we used for your birthday party?!”
May comes at me like a slap-o-matic, her hands waving in front of her in a blur as she reaches out to make contact with my body. I hold my forearms up to fend her off, laughing so hard it makes my stomach ache. This feels way better than worrying about Lucky hooking up with some random girl at a bar during a bachelor party while I’m at home being pregnant.
“I didn’t say that!” she yells, looking over her shoulder at the salesgirls, who are staring at us. “I don’t like strippers!”
Jenny is laughing right along with me. The two of us duck and run to the cash register. May decides not to follow us, going out of the store and into the mall. Jenny and I stand at the counter grinning like fools, both of us out of breath.
She holds up a hand and I give her a high-five.
“Good one,” she says.
“Yeah, I thought so.” My veins feel like they’re pumped full of happy drugs. I guess shopping with May and Jenny can actually be fun. Huh. Imagine that.
I’m tempted to text Lucky and ask him what his plans are for tonight, but I resist. It’s his life to do with what he wants, and if he wants to go party, he should go party. I’ll just go to bed early.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
I’m sound asleep in my bed when a banging coming from downstairs wakes me up. Then there’s a bunch of weird beeping as Lucky tries to turn off the alarm. He texted me as I was leaving the mall to say that he’d be out late at the bachelor party, so I wasn’t expecting to see him until the sun was up, but it’s pitch black out and a glance at the alarm clock tells me it’s three in the morning. My ears perk up when I hear more beeps than I should.
Oh shit. He got the code wrong. I run out of my room, but not before the alarm starts going off. As I race down the stairs, I hear cussing mixing with the siren, and I can smell the booze on him before I get to the bottom step.
I stride over and push him out of the way so I can punch in the correct code and shut the alarm off. It stops squealing in our ears, but now I have to get to the telephone in the kitchen so I can talk to the dispatcher whose job it is to check on activated alarms. It rings within thirty seconds and I’m there waiting. I pick up the handset and give the operator my secret code so she won’t send the cops over.
After thanking the operator for her diligence, I slam the headset back down against its cradle and turn around to glare at Lucky.
He’s right behind me, running his hands through his hair. It’s standing up all over the place and, along with his rumpled clothes and crazy beard, makes him look like he just spent the night in a gutter. He should look ugly to me, but he doesn’t. He’s just as hot as ever, but he woke me from a sound sleep after partying it up with the other members of our team, so I’m not feeling very charitable.
I fold my arms over my chest and glare at him.
“Hey, babe.” He gives me a sheepish grin.
“I was sleeping.”
“I know. I tried to be quiet.” His words are slurred.
I don’t remember ever seeing him this drunk before. He starts to lose some of his attractiveness when I realize who he reminds me of: Charlie.
I shove past him to go upstairs, but he grabs my wrist and pulls me to him.
I yank my hand from his grasp and back up a step. “Don’t.” My voice comes out sharp with an edge of fear to it. My heart is fluttering in my chest and adrenaline is flowing into my veins. I’m having some kind of flashback. All I can think about right now is Charlie and what he used to do to me.
It was always the beginning of any bad moments between us, when he would go out and get drunk and then come home and try to interact with me. Nobody has perfect control when they’ve had that much booze, I don’t care who they are. Lucky is no different.
Lucky frowns, reaching weakly for me. “Come on, babe. Don’t be like that.”
I’m furious. How dare he come home to me