Chapter 191 - Go Home
Zac remained above Roxie when his phone rang beside the television.
The screen lit the carpet.
DAD.
Roxie’s legs were still wrapped around his hips. Her cheer shell and sports bra were pushed above her breasts, and Zac remained hard against her through their clothes.
The ringing stopped.
Zac lowered his head toward her again.
His phone started a second time.
Roxie released his hoodie and dropped her head against the carpet.
"You have got to be kidding me."
Zac reached over and declined the call.
The room had already changed.
Roxie loosened her legs from his waist and pulled her uniform back into place. Zac sat back on his knees while she covered herself and straightened her skirt.
McDonald’s wrappers covered the coffee table. Her school bag rested beside the couch.
Claire’s ashes remained beside the blue mug near the sink.
Roxie saw them.
The heat left her face.
Zac’s phone vibrated again.
"How many times has he called?" she asked.
"It doesn’t matter."
"Zac."
"I’m here."
The answer had settled her during the last two nights. He said it whenever she woke and reached for him. He said it when a car slowed outside and she looked toward the front door.
This time, irritation crossed her face.
"That’s the problem."
Zac frowned. "What is?"
"You’re using me as a reason to avoid going home."
"I stayed because you asked."
"I know."
Roxie stood and smoothed her skirt over her thighs.
"Now you need to go."
For a moment, Zac thought she was embarrassed by what they had almost done with Claire’s ashes in the kitchen.
"Because of this?"
Her face warmed. "No. Because your father has been calling for two days."
"I went home earlier."
"You showered, changed, and left because nobody was there."
Zac stood and pulled his hoodie down.
"I’m staying."
"I can spend tonight alone."
"You asked me to stay."
"I needed you."
The word caught him.
"Needed?"
Roxie closed her eyes briefly.
"I still need you. That doesn’t mean you can disappear from your house whenever I can’t handle mine."
"I didn’t disappear. I stayed with you."
"To your parents, you disappeared."
"I don’t care what they think."
"I do."
"Why?"
"Because they’ll blame me."
Zac grabbed his jacket from the floor.
"They blame everyone except themselves."
"They’ll say I kept you here. They’ll decide I’m the reason you missed that dinner and stopped listening to them."
"They already decided that before you."
"That doesn’t mean you should help them prove it."
"I stayed because I wanted to."
"They won’t care about the difference."
"Their opinion doesn’t matter."
"It matters while you live in their house."
His phone vibrated again.
Dad: Come home immediately.
Zac turned the screen facedown.
"I’m not staying in that house."
Roxie’s hand lowered.
"What?"
"I mean after graduation."
Something in her expression made him continue when he should have stopped.
"I chose Tennessee."
Roxie stared at him.
"You chose it?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"A few weeks ago."
"You told me nothing was decided."
"It wasn’t when we talked behind the stadium."
"But you decided afterward."
Zac nodded.
"And you never told me."
"I was going to."
"When?"
He had imagined telling her after state.
After Claire settled down.
After Roxie decided where she wanted to apply.
There had always been another reason to wait.
Roxie gave a quiet laugh.
"You’re angry because I keep asking for time, but you gave yourself weeks before telling me."
"It’s my college."
"And you expect me to follow you."
"I want you there."
"That isn’t the same as asking me."
Zac’s jaw tightened.
"I checked what it would take."
Roxie watched him.
"My scholarship covers tuition, housing, meals, and football expenses. I looked at housing outside campus too. There are jobs nearby, community colleges, and programs at Tennessee you could apply for."
"Wow."
He hated the way she said it.
"What?"
"You planned everything."
"I found options."
"For me."
"For us."
"There is no us in a plan I never agreed to."
"I was trying to make it possible for you to come."
"I never said I was moving to Tennessee."
"You said you might not be able to go anywhere."
"So you chose where I should live, work, and study?"
"I chose my school."
"And built my life around it."
"I was trying to take care of you."
Her face tightened.
"I don’t need you to plan my life."
"You needed me tonight."
The words left before Zac could stop them.
Roxie went still.
Regret struck him immediately.
"That isn’t what I meant."
"It sounded clear."
"I meant you don’t have to handle everything alone."
"And your solution is making me depend on you."
"My solution is giving you somewhere to go."
Roxie looked toward the kitchen.
