Risking Fate (Mitchell Family #4)(28)
Author: Jennifer Foor

I kissed him passionately, letting my love for him guide me. After a good few minutes he broke our kiss and hugged me against his body. “Ty, are you okay?”

“Please just don’t ever doubt me. I’d never want to hurt you.”

His words were so weird to me. Ty was usually so sure of himself, especially after sex. In fact, some nights I could have taped his mouth shut, I got so sick of hearing it. “Babe, are you sure there is nothin’ else botherin’ you? You seem off.”

I set back and watched him slide off the bed and walk into our bathroom. It confused me how for the first time I felt like he didn’t want to talk to me. He’d always been so open and as much as I wanted to be angry, I felt hurt about it, like he didn’t trust me.

The shower turned on and I could hear him opening the cap to the shampoo. I walked into the bathroom and climbed in the shower behind him. My lips placed kisses over his back as I hugged him close to me. He reached his hands up to his chest and held both of my hands there while he leaned against the wall, letting the water fall down the both of us.

Ty usually held his emotions on his sleeve, so for him to not want to talk was making me worry. His silence left me uneasy. “Ty, please talk to me. You’re scaring me.”

He turned around slowly and I watched the water, hitting his head and trickling down his face. His wet lips opened to say something, but he closed his eyes and pressed them to my head instead. When he finally let go, he grabbed the shampoo and started washing my hair. His fingers massaged my scalp and I started to relax from the way he always tried to nurture me.

“Everything’s going to be fine, Baby. I promise.”

He put my head under the flow of the water and rinsed the soap away. I opened my eyes and saw him looking down at me. He was staring through me. “Make love to me.”

His lips found mine and I got ready for him to take me to our room and emotionally fill the void I was feeling, but instead he pulled away and grabbed me a towel. He wrapped me up and helped me step out of the shower. “I need to get some sleep. Rain check?”

I wanted to chalk this up to my pregnant hormones, because I have no other reason why tears started running down my cheeks. I loved rough sex, especially with Ty, but earlier we weren’t connected and I didn’t like it. Something was missing. Something was off.

I had a terrible time sleeping, and when I heard my brother coming in, I met him in the living room. “Hey.”

He sat his keys down on the table and gave me a funny look. “You alright?”

I shrugged my shoulder and hugged a pillow on the couch. Conner sat down next to me and seemed genuinely concerned. I could tell from his face that he had been drinking. “Are you drunk?”

He smiled. “Maybe a little. Your mother in law makes some good bourbon slushes.”

I traced the baseball on Ty’s pajama pants I was wearing. “How was the date?”

Conner sat back and ran his hand through his hair. “She’s alright. Nothin’ to write home about. Seems like she’s a little needy.”

“Well you stayed over there for a while.”

“She left around nine. I was watchin’ a huntin’ video.” I am sure my mother in law loved that.

“Thanks for goin’.”

He placed his hand on my leg and looked directly at me. “Randa, tell me what’s wrong.”

I turned so that I was facing him more. “I don’t know. Ty’s just been actin’ weird. Maybe it’s just me overreacting.”

“You need to keep in mind that right now he is scared of losin’ his bond to that little girl. He loves you. As much as I wished he didn’t years ago, I know that it’s true.”

I leaned over and kissed my brother on the cheek before he stood up and headed in the direction of his room. I wanted Conner to be right about Ty.

After getting myself all upset, I climbed back into bed. Ty was lightly snoring and I cuddled my body up against him. One of his hands reached down and connected with me. Our fingers became entangled and I fell fast asleep.

Our morning routine was always hectic and I had little time to even say a single word before I climbed in the car with Ty and Bella. He dropped me off first like every morning and then took Bella to get her juice and donut before school. I got my normal goodbye kiss and a smile before climbing out of the car.

Amy was already in the salon, doing some paperwork when I walked in. “Hey girl. How’s those little boys treating you?”

“They are making me lose sleep.”

“Too bad you can’t have some real coffee,” she teased.

“You suck!”

“So Stacy called out and asked if you could take two of her clients today. You have a Chelsea at nine and a Beth at eleven. I tried to give you room for your other appointments.” She closed the schedule and started walking toward me. “I think your belly is growing every day. You know I won’t hold it against you if you want to stop working for awhile. Your station isn’t going to go anywhere.”

I smiled and sat down in my chair. “Thanks. It won’t be much longer before I can’t take it. My feet kill me at night.”

“Why don’t you just finish out this month and clear your schedule. Your clients all know you are having twins. They aren’t going to judge you for it.”

“Ty will be happy if I do that. He keeps fussin’ at me to stop workin’. So how are things for you? Did anything bad happen last night?”

“Nothing that I can’t handle, little lady.”

Amy walked away without me being able to reply. I was sure he was beating her. She kept wearing shirts that covered her arms and wearing pants instead of the skirts that she used to wear every day. I hadn’t told Amy about what happened during our last visit to Kentucky. I think she knew something was off, but with her own life being such a mess, I wasn’t exactly her first concern.

I hadn’t even realized that it was already noon, but when Ty walked in to pick me up for lunch, I felt relieved. I had packed us lunch, so we went outside and sat at a picnic table. “You think on your way home you could get some of those meatballs from the store that I like? I was thinking that Iz and I could make spaghetti and meatballs tonight.”

“You’re goin’ to cook?” He liked to cook, but I was usually the one that did it.

“Yeah, I want you to go home and relax. Your feet are starting to swell. I don’t mind and Iz likes to help.” He finished his sandwich and stuck his trash in the bag. “So are you going to pick me up at five?”