin’, I haven’t been here all night.”

“Yeah, that’s about right, and while you were ‘just having a drink’ and getting all Picasso’d up there, all hell broke loose here at the house. Now go get cleaned up and then get your fucking ass down there and get rid of those fucking hyenas. They need to be gone.Tonight!”

“You want me to get them to leave? Wait. Why would I do that? And anyway, most of them are passed out, so I don’t think they’re even capable ofmovin’anywhere. No, I’m notgoin’back there and I’m notdoin’what you say. You’re not the pack leader—I am. I said they could stay here, so they stay. Pack leader has decided!”

“Well…” Darius steps closer, his face filled with rage, “best you act like pack leader then. Digby, you need to start making some smarter decisions and that begins with speaking to Kat. You need to sort this shit out because she is not happy.”

“Oh man, you know what she’s like… it’ll blow over. I’ll go give her some Digby love, it’ll be fine.” A grin fills his face as he thrusts his hips forward and immediately falls against the wall to steady himself.

“Really? You think it will justblow over?” There’s a slam as Darius’ fist lands on Digby’s chest and drops him to the floor.

He scrabbles to get upandrubbing his chin, finally manages to stand. “Fuck you.” He attempts to throw afist,but in his drunken state, he misses and lands flat on the floor at Darius’s feet. As he does, his head spins, his stomach flips, and he feels sick. “Uh… Sorry, I gotta… I’m uh… I’m gonna throw up. Can we discuss this later…cuzI can’t do this right now?”

“You better, because I’ve got enough on my plate. For God’s sake, clean it up Digby or let me tell you, you’re gonna lose her.”

“What?” Digby suddenly snaps sober. He sits up and rubs his head, watching as Darius ignores him and storms away. He wants to reply but right now he feels like he’s about to vomit and as he reels amid the spinning room, he drags himself to his feet and quickly carries himself up the stairs to the bathroom.Opening the door Digby focuses in front of the sinkandstares long and hard into the mirror. He runs the cold water into the basin and washes his face and hands.

“Fuck,” he groans as the charcoal-colored water spirals the drain. The effects of the hooty liquor are starting to fade and his ears now register other sounds in the room as he realizes the shower is running.

Turning around, he can see the curved outline of Kat’s naked body, like a shadow etched into the glass.

Hearing the door, she turns and stares at him through the water-streaked glass. “Get the fuck out!” Her green eyes focus on him as she angrily screams. Then sliding open the door, she screams it again. “Get out!”

The door slams shut.

“Kat… Kat baby. Kat, I’m sorry. Please…” Digby steps closer to the glass and leans his head against it. “Baby,c’mon… talk to me.”

The water stops and she steps from inside. Grabbing a towel from the rail, she wraps it around her, and barely acknowledging his presence, she opens the outer door to the bathroom and snaps, “Leave me thefuckalone!”

“Kat wait. Please… please tell me what did I do? Hey, we can sort this out but honey, if you won’t talk to me… Hey will you just wait up?”

He quickly follows her into the hall. “Kat, what the hell is this about? Is this because I said those hyenas could stay for a couple of nights? Kat, they’re not gonna hurt anyone.”

“After everything, everything that’s happened to me—to Luka—you’re still happy to let a bunch of thieving, stinking hyenas come here and be near my pups? I can’t believe you. How could you? Don’t you even care?”

“Of course, I care. Kat, they’re my pups too. I don’t want anyone near them. But I told them to keep away and they will. They’re justpartyin’andhavin’some fun. Trust me, they’ll be gone in a couple of days.”

“Fun?” Kat gestures towards his body. “Oh yeah, that really looks like fun. You’re a mess Digby. It’s time you grew up. We have pups now and for your information, while you were doingthat… one of them did come to the house. He was going to steal my pups.”

“Wait. What? Kat, you must have misunderstood…Mikahgave me his word. He told me no one would come to the house. When the hell did this happen?”

“When you weren’t here. So much for keeping us safe. Digby, where the hell were you when we needed you? Oh yeah… yeah, you were down there doing some kind of naked I’ve-got-talent dance routine. Great… real grown up. Real father material.”

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