URGENT (Book 2 of the Soundcrush Series)

Chapter 76: Bad Girls Get Married In A Fever

The song for this chapter is "Jackson" by Johhny Cash and June Carter Cash. I chose the Joaquim Phoenix/Reese Witherspoon cover from Walk The Line, the autobiographical movie about these married singers love story. Wait til mid chapter for the internal song reference. 

Mac

I just stand there, watching Adam sway and swat at Harper as she dances around him, trying to distract him from shooting the ping pong ball.

Bodie yells, "Alright, Chic! Leave the man alone! No fucking around in Redemption." Bodie slaps Adam hard on the back. "You got this, man. Just make the shot and we go into 3-Cup Overtime."

I roll my eyes. It's like they are back in college. This is the only "sport" stoner musicians actually play. How many times have I seen Adam and Bodie celebrate  their beer pong victory like they won a fucking Superbowl?

Adam takes the shot and misses. That was sudden death; the Strut Girls screech and high five each other in victory as Adam yells, "Goddammit! Shit! Bodes! Fuck! Sorry man! You played amazing, and I fucked it up!"

He and Bodie are huggin' it out and back thumpin'. They still haven't noticed me. I'm standing just inside the slider, hand on hip, irritation warring with pity. On the one hand, I'm furious with Adam for ditching our bed to party all night. It's true that for the moment, Babycakes and I are doing perfectly fine, but did he not know how much I needed his arms around me last night?

On the other hand, he looks truly miserable, and I get a feeling the loss and the alcohol he's consumed are only a small part of that misery. Maybe he felt like he couldn't come to me with a burden like that.

Bodie's saying, "S'okay, man. You got bigger worries than beer pong. You played great, considering you are absolutely wasted and worried as hell and we practically chained you to the goddamn table to keep you here for the last three hours." Bodie opens his arms to the Strut girls. "Ladies, great game. Let's go again."

"Fuck no, not again," Adam groans. The girls laugh. "No way," Row says. "We're one up. Finally. Victory is sweet." She picks up their remaining two red cups full of beer and presents them to Bodie and Adam. "It's not over til the losers finish the beer."

I see my opportunity. "Let me help!" I say with overly bright cheerfulness. I stalk forward as Row grins at me. Yeah, yeah, we're friends, bitch, but you aren't at the top of my love-list right now. I pull the cups from her forcefully.

"Mac!" Adam says in surprise, his eyes widening.

Before he can get another word in, I dump one of the beers over his head. He's too drunk to even react much to the cold beer shower.

"Goddammit, Adam! This is the douchiest thing you've ever done!"

He reaches for my arm. "Baby, shit! I lost track of time. I'm so sorry...this...this isn't what it looks like..."

I jerk away from him. "It looks like you are so freaked out about the baby that you got wasted with Bodie to stop feeling all the bad stuff, and then the Strut girls rolled in from partying in Boston and suckered you into playing beer pong, and your damn frat-boy pride wouldn't let you walk away."

"Wow. It's exactly what it looks like, then," Bodie says with a grin. I make a deep throated noise of frustration with him and dump the other beer over his head. He laughs and tries to gently hug me, but I shove him and he makes no more attempts to tease me, physically. I guess Adam has schooled him not to be his normal rough-housing self.

"What's wrong with the baby?" Row says, looking between us.

"Everything is okay for now, but yesterday, I was bleeding and we found out there's still a problem. The doctor says one in three women with this problem have a miscarriage." I tell her, still glowering at Adam as he looks at me with pained eyes and wipes the beer from his eyes with his shirt. "The bleeding has completely stopped, by the way," I tell him softly.