Laughing Fate (28 page)

Puck bit her lip as she felt her eyes tear up. She could feel the pressure of unshed tears building up in her sinuses. That had been the sweetest most romantic thing he could have said. She turned around in his arms and kissed him with every ounce of the feeling those words had inspired.

“I just want to be by your side too. Didn’t you know that’s why I was walking? I just wanted to get home to you.” Puck felt her tears begin to fall and soon she was cradled in his arms while he carried her to his Jetta. She must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew, she was in her own bed.

She glanced at the clock and stared at it in alarm. She was late for work! She tried to jump out of bed, but a heavy arm was laying across her stomach. What the hell? She really started squirming then, when she heard a familiar grumble.

“Stop squirming, I’m trying to sleep.”

“
What the hey are you doing in my bed?”

Potter sighed and pushed himself up on one elbow. His other arm still rested across her belly, holding her snug against him. “In case you forgot, I was up all night looking for your scrawny little butt. I needed a place to crash and since you are going to be my wife…”

He shrugged as if that was all there was to it. No explanation necessary. Wrong! Puck pried his hand off her belly and turned to glare at him. “I’ll ask you again, what the heck are you doing in my bed?” She said each word clearly, enunciating each syllable.

Potter sighed again, a real put out upon kind of sigh, and explained again that they were soon to be married, that he’d needed a bed to sleep in and that he had chosen hers.

He grunted when she elbowed him in the stomach. If he was going to marry her then he’d need to buy some fancy kind of shield to protect him from her attacks. He grinned down at her and wrapped her in his arms again, pulling her close.

“
Stop squirming and let me sleep.” He could practically feel the fury rolling off of her in waves. His fiancé sure didn’t like being told what to do.

“
Go to sleep, baby.” He murmured in her ear. He must have a death wish. He couldn’t help but grin when she growled at him to stop calling her baby.  He snuggled her closer and whispered, “Anything you say babe.”

Puck let out an aggravated growl, but didn’t attempt to hit him again. It felt so nice to be in her angel’s arms that she would let that comment slide. Just this once. Did Potter really want to marry her? The stupid oaf hadn’t really asked her, but he seemed to assume that it was going to happen. Huh. Puck would have to think about that.

“Where’s my dog?”

“
I sold it to some china men,” Potter said sleepily.

Puck rolled her eyes and pinched his arm. “I’m serious. I made a promise to the dog that I’d feed it.”

“It’s sleeping on the floor of your bathroom. It’s been fed, don’t worry. Now will you please go to sleep?”

Puck lay in bed making faces and fidgeting with his hand. She wasn’t really tired anymore. What she really wanted to do was take a long hot bath and check on Perri. She listened to the gentle snores of the man beside her. She could get used to sleeping with this man.  She wondered what it would be like to marry him. Would they be happy?

Puck slipped out from under his arm and cursed softly when she put weight on her ankle. Someone had wrapped it in an ace bandage, but it still hurt like the dickens. She limped out of the room and downstairs to the kitchen. She grabbed a bag of frozen peas and flopped down on her couch. Her house was too quiet. She guessed that Perri must still be sleeping too, having searched all night for her.

She’d have to apologize to everyone for scaring them like that. They would probably want to know what happened too. How much to tell them? She had a feeling that Potter would demand the whole story. Puck smiled goofily as she thought of Potter sleeping in her bed. She sure hoped he woke up in a good mood and stopped yelling at her.

****

Everyone started showing up at her house a few hours later. Potter was still asleep in her room, but Perri had gotten up and thrown a full glass of milk at Puck. She had probably done that because when she woke up she found Puck watching TV happy as a clam, eating fruity loops and laughing at the mutt she had brought home.

“What are you doing?”

“
Watching TV, has pregnancy made you stupid or something? Here I’ll explain it to you. Inside this box is a magical little world where fairies enslave annoying little siblings and force them to act out little plays.”

It was at that moment that Perri threw the milk that she’d been drinking at Puck. Her stupid sister dared to lounge on the couch and make smart ass comments after the night she’d put them through? Perri glared at her sister with one hand on her hip. Sometimes she really hated having a crazy person as a sibling.

“Puck! After the night we all spent searching for you that is all you have to say? God, you’re so selfish! Just grow up already!”

Puck was still staring at the milk that was dripping off her shirt and onto the carpet. She really had to get used to living with a pregnant lady. In the past, Perri would have just rolled her eyes and walked away. Puck sighed and swung her foot off the pillow it was resting on.

She was just hauling herself up when a towel flew into her face. Puck sank back down and mopped up the milk, avoiding looking at her sister. Perri was right, she was being an ass. She just didn’t want Perri hovering over her asking a million questions so she’d decided to annoy her instead. Bad choice. When she’d mopped up all the spilt milk she glanced up at Perri who was still glaring at her.

“
I’m sorry, I deserved that. I couldn’t sleep; there was a strange man in my bed. So I came out here to ice my ankle and rescue my dog from the bathroom. She’s called Taly.”

“
She’s a he, stupid,” Perri said dryly.

Puck looked at Taly for confirmation and she/he wagged his tail. Hmmm. Puck wrinkled her nose and said, “Another man? God I seem to be surrounded by them. Okay doggy, why don’t I call you Steve the Pirate? Or was it Pete? Perri, what was the name of the red headed dude on Dodge ball who thought he was a pirate? I love that dude! He’s really funny. Did you see him on Firefly? Great show! He was a pilot and had a rad toy dinosaur-

“Puck for god’s sake stop talking! I don’t know what the heck you’re going on about.” Perri didn’t look completely appeased, but at least she wasn’t looking for another weapon to throw at her.

