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First, I could smell her. Like, smell her skin and smell her hair.
Second, I could feel the warmth of her body under my sheets.
When you go from a party of one in a king-sized bed to a party of two, the difference is staggeringly not imaginary.
Third, when I woke up at five thirty to work out after a less than restful night’s sleep and found Layla sleeping in bed with Katy because Katy no doubt woke up with a nightmare I somehow missed and Layla went in and took care of it, I knew I was screwed.
But I also knew that wasn’t a new feeling for me when it came to Layla.
Part of me questioned if I was in trouble from the first moment I met her.
So now I’m running on my treadmill like zombies are chasing me while I try not to listen to the room above my exercise room. The room that happens to be Katy’s. I don’t have earbuds in my ears this morning. There is no music pumping through me. It’s silence and that zip noise treadmills make when you run on them and that’s it.
It’s barely day one, and I have no clue how I’ll keep any of the promises I made to Layla about this arrangement, but I have to, and I willif I’m going to make this work.
I have no other option for Katy.
My phone rings and I insert one earbud so I can still hear out of the other ear. “Hey,” I answer.
Zax’s growly voice comes through my ear. “Hey. I got your message just now. I’m sorry I didn’t call you back last night. My phone was on silent for some fucking reason I can’t figure out.”
“No. You’re fine. It wasn’t urgent. But…” And fuck, how do I ask this? Ash suggested it when we spoke yesterday, but again, how do I ask this? “I… Zax, I have something big to ask you.”
“Ash also texted me about it because he didn’t want you to have to deal with it while you’re dealing with everything else.”
Christ. “I don’t know if I’m relieved he did that or pissed.”
He chuckles. “Relieved because yes, I still have it and it’s yours to use as you need.”
I wipe the sweat on my face with my towel as grief and elation slam into me. “Zax. I can’t. I mean, how can I?”
“Because you need a ring ASAP and I happen to have one,” he says matter of fact.
“It’s Suzie’s though.”
He breathes into the phone, and I lower my treadmill speed to a slow walk. “If Suzie were still alive, she would be fighting this with you the hardest.”
“She’s the reason I’m in the emergency room. I never want to miss what we missed again.” There. I said it.
He laughs like I’m a fool. “You think I didn’t know that all these years? Shut up, Cal. I know you, brother. We all know you as you know all of us. You are the best of us and I’m not saying that lightly, but you are. We’re more than family and stronger than blood, so I’m offering you the ring I was never able to give Suzie because it would make her fucking smile like the devil she was if she knew what you were using it for.”
It would. I can practically see that smile now as I close my eyes and offer him my most heartfelt, “Thank you.”
“My one ask is that Katy is the flower girl for me and Aurelia if I can ever get her to pin down a wedding date.”
“Done.”
“I’ll drop it by this morning before I head into the office.”
“I owe you. Don’t say I don’t.”
“You don’t. You’d do this for me. See you in a bit.”
I swallow my breath. “See you in a bit.”
Stopping the treadmill, I snatch my towel and wipe my forehead and neck down as I head into my kitchen for some water. I haven’t called Tom yet. I wanted to give Layla some time or maybe some sleep to reconsider.
The problems with this will be my own.
