Page 18 of Consequences

“He’s drunk, isn’t he?”

She wishes she could tell the young girl no. The fact is, he’s drunk more than sober these days, and he rode here on his motorcycle to take her home. “Stay inside, sweetheart.”

Lucas walks out from the hallways and narrows his eyes. “Lex, is everything okay?”

“Can you ask Noah to stay inside with Calla? And stay with Margaret for a minute while I talk to Zane.”

“Uh oh,” he says and calls to Noah from the sliding door as Lex steps onto the porch.

The alcohol permeates from Zane from over five feet away, and she shakes her head. Until now, she hasn’t said much about how he chooses to parent, but she has to step in here.

“You can’t take her like this.”

“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Zane shouts, his words slurring into one by the end of the sentence. “First, you kill my wife. Now, you’re telling me I can’t take my own fucking daughter home? Anything else you want to demand?”

Lane making Lex her medical power of attorney when she opted out of cancer treatments was the worst mistake Lex ever agreed to. Her brother has never loved her, and this is just another reason he has to hold her existence against her. He’ll never see it for anything other than his wife died because Lex let her.

“You’re drunk, Zane. You’re drunk, and you’re on your bike. You’re going to get yourself killed, and you’re going to take Margaret with you. Could you really live with that?”

“CanIlive with that? You mean, like how you killed her mother?”

“Think what you want, but you will not put your daughter in harm’s way. I’ll drive her to your house. I’ll drive you both, and when you sober up, you can come back to get your bike.”

He closes the space between them and lowers his face to hers. The stench from his breath makes her stomach roil. “You don’t get to make any more decisions about my family, bitch.”

“You aren’t taking your daughter like this. You’ll have to go through me to get to her, and I don’t think you realize how off-balance you are right now.”

“Fuck you!” he shouts, spitting in her face. “You’re nothing but a fucking bitch who should have never been born.Myfather was weak when he knocked up that whore you call your mother.”

It’s easier to just nod her head rather than fight back. She’d normally back down to his verbal insults to end it quicker, but she will let him take Margaret like this over her dead body.

“You know, he should’ve pushed her down the fucking stairs when she told him she was pregnant with you. Killed both of you just like you killed Lane. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if your mother killed mine just to get tomydad.”

If he wasn’t drunk, Lex would knock him flat on his ass, but there’s no reasoning with him right now. The words sting as much as they always have, but she can’t let her emotions get the better of her. And showing them will only push him further.

“Stop it!” Margaret screams from inside the house. “Go home, Dad! Just leave!”

“You’re coming home with me, kid. Get your shit and get out here. Now!” Zane shouts.

“No,” Lex says. “Margaret, stay inside. You’re not leaving with him. Not when he’s like this.”

His eyes blaze with more hatred than she’s ever in seen in them before, and she almost gasps as he says, “I’ll fucking kill you!”

The eerie tone strikes a fear she’s never had with him before, and Lucas runs outside. “Get away from her!”

“Lucas, go inside,” Lex says, her worry shifting from herself to her son.

Zane winds back and punches Lucas, knocking him to the ground the moment he steps beside Lex. Seeing red, she pushes Zane so hard, he trips over a tree stump and hits his head on the ground six feet away.

“Don’t you ever touch him!” she screams. “Lay a hand on him ever again, and I will make sure the spot next to Lane gets filled, you got that?”

“He’s just another fucking stray you took in,” Zane says, laughing as he stands. He rubs his head where it bounced on the ground. “They’re a dime a dozen around here. Your own family wishes you were dead, so you have to create your own to love you.”

Looking at Lucas, she sees a split lip but otherwise no other injuries. “Are you okay, baby?”

“I’m fine.”

His voice shakes, and she hates that another man in his life, albeit distantly in his life, hit him. “Zane, we’re done. I’m here for Margaret, but as far as I’m concerned, we’re both only children and not family. You don’t get to come tomyhouse and hitmykids. He’s not a stray. He’s my son.”

---