Puck grinned at Perri and hugged her confused little doggy. He barked and licked her face which caused Puck to laugh. Of course, she wasn’t allowed to have any pets at all in her townhouse and had already snuck in one cat. Puck smiled at Perri and declared that their little illegal doggy was her new brother.

Perri just rolled her eyes and walked to the door, which had just been knocked on.

“
Try not to look so happy; your rescue team may get a little mad to see you so chirpy after they lost sleep looking for your stupid butt.”

Puck watched as the gang filed in her front door. Shannon came in first, dressed impeccably. She scowled at the TV and sat down on a chair. She was glaring at Puck as if she resented having to lose sleep for her. Puck just smiled and resumed eating her fruity loops. She never asked anyone to search for her. She would have made it home eventually.

Dave filed in next, followed by Brad and James. The three men stood glaring at Puck with their arms crossed. They looked like stern older brothers. Luckily for Puck, she had plenty of experience dealing with older brothers. Puck let them stand like that, they’d get uncomfortable soon, and turned up the volume on the TV. She crunched on her cereal and laughed at the cartoons. She was aware of Perri trying to make nice with everyone in the background, but Puck tuned her out. She was a freakin adult, they had no right to come here and lecture her!

“
Ha ha ha heh…that Billy sure is stupid!” Puck laughed, pointing her dripping spoon towards the TV. “When will he learn?” Puck stared at the screen as if enraptured of it, laughing at the slap stick humor.

Perri rolled her eyes and sank down on the couch. The men were still glaring at Puck with their arms crossed and Shannon was staring at her in disgust. Perri tried to hold back a laugh when Puck laughed with a mouthful of cereal, shooting milk and fruit loops towards Shannon. Her sister was acting outrageous, but Perri knew it was mostly because she resented people coming into her home and trying to lecture her.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better,” a dry voice stated from the wall of men.

Puck smiled angelically at Dave and said cheerfully, “Thank you! That’s so nice of you!” Puck turned back to the TV.

“Are you going to tell us what happened?”

“
Umm…No.” Puck said, this time not looking away from the cartoons.

“
Puck, we deserve to know what happened,” Perri interjected quietly.

“
Oh sure, no problem. See what happened is I was walking home when Potter almost ran me over, kind of reminded me of the first time we met. But I’m fine, just sprained my ankle.”

“
Puck-

“
When are you going to start acting like an adult? We searched all night for you. The least you could do is act a little thankful.”

Looks like the men were tired of being silent. All of a sudden they all had something to contribute. Puck chewed her cereal and watched her cartoons. Having a larger group of friends was starting to get inconvenient.  When it had just been Perri and Sandy she had never felt ganged up on.

“Dave, maybe you should take it easy on her. She has been through a lot.”

“
Besides, she’s starting to get that look in her eyes. I kind of see why Potter was scared of her.”

“
Guys, shhhh!” Perri was shooting worried glances at Puck, wondering what she was going to do.

“
No, she owes us an apology. Do you have any idea how worried every one was?”

“
You could have been hurt Puck,” Brad added.

“
We were just worried is all,” James added.

Puck glared at the men. Dave was still acting like an enraged older brother, so self righteous and judgmental. Puck didn’t know what he wanted from her. Did he want her to beg his forgiveness for having car problems? She didn’t owe him a single thing, except for maybe a thank you. Problem was that right now, it would not be sincere. She resented Dave for walking in here and acting like he could tell her what to do. She was older than him for goodness sakes!

Puck stood up and limped to the kitchen. She set her bowl in the sink and then hopped on one foot over to Dave. She stood right in front of him, hands on hips, and glared up at him.

“
I. Do. Not. Owe. You. An. Apology.” She said emphasizing each word with a poke to his chest. “I will not let anyone come into my house and start laying into me, do I make myself clear? I will do whatever the hey I want, when I want. If you don’t like it then you can just leave! And take your wife with you!”

“
Now Puck,” James said with his hands up in the air, “we were just really worried about you. If you keep getting in trouble then you’re going to kill Potter. You should have seen him last night. I thought he was going to cry!”

“
Puck, we thought you had been killed,” Perri said quietly.

“
Or raped,” added Brad helpfully. “Or attacked by wild animals, or drowned.”

Dave just continued to scowl at Puck. “I will have your apology now.”

“Like HELL you will! I won’t apologize for having car problems!”

“
Then apologize for putting yourself in danger, again! If you don’t start being careful then someday you will die! Your luck will run out and you will end up in a ditch somewhere.”

Puck glared at Dave, really starting to feel ganged up on. She was saved from a reply when Perri’s phone went off.

“Hi. Yeah, she’s here. Just a sec.” Perri passed the phone to Puck. “It’s James.”

“
Crap!” Puck grabbed the phone and hopped away from the men. She was already surrounded by macho men who felt responsible for her safety, did her brother really have to join in?

“
Hi James! What’s happenin? How’s your family?” Puck asked cheerfully.  She winced as yelling filled the ear piece. She waited for the tirade to come to an end and then asked, “So you heard about last night, huh?”

“
What?! No! I didn’t do it on purpose! I was fine, really! Everyone was just blowing it WAY out of proportion! James! Come on!” Puck listened for a long while as her older brother yelled some more. It wasn’t as if James never got in trouble. Puck glared at Perri, who was smirking, and then drew in a big breath to make her argument. She was cut off by more yelling.

“
James I will NOT move in with you guys! I’m an adult! You can’t tell me what- I AM ACTING LIKE ONE!  Come on James! Don’t be mad, I’m fine really! Why do you want to talk to her? No, she’s busy. Really! She doesn’t want to talk right now. She’s shaking her head. She’s never really liked you, James. Why?! Can’t you trust me? James she REALLY doesn’t want to talk to you! She’s flipping you off as I speak, really! I’m NOT lying! She’s –