“Not one hundred percent. But I’m not willing to take the chance, regardless,” Lily replies. “I’ll talk to you later, big brother.”
Lily and River turn to leave and Justin walks them out. I’m not sure if that’s to give Ace and me time to talk about what the hell just happened or if he doesn’t want to get caught in the cross fire of Ace’s wrath. His face isn’t stone now; it’s pure rage.
“Ace, what’s wrong?” I ask.
He takes a deep breath and blows it out forcefully. “Layne, I’m not hiding anything from you, but I need some time to cool off before we talk about it. Can you understand that?”
“Of course,” I reply. Honestly, I completely understand how it feels to need time to collect my thoughts, get my emotions under control, and then mentally prepare for a conversation. “Take your time. I’ll give you some space while I run a few errands. You know how to find me if you need anything.”
His strong arms wrap around me and squeeze me to him. “Thank you for understanding. We’ll talk later, okay?”
“Okay.” I kiss his cheek and step out of his embrace. “Don’t take it out on my horse, though.”
This at least gets me half of a smile in return. “I won’t. I promise.”
* * *
My errands are finished and I haven’t heard from Ace yet, so I head for my cabin. There’s a strange car parked in the driveway when I arrive, but since Zoe is still here, I assume it’s a friend of hers. When I climb the stairs to the front door, I hear raised voices coming from inside. As I open the door, I very clearly hear an angry female voice.
“You will damn well do what I tell you to do, or I will make your life a living hell. And you know I can fucking do it!”
The girl screaming has her back to me, but I can clearly see the worry and torment on Zoe’s face and it brings out the protective momma bear in me.
“What the hell is going on in here? Who the hell are you?” I bellow as I advance on her.
She whirls around, her blond hair flying in the air, and narrows her eyes defensively at me. “Who the hell am I? Who the fuck are you?”
“I live here and you are trespassing here. Get out of my house and take your juvenile threats with you, or we can just let the police take you to jail and you can figure the rest out from there.”
She sneers at me, her face contorting in an ugly, unimpressed expression when my words sink in. But it’s all bravado and I know it without a doubt. I’ve dealt with bullies like her far too many times in my life. I dramatically drop my purse on the table in front of me and pull my cell phone out. “Have it your way, then. Tell Judge Edwards hello for me.”
The sneer morphs into pure anger, but there’s evidence of intimidation underneath. Her head snaps back to Zoe. “You’d better remember what I said,” she threatens. Turning on her heel, she stomps in my direction as she makes her way to the door. She stops beside me to issue her final warning. “And you’d better learn to mind your own fucking business.”
I laugh in her face, truly amused at how clever she thinks she is when she’s really just showing what an idiot she is. “I’ll mind my own fucking business when you get the fuck out of my house.”
With an angry huff, she jerks the door open and slams it closed behind her theatrically. Concerned about Zoe, I rush to her to reassure her. “Are you okay, sweetheart? Who was that?”
“I’m okay,” she replies, but her hand is still slightly shaking.
“Who is she?”
Zoe shakes her head in repulsion. “She’s my cousin. She’s been away for a while and just recently came back to town.”
“What does she want from you?”
“She just found out I’m pregnant and what Jeremy did to me. She’s always been a diva, very popular around here, expects everyone to cater to her, and she’s so worried about what other people think. Anyway, she wants me to go after Jeremy and make him pay. She said I’m the talk of the town, that all the kids think I’m just white trash, and they’re planning to make my senior year unbearable.”
“How is it any of her business? How much can it possibly affect her if she didn’t even know you were pregnant before now? And who is planning things against you? None of this makes any sense.”
“It’s not her concern. She’ll just have to get over it. She blows things out of proportion with her temper and drama, then she quickly moves on to something else,” Zoe explains, basically dismissing the whole scene. “I have to leave for work now or I’ll be late. I’ll see you later.”
“All right,” I reply reluctantly. “Be careful, Zoe.”