Chapter 348 - No Take Backs

Chapter 348: Chapter 348 - No Take Backs

Roxie told herself she was only going home to shower.

Karen was still at Angela’s, Mrs. Hart had been home all morning, and Angela had barely left her bedroom since coming home from school Friday.

Roxie had spent Saturday there too, sitting on the floor beside Angela’s bed, watching movies Angela barely followed, eating whatever Mrs. Hart brought upstairs and pretending she did not notice every time Angela checked her phone.

By Sunday afternoon, Karen had practically pushed Roxie toward the door.

"Go home. Shower. Change. See your boyfriend before he starts crying."

"Zac doesn’t cry."

Roxie thought about the needy messages he had been sending since yesterday, including two shirtless pictures clearly meant to lure her home. They might have worked under normal circumstances, but Angela mattered more right now.

"He looks like he’s going to every time you tell him you’re staying another night."

Angela managed a small laugh from beneath her blanket. "Go. It’s not like I’m going somewhere."

Roxie sat beside her. "Zac can rot at home. I want to stay with you."

Angela grinned, and for once the smile actually reached her eyes. "He stood outside last night just to see you for five minutes. Go home and come back fast."

Roxie narrowed her eyes. "You’re kicking me out?"

"For a shower. You’re coming back."

"I smell fine."

Karen made a face.

"Fuck you."

Angela laughed again, louder this time.

That was what finally made Roxie leave.

She expected the bungalow to be quiet when she got back, but she heard the lawn mower before she even reached the front steps. Roxie frowned and followed the sound around the side of the house, then stopped so suddenly that her bad ankle almost gave out beneath her.

Zac was mowing the lawn.

Shirtless.

Roxie stood there longer than she should have. His back was turned to her, skin damp with sweat beneath the afternoon sun while his shoulders and arms tightened every time he pushed the mower forward. His hair was damp too, and his shorts sat low enough on his hips that Roxie forgot for several seconds that she had come home exhausted, worried about Angela and desperate for an actual shower.

Fuck.

Her boyfriend was ridiculously hot.

Zac turned at the end of the lawn and spotted her immediately. His eyes moved over her once, landed on the way she was favoring her injured ankle, and his expression changed. He shut the mower off and started toward her.

"Why are you limping like that?"

She looked down at the brace. "Because my ankle is injured?"

"You’re supposed to be resting it."

"I have been resting it."

"You walked all the way from the driveway."

"That’s usually how people get from cars to houses."

Zac bent toward her.

"Zac!"

Roxie screeched even though her arms were already sliding around his neck when he lifted her. One arm went beneath her knees while the other wrapped around her back, and she settled against him almost automatically.

"You’re sweaty."

"So?"

"So put me down."

Instead, Zac started carrying her toward the house.

Roxie tightened her arms around his neck. "I think you enjoy ignoring me."

"I think you limped extra hard because you knew I’d carry you."

"Shut up." She giggled and rested her head against him. "It worked though."

His chest was hot against her side, and he was very, very sweaty. Roxie wrinkled her nose even as she moved closer.

"You smell."

Zac looked offended. "I was mowing your lawn. Pretty sure this job costs at least fifty dollars."

Roxie pouted at him before grinning. "I’ve got one way to pay."

Zac stopped walking.

The expression on his face made Roxie burst out laughing.

He swallowed. "I’ll take it."

"I’m joking."

"No take backs."

"Zac."

His grin widened as he started walking faster toward the door.

Roxie laughed and rested her face near his neck, breathing in without thinking. Sweat, soap, cut grass and Zac filled her nose.

He looked down at her.

Roxie immediately knew she had been caught.

"Did you just smell me?"

"You’re imagining things."

"You absolutely smelled me."

"I did not."

Zac laughed and kept walking.

Roxie stayed tucked against his neck anyway. She hated that she actually liked how he smelled right now. After spending almost the entire weekend worrying about Angela, something about being held against him while he smelled like sweat and outside and himself felt stupidly comforting.

That was when she noticed the car parked along the side of the bungalow.

Roxie lifted her head. "Wait. The car’s back?"

"Yeah. Your dad brought it back."

She twisted enough to look at it again. "He’s here?"

"He came earlier and left it."

"What did he want?"

Zac opened the back door with one hand and carried her inside. "Talked to me."

"About what?"

He finally set her on the kitchen counter, but Roxie immediately caught his shoulders when he stepped between her knees.

"What did he talk to you about?"

Zac shrugged.

Roxie narrowed her eyes. "Zachary."

