I stopped, stepped back to look at her. “Was he showing symptoms?”
Heidi shook her head no, and all the tension her words sent through me relaxed.
“Good. That’s good.”
I sighed and walked off without saying anything else. Her interference in my relationship with Hayden hurt the most because she knew me better than the rest of the family. How she could put me in this situation baffled me. A confrontation brewed under the surface between me and meddling family, but not yet. Not until I could do it without a Chernobyl-level meltdown.
I looked down at my watch, wondering how soon was soon. I dropped into a chair in the backyard that gave me a glimpse of the front drive. I didn’t even bother trying to convince myself it was a coincidence. It wasn’t. I needed to see for myself that he was okay. I’d love to know what the scan showed, but I knew better than to ask. Hayden would never tell me. I knew it like I knew how to tug my dick to get myself off quickest.
He’d proven it the last time I’d seen him.
I’d been in Vegas to meet with a client and conduct some upgrades and training at the hotel when I ran into him. He and the guys were there for one of their drinking and gambling weekends, he said. He’d look so fucking good. One thing led to another and we’d ended up fucking our brains out just like we had the first time we’d been there.
When I woke up the next morning, he stood next to the bed, getting dressed.
“Good morning.”
He grunted. That was it. All the response I got. Well, unless you counted him shaking out his pants and tugging them on.
“Are you okay?”
He stopped, stared at me, and said, “This was a mistake.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
He had to be fucking joking with this shit. I couldn’t believe he would do this again. Fuck me and kick me out. Like all I was good for was a good time, as if he got my name off a bathroom wall.
“No.”
He grabbed his shirt, pulled it over his head.
“Papi…”
“Don’t call me that.”
My mouth fell open. Rolling my lips into my mouth to hold back the emotion his rejection stirred.
“Hayden.”
“I gotta go. I have shit I need to do today. Don’t be here when I get back.”
“What’s more important than our marriage?”
“Lots of shit. For one, I need my meds.”
“Meds? What meds? Are you okay?”
“That’s none of your damn business.”
Now, he had pissed me off. He was my husband. Whether we lived together or not, we were still fucking married, and I deserved to know what meds he was on. Taking a page from his book, I went for the jugular.
“We didn’t use anything last night. Should I be worried you’ve exposed me to something? I mean, my health is my business, right, and if…”
“You didn’t use anything either. And I don’t fuck without wrapping my shit.”
“You did last night. Several times.”
“Yeah, well, you’ve always been the exception to all my rules.”
