Page 47 of F Buddy

But then the reason I was mad at her slammed into me, when I looked down her body and noticed the very visible swell of her stomach. I tightened my lips, my stare turning into a glare at the remembered offense.

She was the one in the wrong this time, and I wasn’t going to let her off so easily. I tightened my arm around Abigail, and I didn’t miss her looking up to catch my gaze, though I didn’t look down to meet it.

I waited for Scarlett to raise her eyes and see me glaring at her. I wanted to see the hurt cross her face when she remembered what she’d done to me. I willed her to.

But instead, she turned and ran out of the room. I was frozen for a moment, then I was pulling my arm from Abigail and rushing after Scarlett.

“Zach!”

I heard two voices call my name, one in astonishment, the other in warning. An arm caught my shoulder, but I easily shrugged it off, the urgency of the moment making me move faster. I practically fell out the door, righting myself quickly as I looked wildly around. A part of me was asking why I was so desperate to talk to her. I could have ignored her and we could have both got on with our evening. But when I didn’t see her immediately, I started growing frantic. Until I noticed her a little off to the side, right at the curb trying to hail a taxi.

“Scarlett!” I shouted.

She stilled, then looked over her shoulder at me. The stricken look she gave me was enough to cause me a little discomfort. I didn’t know why she was looking at me as if I’d hurt her somehow. But then she looked away, and I firmed my resolve. I reminded myself that I wasn’t the injured party here.

“Don’t you dare run away, Scarlett,” I called out, advancing quickly on her, ignoring the people on the street. “We need to talk.”

She hunched her shoulders, and when she turned around to meet my gaze then, she was frowning at me.

“Now really isn’t a good time, Zach. Can we do this later?”

“Like when?” I demanded, and she winced at my loud voice. I told myself I didn’t care but lowered my voice as I continued. “You stopped talking to me out of nowhere. How do I know if I leave you won’t just do the same thing again? I deserve some explanation for this, Scarlett.”

She flinched back, playing it off immediately, but I had noticed. Some doubts had started to grow in the back of my mind, but I ignored them because they weren’t important. I’d been waiting to have this conversation with Scarlett, no matter how much a part of me had wanted to put it off, and I was going to get answers from her.

Scarlett was suddenly glaring up at me, and I was the one to flinch this time.

“I wasn’t the only one not answering their calls and messages,” she snarled. “So don’t you fucking give me that. If you wanted an explanation you would have answered my calls.”

I tightened my lips because that was true. At the time, I’d been... almost afraid of what she’d tell me. Those fears were still in the back of my mind at that moment. I was also a bit surprised at how vehement she was acting, like somehow I’d been the one to do her wrong. I’d never seen her quite like this, and it only made my back straighten.

“So?” I said after a while where neither of us spoke. “Do I get an explanation now or what? You just said you had one for me.”

She curled her lip. “It’s no longer needed. You knew before you came here that I was pregnant, didn’t you? And you ignored me because of it. That was my answer, wasn’t it?”

She chuckled, her voice low, and I would have been an ass not to notice the edge of pain in it. Scarlett looked down, pressing her hands to her stomach, and her shoulders suddenly slumped in defeat.

“Look.” She murmured, her breath hitching. Then she looked up, and I was again taken aback by the pain in her face, in her eye, a look that I found wrong on her. “Can we just forget about this?” she said, sounding a little desperate. “I just want to go home. I only came out today because the others insisted, but I don’t want to be here. You should go back in there to your... girlfriend.” She said the word as if she were chewing on glass.“ And we can both get on with our lives.”

Words were running around in my mind, but I couldn’t let any of them out. She looked like she was about to cry, and I didn’t know why. I was the injured party here, wasn’t I? Why was she looking at me like I’d just stabbed her in the chest—or in the back—when I was pretty sure I’d done no such thing?

Had I been in my right mind, I would have wondered why I was so angry. I’d had spats with women before, and I usually let them go pretty quickly.

But when I saw Scarlett turning around, about to leave, thinking our little confrontation was over, my body reacted of its own accord. I reached forward, bridging the space between us and clamping a hand down on her shoulder, whirling her around to face me again. Her eyes were widened in fright, and her look pierced my heart. I dropped my hand from her shoulder like it had been burnt.

Why was she looking at me like I was about to hit her or something?

“Wait a minute,” I growled, again pushing back my instincts and letting my anger take over. “We are nowhere near finished here, Scarlett.”

Her nose wrinkled in that way I’d always thought was cute before, but right then, it just made my heart ache more.

“What more do you want from me, Zach? You made your answer very clear, didn’t you? When you ignored me when I tried to explain.”

“I want you to explain now,” I demanded, but I was confused. What exactly did she mean? I was also frustrated because she wasn’t reacting the way I’d wanted her to. Was she not at least going to admit that she’d nearly duped me into marriage while she was pregnant?

She frowned up at me, looking confused herself, but the edge of pain never left her. “What the fuck do you even need an explanation for now, huh? Why don’t you just go back and find Abigail? Have a nice night.”

“Would you stop mentioning Abigail,” I burst out. “I don’t know what the fuck your problem with her is, but this is between you and me. She has nothing to do with this.”