AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I spend a minute trying to think what I can share with her, but my brain won’t cooperate. The road is completely blocked, so I close the text for now and check emails, social media, and—of course—make sure my login streak is safe.
My phone vibrates and another message flashes across the screen. “Hello?”
“Sorry,” I text back. “I’m at his house right now and I feel like I’m being rude. I’m also getting really tired. I’ll text you tomorrow, okay?”
“You’re sleeping over at his place?? Wow, that’s like really serious for you.”
It is, and I don’t know how to explain it.
To evade getting roped into the conversation now anyway, I send back, “Yes, lol, and I don’t have my charge cord with me, so…”
“gotcha. Well, tell me everything tomorrow!”
I text back telling her to have a good night, but I feel a pull of sadness knowing I can’treallytell her everything. I’ll have to set up a lunch date with her one day so we can talk in person.
Of course, then she’ll see it all over my face….
It feels like there’s no good answer to that, and it stresses me out. I don’t want my relationship with Calvin to interfere with my relationship with Charity, but at the same time, there’s so much I can’t tell her. Even if I gave her a sanitized version of our relationship, I think she’d conflate it with abuse. Which isn’t exactly unfair, but if she picked up on that, she would flip the fuck out and make me get out of the relationship… which I obviously cannot do.
There’s too much I can’t explain.
My stomach is getting upset just thinking about it, so I try to push it out of my mind. I do one last round of notification clearing, update my social media with a picture of Marie napping on her blanket bed with a toy mouse tucked under her paw, and sign off for the night.
When I put my phone down on the cushion closer to Calvin, he closes his book and looks over at me. “Are you ready for bed?”
I nod and glance at the book. “Did you finish your chapter?”
“No, but I can finish it tomorrow during your phone time.”
He says that like it’s healthy and normal, but I cringe a little because it sounds batshit crazy. Also a little because who stops reading before the end of a chapter?
“See, when you say things like that, you sound like a crazy person, and I sound like a prisoner,” I say, turning on my butt so I can put my feet back on the floor.
Calvin is already standing, so he walks over and offers my hand like I need help getting up. I don’t, but I take it, anyway. He pulls me against him, then wraps his arms around my waist and leans in to kiss me. “Then let’s go to bed, and I’ll treat you like a girlfriend.”
Chapter Thirty Five
Hallie
Steam makes the glass door of the shower foggy, but I still notice when Calvin slips into the bathroom.
He knew I was showering. I had to work late tonight to get my current project finished on time, and I have to go in to work tomorrow. I’m not sure how it will go, if he’ll truly make me take Hollis. I want to go by myself and meet Charity for lunch, but I also can’t traipse through the city without my phone, and I don’t know how to bring that up.
I’ve been agonizing about it in the background since Charity and I texted the other night. In her texts since, the tone has changed a bit. She knows I’m spending time with Calvin, and she thinks that’s why I’m ignoring her.
I mean, it is, but not the way she thinks.
It’s all stressing me out, so I thought a nice, hot shower would chase my cares away.
Apparently, Calvin thought the same thing.
He’s naked when the door slides open, but not yet aroused. I just finished rinsing the shampoo out of my hair, so it’s dripping wet as I take a step back toward the wall.
“Can I help you with something?” I ask lightly.
Calvin steps forward, taking up more of my personal space than he has a right to.
Then he takes up more, pushing me back against the wall and caging me in with his arms.
