The Journey Home(20)
Author: Kelly Elliott

“Oh God,” I whispered. I tried to come to my senses. “Cale, please don’t do this. We can’t do this.”

He moved his lips to my jaw line as he kissed around to my ear. “You’re so wet,” he said. “Are you turned on by me? Or by him?”

The moment he asked, I felt like a whore. I dropped my leg and pushed him back. He lost his balance, falling over my coffee table and onto the sofa.

I wiped the tears from my eyes.

Cale managed to stand up and shake his head. “Jesus. I didn’t mean that Maddie. I just—”

“Get out,” I said. “Get out of my house and don’t you dare set foot near me again. I hate you, Cale.”

He shook his head. “No, please don’t say that. I didn’t mean it—”

“Get. Out!” I screamed.

He came closer and reached out to me. “Don’t touch me!” I yelled.

“Fuck, Maddie, I didn’t mean to say that to you. I was jealous and angry. Please.”

As he took another step closer, Monica and Jack walked in.

“What the hell is going on here?” Monica asked, looking between Cale and me.

“Get him out,” I said. “I never want to see him again. Please, just get him out and take him home to his fiancée!”

Jack put his arm around Cale’s shoulders and began guiding him out the door. Cale was still begging.

“Maddie, please wait,” he said. “I didn’t mean it. I don’t love her. I didn’t want to ask her to marry me. I did it for the baby. Please, God, just…please. I’m so sorry.” Then he started crying.

With tears streaming down my face, I turned to Jack and whispered, “Get him out of here.”

“Maddie…please.” Cale slurred. “God, please don’t say that. I love you, Maddie. I’ve always loved you. I’ll always love you.”

I slammed my hands over my ears and began crying harder. I turned and ran up to my bedroom and slammed the door. Stripping out of my clothes, I took a long, hot shower.

I finally surrendered to my tears and sank to the shower floor, sobbing. I’d never cried so hard. It was as if my entire world had stopped and I didn’t know how to get it moving again.

As I sat there, wet, rocking back and forth, I whispered, “I hate you, Cale. I hate you…”

THE KNOCK ON the door startled me, pulling me out of my daydream. I’d been trying to reach Maddie for two weeks, but she wouldn’t return my calls or text messages. Zoey was getting moodier as she got closer to her due date. She interrogated me the night I showed up at the house drunk. She asked me if I’d run to Maddie to cry on her shoulder. She has to know there’s something between us. She has to. She is so insanely jealous of Maddie it is unreal.

The knock on my door grew louder. “Blackwood. Boss wants to see you.”

I got up and made my way to Chuck’s hotel room. Chuck had been my boss since my first day with the company. I loved my job, even though we traveled a good portion of the year. We all lived out of hotel rooms, and I found myself longing to be on the road rather than home. Especially after my last fight with Zoey.

The scene played out in my head.

“YOU’RE NEVER HOME!” Zoey yelled at me.

“It’s my job, Zoey. You knew this when we started dating. I travel. A lot. It’s never going to change. Ever.”

“You have me now, Cale. The baby. Your mother said that if you really wanted to, you’d stay home and take care of me.”

“My mother? You talked to my mother about this?” I yelled.

She smiled and nodded. “Yes. She said all you have to do is go to work for your father. They’d make sure you got paid three times what you’re getting now. We could take vacations together, if you still wanted to travel.”

I just stared at her. I couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. “We’re getting ready to have a baby. We can’t travel. And you’re getting weaker, Zoey.”

She put her hand on her stomach. “Fuck. I can’t wait to have this kid. Damn it. This is not what was supposed to happen. Stupid-ass Maddie is dating that hot, rich guy and I’m stuck home alone, pregnant.”

“Why did you get yourself pregnant if this is not what you wanted, Zoey?”

She put her hands on her hips. “I had to! Don’t you understand, she—”

Zoey cut herself off. She was hiding even more than she’d admitted. I knew it. Things hadn’t been the same with us since she’d confessed to getting pregnant on purpose. We hadn’t made love in weeks. The last time I touched her was the night of our wedding, and it was classic Zoey. It was rushed, our parents where the only people in attendance, and the honeymoon wasn’t much different. It was spent with Zoey on top, fucking me. Once she came, she crawled off of me and told me to finish myself off.

My life was miserable. I glared at her.

She shook her head. “Cale, I feel like I’m losing you, baby. Please. Just touch me once. Cale, please!”

The moment she began crying, I knew I was done for. I didn’t want to hurt Zoey. I cared about her. We were having a baby together and, after talking to her doctor, Zoey was going to have a long recovery. Her parents were still angry and wouldn’t give us their blessing, even though her mother had insisted we get married. My mother had pretended that the baby wasn’t real until we were wed, and my father just sat back, behind the scenes.

I pulled Zoey into my arms. I started to kiss her, showering her body with attention. It didn’t take her long to get on her hands and knees and tell me to fuck her hard and fast. There was no lovemaking with Zoey. Only fucking.

I SHOOK MYSELF out of the memory and walked into Chuck’s hotel room, where I sat down at the desk.

He cleared his throat and then spoke. “Don’t you think you should start putting in for some time off for your kid’s birth?”

I stared at him. “What?”

He threw his head back and laughed. “Time off. You know, when the baby is born, you usually take a few weeks to be with the mom and the baby. Bond and all that shit.”

“Oh yeah. Right. Well, her due date is in three weeks. They are talking about doing a C-section to lessen the stress on her body. I’d have to ask Zoey for the specifics.”

Chuck tilted his head. “Blackwood, are you the least bit excited for this?”

I gave Chuck a puzzled look. “Of course I am.”