Chapter 409 - Seriously?

Chapter 409: Chapter 409 - Seriously?

Karen’s mother cried again before Karen could complain any further, and whatever sarcastic response she had ready disappeared. Karen sighed and let herself get pulled back into her mother’s arms, this time hugging her instead of sitting there stiffly while Roxie watched from the other side of the room.

The conversation that followed lasted longer than Roxie expected. Karen’s mother wanted her back at treatment that night, Karen insisted she needed a few hours away after the disaster in family therapy, and Roxie ended up between them trying to keep the whole thing from turning into another argument.

Karen eventually promised she would return first thing in the morning, keep her phone on and answer every call. Roxie promised she would personally take her back, which finally seemed to calm Karen’s mother enough to accept it.

By the time she stood to leave, Karen looked exhausted again. She had pulled the blanket around her shoulders and was sitting with her feet tucked beneath her while Ethan stayed near the entrance, clearly trying to give them as much privacy as possible.

Karen’s mother looked toward him. "Are you going home?"

Ethan glanced at Roxie before answering. "I was thinking of staying for a while."

"Stay tonight."

Roxie looked at her.

Karen’s mother continued before she could say anything. "I’ll feel better knowing someone else is here with them."

Karen frowned. "There are already two of us."

"I know."

"We’re adults."

"I know that too."

Karen looked at Roxie with an offended expression. "Apparently nobody believes that anymore."

Roxie almost laughed. "You disappeared from treatment for seven hours. Your argument is weak right now."

Karen rolled her eyes while Ethan picked up the helmets he had left near the door. "I can sleep on the couch."

Relief crossed Karen’s mother’s face immediately. "Thank you."

Roxie had been ready to tell him he could go home. She had lived in the bungalow for years, knew the neighborhood and knew Karen was sober.

Still, after seeing how badly the entire day had shaken Karen’s mother, arguing over a couch felt unnecessary. If knowing Ethan was there helped her sleep instead of spending the entire night checking her phone and imagining Karen disappearing again, Roxie could deal with it.

"Fine," Roxie said. "The couch."

She nearly suggested her mom’s room but that room have been unopened for some time. And it doesn’t feel right to let others to sleep there.

Ethan looked toward her. "I wasn’t asking for your bed."

"You’re lucky you’re getting furniture."

Karen laughed from behind them, and the sound was normal enough that Roxie felt some of the tension finally leave her shoulders.

Karen’s mother hugged her daughter again before coming over to Roxie. "I’ll be here early."

"I’ll have her ready."

"And send me the receipt for the flight."

Roxie almost refused again, but she remembered the drive from the airport and how important paying her back had seemed to the woman. "Okay. I’ll send it."

"Thank you for coming."

Roxie glanced toward Karen. "She’s my friend."

"I know."

After her mother left, Karen dropped back against the couch and covered her face with both hands. "That was horrible."

"You caused it."

Karen lowered her hands and glared at her. "You’ve said that enough."

"I’ll stop when it stops being true."

Karen muttered something Roxie chose to ignore before reaching for her phone and finally starting through the mountain of messages she had avoided all day.

Roxie sat down for a moment and let herself breathe. Karen was sober. Her mother had seen her. Tomorrow she was going back to treatment. After hours of imagining hospitals, police calls and another terrible ending, the actual problems left for tonight suddenly seemed manageable.

Her phone buzzed in her hand.

Zac.

Roxie looked at the screen and realized she had only managed to send him a short message saying she found Karen. Everything afterward had happened quickly enough that she never called him properly.

"I’m calling Zac."

Karen looked toward Ethan before turning back to Roxie, and the small smile forming on her face immediately made Roxie suspicious.

"Keep it to yourself."

"I didn’t say anything."

"You were about to."

Karen laughed while Roxie headed toward the bedroom for some privacy.

Zac answered almost immediately.

His face appeared on the screen with their Tennessee apartment behind him, his hair still damp and one of his old shirts hanging loosely over his shoulders. Seeing him there affected Roxie more than she expected. She had spent the entire day back among places and people she had known for years, yet looking at Zac sitting inside their apartment made her suddenly want to be there.

"There you are," he said. "I’ve been waiting."

"Sorry. Karen’s mom just left."

"How is she?"

"She’s sober."

The tension immediately eased from his face. "Thank God."

Roxie sat on the edge of her old bed and rubbed one hand over her face. "She’s going back to treatment tomorrow morning. I’m taking her."

"So she’s staying there tonight?"

"Yeah. She needed one night away from her parents after family therapy completely blew up."

Zac nodded, and Roxie could tell he was still watching her carefully.

