Chapter Fifteen
Camille
The living room was dim, lit only by the flickering light of the TV, shadows cast on the walls as the movie credits rolled. I snuggled deeper against Trenton’s chest, his skin invitingly warm, even through his hoodie. The movie had been a mindless distraction, one of those action flicks where the plot didn’t really matter, but the explosions were entertaining enough.
As I reached for the popcorn bowl on the coffee table, my phone buzzed. I glanced at the screen, but it was just a text notification. Honoring our No Phone Rule during movie night, I ignored it, turning my attention back to Trenton, who sat quietly staring at the lists of names, strangers we’d never met with job titles for tasks we’d never understand.
“You’re wondering if you could get Stanza out of the hole and still save Gerald?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
“I could’ve!” he said, turning to me. “All he had to do was hang on for a few more minutes! The Jesuits were almost there!”
“But he didn’t know that.”
Trenton pushed his back against the couch cushion in a huff. “A little hope goes a long way.”
“The hot oil would’ve got her first,” I insisted. “Beck couldn’t chance it.”
Trenton scowled. “I would’ve figured out a way.”
“Who are you kidding? You wouldn’t risk me being boiled alive.”
He winced. “C’mon, Chamomile. Don’t put that visual in my head.”
Just as the credits faded to black, his phone rang, jolting us both to a sitting position. Trenton sighed, looking at the display. “It’s Taylor.”
“Taylor? Aren’t he and Falyn…?”
His shoulders sagged. “Yeah.”
“You get a pass.”
He reluctantly pulled his arm away from me to answer. “Hey, man,” Trenton said, listening intently. The lines between his brows hadn’t softened since we’d talked about the ending of the movie, and whatever Taylor was saying was only making them deeper.
“Yeah, that’s totally fine, I’ve got you. Everything okay?” He paused as Taylor’s voice continued in a long stream. I strained to listen to bits of the conversation without any luck.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s fine. We’re… good,” he continued. “It’s a long story, but at the end of the day, we’re good. I’ll tell you when you get here. It’ll be good for you to get away… Still? ” He waited again, and I could feel the gravity of whatever was being said pulling at me from the other end.
Trenton sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, I mean I can see her point. Yours, too. But I know there’s a lot of ins and outs to it all… for sure. Yeah.” Trenton kept his voice low. Whatever Taylor was saying was serious. “I know she does, but it’s just going to take some time, longer than you thought. It’s bound to come up. Have you… have you guys thought about talking to someone? Yeah, I mean, yeah, of course. Falyn said that? Oh, man. Ouch.”
I wrapped my arms around my knees, trying to focus on the hushed conversation. The way he said Falyn hung in the air like a warning. Trenton’s eyes darted to me, and I gave him a reassuring nod, even though my gut was churning with unease.
“Just get here. Dad’ll know what to do. How’s Hollis and Hadley? Yeah, it’s crazy how big they’re getting. Shocks the shit out of me every time I see a new picture. He’s a dinosaur nerd like you were.” Trenton chuckled. “Love it. Hadley’s really into… what is it? Unicorns?” He grinned softly, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “She’s such a damn cutie pie. She reminds me so much of Olive at her age it’s crazy. That sounds great. We’d love to see you guys… Yeah. See you next weekend.” He ended the call and lightly lobbed his phone onto the coffee table, staring at it with wide eyes like it had just burned his hand.
“That bad?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
He exhaled with pursed lips. “They’re coming to visit next weekend with the kids. They… they’ve been having some problems. Taylor said they need a break.”
“Well, they’re coming as a family. That’s a good sign, right?”
“It just freaks me out when any of us talk like that, ya know? I don’t know what I’d do if you left me. I don’t know that any of my brothers would survive losing their wife. I know I wouldn’t.”
I kissed his cheek. “You’ll never have to find out.”
He wrapped both of his arms around me, kissing my hair. “It’s just that when it’s even alluded to, it reminds me that it can happen. I feel this panic start to boil up, but it’s not new. It feels like it’s always there. I try to reassure my brother while I’m feeling like my throat is closing and I can’t breathe.”
I sat up and put my palms on both sides of his face. “Babe,” in a half scolding, half worried tone. “Look at me,” I insisted, leaning to catch his gaze. “It might happen for other people, but not for us. This isn’t a House of Cards. This,” I gestured to the space between us, “is forever. Even if you’re sick of my face and the sound of my voice and even then . I plan to fucking haunt you.”
Trenton relaxed, his expression softening. He took a deep breath and grinned. “You can’t, because I’m going first.”
“Considering our track record with accidents, it could be either one of us.”
Trenton frowned again. “I have to go first.”
I grabbed his arm. “I was kidding.”
