Suit - Woodruff Jettie - Страница 52

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He removed his hat and lifted the bottom of his shirt to wipe away sweat. My eyes left the outside kitchen to linger on his toned ribs and then to his eyes, and the smirk. Busted.

“Checking me out, Mrs. Pierce?” he said through half a grin. Cornered to the right.

I shoved the Rolaids in his hand and told him to shut up. My attention went to the cold bottle of water I brought for him, trying to hide the crimson in my cheeks. “Drink this. Coke’s not going to help heartburn.”

Paxton chugged half a bottle of water, exhaling relief as he handed it back. I turned to see the girls letting their Barbie’s swim on the edge of the pool to keep from locking eyes with him.

“I’m impressed. You do good work,” I said without looking back, avoiding his emerald eyes. He did do good work. Awesome work, and I was overly impressed.

Paxton showed me around his jobsite while the girls ran around the spacious back yard. I thought our view was nice. This was breathtaking. High above the ocean. Even without the back yard being complete, it was amazing. My fingers brushed past his when he explained in great detail the waterfall he had built out of limestone. I gave him every opportunity to take my hand, but he didn’t take it. He pointed to the different things he’d been working on with pride in his voice. His fingers brushed a couple times, but he never took my hand.

“We’re going to go now. They still need lunch,” I said when one of the guys called from the other side of the pool.

“I’ll be right there,” he called back. Only my lips darted to the side that time. My eyes were staying on his stomach when he raised his shirt to wipe the sweat again. His jeans hung low and a band of blue with white stripes stuck out from the top. “You’re doing it again,” he said. He thought for a second he was going to call me out on it. I didn’t care.

“I can’t help it. You’re very sexy when you work,” I said while admitting the truth. I took one step toward him, but he stopped me.

“Don’t do that, Gabriella.”

I could have asked, do what, but it wouldn’t have done any good. Get close to me. That’s what he meant. He didn’t want me to get close to him. Why was still up in the air. Sometimes I thought he was the one with the head injury.

“Yeah, I’ll see you later.”

That’s how things went the entire week. We ate supper together, I went for an evening walk, we fucked, he left me alone, and we ate breakfast together. I held my tongue as much as I could, and we acted like a normal husband and wife around the girls.

It wasn’t until Saturday’s tee-ball game that the gears finally switched. I didn’t sit on the bleachers with him and his fake friends. My fake friends. I stayed below with my fingers laced through the fence the whole game.

We’d gotten there late because Ophelia decided she had to do number two as soon as we got in the car. Once she was done, I realized Rowan was wearing cowboy boots. I had to run back in for her sneakers.

The rest of the gang was already there. Right behind the pitcher’s mound. I saw all the guys on the bleachers and then the girls by the concession stand.

“I’m going to drop the girls off with their coach and get something to drink. You want something?” I asked Paxton already smiling at his guy friends, all waiting to rub in wins from little kids. Betting money on five and six-year-olds was childish to me.

Paxton reached in his wallet and handed me a twenty. “Bring me back a water. Good luck girls. Get Daddy some home runs.”

I left Paxton, boasting a little. The first few weeks I was there he did nothing but complain about me giving him water. Now he ordered it. I smiled as I dropped the girls off with their coach, and joined my friends. The fake ones.

“I know, Candace, but how can you keep your mouth shut? I’d be ripping her pretty hair right from her head.”

My pace slowed when I heard Tricia’s loud whisper. I stayed behind a big guy wearing jean overalls and listened. Without hearing a name, I knew they were talking about me. Candace went next.

“She doesn’t know who she is. She doesn’t remember. How do you confront someone that doesn’t even remember?”

The next voice I heard belonged to Shayla. The one I disliked the most. At least I felt like Candace and I were friends. Before anyway. That thought went up in smoke.

“Do you believe that? Do you really think she doesn’t remember?”

I swallowed away tears and backed away. What did I do? I had to confront Lane. Something told me whatever I was being accused of had to do with him. Paxton’s expression caught the corner of my eye, but I didn’t turn to him. I kept walking, stopping behind the fence. My fingers gripped the metal triangles, and I held on. The burning sensation deep within my gut only added to the ticking bomb. The anxiety from it, overbearing.

First I felt his hand on my back and then I smelled his cologne. “What are you doing?”

My head turned to the left, but I didn’t look at him. Just a quick glance and right back to Rowan doing a summersault in the middle of the field. “I’m going to watch from down here for a little bit.”

“Why?”

“I just want to. Is that okay?”

“Sure, what the fuck ever. Give my twenty back.”

I fished the bill from my front pocket and held it out between two fingers. My eyes quickly shifted from his, but it was too late. He saw it.

“What’s wrong?”

I swiped a tear away and shook my shoulders, trying to get him away. His hand slipped off my back and I ushered him away. “Just go back to your fake friends and their fake ass wives up there,” I ordered with a nod. Candace looked right at me, but she didn’t look angry. She looked sad. I huffed a long deep breath, trying to calm the anxious feeling flooding my veins, and watched the chubby kid up to bat. He missed.

Paxton stepped closer behind me and held both my arms from behind. My eyes closed and I sucked in more air when he said my name. “Gabriella?”

Although I could hear the question in his tone, I couldn’t answer it. I didn’t know what was wrong, but it was something. Something big. That I knew to be true without the facts. I didn’t need them. I felt it. “I’m fine. Will you just go?”

“No. I don’t just go. What the fuck happened? You were fine a minute ago. Did you get into it with one of the neighbors? What Gabriella? Something happened?”

“Oh, my God, Paxton. Can I do anything without you up my ass? I’m right here. You can see me standing here. I’m not going up there.”

“Why?”

“I want to watch from here.”

Paxton tried like hell to show his authority over me. I wasn’t having it. He could take his tail feathers and shove them clear up his ass. I didn’t care, I wasn’t about to back down.

“Gabriella, this is the last time I’m going to say it. Turn around and walk up those bleachers, sit your skinny ass beside me, and mind your manners.”

“And then what?” I questioned with my eyes snapping to his.

“And then what, what? What do you mean?” He asked with a frown.

“And then what after the threat. You gonna pull my pants down and spank me? I’m not going up there.”

Paxton looked around for ears and shushed me. “Jesus Christ, Gabriella. What the fuck?”

I turned and placed both my hands flat on his chest. “Paxton, I’m begging you to go be with your friends and leave me alone. I’m fine right here where I am. The only way I am going over there is if you pick me up and carry me. I’m not going.”

“Something’s got to give, Gabriella. This isn’t working for me,” he said while admitting something I didn’t understand.

“It’s not working for me either, Pax. What do you propose we do about it?”

“This conversation isn’t done. There’s a reason you won’t come and sit with me. I promise you’ll tell me before this night is over. Count on it.”

“Yup, counting,” I said with intentional attitude.

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