"You okay?"

"I am now."

"That means you weren’t earlier."

Roxie sighed. "I was scared. I kept thinking we were going to find her drunk somewhere or unconscious again. Then I walked in and she was sitting on my couch scrolling through her phone with takeout everywhere."

Zac shook his head. "I would’ve lost it."

"I almost did."

"At least she’s safe."

"Yeah."

For a moment Roxie simply looked at him through the screen. He was sitting somewhere inside the apartment they had barely begun settling into, and she suddenly missed him enough that it annoyed her.

"I miss you."

Zac smiled. "You’ve been gone less than a day."

"I’m aware."

"You were there this morning."

"I know how time works."

His smile widened slightly. "I miss you too."

That made Roxie smile back. She pulled one leg onto the mattress and leaned against the headboard while Zac started telling her about the rest of his day. Conditioning had apparently gone well, Dylan had complained about something during film and Zac had eaten whatever was easiest because Roxie was gone and he had spent half the afternoon checking his phone.

Roxie listened, feeling herself relax for the first time since Karen’s mother called.

Then Ethan’s voice carried clearly from the living room.

"Roxie, where do you keep the extra blankets?"

Her entire body stiffened.

For a second she just stared at Zac.

His expression changed immediately.

The small smile disappeared first, then his brows pulled together as his jaw tightened. Roxie could see the exact moment he recognized Ethan’s voice and understood that Ethan was inside the bungalow with her.

"Was that Ethan?"

Roxie swallowed. "Yeah."

Zac stared at her. "He’s there?"

"Yes. I was actually about to tell you."

That answer clearly did nothing to help.

His face became thunderous enough that Roxie sat straighter without meaning to. She understood why. Ethan had already been a problem between them before, and hearing his voice inside Roxie’s bungalow at night without any warning sounded terrible from Zac’s side.

"He helped me search all afternoon," Roxie explained. "Karen’s mom asked him to stay because she feels better knowing someone else is here tonight. He’s sleeping on the couch."

Zac’s jaw tightened further. "He’s staying the night?"

"On the couch. Karen is here with me, and her mother practically insisted."

Zac looked away from the screen for a moment.

Roxie hated the sudden knot forming in her stomach because she had planned to tell him. There was nothing secret about Ethan staying there. She knew the boundaries they had talked about before, and she knew having Ethan sleep in the bungalow pushed against them enough that Zac deserved to know. She simply had not reached that part of the conversation yet.

"Zac."

"I heard you."

"You’re pissed."

His eyes returned to the screen. "What do you want me to say?"

"That you understand why he’s here."

"I understand why he helped you search."

"And Karen’s mom asked him to stay."

"I heard that too."

The flatness in his voice was starting to irritate Roxie because she could see everything he was thinking even while he refused to actually say it.

"I already told Ethan we’d be fine alone," Roxie said. "Karen’s mom wanted him here because she’s scared Karen might disappear again. I wasn’t going to hide it from you."

"But I found out because I heard him."

"You heard him before I got to that part."

Zac looked at her for a long moment.

Roxie understood his jealousy. If she were sitting in Tennessee and suddenly heard another girl inside their apartment asking Zac for blankets, she would probably react too. That did not make this situation the same. Karen was in the next room. Ethan was sleeping on the couch. Her mother had asked him to stay, and Roxie had every intention of telling Zac exactly that.

"I know it sounds bad when you just hear him out of nowhere," Roxie said, trying to keep her voice calm. "But nothing happened. Nothing is happening."

"I never said something happened."

"You don’t have to say it when you’re looking at me like that."

His expression hardened even more.

Roxie felt herself getting irritated now too. "Zac, talk to me."

He glanced away again and rubbed one hand over his jaw. For a moment she thought he would finally say whatever he was holding back.

Instead, he looked at her again.

"I have conditioning early."

Roxie frowned. "Seriously?"

"I’m going to sleep."

"Zac."

"I’ll talk to you tomorrow."

"You’re just ending the call?"

His face stayed tight. "Good night, Roxie."

The screen went dark.

Roxie stared at it.

For several seconds she sat completely still, staring at her own reflection while irritation slowly pushed past the guilt she had felt when Ethan first called out. She understood why Zac was jealous. She even understood why his first reaction had been bad.

What pissed her off was that he had ended the call instead of talking through it.

She had called him because she wanted to tell him everything that happened. Ethan staying was something she had already planned to mention because she respected the boundaries they had talked about, and Zac had cut the conversation off before she could finish explaining.

"Roxie?"

Ethan’s voice came again from the living room.

She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together before standing.

Fuck it.