Pregnant Pause [H.S]

Chapter 19

I'm

I didn't care about Jamer. I wanted to snap his neck and pulverize his lungs and dangle him upside down from a thirty storey building, but I didn't care about him.

All I cared about was Fitz, and what was sure to be her explosive reaction. My eyes were focused solely on hers with every muscle in my body coiling and constricting, wringing themselves raw as I anticipated her response.

I didn't expect her to be as unruffled as she seemed. Her arms were folded across her chest and her lips were pressed in a firm line. Everything about her was neatly compacted – tight, rigid. Like she had so much to say that couldn't immediately be said, so it had to remain buried where it could charge before coming out stronger.

"Fitz," I said quietly, my shoulders sinking and my expression softening under her hard stare. I'd never spoken her name so pleadingly before.

"Vic?" she asked, nothing but cold.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I'd been sorely prepared to face this so soon. Or at all. Everything I'd done, I'd regretted immediately. But how could I explain that without sounding like I was brushing it aside?

"I was gonna tell you..." I trailed, unsure of where to begin.

"When?" Fitz said, unyielding and resolute. "Last night? This morning? Any time during the day?"

"Don't worry, mate – took care of it for you," Jamer chimed in.

"Don't talk," I snapped, raising my palm in the air to silence him.

"Well, someone had to. Judging by her surprise, I'd say you've been rather tight-lipped."

Nostrils flaring, I balled my hands into fists as I flexed my jaw. "I thought I made it clear that I didn't want to see your face here again."

Grinning devilishly, basking in his own antagonism, Jamer shrugged. "Hey. You broke some rules," he said, gesturing to the telly where he was replaying the moment I grabbed Vic for a kiss. "So I thought: why can't I?"

"I could kill you right now," I said, stepping forward red with fury – but Niall's hand was quick to grab my shoulder, reminding me of who and where I was.

So I stopped in my tracks, fighting against my propelling instincts to slaughter the man in my common room. Painfully, my eyes drew back to Fitz, who'd been watching me, stony-faced, the entire time.

"Just figured your girlfriend ought to see this," Jamer continued. "Ex-girlfriend, I should say."

"Off it, Jamer," Niall groaned, letting his hand fall from my shoulder as he used it to shoo away his friend. Then he approached Fitz, his hands out in front of him in attempt to reach out and calm her. "It only happened once," he said slowly. "Nothing before or after."

"Niall," I said lowly. It was meant as a warning – he didn't need to fight for me. I didn't deserve that.

"It didn't mean anything," Niall went on, ignoring me. With his collared shirt halfway un-tucked and his grown-out hair tousled and unkempt, he looked about as frazzled as I felt. "He wasn't thinking. You know Harry acts out when he's under a lot of stress—"

"Get away from me, Niall," Fitz interrupted, taking a step back the more he approached. Her icy glare was unforgiving. "Just shut up."

"What?" he asked weakly.

"You kept this from me."

Though his back was to me, I had no doubt his jaw had dropped in offense. "I didn't!"