“Yeah.” I came down the ladder and grabbed the filler. I reached over her as I filled the hole.
When my dick lightly grazed the side of her thigh, and I immediately felt it start to grow, I just knew I was having an out-of-body experience. She didn’t seem to notice, but it freaked me the hell out. “Say, I’ll be right back.” I didn’t wait for her to respond, before exiting the room.
I made my way to my own bedroom. For about a minute, I just paced back and forth on the spot of wooden flooring at the foot of my bed. First of all, my dick was broken for any woman except Teagan. Second of all, I didn’t get on bone just from rubbing up against women, . . . especially not Eastley.
Shit!
I walked over to the nightstand and picked up the framed photo I kept there of Teagan. I stared at it. “Tee,” I groaned. “I don’t know what happened back there in the room with Eastley. I swear I don’t know. That’s never happened. I miss you.”
And I did miss my wife. I would’ve given anything for her to be with me. But she wasn’t. And she hadn’t been for three years. Still, I felt like a piece of shit. Both because I felt like I owed that to Teagan and because I owed it to Eastley. She didn’t ask to stay with me for me to act like a perverted ass creep, getting hard because I accidentally rubbed up against her. What in the high school freshman, never had pussy type shit was that?
I went into the kitchen, got a glass of iced water, and drank it slowly. Finally, after what had to have been at least a half an hour, I returned to the guest bedroom. She had painted a good portion of one of the walls.
“You okay?” she asked from where she balanced on the ladder.
“Yeah. I was thinking about Teagan,” I half-lied. I needed to mention her to remind myself—to remind Eastley—that I was spoken for.
I gave the paint two days to dry. Everybody except Quentin told me that I should wait until the weekend to move in. It seemed like he and I were the only ones who understood how badly I was struggling. Not to be dramatic, but I wasn’t sure I could make it any longer at Kobey and Asia’s place. Constantly dealing with high anxiety coupled with the lack of sleep was taking a real toll on me. I needed peace. I felt like I could find it at Quentin’s.
Since I wasn’t on the schedule at the birthing center on Wednesday, I chose that day to start moving my stuff in. I definitely would’ve had more help if I’d chosen to move on the weekend, but I didn’t have all that much. Most of my belongings went into storage when I moved in with my brother. It was mainly clothing, shoes, and personals.
I bought cozy, soft new bedding, luxurious curtains for the windows, and calming artwork for the walls. I pulled out almost every vase I owned and filled them with white flowers of all different varieties. I strung some fairy lights and put out candles because ambient lighting soothed my nervous system.
Quentin went to work on the day I moved in, but he brought home Mexican food because he figured neither of us would be up to cooking. Before we sat down to eat, I gave him a tour of the now-decorated bedroom.
“Wow.” His jaw was slack. “Wow. This looks good, E. It looks like a place I want to lay down and take a nap in. And you got it smelling good as hell in here too. I might have you do something around the entire house.”
I grinned, pleased with myself that he liked it. “Thank you.”
He gave me a side hug, with his arm around my shoulder. “I hope it proves to be as calming and comfortable as it looks.”
“Aww. You’re sweet, Quentin.” I buried my face in his chest for a moment. I genuinely appreciated him being so concerned about my welfare.
After we broke the embrace, I followed him to the kitchen where we laid the food out and started to eat.
“You had a long day, huh?” I questioned, biting into my fish taco.
“Yeah. I stopped through the clubhouse for what was supposed to be a quick meeting.”
“A meeting on Wednesday? I thought church was on Thursday.”
Churchwas how we referred to club meetings. “It is. This wasn’t church.”
“Oh yeah. Kobey mentioned having a meeting. Something about the Juneteenth/Father’s Day Friends and Family Barbecue.”
He nodded his head. “You going?”
I chewed my food thoughtfully. “I want to go, but big crowds . . .” I let my thoughts trail off, before sighing. “Ugh! I wish fear and anxiety would give me my life back already.”
His eyes were so soft when he trained them on me. “I’m sure you do.”
I shrugged. “I know it takes time, but how freaking long? It’s been over two years. I’m over it.”
“Be easy with yourself. You’ll get there. Don’t rush it, sweetheart.”
Our dinner and conversation was interrupted by a text alert from my phone. I pulled it from the pocket of the joggers I was wearing and read it. A smile quickly covered my face. “My patient thinks she’s in labor.”
His eyes ballooned. “Straight up?”
