AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I can’t drag him down into my misery.
Chapter72
Axel
Turning off the light,I climb into bed beside Maddie. Her untouched tea sitting on the nightstand.
I don’t know if my body heat will make her too warm, so fighting all my instincts to pull her close, I roll to slide in behind her but keep a few inches of space between us.
I watch her back rise and fall with steady breaths.
She must be asleep. Which is good, she needs her rest. But I wish I could talk to her. Ask her what hurts. See what else I can do.
I don’t like this.
I feel helpless.
Staring at her form in the dark I realize that not touching her is going to be impossible.
With slow movements, I rest my arm over her side. And I have to grit my teeth to keep from pulling her into my body.
The feeling in my chest is sharp and I want to rub it away.
I want to shake Maddie awake and tell her to talk to me.
But now’s not the time to lecture.
My eyes start to close and focus on the feel of Maddie’s curves under my arm.
If she’s still feeling bad in the morning, I’ll let her have the day. But after that, she’s gonna have to learn. There’s no boxing me out.
Hurt stomach – hell, hurt anything – it doesn’t matter. She’s gotta learn to share everything with me.
Everything.
Chapter73
Maddie
“Your phone is ringing,”Leslie calls to me from across the almost empty shop.
“Oh, um,” I look down at my armful of paper cups, “I’ll call them back.”
I’ve been distracted all morning with feelings of guilt.
I never should’ve kept up the ruse of being sick.
I mean, sure, I felt sick. But I felt sick in a different way than I led Axel to believe.
It was a miracle I was able to convince him to leave yesterday morning. Saying I planned to sleep all day and that I didn’t want to worry about him being bored.
I did stay in bed, but it was to wallow in a dreadful mix of self-pity and self-loathing.
Stacking the cups in the proper place, I wipe my hands off and head to the office where my purse is sitting with my phone.
I don’t recognize the number of the missed call, but there’s a voicemail so I hit play.
Hi, this message is for Maddison. This is Jason at Axel’s Autobody just letting you know that your car is ready to be picked up. You can call back if you have questions, otherwise just come in and it’ll be ready for you.
