Epilogue
Zac
I have no idea why she even showed up tonight. She can’t even fucking look at me and the tension it is creating has me hanging on by a thread. A thin, weak, thread that is shredding slowly. I’ll admit I don’t know Presley all that well, but she never had an issue with me prior to the one where she surprised the hell out of me. I never expected that night, but she is gorgeous and I’m a guy.
Laughter echoes down the hallway, and I look up just in time to see Jace and Aurora emerging from the hallway they disappeared down more than twenty minutes ago. The assholes literally escaped to my bathroom where I know without a doubt they fucked. The noises they were making confirmed my suspicion.
I make a mental note to sanitize every inch of the space later.
They were both smiling, hand in hand, stopping only a few feet from everyone else.
“She said yes,” Jace states proudly, and Oliver chuckles.
“No fucking shit, we all heard her scream it.” Luna smacks him in the gut, and he makes a humph sound. “What?”
“Ass,” Aurora rolls her eyes but she is smiling so we all know she’s not offended. “I said yes when he asked me to marry him.” She shrugged and suddenly Bree is on her feet, squealing and rushing forward toward her best friend.
We all were offering our congratulations and in the moment I couldn’t have been prouder to call Jace my best friend. It was a life changing moment because he was finally accepting that he deserved something good. Aurora is good, she is the glue that holds him together, she is good for him.
I’ve seen the guy perform a one eighty in a short time and its staggering.
Everyone is happy, smiling and then I look at Presley, just in time to catch her rolling her eyes.
And I snap. That thread breaks, and I react without being able to gain control.
"What the hell is your problem?” Everyone freezes turning around to look at me. Only I’m looking at Presley who is glaring back at me.
“You show up with an attitude, you piss on everyone’s happiness. You won’t talk to anyone so none of us can try to even attempt to help. So what?” I throw my hands up in frustration. “What is the fucking issue?”
“Zac,” Oliver tries to intervene.
“No,” my emotions have taken over. I push Olly out of my way and take another step in her direction. “You’ve had an issue since that night. But you fucking jumped me, I didn’t take advantage.”
“Oh, I jumped you!” She finally reacts, pushing against my chest. I’d never seen her angry, until now. Maybe it is a dick move, maybe I’ve changed and taken on the asshole roll that Jace once carried, who knows. But I’ve had enough!
“You dropped to your knees without any hesitation.” Presley swings to smack me but I catch her hand before she makes contact.
“You can turn this on me all you want.” I hold her stare, not caring that everyone around us is hearing and seeing this all unfold. “Day after fucking day you walk around acting like I forced myself on you and then tossed you aside. I didn’t trick you into doing anything you didn’t want to do. So drop this wounded animal act, face your shit. Quit trying to flip this all around. We were both there! We both participated willingly and we both got off.”
“You’re an asshole,” she pushes against me, but I don’t give in and let her pass.
“Fine,” I shrug, “I’m the asshole, but you know it’s true.”
I wait for her to argue, but she doesn’t. She doesn’t say anything.”
“So what is the deal? What the hell is the problem?” I ask again.
“Leave it alone,” her nostrils flare.
“Come on guys,” Jace is the one that tries to intervene this time.
‘’No, we are getting through this shit here and now.” Presley wants to keep this shit going, but I’m done. “We fucked; it happened.” My voice is much lower, and I am staring directly in her eyes, forcing her to see me. “Deal with it or get the fuck over it.
“I can’t!” Her voice cracks.
“Why?” Her eyes shine with tears and for the first time since I snapped, I do feel like an ass.
“Because I’m pregnant.” She shrugs and I slowly release my hold on her, stunned. Yeah I’ll go with that. “So this isn’t something I can just pretend didn’t happen. I wish I could, but it’s not going to just go away.”
Presley
Zac stood before me silent, his mouth opening then shutting like he had something to say but the words wouldn’t come out. My chest grew tight and I turned to find I’d shocked everyone in the room. All of them sharing looks, but none of them saying a word. I was the outsider, I’d shown up and now I was ruining the life of their brother.
I’m the bad guy.
Finally, I grab my jacket and purse, and start for the door, needing to get out of here. Stepping outside, I breath in the night air and dig in my purse for the keys when I hear the door open behind me.
“Pres,” Aurora’s soft concerned whisper washes over me like a cold chill.
She is the only family I’ve got. My life isn’t sunshine and roses. I don’t have a parent I can call; they are both dead. I don’t have a cool aunt, because that would be Aurora’s mom and she is a cold bitch.
Aurora is all I have.
She is last person I want to disappoint. I’ve always looked up to her, but I don’t think she knows how much she means to me.
“I fucked up again,” I confess, without turning around to look at her. If I see her I will lose it and I am barely hanging on as it is. “The girl that can’t seem to get it right, but can get knocked up like that,” I snap my fingers. “I’m as fertile as a rabbit. Here I am rolling through life fucking up right and left along the way.”
“Zac is not Grant,” she says and I take a slow calming breath. Feeling myself crack a little more.
“I know he’s not,” Grant is an asshole, a worthless, heartless abusive asshole. “But he is a guy. They are all the same.”
“That’s not true,” for the first time since she joined me outside I turn and look at her.
“Yes, it is, they all lie, they all cheat and they all— forget it.” I like to believe that Jace won’t hurt her, but with my track record, I’ve never had a man not hurt me in some form. “I need to go.”
“Where are you going?”
“Home,” I take a step back to gain some distance. “I never should have come. I’ve already made a mess of everything, it’s what I’m good at Aurora, you know it and so do I.”
As I walk away she hollers out for me, but I don’t turn back. Instead I climb into my car and cry all the way home.
Not knowing what will happen next but fearing that everything was about to blow up in my face.