Part 28
"My turn I believe?" the deep voice spoke above Becca's head and Nick smiled as he handed Becca to Kevin for a dance.
"Be back soon, I need to dance with Sarah before they take off." Nick kissed Becca on the cheek, placing her hand in Kevin's.
"We missed you, Becca." Kevin seemed to tower over her more than usual, and there was an edge to his voice that was unsettling.
"I missed you, too, Kevin," she said as he wrapped his arm around
her waist.
"Not as much room as there was before, I suppose."
"Not hardly," he grinned, and then pulled her closer. "Why'd you do it, Becca?" he whispered.
"Pardon me?" She tried to pull back but he held her tightly.
"You promised me, Becca." His voice was harsh and she was suddenly very aware of the alcohol on his breath.
"Kevin, let's get some fresh air." She tried to pull away again, but he held her even tighter.
"You left and didn't help her. You promised me you'd help her and then you left. Becca, you lied to me and look what happened."
"Kevin, you're hurting me. Let me go and we'll talk, ok?" Becca was beginning to get frightened. Kevin was normally the level headed one of the group, but something had obviously set him off. She was sure it wasn't anything she'd done, but he was certainly taking it out on her.
"And Nick --- look what you did to Nick. And then you just show up again? And you're pregnant? How can Nick even be sure it's his?" he spat as she paled.
He never had the chance to continue the conversation, because suddenly Nick was there pulling him away from Becca. "Don't do this Kevin, I'm warning you. Becca has no place in anything that's happened here tonight. I suggest you go sleep it off somewhere; you can apologize to Bec tomorrow. If she'll let you."
Kevin looked from one to the other, shook his head and walked away.
"Becca-"
"I'm all right, Nick."
She didn't look all right to Nick. "Come with me, baby."
"No, really. I just need some air."
"We'll go outside."
"No. I mean … I need to be alone for a minute, please?"
"If you’re sure …."
"I am, now go mingle." She smiled weakly and walked out the door and down to the beach.
Nick stood silently, watching her and wondering what the hell had gotten into Kevin. He'd heard enough to know that he'd been pretty hard on Becca, and damn it, she had enough stress in her life without him playing big brother and being an asshole. Especially tonight.
"Nick, what's wrong?" Howie asked, coming to stand beside him.
"Not sure, D. Kevin said something to Bec and she's pretty upset."
"He's been drinking pretty heavily. I'm sorry all this shit had to go down tonight but you guys had to know what was going on, Nick."
"I know, I just don't want Bec dragged into this. You know how she feels about the publicity."
"Nick, I’m sorry, but it's about to get a lot worse. You two need to find a way to deal with this and it needs to be soon."
Nick said nothing, just continued to watch Becca through the window.