2. The Things We Don’t Say
CHAPTER TWO
THE THINGS WE DON’T SAY
W hen Trevor pulled into the driveway of their Georgian-style home, the determination he had clung to all morning had started to unravel.
He had bought the house three years ago, his first big purchase after his mother’s estate was settled. The kind of home that made him feel grown and financially stable.
Columns framed the porch, ivy creeping up the side. Katelyn had fallen in love with it instantly. “It feels like a movie,” she had said, spinning barefoot in the foyer when they moved in.
Now, it just felt empty.
The remodel they had planned together stalled after the first coat of paint. Her Pinterest boards went untouched. The bedroom walls echoed. Every inch of the house looked beautiful, staged even, but it did not feel lived in. It did not feel like love.
Katelyn’s car sat in the driveway, parked without a care in the world.
Trevor brushed his hand over the hood. It was still warm. She had just gotten home. At nine in the morning.
What. The. Fuck.
He unlocked the door, the smell of lavender candles and expensive perfume hitting him instantly. The house was too clean, too still.
Their home was all sharp edges and gloss, white oak floors, a marble island, gray walls lined with framed photos from a life that felt far away. Pictures of birthdays and beach trips, all smiles and sunlight. Lies preserved under glass.
Trevor followed the faint sound of running water. The bathroom door was cracked, steam curling out into the hallway.
He pushed it open.
Katelyn stood beneath the showerhead, eyes closed, water gliding down her skin. She looked extremely relaxed. As if she had not been gone for nearly twenty-four hours.
“Good morning, sunshine.”
Katelyn jumped, a small gasp escaping her lips. She had not heard him come in. Her face flushed as she reached for the soap, trying to mask the panic flickering behind her eyes.
“Morning, baby,” her voice was syrupy and sweet, the same tone that used to undo him. Now it scraped against his nerves.
Trevor folded his arms, leaning against the doorframe. His jaw was tight, his stare unmoving, “Where the hell have you been, Katelyn? You missed Zara’s first day of school. But I guess you don’t care, right?”
Katelyn turned off the water and wrung out her hair, avoiding his eyes, “Do not start, Trev. I told you I had to stay late. The Whitmore event ran over.”
“An event that ends at nine a.m.?” His tone was sharp, his restraint slipping. “You did not text me. You did not call. Zara kept asking where you were. Do you know how that felt?”
“No actually, we had rooms at the hotel where the event was hosted. It wasn’t over until almost one in the morning.
I stayed in the room and came home as soon as I woke up.
I know I should have called, and I’m sorry for that baby.
I was just working so much that it slipped my mind to check in.
It won’t happen again.” Her hazel eyes pleaded with Trevor.
He felt the first of his defenses start to crumble.
Katelyn was his person and at least she was trying. His heart was at a tug-of-war.
The pair stared at each other until her hand grabbed his arm, causing the towel she was holding to drop. Trevor couldn’t even remember the last time they had made love. The sight of his wife’s naked body immediately sent a spark traveling down his body.
Katelyn continued to move closer until she was flush against him. Eyes filled with lust. Her plump pink lips ajar slightly showing her desire.
“I’ve missed you baby. I’ve been so busy.
Let me make it up to you...” she drawled before dropping to her knees and pulling the button of Trevor’s pants open.
He should say something. Stop her. Anything.
But this was the closest he’s felt to Katelyn in a long time, and he didn’t want to mess it up.
Was he a fool? Probably, but he wasn’t going to stop.
Her lips lightly kissed the mushroomed head of his dick, causing Trevor to groan and his eyes to roll back.
“I missed you Lyn,” he moaned out as she took his length into her mouth. Katelyn moaned in response causing him to shiver from the vibration. She released him with a resounding “pop”.
“I missed you too, Trev. Let me show you how much.” As she licked the length of him before swallowing him whole.
Trevor saw stars. This is how he was supposed to start his mornings.
Not alone in a cold bed and empty room. His eyes looked down at Katelyn as she kept working him over.
He loved that she had no gag reflex. She could easily deep throat him, even with his size.
She was making it count right now, but Trevor wanted to be inside his wife.
It had been too long. He gently pulled her hair back signaling her to stop.
