Page 99 of Only for Tonight
She tries to stand up, but I can see her shaking and I stop in my tracks. “No, I’m sorry.” She avoids looking at him. “I wasn’t watching where I was going.” Her voice is monotone, and I finally make it to them.
“Hey,” I greet her and she looks at me but still avoids looking at Kirby. “Lexi,” I call her name, taking her in my arms and feeling how thin she is. “This is such a nice surprise,” I say and she smiles at me. “I didn’t think you could make it.” She is usually never at any family gatherings.
“Trent was called in for emergency surgery, so I thought why not.” She smiles at me, mentioning her husband, who is a renowned neurosurgeon. He’s the head of neurosurgery in Phoenix.
“Amazing. Lexi, this is one of Jaxon’s teammates, Kirby,” I introduce them and she doesn’t extend her hand like she normally would, instead she smiles and nods her head.
“It’s nice to meet you.” She holds her purse tightly in both her hands. “I’m sorry about bumping into you.” She looks quickly away from him. “I’m going to go and say hello to my mother. She doesn’t know I’m here.”
She walks away from us and I look at Kirby. “Holy fuck,” he swears, “she’s fucking beautiful.”
“She’s very married,” I tell him.
“Oh, I know, the six-carat rock on her hand screams stay away from my wife,” he jokes. “I put my gift at the door. If you can open it in front of Jaxon, I’ll give you twenty bucks.” He winks at me and walks away. My eyes go back to look at Lexi, who smiles at her mother, and then stands behind her as her mother jokes with a couple of the guys from the team, making sure there is someone in between them.
“You okay?” Jaxon asks, coming to me.
“Yeah,” I reply, shaking my head, making a note to message Lexi later. “Kirby gave us a gift and left it at the door. He says we have to open it together.”
“Fun,” he says, slipping his hand in mine. “Let’s get you sitting down and off your feet.” I let him lead me to sit down , only stepping away about thirty minutes later when I escape to go to the bathroom.
I walk into the house and duck down to go upstairs to my own bathroom when I hear her voice. “Trent, I thought you would be busy all weekend.” Her voice is almost frantic. “I’m sorry, I’ll come back home right now.” Then she stops. “Yes, yes, of course. I’ll leave right now.” I look into the living room, seeing her in the corner of the room, her side turned to look at the wall. “Of course I’ll tell them not to come.” She doesn’t say anything else because Trent must have hung up.
“Hey,” I say, my heart beating fast in my chest, “are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She smiles and it’s so fake her face almost cracks. “Trent finished earlier than he thought and wanted to take me away for a couple of days.” I can smell the fear on her. “I have to go and tell my parents I’m going away and they can’t visit.” She blinks away the tears. “I’m sorry I can’t stay longer.”
“No, of course.” I shake my head. “I’m just happy you came.” I go to hug her and I don’t know why, but I hug her even tighter. “We should”—I swallow down the lump—“definitely make a plan for you to come and visit when you get back.”
“That sounds nice,” she says, smiling. “I really have to go.” She walks away from me with her head down and then I hear her shriek. I walk out to see Kirby standing there with his hands on her arms. “I’m so sorry again.”
“You know what they say,” Kirby tries to joke with her, “never a third without a second.”
She doesn’t answer him because she’s literally shaking. “Funny,” she replies and walks away from him.
“Is she okay?” Kirby asks, worry all over his face. “She was shaking like a leaf.”
“She has to get back home to her husband,” I relay and his eyebrows go up. “I have to get to the bathroom.” I put my hand on my stomach, walking away from him, and head to the bathroom, my mind now filled with Lexi.
thirty-six
Jaxon
Three months later
“Are we going to be late?” I ask Ariella as I’m walking out of the closet, pulling the T-shirt over my head. “What time is your appointment?”
“Does it matter?” she huffs as she walks out of the bathroom. “I’m ready.”
I look her up and down. “Are you not going to change?” The glare on her face says it all. “Baby, you wore that to bed.” I point at the tight, sleeveless cotton dress she has on.
“Wow.” She puts her hands on her hips. “You don’t even notice me anymore.” She shakes her head, rubbing her stomach, her hair piled high on her head. “The one I wore to bed was dark gray.” She gets to the steps and holds on to the railing before walking down. “This is a light gray.”
“I’m pretty sure it’s the same one,” I mumble, but don’t say anything more, “but you look beautiful.”
“Go fuck yourself, Jaxon.” She slides her swollen feet in her flip-flops, apparently, they’re the only shoes that fit her now because my child has her retaining water. Apparently, according to her, the baby also has her not sleeping at night and feeling like she’s a beluga whale washed up at shore. Her words, not mine. Oh, and it’s also my fault the baby is so big because of my big fat head.
“Noted.” I try not to laugh at her. For the past three weeks she’s been a hellion. She has hated every single minute of being pregnant at this stage. The first time she said it, I was taken aback, and then she had a full-on meltdown, crying to let me know she didn’t mean it. As the days trickled on, the crying stopped, but the complaining did not.