He shivered. “I’m serious. I’m not like Dad. I can’t. It literally makes me feel sick to my stomach.”
“Okay, Maddox.” I stood, pulling him with me. “Run us a bath. We’re going to soak in the bubbles and quit letting shit that’s not even happening ruin our night.”
“Yeah,” he said, forcing his shoulders down.
I watched him stretch as he walked and then bent down to grab our phones. Remembering my notification from earlier, I checked my phone and saw it was Raegan.
“Trent?” I called, hearing the tub’s faucet open up and water splash against the porcelain.
“Yeah?” he yelled back.
“Raegan’s visiting this weekend, too,” I said, reading her message as I walked.
Trenton shook the water from his hand, wet from swirling the bubble solution in the water. “No shit?”
I kept reading. “She’s coming with Wes. They want to do dinner.”
“Okay?”
“Taylor?” I reminded him.
“Oh. Oh, shit. Well, surely, we can get away for a few hours, or make a group thing out of it. If Falyn’s up to it. Or maybe they’ll want us to watch the kids while they’re out, hell, I dunno.”
“We’ll figure it out.” I shrugged and shot a text back.
Trenton pulled his shirt over his head, his sculpted muscles flexing with the smallest movement. “I’m surprised she’s coming back again so soon. Isn’t that like three times this month?”
“Yeah, I think because she’s pregnant she just wants to be around me and her mom.”
“Makes sense,” he said, sucking air in through his teeth as he lowered his naked body into the steaming, frothy water. “I love it that you’ve been spending so much time together.”
“I know, me too.” I peeled off my clothes and stepped in, sitting to face my husband. He looked a bit silly, sitting there covered in tattoos up to his neck, muscles bulging, surrounded by bubbles.
“What?” he asked.
I blinked, not realizing I was smiling. “Nothing.”
He playfully splashed me. “What’s funny, punk?”
I giggled. “It’s just that most people we pass on the street look at you like you just broke out of prison, and here you are, sitting in a fluffy white cloud.”
He reached over to tickle me, and just as I arched my back and cried out, he pulled me onto his lap.
“Hi,” he said against my lips.
I settled my knees on each side of his hips, cupping his prickly jawline before pressing my lips against his.
A low hum rose up from his throat, vibrating against my mouth, his fingers pressing into my lower back.
I lifted up on my knees, reaching below the surface of the water to guide him inside me while I lowered myself onto his lap.
His head fell back against the rim of the tub, his eyes closed. “You know what the best thing about marriage is?” he asked.
I circled my hips slowly, careful not to slosh the water out onto the floor.
“What?” I grinned, watching his expression switch from relaxed, to euphoric, to relaxed again each time I moved.
“When you’re single, hell, even when you’re dating, it’s just not the same.”
“Sex, you mean?”
He sighed, his fingers digging into me a bit more. “Yeah. The confidence I have knowing you want my touch, that I know how to make you feel good, that you know exactly how to touch me, what I like, and how to make me come. Even how to tease me. You know when I want you. You know when I need you. There’s no awkwardness. No walk of shame. I don’t have to wonder if I can ask where you’re going, who you’re with. Why do people think the dependability and routine are something to avoid?”
“Are some of your clients giving you shit over getting married too early again?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
His eyes popped open and he righted his head, scanning my body with sleepy eyes. Open-palmed, he grazed his fingers over my torso, from the base of my neck, the subtle curve of my breast, my middle, then gripped my hip again. “Mmmm,” he said, subtly rocking his pelvis toward me. “And yet they’re not the ones who have a stunningly beautiful, naked woman stroking their dicks with their warm, tight pussy in a hot bubble bath tonight, are they?”
“I’d say you’ve got the better deal.”
He pulled me down for another kiss, then held me just inches away by my neck, meeting my gaze. “I love being your husband. If I had to do it all over again, I’d just marry you sooner.”
“We should wash really quick and move this to the bed. I’m getting hot.”
“Already?” he asked.
“I feel kind of shaky, actually.” In that moment, a wave of nausea overwhelmed me, and I scrambled from the tub to reach the toilet before the contents of my stomach swirled in the water with us.
“Cami?!” Trenton called, the water spilling off him as he rushed too fast to get to me.
I lifted the lid and my body tensed, my throat burning, the water splashing below.
Trenton’s fingers combed my hair away from my face, holding it into a makeshift ponytail while I heaved.
Once the involuntary spasms subsided, I reached up to flush the toilet and then lay on the cold floor, one cheek against the tile.
“I’ll get you a cool rag and a towel,” Trenton said, hurrying about the bathroom.
The sink turned on and then back off a few moments later, and then a folded washrag was across my forehead.
“Jesus, baby. What do you need?” he asked.
“I’m already feeling better. I think I just got too hot.”