“Come here baby, I need you,” Trevor’s roughened voice spoke. He picked her up like she weighed nothing and walked them to the bedroom. Kissing Katelyn deeply as he positioned himself between her legs.
“You love me?” He asked as he entered her.
“Yes, I love you.” Katelyn moaned in response.
“Good because I have some frustrations I need to let out, and I just wanted to make sure.” Trevor pulled Katelyn to the edge of the bed, they purposely got it high for this reason.
One hand gripped her hip bruisingly the other hand wrapped around her neck.
Katelyn’s eyes rolled in response. She loved when Trevor got like this.
His stroke changed from slow and shallow to deep and hard.
“We haven’t fucked in almost three months, Lyn. You think that’s a good thing?” He spoke as he continued with the punishing strokes.
“Fuck baby, please don’t stop,” Katelyn whined.
“That’s not what the fuck I asked you. Answer me.”
“No, no, no, no. I don’t think it’s a good thing. I promise-”
“Nah, don’t make promises you won’t keep.
Just take this dick and cum for me.” He demanded.
He was so mad but turned on at the same time, he couldn’t control what was coming out of his mouth.
He felt Katelyn's grip around him tighten around him. Soon she was calling out his name while orgasming. He looked down at her and that’s when he saw it .
A small purple mark right below her ear. One that he did not put there.
He immediately went flaccid inside of her and pulled out.
“What is that mark on your neck?” Katelyn, still hazy from her recent orgasm, looked at Trevor shocked.
“Trev, you were just squeezing the hell out my neck. You know I bruise.”
“So now you’re trying my intelligence. Katelyn, what the fuck is that mark behind your ear? Who put it there.” Katelyn walked, on wobbly legs, to their floor length mirror and turned her head to see the mark Trevor was referencing. She let out a nervous chuckle.
“Boy you’re tripping, that is a burn mark.
I curled my hair for the fundraiser yesterday and got myself because I was listening to Taylor Swift and dancing.
You know I love her.” Trevor stared at his wife for a long moment trying to look for signs of deceit.
He knew she was bullshitting but his mind did not want to comprehend what the mark meant.
What that mark symbolized for his marriage. For his love.
So, he simply nodded his head and walked off to the bathroom to take a shower, he would need to be heading in the city soon.
Katelyn being home threw him off his schedule.
Somehow, he didn’t feel better now than he did when he got home.
The thought of his wife laying up with another man brought this burning sensation to his chest. One he would have to ignore for the time being.
He quickly showered and got out. When he walked back into the room, Katelyn had on her pants and bra.
He saw her phone light up on the nightstand.
She quickly looked at it reading who the contact was and snatched it up.
After reading the contents of the text, she suddenly began to move at hyper speed.
Trevor just observed with the towel wrapped around his hips.
When he opened his closet door it was as if Katelyn just remembered he was in the room.
“I have to go,” she said, eyes still on the message only she could see. “I won’t be home until late.”
“You won’t be here to get Zara from school? Is this job worth missing your daughter’s milestones?”
“I’m doing this for us,” she snapped, finally meeting his gaze. “For our future. You think everything is about you and your perfect little film projects. Some of us have real jobs.”
Trevor’s laugh came out humorless. “Do not do that. Do not twist this like you are a martyr and I’m the one playing pretend. You are gone every night. You don’t come home until the sun is up. When you do, you act like being here is the chore.”
She pulled on her shirt quickly, defensive movements. “You have no idea the pressure I’m under. The things I have to do to keep my position.”
“What, sleeping your way to the top?”
The words were out before he could stop them. The air snapped between them, charged and ugly.
Katelyn froze, shirt clutched tight, her expression hardening into something unreadable, “Wow. So that’s what you think of me now?”
Trevor raked a hand down his face, voice low and weary. “I think you do not look me in the eye anymore. I think our daughter is starting to notice you’re never around. And I think,” he stopped, breath catching. “I think I don’t know who you are anymore.”
For a moment, neither of them spoke. The only sound was the steady tick of the clock down the hall.
Finally, Katelyn turned away, “This conversation isn’t going anywhere and I’m late for work.”
She brushed past him, leaving a trail of perfume and resentment in her wake .