The Wild Ride

A week later, Peyton woke up to breakfast in bed and a very excited toddler. “Happy birthday to you mama!” Lincoln dang as he carried a wrapped box into the bedroom. “What’s this, Linc?” Peyton asked, pointing to the gift in his hand. “Present!” The little boy shouted, tossing it onto the bed. “Well I hope it wasn’t breakable.” She chuckled, watching her husband walk into the room. “Happy birthday, babe. We made breakfast.” Zack said, carrying a tray of pancakes and bacon. “When I say we made it, I mean I did all the cooking and Linc made a mess.” He grinned, ruffling the two year old’s hair. Peyton grinned at her son, who climbed into his mother’s lap and placed a sweet kiss on her cheek. “Linc, did you make a mess in the kitchen?” She whispered. Lincoln shook his head and a huge grin appeared on his face, “Nope. Daddy do it.” “Hey! I thought you had my back!” Zack laughed, tickling his son’s stomach, which caused him to burst into a fit of giggles. “Hey, did you open your present yet?” He asked his wife. “Not yet. I had a little monster climbing on me.” She replied, tickling Lincoln’s foot, which once again had him laughing. “Open you present, mommy!” The toddler said in between laughs. Peyton did as she was told and picked the box up off the bed, tugging at the ribbon that was tied around it. When she lifted the lid, there was a gold bracelet nestled inside. “Zack, it’s beautiful!” She exclaimed, picking the bracelet up to inspect it. It consisted of a gold bar that had Lincoln’s name engraved on one side in Zack’s handwriting, along with his birthstone. “I’m glad you like it, you can wear it when we go to Italy next month.” He said, watching his wife’s eyes light up. “What? We’re going to Italy?” She squealed. “You are the best husband ever!” Zack laughed and nodded, “We leave the day after Thanksgiving. Just you and me and a shit ton of pasta and wine.” Peyton laughed lightly and pulled her husband closer to her, “I love you so much.” She whispered before placing a kiss on his lips.

After breakfast, Peyton decided to take a trip to the cemetery. She walked through the headstones until she found the one she was looking for and sat down in front of it. “Hey Jimbo.” She said softly, placing a hand on the granite. “It’s been a while. How’s it going up there? How’s my little baby?” Peyton sighed heavily and brushed the tear that was threatening to fall from her eye, “I hope you’re teaching him or her everything you know.” Peyton sat there for a while, picking at the weeds that were threatening to grow around Jimmy’s headstone, thinking about everything that has happened in her life lately. “I wished for a baby at my birthday party.” She said quietly, “Zack wants another baby so bad, and I hate that I haven’t been able to give him one. Linc would be such a good big brother. So, if you can, send us some good juju or work it out with the big guy upstairs, I’d be really grateful.” A soft breeze blew through her hair, and she closed her eyes and smiled. “I miss you too, buddy.”

A few hours later, Brian had picked Peyton up for their annual birthday outing. This year he took her to have lunch with Brian Sr, who showered his pseudo-daughter with gifts and lots of dad jokes. After lunch she went shopping for a few hours with Val, Michelle, and Lacey, before coming home to help Zack get Lincoln ready to go trick or treating. She was putting the finishing touches on her own costume, when her husband walked into her babe cave. “Damn you make a hot blonde.” He said, checking out her reflection in the mirror. “Don’t get any ideas.” She joked, standing up to exchange her robe for her dress, “This is only a wig. I can’t be a brunette Tinker Bell.” “You should save that wig for later.” He joked, wiggling his brows and pulling her close to him. “Stop it.” Peyton laughed, wrapping her arms around his waist, “Is our boy all ready?” “Yep. Cutest Peter Pan I’ve ever seen. He’s downstairs with our parents, which means we have a few minutes to spare.” He said, locking the door that was behind him. “Zack. As much as I’d really love a quickie, we have ten minutes before Brian and Johnny beat down our door in search of Lincoln.” She giggled as Zack planted kisses down her neck, “I only need two.” Her husband joked, making his wife burst into laughter. “Well since you put it that way, I might have two minutes to spare.” She whispered as she pulled Zack’s face down to meet hers.


Forty-five minutes later, trick or treating was in full swing. Lincoln had already been to six or seven houses, and his candy bucket was filling quickly. He was headed down the driveway of a house he just visited in a full sprint, Peyton on his heels. “Daddy’! I got candy!” He shouted, before almost running into someone. “Oops! Excuse me, little guy!” The person said. Peyton smiled at the woman, before gently directing her son toward his father. “Sorry, he’s just a little excited.” She said stiffly. “It’s okay, I understand. He looks just like his dad.” The blonde said, smiling at Zack, who only nodded in her direction. “Yeah. He does. It’s good to see you, Bridget. See you later.” Peyton said icily, before joining her husband and son on the sidewalk to head toward the next house. “Bye! Don’t be a stranger, Zack!” Bridget said sweetly. Peyton clenched her jaw, but kept walking forward. “Don’t worry babe.” Zack said quietly, throwing an arm over her shoulder. “You’re way hotter as a blonde than she is.” “Damn fucking right I am.” His wife grumbled, earning a laugh and a kiss on her cheek from her husband. “Come on, lets finish this so we can go party.”