Claire’s ashes sat inside a temporary box because Roxie had chosen whatever cost nothing.
Zac followed her attention.
His anger weakened.
Roxie looked back at him.
"Your scholarship covers you. The coach offered you a future. Nobody offered me anything."
"I did."
The words stopped her.
For one second, relief crossed Roxie’s face.
Zac saw it.
Then she looked angry with herself for allowing him to see it.
"You can’t offer me a life like I’m something you bought with your scholarship."
"That isn’t what I’m doing."
"It feels like it."
"I thought planning for you proved I was serious."
"Talking to me would have proved it."
Zac looked away.
That was the center of the argument.
He had placed Roxie inside every version of Tennessee because he intended to keep her.
She heard a future built without her permission.
Roxie picked up his jacket and held it toward him.
"You’re really sending me home?"
"You chose Tennessee weeks ago and told me during a fight because I asked you to spend one night in your own house."
"You keep sending me back to people I’m trying to leave."
"For one night."
"You have no idea what it’s like there."
"Because you never tell me."
Zac stopped.
Her voice had become quieter.
The sentence struck harder than everything else.
He demanded answers about Roxie’s future while hiding most of what happened inside his own house.
He took the jacket.
Roxie gathered the food wrappers from the coffee table. She kept her attention on the paper bag because looking at him had become harder.
Zac put on his shoes near the door.
"Do you even want to come with me?"
Roxie’s hands stopped.
"I don’t know."
The answer hurt.
She saw it on his face.
"I don’t know anything right now," she said. "My mother died less than forty eight hours ago. Her ashes are beside the sink, and you’re asking where I want to live next year."
Some of his anger eased.
The hurt remained.
Zac stood and reached for the doorknob.
"Text me when you get home," Roxie said.
He gave a humorless laugh.
"You need to know where I am tonight. You just can’t tell me where I fit next year."
"That isn’t fair."
"Neither is making me wait without knowing what I’m waiting for."
He opened the door.
Cold air entered the bungalow.
Usually, Zac kissed her before leaving. Even after an argument, he touched her somehow and made sure the fight had limits.
This time, neither moved closer.
Zac stepped outside.
Roxie remained in the doorway.
He walked away without kissing her.
His truck was parked at the gas station several blocks from the bungalow. Hiding it there had been easier than leaving it outside Roxie’s house for another night.
The cold air cooled his face but left the anger in place.
Roxie had asked him to stay for the last two nights. She had held on to him whenever she woke and treated his presence like the only thing making the bungalow bearable.
Then she sent him away because his family had become part of the problem.
She wanted him when she needed somewhere to put her grief.
She wanted time when he asked whether she would share his future.
The thought was cruel.
Claire had died less than two days ago.
Zac knew better.
He still thought it.
By the time he reached the gas station, he was angry with Roxie and ashamed of being angry with her.
His truck sat beneath the bright lights near the side of the building.
Zac climbed inside and plugged his phone into the charger.
Messages filled the screen.
Mom: Where are you?
Mom: Your father wants you home.
Dad: Come home immediately.
Dad: You embarrassed this family by missing the academy dinner.
Mom: At least answer so we know you are safe.
Nathan: Dad is furious.
Nathan: Come home before this gets worse.
Dad: We will discuss your future when you return.
Zac stared at the final message.
His father had chosen the military academy.
Zac had chosen Tennessee.
Roxie had given him no answer.
He looked through the windshield toward the road leading back to the bungalow.
He could return.
They could keep fighting until one of them apologized. They could kiss and bury the conversation beneath another night together.
His phone vibrated.
Roxie: Go home before you change your mind.
Zac typed back.
Zac: We’re talking about Tennessee tomorrow.
Her answer came several seconds later.
Roxie: We’ll talk when I can actually think.
Zac almost asked when.
Instead, he started the truck.
The drive home took twenty minutes.
His anger remained through every light.
When he reached the Prescott house, the downstairs windows were lit. Nathan’s car sat near the garage, and his girlfriend’s car was parked beside it.
Zac pulled into the driveway but left the engine running.
Going inside meant another fight about the academy, Tennessee, and the dinner he had missed.
His phone vibrated.
Roxie: Tell me when you’re inside.
Zac looked at the house.
Then he looked at her message.
Zac: I’m home.
He sent it.
The engine continued running.
He had not opened the door.