An Unexpected Hunger (14 page)

“Are you okay?” she cried when we finally reach
ed fresh air. She waved a taxi, but a few flew by without stopping.

“I’m fine,” I said, sure that vomiting was pretty much guaranteed. “I just need to sit down.”

Someone finally stopped, and we all piled in. The driver took us back to my moms, and since none of us were in any shape to drive, Mia and Casey spent the night.

I was relieved when I was able to strip off my dress
, and I chucked my shoe in the trash. I had dropped the other one in the club and didn’t bother picking it up.

Mia knocked on my bedroom door.

“Hey,” she said with a meek smile. “Casey is already passed out on the couch.”

“I’m not surprised,” I said. I combed my wet hair, still thinking of what had just happened. My wrist throbbed every time I moved the brush back and forth. One incessant thought kept prodding at me.

“I had fun tonight,” Mia said, plopping on the bed. “Up until that asshole tried to assault you.”

“Me too,” I said. “Do me a favor?”

She nodded yes.

“Don’t mention this to Ricky.”

“Are you kidding?” she teased. “I’m trying to keep him out of jail, not put him back in it.”

I chuckled and sat down on the bed beside her.

“I’m really happy that you and Nick are together,” I said to her. “You make him bearable.”

“Thanks,” she said, her usual smile returning. “I like to think so
too.”

I KNEW THERE
would be hell to pay when I fell asleep last night before texting Ricky. I checked my phone and sure enough there were a hundred text messages and five missed calls. I scrolled through them.

Ricky: Are u home yet?

Ricky: It’s 3
a.m. Haven’t heard from you.

Ricky: Where r u???

Ricky: Pick up the phone!

Ricky: Talked to Mia. Call me asap.

Mia was still sleep
ing in the spare room when I hobbled down the steps. I saw Casey had already left. I put on a fresh pot of coffee and flopped down on the chair at the kitchen table, thankful to have the day off. My skull felt like it was about to explode, and the sunlight filtering through the window above the sink only made it worse.

My phone vibrated with a text message. I was surprised to see it was from Ethan. I hadn’t heard from him at all since our date
, and I couldn’t blame him. Ricky had made it pretty clear that he was willing to do whatever it took to keep me single.

Ethan wanted to try for a second date
, but I politely declined and erased the message. It was enough that I would have to explain the huge bruise on my wrist.

I hit Ricky’s number on my phone and waited as it rang, each pulse near my
ear making my head throb.

“Hello?” He sounded wide-awake.

“Hey,” I murmured.

“Dammit, Lex. I’ve been waiting all night to hear from you.”

“I know. I’m sorry…I was so exhausted, and I had
way
too much to drink.”

“Are you okay? Is everything alright?”

I shot up in my seat, hearing the alarm in his voice.

“I’m fine…why?”

“Stay right where you are. I’m coming over.” The line went dead.

“Shit!” I yelled.

“What’s wrong?” Mia shuffled into the kitchen, slumping in the opposite chair.

I got up to fix her a cup of coffee, needing to expel my nervous energy.
“Did you talk to your brother last night?”

“Ugh…yes. He called me a million times before I finally picked up. I thought he was going to have a stroke.”

“You didn’t tell him what happened, did you?”

“No way!” she said. “I might have been drunk
, but I wasn’t
completely
out of it.”

I slid the coffee in front of her and sat back
down.

“Casey! I didn’t tell her.
”

“She can’t be
that
dense!” Mia said.

I shot her a look.

“Oh my God…you’re right,” she muttered.

I ra
n upstairs to take a shower, change, and brush my teeth. Mia had stayed behind as my buffer, and I told her to help herself to whatever was in my closet when she got out of the shower.

Thirty
minutes later, Ricky pulled up. He barely parked the car before he jumped out. My pulse quickened as he made his way to the porch and knocked on the door.

His eyes
were dark and steely, matching the overcast sky outside. He walked past me, grasping onto my bruised wrist as I gave the door a good push shut.

“What’s the matter?” I ask
ed. His grip was secure, but not tight. My bruised wrist hurt like hell as I followed him to the living room.

“We need to talk.”

A lump formed in my throat; the first four words that usually preceded bad news.

Ricky paced up and down, his
eyes shifting across the room. I noticed his fist was covered in cuts and bruises.

“What the hell happened to your hand?” I asked.

“Nothing…” he mumbled, still pacing.

“Ricky,
what is it? Spit it out already! You’re worrying me sick!”

He cradled
my hands in his, pressing his lips on each one. It’s then when he saw the bruise.

“What’s this?” he asked
, looking at it closer.

“Nothing,” I said, pulling away. “I knocked it against the shelf in your office.”

He bought the story, giving me hope that Casey didn’t blab after all. That’s when my nerves kicked into overdrive. Not in a million years could I have predicted the next words out of his mouth.

“
Toni kept calling me and calling me. I kept ignoring her calls, but it was no use.”

“And?”

“And she came to the bar early this morning and told me…”

“What
? Told you what?”

“She’s pregnant.”

The words hit me right in the gut and knocked the wind right out of me. I stumbled back, my hang-over now turning into the beginning of a migraine.

“Pregnant?” I whispered, looking away from his face.