Lincoln went home with Zack’s parents, and the Halloween party started. Peyton was sitting in a circle with the rest of the women, and Zack was standing outside with Brian and Johnny taking a smoke break. “She handled that whole Bridget thing pretty well.” Brian commented before sticking his cigarette back in his mouth. “Yeah, but you could tell she really wanted to say something, though.” Johnny commented, while Zack nodded. “She didn’t because Linc was there. If he wouldn’t have been there she probably would have laid into her.” The men continued talking outside, and noticed a blonde walking up the driveway. “What the fuck is she doing here?” Brian asked lowly. “I don’t know, but make sure Pey doesn’t find out. I’ll get rid of her.” Zack said to the brown eyed man before stomping out his smoke and meeting the woman in the middle of the driveway, “What the fuck are you doing here, Gena?” “I came to the party. What does it look like I’m doing?” She replied. “It looks like you’re leaving.” Peyton said, coming up behind Zack. The guitarist quickly turned around and looked at Brian, who was following behind his little sister with a defeated look on his face. “She looked out the window when she saw you walking. Sorry dude.” He shrugged. “Oh Peyton, I just came to have a good time. I thought we were past all of this.” Gena said with a laugh. “Gena, you tried to fucking kill me, we are certainly not past all of this. Now get off my property.” Peyton replied, crossing her arms over her chest. Gena sighed heavily, but turned and started walking back down the driveway, Peyton watching her every move. Once she reached the grass, she turned back around to speak, “I heard about your miscarriage. I would say I’m sorry, but I’m really not. You don’t get to live out my happy ending with Zack like you thought you would after all.” Before anyone else could react, Peyton lunged at Gena. She started throwing punch after punch, swinging her fists as hard as she could. The men outside stood in stunned silence for a few seconds before Michelle came running out the door, “Get her off of her before she kills her!” Brian and Zack quickly sprang to action, Zack grabbing his wife around her waist and pulling her off of the blonde, whose face was pouring blood. “Baby you gotta calm down. Peyton! Stop swinging!” Zack said, pulling her closer to him and squeezing her tight. “Come on Pey. I got you. Calm down.” He said into her hair. Peyton stopped swinging, but was still breathing heavily when Zack pulled back and took a look at her. Her hair was a disaster and she had huge tears rolling down her face. “Come on babe. Let’s get you inside.” He said softly, wrapping his arm around her and leading her toward the house. “This isn’t over, Peyton. You’re going to pay for this.” Gena spat. Zack’s head whipped around toward his ex-girlfriend. “Johnny, take Peyton inside, I’ll be in there in a second.” He said angrily. The bassist nodded and pulled his best friend to his side and led a sobbing Peyton into the house. Zack’s face showed no emotion as he stalked toward Gena, who was being helped off the ground by Brian. “If you come near my family again. If you speak to my wife, if you so much as look in her fucking direction, no one will ever find your fucking body. You are done, Gena. Get the fuck of my property.” He growled, turning her toward her car and watching as she got in and drove away. “Come on man, lets go check on Pey.” Brian said, placing a hand on his friend’s back.

Once they made it into the house, Peyton had calmed down a little, bit Val was fuming. “How fucking dare she? She had no fucking right to say that!” She said, pacing the floor in the living room. “I should follow her home and beat her ass again just for showing up here.” “Nobody is beating her ass again, Val. Let’s just calm down and try to salvage the night.” Brian said, as Zack walked over to his wife and pulled her into his arms. “You okay, babe?” She gave a small nod and sniffled. “What a Halloween.” Johnny said with a chuckle. “I guess Gena wanted to get another taste of Peanut’s knuckle sandwich.” “Johnny, you’re an idiot.” Matt laughed from his spot on the couch, baby River sleeping soundly in his arms. “Come on guys, let’s head out so Zack and Pey can have some time to themselves.” He suggested, rising from his seat. “You guys don’t have to go.” Peyton said sadly. “It’s alright, Peanut. We have to be up early to hit the studio tomorrow anyway.” Brian said, placing a small kiss on the side of her head. One by one, the couples said their goodbyes to Zack and Peyton, the women promising to get together for lunch the following week. When everyone was gone Zack sighed heavily, “Are your hands okay?” “They’re fine. I probably need to go wash the blood off of them though. I don’t even remember going at her. I saw red and lost it.” Peyton said quietly. “Babe I’m not mad at you. I get it. She had no right to say what she said. I just want you to be okay.” He said, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her into his lap. “You know she’s going to try to press charges, right?” “I guess it’s a good thing my dad’s an attorney then.” Peyton said with a smile. “Come on, lets go take a shower. I want to forget about this.” She said, pulling her husband off the couch and leading him upstairs to forget about Gena and everything else for the rest of the night.

Notes

I hope this chapter is okay! I’m sorry if there’s a ton of mistakes, I shattered the screen on my phone and can’t see very well on it haha.

Thanks for reading!