Page 43 of It's Going to Be a Chrome Christmas
Things between Cayden and the other employees also seemed to have cooled off. She had never gotten around to addressing their behavior at one of the morning meetings and she was grateful that the harassment had stopped on its own.
Their weekends had moved into being more domesticated than just sex. They had yet to talk about where Cayden was going to live after his parole term was up. She was hesitant to ask him to live with her. She’d never lived with a man before, not romantically anyway. While their weekends were fantastic and cherished, Trixie wasn’t sure she was ready to live with him.Plus, her apartment wastiny. Would he want more space than that?
By the end of August, they started counting down towards the end of his parole instead of how many weekends they’d spent together. It was as exciting as the countdown at Times Square on New Year’s, but neither one mentioned what would happen after the ball would drop. As much as she craved having him all to herself on their own time schedule, Trixie feared the approaching change.
Choosing not to dwell on that, Trixie concentrated on the here and now. With only five weekends to go, she had time.
Her office phone rang on Wednesday. Playing with one of the fallen petals from her precious roses, she picked it up without looking at the caller ID. “This is Trixie. How can I help you?”
“Beatriz Romero?”
Trixie frowned at the use of her full name. “Yes?”
“My name is Dr. Longman. I’m calling from Buford State Penitentiary in regard to your brother…”
Trixie barely heard the rest.
Chapter
Nine
When Trixie didn’t come down to meet him for lunch, Cayden went looking for her. He knew she had been working in her office, so he checked there first. After verifying that she wasn’t in the showroom or bay, Cayden asked Jeff and Joey if they had seen her. Neither claimed they had. He checked that her Firebird was in its parking spot. Where the hell was she? He didn’t want to call her over the radio and alert the others to her disappearance, but she wasn’t picking up her phone. Cayden decided to check her apartment before trying the radio.
It was so dark, he almost missed her. The reflection of the hallway light on her hair was what caught his attention.
Trixie was sitting on the floor of her apartment in the far corner. Her head was down on her knees with her arms wrapped around her legs.
Cayden ran to her. “Trix? Baby, what’s wrong?”
As soon as she heard his voice, she leaped forward onto his lap. Cayden cradled her against him as she sobbed. It broke his heart. He didn’t know what had happened or what was wrong. The employees downstairs had all been acting normally, so he didn’t think it was work related. Was it the Wynns?
Or was it something more personal? God, was she pregnant? Cayden doubted it. He always wore a condom and she’d just had her period. Plus, the selfish part of him hoped this torn up response would not be her reaction to finding out she was having his baby.
Not knowing what else to do, Cayden held her. He sent a quick message off to Jeff that he had found her and asked them not to be bothered. He didn’t state a reason because he didn’t have one. Jeff looked at Trixie through a paternal filter and would be up here in a heartbeat if Cayden told him how upset she was. Cayden needed to find out first what was happening before he subjected her to an audience.
Jeff’s reply was a simple one-letter acknowledgement.
After a while, Cayden stopped encouraging her to talk to him. She would when she was ready and, clearly, she was not ready yet. He had to move them to her bed because his legs were falling asleep on the floor. He winced at the pins pricking into his thighs as he stood but bore her weight and carried her over.
Cayden laid them down on the comforter, placing one of her throws over them. He held her to his chest and let her continue to cry. He started to catch single words through her tears but nothing that made sense. The name “AJ” stood out to him. He recalled the name from Mrs. Wynn’s guilt trip when she’d convinced Trixie to give Cayden a chance and hire him, but Cayden had never asked who AJ was. He suspected he was her last brother, the one she’d never told him about. Eventually, she drifted off to a restless sleep. Cayden wiped the tears from her face, feeling helpless as he watched her twitch and moan. He carefully detached himself from her so he could use the bathroom. Then he slipped out into the hall.
He was grateful Mr. Wynn picked up versus Mrs. Wynn. Like Jeff, Mrs. Wynn would have dropped everything and run toTrixie’s rescue if Cayden told her what was going on. “Mr. Wynn, it’s Cayden.”
The man’s response was amused, “I have caller ID, son. What’s up?”
“Look, I know you’re supposed to pick me up at five-thirty, but I need to stay later. I’ll sign whatever I need to or give up my weekend if that’s what it takes, but I need to stay.”
He heard the suspicion in his voice. “Tell me what’s going on, and then we’ll discuss your options.”
Cayden ran a hand down his face. He needed to be honest with the house’s owner, but it also felt like was tattling on Trixie. “I’m not sure. Trixie’s upset. I haven’t gotten out of her what happened yet, but I think it has to do with AJ.”
The cursed response was colorful to say the least. “Put her on the phone.”
“No,” Cayden said quickly. “I finally got her settled enough to sleep. She needs it and I need to stay. I can’t leave her right now. Please,” his voice cracked, “don’t make me leave her right now.”
“Is she okay?”
Cayden nodded though the man couldn’t see it. “She’s upset. She’s been crying for hours and I don’t know why or how to help her. Is AJ her brother?”