"Nothing bad. He asked how you were doing, asked about our plans, what I’m doing after graduation."

So that was probably why he had come. Mr. Robinson had already put money aside for her future, and Roxie still had no idea exactly what she planned to do with it. Part of her wanted to be irritated that he might be checking what she intended to do with the trust he had given her. Another part felt strangely warm that he wanted to know what came next.

She hated that the second feeling was winning.

Zac touched her knee. "How’s Angela?"

The warmth disappeared.

Roxie sighed and leaned against him. "She still barely comes out of her room."

"Still?"

"Karen stayed. Mrs. Hart keeps bringing food upstairs, and Angela eats some of it if we annoy her enough."

Zac’s hand moved slowly along her thigh. "Caleb?"

Roxie shook her head. "Nothing."

His eyebrows pulled together.

"His parents already told the Harts he had nothing to do with the picture, and I believe them. Angela believes them too." Roxie rubbed her forehead. "But he still hasn’t called. She checks her phone constantly."

"His grandma’s still bad?"

"Yeah."

Roxie understood it. She really did. If someone in his family was dying, Caleb had every right to stay with them. Still, every time Angela’s phone lit up and Roxie watched hope flash across her face before disappearing again, she wanted to be angry at him anyway.

"She keeps defending him," Roxie said. "Nobody even accuses him anymore and she starts explaining why he can’t call."

Zac stayed quiet.

Roxie looked at him. "I feel shitty being here."

"Why?"

"Because she’s upstairs barely talking to anyone and I left."

"Karen’s there."

"I know."

"Her mom’s there."

"I know." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

"You’ve been there almost the whole weekend."

"I know."

Zac watched her for a moment. "Then stop saying you know like you’re waiting for me to agree that you should feel guilty."

Roxie frowned at him.

He smiled.

"I hate you."

"No, you don’t."

Roxie rested her forehead against his chest, immediately felt the sweat and pulled back with a grimace.

"Jesus, you really are disgusting."

Zac laughed.

"You need a shower."

"So do you."

"I came home specifically to take one."

His hands settled around her hips. "Then go take one. Or should I bathe you?"

He clearly meant it as a joke.

The problem was that it sounded really tempting.

Roxie said nothing.

Zac stared at her for a second before groaning and dropping his forehead against hers. "Don’t tempt me."

She giggled and slid her hand around the back of his neck.

His expression changed.

"I missed you," Roxie said.

His hands tightened around her hips. "Yeah?"

"Don’t make it weird."

Zac smiled. "I was going to say I missed you too."

Roxie pulled him down and kissed him before he could say anything else.

Zac groaned against her mouth, kissed her back for several seconds, then suddenly pulled away and lifted her again.

"Where are we going?"

"You said shower."

"I can walk."

"You’re limping."

"You just like carrying me."

"Maybe."

Roxie smiled and wrapped her arms around him while Zac carried her into the bathroom. He set her carefully on the counter, then leaned in for another kiss before she had even settled.

Roxie took it.

His hands settled at her waist while her knees opened around him, and the kiss went deeper almost immediately. She could taste sweat near the corner of his mouth and should probably have cared.

She didn’t.

She had spent days thinking about Angela, the picture, school, Caleb and whatever horrible thing somebody might say next. Now Zac was in front of her, warm and familiar, and for the first time all weekend her head finally went quiet.

Zac kissed along her jaw and down toward her neck.

Roxie tilted her head. "I really need to shower."

"Let’s take one."

She looked at him.

Zac raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Together?"

"I’ll take it as payment."

"That was a joke."

"No take backs."

Roxie laughed, but when Zac reached for the bottom of her shirt, she caught his wrist.

He stopped immediately.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Rox."

"I said nothing."

She released him and pulled the shirt over her head herself. Suddenly she was far more aware of her body than she had been when they slept together. Zac had already seen everything and touched everything, yet somehow that had been easier because she had barely been capable of thinking straight at the time.

Now he was standing in front of her completely sober while she had practically been living in Angela’s bedroom for three days.

Zac reached toward her shorts.

Roxie caught his hand again.

His eyebrows rose.

"I haven’t shaved."

He stared at her.

Roxie felt heat crawl up her neck. "For three days."

Zac continued staring.

"Say something."

"I’m trying to figure out why you’re telling me."

Roxie’s mouth dropped open. "Because you’re about to see me."

"I’ve seen you."

"That was different."

"How?"

"It just was."

She hated how ridiculous she sounded, but now that she had started, she could not stop. "I’ve been at Angela’s for three days. I barely had proper showers. My legs probably look horrible."