“Lex…I’m so sorry. I never imagined in a million years that was what she was going to tell me.”

My thoughts exactly
.

“I asked her how sure she was, and she said pretty sure, and that she’s got an appointment with the doctor in a couple of weeks.”

“Pregnant?” I sat down on the couch
, and Ricky sat beside me. He tried to touch me, but I swatted him away. At first at thought I would cry, but no tears came. Instead, I felt rage…but not at Ricky, at myself. I knew full well this would end badly, but I
still
went against what I had been telling myself for the last six months.

“Didn’t you use condoms?” I asked, stunned.

“Every time. Always. Never with out-”

“I get it!” I said, holding up my hand.

“Plus, she told me she was on birth control,” he continued.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” I said. “How could this happen?”

I had been so phobic about getting pregnant with Danny that I went on birth control for extra back up. I was pretty sure I wanted kids, but wasn’t anywhere near ready.

Mia finally strolled down the steps, slowing her pace the closer to us she got.

“What’s the matter?” she asked Ricky. She took one look at my face. “Dammit, Ricky. It’s not like it was her fault.”

She ran to my side of
the couch, shoving Ricky away. “That guy was a total perv.”

Ricky’s eyes squinted in confusion. “W
hat are you talking about Mia? What is she talking about?” he asked me.

“It’s nothing, Ricky,
” I said. “I think you should leave.”

“What happened
, Lex?” he asked again.

I ignored him.

“Mia! Tell me what happened! What are you two talking about?” he insisted.

“Pregnant?”  I whispered again.

“Who’s pregnant? You’re pregnant?” Mia asked me, shocked.

“No!” Ricky said. “Toni. What happened last night?”

“You’re fucking joking, right?” Mia got up from the couch. “Since when?”

“
Since…I dunno! What does it matter? ”

“Well,” Mia continued, “You really fucked this one up!”

“Can somebody please tell me what happened last night?” Ricky shouted.

“Some guy was all over Lexy
, but then she stabbed his dick with her shoe,” Mia said non-chalant, like it happened all the time

“WHAT?”
Ricky said.

I cringed, my headache even worse than before.

Ricky turned from upset to enraged, and the pacing recommenced. “I can’t fucking believe this,” he mumbled. “I swear I haven’t touched her in months.”

It was all so confusing. If Ricky was telling the truth, which I believed he was, then I couldn’t be mad at what he did before I came into his life.

“Please…just go. I need to process all this,” I muttered.

Mia went back upstairs to give us some privacy
, but it didn’t matter to me whether or not she heard every word.

“Just tell me that we’ll get through this…no matter what.”

I looked him dead in the eye. “I just don’t know Ricky. After what I just got over…I don’t think I can take anymore.”

I buried my head into my hands. “Just…go. Please.”

“Okay. Can I come back later and spend the night with you?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. My mom’s coming home tomorrow.”

Ricky waited for a few more minutes, probably hoping I’d give in to him, but I didn’t. Eventually, I just walked away.

MIA EVENTUALLY LEFT to go to work. I balled up in bed and hurled into a crying, slobbering mess. To put the icing on my cake, my mother would be home tomorrow fresh off a four week break of snide comments and unrequested advice.

Ricky called an
d texted all day and night. I waited for skywriting and carrier pigeons, but it didn’t happen. Sometime the next day, he stopped calling and texting all together.

I was scheduled to work that day
. I thought about calling out, but thought better of it. I didn’t want everyone else to suffer just because Ricky and I weren’t speaking. I called Nick to see if he could give me a ride.

Just as I was walking out of the door, my mother pulled in.

“Hi mom,” I said, trying to sound happy. Nick got out of the car to give her a hug.

“Are you leaving already?”
she asked.

“I have to work.”

“Oh, okay honey. Try to smile. You’re so much prettier when you do.”

I smirked. “Sure mom.”

I sat in Nick’s car, waiting for my mom to stop doting on him.

“It really makes me sic
k, how much more she loves you,” I said.

“That’s not true,” he laughed. “Besides, you were always dad’s favorite
, and he wasn’t half as crazy as mom.”

“You’re right,
” I said. Thinking of my dad brought a small smile to my face.

“Mia told me what happened,” Nick said.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Okay, I understand.” He paused. “I just want to let you know that Ricky’s not as bad as he use to be…and that Toni girl is one crazy bitch.”

“Thanks, Nick,” I said, smirking.

“I’m serious,” he
said. “I’m here if you need anything.”

I smiled and thanked him again, this time meaning it from the bottom of my heart.

* * *

I could deal with the incessant staring of everyone as I worked. I could even deal with Ricky treating me like a china doll. But what I couldn’t handle was Toni storming into the dining room, yelling and screaming, waving her finger in the air. She
was
a crazy bitch.

Ricky used all of his body weight to push her out the
backdoor while she hurled insults, calling me everything from skank to whore. I was rather unimpressed with the range of her name calling. I smiled at my customers as they watched the drama unfold, embarrassed once again that my personal life was on display to complete strangers.

The panic started to rise
as I thought about the memories of that night in Danny’s kitchen, his wife charging after me. I ripped off my apron, and threw my order book back in Ricky’s office, not bothering to see where it landed.