Page 107 of Breathe Again

I felt him shrug beside me. He’d moved closer to me at some point. He turned toward me, and I slowly shifted my attention to him and fucking Holly, forcing a polite smile.

She looked at me and the expression stuttered on her face. “I see you’re busy, I’ll let you go.”

“Have you met my wife before?” Zale asked, turning to face me.

He froze when he faced me. I don’t know what he saw on my face, it obviously wasn’t my best look, but I was trying.

I looked up at her and smiled. “Hello, I’m Mara. Congratulations on your promotion.”

I tried to inject warmth into my voice but even to my own ears l sounded weirdly flat.

“Thanks,” she replied, a bit uncertain.

She leaned toward Zale again, but he leaned slightly away from her at the same time as I visibly flinched, and she had to make do with a hand to his shoulder. She squeezed and then let him go.

“Enjoy your night, Zale. Nice to finally meet you, Mara.”

“Nice to meet you, too. Enjoy your evening, it’s not every night you can get a sitter, right?”

God, I made myself sick with how hard I was trying, when what I really wanted to do was rip out her hair.

She smiled more genuinely. “You got that right!” She gave a little wave and walked back to her table. I kept my eyes off of Zale, worried he’d have his eyes on her retreating form. I sagged back into my chair.

“Fuck me, Mara, I work with her, for crying out loud.”

My eyes flew to his face, his furious face. I flinched and felt Bex’s fingers flex into my thigh.

She spoke before I did. “She’s not feeling well, Zee. She hasn’t been since before she got here. She came for you; she’s doing her best.”

I squeezed my eyes shut, willing myself to be anywhere but there, listening to anything other than my best friend trying to convince my husband to love me.

I heard Rhys’s gravelly voice addressing Zale softly. “She’s not right tonight, man. Maybe you should take her home.”

I heard, and felt, him sigh beside me. “C’mon then, let’s go home.”

I think I said goodbye to Bex and Rhys, but I know I didn’t meet anybody’s eyes. I was holding onto my shit by an exceedingly fine thread and even a hint of sympathy or judgement would snap it.

Zale walked out slightly in front of me and didn’t speak to me on the way out to the car. He opened my door then walked around to his side leaving me to close it like he always did. I stared out the window, numbing myself to thoughts of the bubbly redhead, wondering about the other women he worked with, and the long hours he worked.

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

At home, I got out of the car and waited for him at the front door. He still hadn’t spoken to me. I dropped my shoes in the front hall, and he finally broke the silence.

“You didn’t need to be so stiff and rude, Mara. She’s nothing to me.”

I whirled on him, surprising him and myself, the numbness burning away in an instant and I hissed between my teeth, “She touched you. How familiar are you with your co-workers?”

I took a step toward him, my palm vibrating with the desire to slap his face.

He stepped back, his face shuttering closed, disgust evident in the twist of his beautiful lips.

I backed away from him, shocked by the violence of my feelings, and headed to the main bathroom.

He didn’t follow. He never did.

I stripped off my clothes, faced the mirror and sneered at my own reflection, my face stark white except for two violent slashes of red, my mouth a thin line.

A sob ripped through my closed throat.

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