Three years after they got together
Velvet’s POV
“Nash!”I call out after I spit toothpaste into the bathroom sink and flick the tap on to wash it down the drain. “Stop ignoring me and tell me you’ll be home on time today.” When my husband doesn’t answer me, I mutter, “I will fucking kill that man.”
We were in the middle of a conversation about our day ahead, in which I was reminding him that we needed to be home and ready to leave here by one p.m. at the latest this afternoon so that we make it to our friend’s wedding on time. Nash finished brushing his teeth and left me to go get dressed, but we carried on the conversation after he left. At least, I thought we did. It turns out that he zoned out at some point, and I was the only one in the conversation.
I finish up in the bathroom and go in search of him. We really need to get on the same page about today because he was giving me the vibe that he couldn’t care less about getting to the wedding on time.
I expect to find him in the kitchen trying to shovel sugar into his mouth. The man lives for sweet things.
I don’t find him in the kitchen.
I don’t find him anywhere in the house, so I head out to the garage, thinking he’s probably there.
When I don’t find him in the garage, I plant my hands on my hips and mutter, “Why do you make my life so difficult some days, Nash Walker?”
“You planning on standing here talking to yourself for long?”
I spin at the sound of Nash’s voice and find him standing behind me with his eyes pinned to my ass.
“Stop looking at my ass,” I snap.
He drags his gaze up to mine. “You’re still pissed at me for what I said?”
I cross my arms. “Yep.”
Moving closer, he brings his hands to my hips. “You gonna hold it against me for long, sweet thing?”
I smack his hands away. “For as long as I need to.”
He chuckles and snakes his arm around my waist before I’m able to stop him. Pulling my body against his, he drops his mouth to my ear as his hand finds my ass. “Let’s speed this process up then,” he growls, “so I can get my mouth on you before you leave for work.”
I push him away, not willing to let him use his Nash loving to mess with my thoughts today. “Let’s not. You aren’t getting your mouth anywhere near me before I leave for work.”
“Fuck,” he mutters. “I’ll make sure we get to the fuckin’ wedding on time.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Why do you not like her?”
“I never said that,” he starts, but I cut him off.
“You don’t need to say it, Nash. It’s clear in everything youdosay.” We’ve been friends with Kathy for two years now, and in that time, he’s grumbled about her more than he’s said anything nice about her. And I just don’t get it. Kathy’s always friendly towards him and has never done anything wrong.
He rakes his fingers through his hair, looking pained. “I’m fairly fuckin’ sure that whatever I say here is going to be wrong, so spare my balls, okay?”
“Your balls are safe.”
“You say that like it’s a given, Velvet, but there’s been no given on any-fuckin-thing the last couple of weeks.”
I frown. “What does that mean?”
“It means that I’m fuckin’ struggling to read you lately. When I think you’re gonna laugh, you cry. When I think you’re gonna agree with me on something, you disagree like the fuckin’ world depends on it. I leave here in the morning and you’re happy, but an hour later you’re texting me a whole heap of pissed-off thoughts. My balls don’t feel very fuckin’ safe these days.”
Nash and I don’t fight much. Sure, we disagree, and he grumbles all over the place about things some days, but we make it a rule to never go to bed while in a fight with each other. Before we got married, we agreed to work our shit out every day and not let things ever hang over us. The fact he’s taken his time to bring this up with me is surprising. And also a little frustrating. I don’t ever want to be the person he just described.
“Why haven’t you mentioned this before? And when you say ‘lately’, how long do you mean?”
“I didn’t mention it because it was just little shit to begin with. Shit that didn’t matter. But it’s been going on for about three weeks now and your mood swings have escalated this week.”
