“Shit, Zoe!” I growled, trying to be cranky but even I knew I wasn’t pulling it off.
“No troubles, Zoe. Rum and Coke?” Kane offered. Zoe nodded enthusiastically.
It was going to be a long night. She was already smashed and now she’d switched to the hard stuff. I knew she was going to struggle but I wasn’t about to tell her to ease up. If she wanted to drink to forget, who was I to stop her? Damn, I sounded like such a pussy. Maybe I should down a couple just to reclaim my man card.
With Kane headed to the bar, I stole his stool and sat down next to Derek. We sat in silence for a long moment just observing the world around us. We were there, we were part of a group, but we were standing close enough to the edge that I didn’t felt the suffocating fear I’d been worried about.
I didn’t want to ask. I really didn’t. For some reason, I couldn’t stop myself. “Any update?”
Derek cocked his head to the side in a you’ve-got-to-be-fucking-kidding-me pose. It took him a minute before he breathed out a defeated and resounding, “No.”
I knew it killed him as much as it did me. “She going to be okay?” I asked, my throat suddenly feeling like sand paper.
“Zoe’s tougher than she knows. She can do this. It’s not like she’s not going to have to do it alone, anyway. Is she?”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I snarled. I hated when people presumed to know me. Know what I thought. Know how I’d react. Hell, right now I didn’t even know how I’d react minute to minute. I was barely holding it together.
“Spencer, don’t even try and pretend to be an ass here. You forget. I know you. And I know Zoe. I know that you’re not going to let her out of your sight until you know she’s okay and safe. Remember I was there when you married her…”
“I was four, for fuck’s sake!”
“Yeah, you were. Did it really matter? Treat our girl right, Spencer.”
“You do know we aren’t together, don’t you?”
“You sure?”
“Yep. We’re just friends. Always have been.”
“Bullshit! You might be friends right now but you’re kidding yourself it you really believe that’s all you are.”
As the thought filtered through, I felt my fists clench and the frustration bubble. I wasn’t convinced it was boiling because I was annoyed at Derek or his words. Was I pissed that he’d hit way to close to the truth or was it because he thought he knew what was best for me?
“Spencer!” Zoe giggled as she fell into my lap, a wiggling bundle of untameable drunk girl.
“Hey pretty girl.” I smiled at her, pushing the escaped curls from her forehead, careful not to connect with the cuts that marred her beautiful face. “You having a good time?”
“Fabulous,” she slurred with a smile before taking a swig from the glass Kane thrust into her hand. That’s when chaos broke out.
In her over-excited state, Zoe missed her mouth and managed to cover not only herself and my sweater in the sticky liquid but somehow my jeans also got a thorough drenching. Stealing a glance at the glass, I was shocked to see there was anything left in there, so much seemed to be on us and the floor.
“No! No! No!” Zoe protested as she leapt from my lap, waving her hands about wildly.
Derek grabbed the glass from her hand before the remaining ice cubes went flying, while I clambered to my feet. In the same time it took me to get to my feet, the waterworks arrived. And when they came, they came hard. Within what felt like the blink of an eye, Zoe had tears cascading down her face and dripping from her chin. Her nose was running, her eyes puffy, and she was sobbing. Loud, ugly sobs.
“I ruined it. I-ruined-your-jumper,” she spluttered between gut-wrenching sobs.
I knew the convulsions must have been hurting her. The way she was throwing her body back and forth with each cry that sounded like it was yanked from her soul. I could only hope the huge quantities of rum she’d already consumed would help to numb her pain. She didn’t need to suffer. She’d already suffered enough.
“It’s okay, Zoe. It’s just a jumper,” I tried to assure her as I pulled her to me and wrapped my arms around her. She wouldn’t settle. Instead, she just cried harder and deeper. Her whole body shook with each painful, pitiful cry and it hurt. It bloody hurt like hell. And I wasn’t even the one with broken ribs. “Come on, Pippi, it’s just a shirt. It’ll wash out.”
“Yeah, Zoe. Don’t you think Spencer has spilt rum on his shirt more than once before? You don’t see him crying over it,” Kane tried to help.
I hated it when Kane tried to help. He had no idea. I mean, I’ll admit when it came to women I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing and even less when they were an emotional mess, but I was still better than Kane. He usually just made a bad situation worse. Tonight was proving to be no exception. With Kane’s ineloquent words, Zoe just howled longer and harder, if that was even possible.
With no other ideas in my head, I scooped her up in my arms and smiled at her, completely ignoring the tears and snot and sniffling. “All right, Cinderella. The clock struck midnight. The ball’s over. Time for bed.”
Mum winked at me from across the room and I knew I’d made the right call.