Trenton spread the towel over me. “C’mon, let’s get you to the bed, this floor can’t be comfortable.”
He helped me to the bedroom and gently lowered me to the mattress, angling the pillow so I could sit up a bit.
“Water, a T-shirt, and panties… anything else?” he said, trying too hard to both relieve me of embarrassment and hide his concern.
“An empty cup and the mouthwash?” I asked.
He pointed at me. “Got it.”
While he gathered the list, I relaxed, letting the stars fade from my vision. “That was wild.”
“Is there a virus going around?” he asked, handing me my clothes.
“Who knows.” I pulled one of his worn, oversized T-shirts over my head and then slipped my feet through the leg holes of a pair of cotton, modestly cut panties, lifting my hips quickly to pull them up all the way. I let my head fall back against the padded headboard, grateful my husband knew not to grab a thong or something equally uncomfortable.
He set a glass of ice water, an empty plastic cup, and the bottle of mouthwash on my nightstand, then sat next to me, careful not to jostle the mattress.
“I’m sorry,” I said, spitting the mouthwash into the cup.
“Nope.” He took the cup from me, then rinsed it in the bathroom sink. “Don’t go there.” When he returned, he dropped the towel wrapped around his waist and changed into his boxer briefs, crawling into bed.
“When did you put on the towel?” I asked.
He blinked and then shook his head. “I have no idea. I just went on autopilot.”
“You know what the best part of marriage is to me?”
“What?” he asked, using his fingers to sweep my hair away from my face.
“You. Being married to you. Marriage isn’t great for everyone. I mean, look at my parents. You would’ve married me sooner had I not dragged my feet at every opportunity. Had I known this was what it was going to be like—what it’s supposed to be like—I wouldn’t have waited.” I blew out a breath, holding the rag against my head. “You take such good care of me, Trent. And I know… I know you’re stressed about keeping me safe when Madison gets back, but you should know just like I do that whatever happens, you’ll take care of it. You’ll take care of me. You always have. You always do. You won’t fail when it matters most. So, no more worrying, okay? You’ll know what to do in the moment if anything should happen. You just will. You won’t even have to think about it; you’ll go on autopilot, like just now.”
He kissed my temple. “That’s a comforting thought.”
“That’s why you’ll never be in a situation like Taylor is with Falyn. We’ll never have to make a last-ditch effort to save our marriage because when things come up, you always know exactly how to fix it, even if you think you don’t. When’s the last time I’ve had to ask you to do anything? To help with anything?”
“The last time I was standing in front of a drawer you needed in.”
I chuckled and leaned my head against his chest. “If that’s all you can think of, we’re good.” I looked up at him, curling my wrist under the crook of my neck.
As my words hung in the air, Trenton leaned down to kiss my temple, and then settled back against the headboard, taking in a deep breath. Despite being in an upright position, soon his breaths evened out and he was asleep.
I envied his ability to fall asleep whenever and wherever. Unlike me, he didn’t need the temperature to be just right, his favorite pillow or comforter, mattress or position. Trenton had slept on planes, in the passenger seat, on the floor, in a recliner, even during a wedding with his chin resting on his chest. It was like he had a button on his ass and the moment he sat and closed his eyes, he could sleep at will.
I glanced at the clock, hoping that with a full night’s rest I’d feel better by morning. Raegan and Wesley would be in town soon, as well as Taylor and his family. Between their visits and my responsibilities at the shop, I didn’t have time to get sick.
I ran through my mental checklist, but each item made my stomach churn a little more. I needed to clean the guest bathrooms—both at our house and Jim’s. Fresh towels and groceries. The ideas for meals began to scroll through my mind like the credits after the movie we’d watched earlier.
I rested my palm on my belly, hoping my body heat would be soothing. No matter how I felt in the morning, Trenton was going to fight me from the moment I got out of bed, insisting I stay home and rest. That was the unsaid responsibility of being the only daughter-in-law without children who also still lived in our hometown: I managed the general chaos while everyone else tended to their own. Ellison and Falyn didn’t know their way around Jim’s kitchen, and no one expected Liis to do anything domestic. The boys were always pretty good at picking up the slack, guiding their wives if they all weren’t busy with kids, but by the time that happened, I was usually finished and already onto the next task.
I might be the black sheep, being the only one who’d dated two of the Maddox brothers, but I was also expected—whether they knew it or not—to be the glue that held everything together.
I pushed my worries aside, letting myself sink further into Trenton’s arms and focus on sleep. I’d make it work like I always did.
Trenton squeezed me closer to him. “Chamomile,” he mumbled. “Go to sleep. I’ll take care of everything.”
I grinned; my eyes still closed. “I am asleep.”
“Good,” he said, his breaths evening out once more.