“I thought they already talked about you everywhere?” I said, trying and failing at being cute.
Zoe huffed and threw her hands up in the air. “You are fucking unbelievable,” she said, walking away.
I was taken aback, a little surprised at her outburst, wondering if her anger had more to do with her embarrassment than with what I had done at the restaurant. This was a side to Zoe I had never seen before. Strong. Forceful. Powerful. Controlling. I kind of… liked it.
I followed her into the living room and she turned around quickly, pointing a finger at me. “Do you have any idea how much you embarrassed me tonight? I live in this city, Chad! You are going to be on a fucking plane out in a few days, and I have to endure the dirty looks and the fucking gossip columns! I probably won’t ever be allowed into Vittorio’s again!”
“Yeah, the maître d’ was kinda pissed,” I said with a smile. “The spaghetti was a little overcooked anyway, so…”
“Will you fucking stop kidding around!” she screamed, throwing a punch at my chest that probably hurt her more than it did me. “You’re an asshole, Chad! A fucking asshole!”
“You know, you’ve used the word ‘fuck’ more in the past minute than I ever heard you use it in our entire time together,” I said.
She swirled around, angry, and yelled in my face, “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” She punched me again. “Fuck you, Chad Walters! Fuck you for coming back into my life! Fuck you for making me think you were any different than you were before! Fuck you for making me think that I could have a nice night with you! Fuck you very much!”
“Could you fucking calm down?” I said, my voice rising. “I actually wanted to have a nice dinner. It’s not my fault that jackass ruined it for us.”
“No!” she shot back. “You ruined it! That jackass was going to leave us alone eventually. You had to act like some fucking perverted version of Chuck Norris and break his fucking nose!”
“He deserved it,” I shouted back. “And I’m more like Jason Statham.”
“I know he deserved it!” she yelled. “But I didn’t! I didn’t deserve that kind of embarrassment! Damn it, Chad, I’m tired, exhausted, sick of all the shit that’s been happening to me, and just wanted a nice night out. I didn’t fucking deserve this!”
She turned around and walked in small circles around the living room, her head in her hands, her breathing heavy. She looked like she was going to have a panic attack. I reached for her, but she pulled away.
“Please, don’t touch me,” she said. “Just get out.”
“Zoe –”
“Get out!”
I didn’t move. I met her gaze and stood my ground. She frowned at me and shook her head, as if confused as to why I wouldn’t just do what she said.
“I said out!” she screamed, pushing at me, but I didn’t budge. She started throwing punches again, slamming her hard fists against my chest. I grabbed her and pulled her into me, holding her close.
“Let go of me, Chad!” she yelled, still trying to punch even though her arms were pressed into my chest and couldn’t move. “Let go of me you bastard!”
“Calm down,” I said softly, trying to stop her assault, keeping her close.
“Let go!” she screamed, and then suddenly fell against my chest and began to cry.
“Dammit, Chad…” she said, her tears on my cheek. “Just fucking hold me… please… just… hold me.”
* * *
We were on her couch, her head lying on my lap as I stroked her hair. It had taken me a few minutes to get her to stop crying, and a few glasses of wine before she finally calmed down. She told me all about that asshole Mark, and I found myself feeling a strange mix of disgust and jealousy. Some of the things she told me seemed to be right out of one of her books.
“Zoe Walters banging a married man?” I said with a teasing grin, my fingers stroking her forehead. “Who’d have thought that Miss Prim and Proper would have scraped the bottom of that barrel?”
“Yeah, I turned out to be a filthy skank,” she said, her words a little slurred as she readjusted herself on the couch. She was drunk, teary eyed, but seemed to be over the worst of it. Her cocktail dress had ridden up and I couldn’t help but stare at the long legs peeking out. She had kicked off her shoes. Her toenails were bright red. She used to love it when I sucked her toes… For some reason, being this vulnerable only made her sexier.
“That’s not so bad,” I said. “I’ve done far worse on the skank meter.”
She gave me a drunken smile and tapped a finger to my chin. “Like what?”
I laughed and took a sip of the wine. She poked the finger to my nose and raised her eyebrows. “Come on, you brought it up. Revel me with stories of Chad in skank town.”
“Fine,” I said, leaning over to set the glass down on the coffee table. “When you left me, I was kind of heartbroken. Slept my way around, tried to get over you. Nothing really filled that space, though. I ended up getting involved with a woman who introduced me to the rougher sides of sex. S&M, I mean.”