Chapter 5. Blake - Crossing Lines
He was going through a particularly bad patch, and Rose was distraught.
She’d begun messaging a lot again lately, and I wanted to help her so I lied sometimes when her messages came through and then I deleted them.
It gave me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, but it was only for Haz’s benefit.
This would stress her unnecessarily and there was no way I was going to add to her mental load with this.
Although Haz was feeling cheerier, she was feeling tired a lot lately. She had worked a lot of hours over the past few weeks, and Belle was having some family issues, so she spent quite a few hours on the phone with her. Hopefully by the time the baby arrived, things would be more settled.
We were in bed, and Haz was nodding off. I rubbed her sweet little belly and kissed her on the cheek. It had been a week since we were intimate, and I missed her. I knew when the baby arrived, one-on-one time would be limited, so I wanted to love on her as much as I could.
I nuzzled into her neck. “You asleep, babe?”
“Not yet. Tired though,” she murmured, rolling away so I was facing her back. I sighed. Okay then. I headed to the bathroom. Just you and your hand tonight , I could hear P!nk sing.
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I organized a date night the following night to help relax Haz and maybe create some intimacy. It was wonderful. Just the two of us at our favorite Chinese restaurant. Sean had chosen fried chicken on Thursday, so I was missing my beef and black bean.
“So good to get out,” Harriet moaned tiredly. “I’m almost done with teaching Sam how to use the system. Once I sort out my handover notes, I can see my time out without all this hassle.”
“Foot massage tonight?” I offered. Her feet were hurting lately. They weren’t swelling, but I could tell they bothered her.
“That would be amazing.”
Ping.
I looked down at my phone. Rose had a date tonight, and I was so happy for her. Maybe this man would stick around and pitch in so I could withdraw further. I smiled, just a small smile.
It was a picture of her in a short black dress and tall black heels.
Harriet: What do you think? You’re my fit check person. I need a guy’s opinion! *Image attached*
Me: You look beautiful. And what the hell is a fit check? *laughing emoji*
Harriet: It’s a check to see how you look at all angles!
Me: I can only see one angle.
Harriet: Okay pervert, here’s my back angle *Image attached*
Me: Perfect. Have fun and be careful.
Harriet: *Kissing emoji* Always, Bear xx
“Who’s that?” Harriet asked.
“Just Mick. Reckons we haven’t ordered enough tape,” I lied.
Why did I lie? I guess I knew that she wouldn’t be happy with that particular text chain. I deleted it. Rose was just a friend, but Haz wouldn’t understand it. I knew that much. My sister used kissing emojis in her texts with me. It didn’t mean anything. It was just a chick thing.
“I ran into Colin the other day,” Haz said.
Why was she bringing up Colin?
“How is he?” I asked. Play it cool. Why was I telling myself to play it cool?
“Confused. He was ranting at me about wanting more money. It’s getting to the point that I am uncomfortable leaving the house. He’s getting more aggressive.”
“He’s a million years old, Haz. He won’t hurt you. A stiff breeze would knock him over.”
“Yes, I know but it’s upsetting. I don’t want to cause trouble and I know he’s unwell. I spoke to Rose about it yesterday and she said she’d keep an eye on him.
“Why are you troubling Rose? She has enough to worry about,” I scolded. I know Haz was uncomfortable, but Rose was living this 24/7. The least we could do was to tolerate a bit of discomfort.
“Why shouldn’t I trouble Rose? She moved in to look after him and I’m telling her that he needs more supervision. It’s not just me he’s stressing out. Seeing me distresses him and it’s hard to watch him in pain,” she snapped.
“I’m just saying you should have told me and I’d have told Rose,” I soothed.
“Why? Are you her fucking intermediary? Her social worker? Her husband ?” she seethed.
This was getting ridiculous.
“No, I’m a bystander. I’m not affected by this like you are, Loretta , so I’m best placed to talk to Rose without bringing unnecessary emotion into it.” I’d have to talk to Rose later to see if Haz had upset her.
Haz just stared at me. Almost in disbelief.
“Oh, you’re involved. You’re just too fucking stupid to recognize it.”
So, date night was going well. There go my plans for later tonight. Haz was fuming, and I knew she’d have a long bath when she got home and then flake by going to bed early. That was what she did when she was stressed.