Chapter 18
Bianca
“I’ll see you tonight,” I whispered. “We’ll both bring leftovers and pig out all weekend.”
After pressing one more kiss to Wayne’s cheek, I smiled as he hurried out of the apartment.
He was spending a big chunk of the day cooking last-minute things for his business but then going to his mother’s.
He’d wanted me to come to his mom’s house and I’d wanted him to come to my parents’, but we’d planned it all too late and both families were already set to eat at about the same time.
So, we’d split off and were going to have dinner with each other’s families over the weekend and next week.
Plus, holidays were always so hectic. Neither of us wanted to stress the other out with family drama.
I was excited to get there and see my new nephew, too. Bri and Jace were probably beyond exhausted with a three-day-old, but they’d agreed to come, mostly because my mom told them they were being sent to nap while we held Josh.
I texted Liza to meet me at the car as I grabbed my coat. Pushing the door open, I gasped when I nearly ran smack into Burt the doorman carrying a pink box. “What?” I barked, ruder than I meant to be, but he’d scared the shit out of me.
“Sorry, miss.” Burt held out the pink box. “Special delivery.”
“Sorry I yelled,” I whispered. “Thanks.” I reached into my pocket, but he scurried away before I could pull out a few bucks to tip him.
Peeking in the box, I smiled when I saw my favorite cake. Wayne was so sweet. He’d probably arranged the delivery for right after he left just to be romantic.
I brought it with me, and Liza met me at the car. When we got to my parents’, they welcomed her in, and mom hugged her like she was my long-lost sister or something. I loved that they were so caring. It would suck to be away from my family for the holidays.
Dinner went wonderfully. It turned out that Liza loved to cook, though she wasn’t very good at it. While Bri and Jace napped, I held Josh and hummed at his perfect, tiny face while Dad and Hayden watched the parade.
As much as I missed Wayne being there, he’d be at the next one, and all the ones after that. We had an entire life of Thanksgivings ahead of us. But Josh would only be this tiny for this one, and I got to hold him all day.
After dinner, I dropped Liza back at our complex but decided to wait for Jace at his place. I sent him a quick text and headed over. He’d be faster getting to me this way when he was done with his family’s meal.
When I got there, I plopped down on the couch and yawned. Damn, I hadn’t realized how tired I was. All that food had gone straight to the sandman.
I pulled Wayne’s electric blanket over me, not plugged in, but still, it was toasty warm, and drifted off into a comfortable, warm sleep.
“What the hell are you doing?” Wayne’s harsh voice yanked me from my floaty dream where I was swimming in mashed potatoes.
Jerking upright, I blinked at him. “What?”
“Where’s your phone?” he asked.
I looked around. “Right there.” I nodded toward the coffee table where I’d dropped my phone.
He grabbed it and slid open the lock screen, then huffed out a sharp breath before turning the phone toward me.
My text to him to let him know where I’d be sat on the screen, unsent. I’d either not hit send or had missed it. “Whoops,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
I backed out of the text to find about twenty messages and missed calls. “I didn’t even realize it was on silent,” I said. “I must’ve hit the button on the side.” This model had a little switch that would silence it.
“Do you have any idea how frantic I’ve been?
” He grabbed his hair and tugged on it with a frantic look on his face.
“I went to your apartment and you weren’t there.
I waited a while, but you never showed. Then I called Jace, but he said you’d been gone for hours.
Do you know how scared I was?” He sat on the edge of the coffee table and stared at the carpet.
“I’ve never been that scared.” He sighed.
“You should text your sister and your parents. They’re probably worried, too. ”
I glared at him, but then picked up my phone again and sent off a text to the family chat to let them know I’d just fallen asleep at Wayne’s. “Look, I get you were worried, and that’s fine, but this is a bit of an overreaction, don’t you think?”
His head swiveled as he brought his gaze up to meet mine. “No, I don’t.”
“I’m your girlfriend, Wayne. Not your child.” I crossed my arms and glared.
“Sometimes, you act more like a child.”
Oh, that asshole. I tried to keep my composure as the anger rolled off of me in waves. Static crackled in my ears. I hadn’t been this angry since the last time Wayne had said something totally hurtful before he’d taken his months to “work on himself.”
He sighed and reached for my leg, but I jerked away. I hated how hurt he looked when I moved, but shit. “You don’t get to talk to me like that and think you can then make it better with a few hugs and soft words.”
He hung his head. “I know. I was just so worried and upset. It got the best of me.”
I understood that he had a problem reining in his temper, but he was gonna have to learn and learn fucking fast. “You’ve got to figure out how to communicate your frustrations without trying to make the person you’re talking to feel like absolute shit.”
I grabbed my purse and stood.
“Please, don’t go,” Wayne said. He walked behind me to the door. “Let me make this up to you.”
“I’m not breaking up with you,” I said. “But I also don’t want to be here right now. I need some space.” I turned and shot him a sympathetic glance. I didn’t hate him, but he needed to figure out his shit. “I think you need some space, too. I’ll call you later.”
He cupped my face with his hands. “I’m sorry. I promise you; my intent was never to hurt you. I was scared and my fear got away from me. I promise, this won’t be a continuous problem between us. I…” He dropped his hands. “I just need you to understand that I’m truly sorry.”
“I know you are. I get it. But I think we both need some space to cool off and reprioritize.”
His shoulders slumped.
“I hope you can give that to me,” I whispered.
He was reluctant, but Wayne kissed my forehead and nodded. “I will.”
Damn it! I’d thought he was past this stage, this problem.
It sucked that he didn’t know where I was, but Andre hadn’t presented a problem in a couple of weeks.
Wayne had told me about Porter having a cop talk to him, and Andre hadn’t attempted even a text since then.
It was time for Wayne to back off on the protection detail.
I wouldn’t put up with him being angry all the time. I wouldn’t walk on eggshells, fated mate or not.
Glancing to my right before I pulled out on to the main road, the pink box with a few slices of leftover cake caught my eye. I’d forgotten to thank him for the gift. Not that it really mattered right now, but I hadn’t meant to be rude about it.
I’d thank him when we made up, whenever that was.