When she explained it to me like that, I started to feel guilty. It made sense. He was the only one still unchanged by the years. He was still living that total rockstar life. She came over and reached for my shoulder.
“Try not to take it so personally. He’s just upset that you’re taking his bff away from him. He’ll get over it.”
I nodded and left the wine in the kitchen.Returning to the living room I went to sit down on the couch. However, I was stopped by Derek opening his mouth.
“Hey, go get me another beer.”
“Excuse me? Go get it yourself,” I snapped back.
“Why are you being such a bitch lately? It’s just a beer,” he smirked. That was it. I had finally had it. I stormed over to him and snatched the controller out of his hand.
“What the hell!”
“No, we’re done. You can’t stay here anymore. Get out of my house.”
He opened and shut his mouth quickly. Seeing my face, he didn’t know how to properly respond. He looked around the room for support, but everyone was either looking away or not giving him the reaction he wanted.
“Is this a joke? You can’t do that. This isn’t your place. Mark’s my brother, he won’t let you just kick me out.” He crossed his arms triumphantly. I put my hand on my hip and burst out laughing.
“This isn’t my place? I was the one who picked it out. We’re married. We’re partners. He doesn’t have more say than me. Despite what you think we’re equals, and I can’t have you here anymore. I’m done.”
“Done with what? Okay, I can get my own beer. Happy? Are you satisfied, making a big deal out of nothing?” He stood up and moved to stand toe to toe with me. I clenched my fist. I was seeing spots.
“Get the hell out of my way,” he brushed past me and I pounced on him.
He fell to the floor and I pushed his head into the carpet. He yelled and started wiggling, trying to get me off his back. I put all my weight into keeping him down. Suddenly I heard a voice that made me look up and return back to earth.
“Jesus Renee, what are you doing?” Mark.
My brief confusion was all Derek needed to shove me off him and get on his feet.
“Your wife went crazy over a joke!” He shouted, adjusting his clothes. Mark sat down the pizzas and came into the room to help me up. We stood there, with him between us. Derek was shooting daggers at me, while I was trying hard not to punch him in the face.
“Renee, do you need to get some air?” He asked me. I ignored him. I swore if he took Derek’s side in this, I was divorcing him. They could have each other. I was sick of it.
“Mark, Derek has been purposely trying to provoke her,” Cleo said gently from her seat.
“It was a joke!” Derek shouted. “She’s trying to kick me out man.” He looked at Mark, pleading for him to do something.
“Dude, you can’t keep doing this-” he started. I could tell in his tone that he was going to try to pacify both of us. Go figure, the hot head of the band was the one trying to keep us from going off.
“Play me.” I said suddenly. They looked at me confused, so I decided to make a deal. “Play me in your game. You win, I’ll drop it and you can stay here until the baby comes, like planned. I win and you leave with everyone else tonight and you never sleep here again.”
Derek laughed, crossing his arms.
“You can’t beat me. I’ve been playing this game since it came out. Sure, let’s play. Then maybe you’ll finally shut up.”
Mark slugged his shoulder.
“Dude, watch it.” I extended my hand and locked eyes with him. He shook my hand, squeezing it hard. I forced myself not to wince.
“This is better than the fight we actually came here for,” Ethan murmured. Everyone turned to him and he looked down quickly. “My bad.”
“No, it is. I didn’t really pick a side for the boxing match, but I’m picking sides now,” Chase laughed. Adrian nudged him and silently scolded him.
I went over and took the controller from him. He moved aside to let me take his spot.
“What are we playing?” He asked, grabbing the controller I had ripped from his hands and sitting down next to me. It was a shooting game. You had enemy teams that you played against in different games. Nothing real original but they loved it.
