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I stood up, grabbed the remote, and turned off the TV. “I think maybe we should leave them down here. At least they’re sitting up.” I took the bowls from Maya and thanked her. “Where’s Ana now?” I asked, placing a bowl in each girl’s lap.
“She stayed at the party,” Zak informed me. “I tried to get her to come with us, to make sure she got home, but she got her mum to pick her up.”
I rolled my eyes, hoping her bloody mother had stayed off the booze. “Was Ana drunk?”
Liam shrugged. “A bit, but obviously not as bad as these two.”
“She was really drunk earlier, but Maddy told her to slow down.” Zak moved towards Maddy as she made a groaning sound and took her hand in his. “You okay, babe?”
She gave him a strained smile and a little nod, and as much as I wanted to tell him to get his hands off her, I knew he was a good kid who cared about her.
“I take it they’ve already been sick?” I asked.
“Yeah, and on the way home in bags in Zak’s car.” Liam gave an empty laugh. “It was synchronised puking.”
“I bet.” I shook my head, knowing they were going to feel like shit the next day. “The zombie makeup didn’t really survive, did it?”
“Poor kids,” Maya said from my side. “Cider is crap at the best of times, but with vodka.” She shivered.
“Liam, this is Maya, Maya this is Liam, Sam and Louise’s eldest.”
“Hi, Liam.” She gave him one of her gorgeous smiles and then nodded at Emma. “You two are an item, are you?”
Liam hesitated, looking at me, and I grinned, holding up my hands.
“Hey, nothing will pass my lips to your mum and dad.”
He looked back at Maya. “Yeah, we are.”
Maddy giggled, held up a finger, and said, “I knew it.” Then she slapped her hand back down and fell silent again. Zak chuckled and pushed some hair from her face which was sweaty and smeared with white and black makeup.
“I’ll get them some water,” Maya said.
Leaning over the girls, I pulled the woollen throw off the back of the sofa. “Liam, pass me the throw off that armchair.” As I placed the one I had over Maddy, Zak picked up the bowl, putting it back down after tucking it around her. When I turned to Emma, Liam was sorting her out, with a damn stupid grin on his face. It seemed that he was a fucking smitten with Emma as Zak was with Maddy. Then, as Maya came back into the room with two pints of water, I knew I was in exactly the same boat.
She placed the glasses on the coffee table. “I wasn’t sure where the painkillers were.”
I cupped her face, once more thankful for meeting her. “I’ll get them. Thanks.”
“We are sorry, Mr Newman.” I chose not to correct Zak on my name for once. I knew it wasn’t really his fault, but it didn’t hurt to let him feel a bit of my anger. “If I’d know what Ana was doing.”
“If either of us had known,” Liam added, “We’d have stopped her.”
“I know,” I said with a heavy sigh. “And I will be talking to her mum.” I knew Ana was suffering, but what she’d donewas stupid and dangerous. “You didn’t drink and drive, did you Zak?”
“I would never do that,” he told me with no uncertainty. “I was on water all night.”
“Well, maybe you two should get off home,” I suggested.
Zak looked at Maddy and then at Liam before opening his mouth to speak, but I beat him to it.
“You can come back tomorrow, but I think for now they need to sleep it off.”
After a couple of beats, he nodded and turned to Liam. “I’ll drop you off, mate.” He then turned to me. “Could you make sure Ana’s mum picked her up?”
“Yeah, sure. No problem.” I scratched my nose, studying the boys and realising maybe I’d been a little hard on them. “Sorry, I yelled boys.”
Zak shook his head. “Honestly, it’s fine. I get it, and we should have probably kept a better eye on them.”
