Page 60 of Loving Wild

“You need me to help you with that?” he asks.

Allowing myself a moment to take in his eyes that are dancing all over my face and the smile on his mouth, I ignore the way my belly flips and the flutters just his words have caused even lower, I brush my thumb across his cheek and his stubble-covered jaw, and shake my head.

“Nah, you stay and keep my seat warm, I won’t be a minute.”

He kisses the palm of my hand.

“Bring my hoodie down with you, please.”

Sliding out of his lap with a nod, I head up to our designated bedroom and quickly change.

Stepping back out onto the landing, I find Jackie waiting for me.

“Don’t even think about it,” I tell her as I start to walk past.

“Just who the fuck do you think you are?” she asks as she grabs my arm.

I stop moving and stare down at her hand.

“If you don’t want to have to pay your plastic surgeon to fix your nose, which I’m about to break, and repair the scars on your face I’m going to leave with my nails, I suggest you let the fuck go.”

It takes her a second, but she heeds my warning, releases her grip and steps back.

“You really think . . .”

“I don’t think. Iknow,” I interrupt her. “I know that I can walk in here and say whatever the fuck I like to you, becauseyou, are a fucking sex offender, a paedophile, a pervert, and an oxygen thief. I can come in here and say what I like because I know that you don’t want anyone else to know that fact outside of this family. I can come in here and say what I like because I’m telling you right the fuck now, that I will whisper, very quietly, into the ears of everyone in your friends’ group, exactly what you did, and what you’re about, soyouare going to shut the fuck up, and deal with whatever shit I choose to send your way.”

I’m shaking inside but manage to keep my voice steady as I speak. Turning away before she sees she has me rattled—and before I swing a punch at her, which is what I’d really like to do—I start to walk away.

“Lauren, can you come here a minute please?” I look up to see Sophie’s head sticking out of a slightly opened door at the end of the landing.

“Sure,” I tell her. “You okay?”

Without looking back at Jackie, I move through the door that Sophie has opened all the way and into a large, beautifully styled bathroom, to find Ava sitting on the closed lid of the toilet, crying.

“Whatever’s wrong?” I question as I move towards her. Ava wipes the back of her hand across first one cheek, then the other as I kneel in front of her.

“I got my period,” she chokes out between sobs.

“Oh,” I respond while rushing through my wine and Prosecco drunk brain to come up with a better response. Tucking her hair behind her ear, I ask, “Is this your first one?” She nods, and I just want to wrap her in my arms. Ava has always come across to me as a very mature, self-assured twelve-year-old. Now, she both looks and sounds like a little girl.

“Do you have anything with you? Pads or anything?”

“No,” she says with a headshake. “I don’t have cramps or anything, so I didn’t know. I just had a shower when we got out of the pool, and I saw blood on the towel.”

“Do you have anything with you?” I ask Sophie, who quickly shakes her head.

“I had my period last week, so knew I wasn’t due.”

“Okay, well, I’m gonna go downstairs and find out where the nearest shop is. If you want to just roll up some loo roll for now, you can go and wait in your room rather than hiding out in here.”

“Loo roll?” both the girls question at once.

“Yep. Girl Code secret time,everyonedoes it when they get caught without a pad. Believe me, this won’t be the last timeyouhave to do it,” I tell her with a smile and a wink. “I’ll be back in a sec. Which room is yours?”

“Right next door,” Sophie answers for her.

Making my way quickly downstairs, I find Dani in the kitchen stacking the dishwasher with glasses.