Page 60 of While You're There
“Isn’t this their thing?” he snapped at her dismissal. “I thought Jake and Rhett had a whole moral stance against drinking and driving. Bro code, total control, all that alpha male shit. Or do those rules not apply to the king himself?”
“Leave it alone,” she hissed. But Fielding’s words were already percolating in her mind. Her husband didn’t drink and drive. He didn’t let anyone even drive tipsy. Being in control and ensuring everyone got home safe had been his hallmark for years. Was he about to throw that out the window?
“This is bullshit, Tori. I bet Jake would have something to say about this,” he threatened as he slid his phone out of the back pocket of his khaki pants.
“What are you two whispering about?” Rhett asked as he rejoined them, wrapping an arm around her waist as he hugged her from behind.
“Just talking about our buddy Jake,” Fielding replied before widening his stance and crossing his arms across his chest. A few tense seconds passed as he assessed Rhett up and down. “You good, man?”
“Yep, all good. Just need my car. It’s been a long day.”
Rhett either missed the challenge in Fielding’s tone, or he chose to ignore it.Tori gave Fielding a pointed look, silently pleading with him to drop it as Anwar pulled the Mercedes into the circle drive.
Rhett made his way around to the driver’s side to exchange keys and cash with Anwar. With her husband on the other side of the car, Fielding grasped her by the elbow, holding her in place when she attempted to reach for the passenger door. He turned his back to the vehicle and slowly met her gaze. His fingers brushed back and forth against the crease of her elbow as he wrapped his other hand around the passenger door handle without actually pulling it open.
To Rhett and Anwar, it would look like he was just opening the door for her. But Tori knew he was stalling, giving her one extra second to consider her options and change her mind.
“Text me when you get home,” he whispered in her ear when he finally opened the door. She started to shrug one shoulder in defiance but softened when she glanced and saw the worry on his face. “I’m serious, Tori. If I don’t hear from you in the next ten minutes, I’m coming to check on you myself.”
She nodded. He squeezed her elbow once more, then finally released her arm.
She lowered herself into the luxury car and reached for her seatbelt right away. “Goodnight, Fielding.” Her friend said nothing in reply, but she felt his uneasy stare through the tinted windows as they drove away.
Chapter twenty-five
Rhett
“Didyouknowyourbuddy was working tonight?” he asked as calmly as possible as he coasted through the main intersection of downtown Hampton.
She sighed loudly as she turned her body toward the window. ““I don’t keep track of his schedule, Rhett. And I’m not the one who picked the restaurant or made the reservation, remember?”
She had him there.
“Not our best day, huh?” he asked as he turned onto Willow Drive. He glanced over at his wife, willing her to look at him. He knew better than to throw out an apology just yet. There was still too much tension vibrating between them.
“Definitely not. But it’s okay,” she assured him as she typed something on her phone and continued to avoid his gaze.
“No, it’s not. There’s something about fighting with you that just raises my blood pressure and makes me see red. It’s not you, I mean. It’s the fighting.”
She tucked her phone away before she finally turned to face him. “We’re not fighting, Ev. We’re just… going through it. Growing pains, just like you and your team. Think about it. We haven’t had a normal version of a relationship since we were kids. And now here we are, suddenly married, trying to figure out our new normal. We’re going to have ups and downs. You’re going to have to get used to things not being perfect all the time.”
“I just… I just don’t feel right when we’re not okay,” he confessed as he eased the Mercedes into the garage. He turned the car off before turning to face her head-on. “Everything feels harder when we’re not solid.”
“I know. But I’m always on your team. Even when things aren’t perfect, you don’t have to worry. I’m not going anywhere. Not now. Not ever.”
“My heart knows that. My brain forgets it sometimes.”
“I get that.” She reached out to cup the side of his face, running her thumb up and down his jaw as she gave him a soft smile. “Think of all the ways I pushed you away over the last six years. It makes sense if you don’t completely trust everything that’s happened over the last few months. Your nerves haven’t had a chance to adapt to our new normal. Things between us were so messy and complicated for so long, and then everything changed so quickly over the last few months. It’s okay if you’re still adjusting. I’m still playing catch up, too.”
They sat in silence for a few moments before he took in a deep breath and broke the silence.
“I’m so damn lucky,” he mused as he leaned in for a kiss. She let him kiss her, fully and completely, reaching across the center console to wrap her arms around his neck.
“And why’s that?” she teased as he moved his mouth from her full, sweet mint lips to the exposed skin stretched over her collarbone.
“Because I’ve got the full package right here. My wife is beautifulandbrilliant.”
“Hey,” she whispered, her tone serious once again as she placed her hand under his chin to coax his head up. She held his face in both hands as she met his eyes. “I’m just going to put this out there now, rather than let it linger. No more low blows, okay? I know you’re really stressed. And I know we don’t see eye to eye on certain issues right now…” she trailed off instead of mentioning Fielding by name. “But you have to keep it together where my friends are concerned. It’s your choice if we’re going to keep having the same fight about the same people. I won’t be shamed into not seeing my friends. I won’t be gaslit into second-guessing my own judgement. I’m telling you right now that I’m not budging on this, so I guess you get to decide if this is a problem in our marriage or not.”
