Page 27 of Apex of the Curve
“Why do I care?” he asked.
I nodded and couldn’t look at him again.
“I just do,” he answered and sighed. “You should get ready for work.”
I nodded again and slipped over the edge of the bed and put my feet on the floor. I was tired from the late, emotional night, and my thoughts were racing. I moved about the room gathering things to wear that day and slipped into the bathroom, Fenris watching my every move from the bed.
Damn, looking at him in my bed, comforter piled artfully in his lap, muscular tattooed body on full display… the man was an absolute feast for the eyes.
He hadn’t made a move, though. His hands always remaining both steady and respectful. I still ached despite it. A part of me wished for a touch more intimate, but I didn’t think he was interested like that and I really needed a friend right now, so I didn’t want to push my luck. I mean, besides all that, I shouldn’t even consider any type of relationship right now, right? I mean, I was in the middle of a divorce!
I stared at myself in the mirror – at the dark circles under my eyes and my complexion just… off, almost sallow from all the stress.
I let out a huge gusty sigh and said out loud to my reflection, “I need a break. From all of it.”
It wasn’t likely to materialize, and business wasn’t exactly booming. I was barely hanging on and I was feeling so very lost – like I was drowning on dry land and there was absolutely nothing to be done for it.
“All you can do is keep going,” I murmured, and I piled on the makeup once I was dressed to hide just how awful I was starting to look. It was taking a lot more concealer under my eyes lately, that was for sure.
When I went out, my bed was empty. I slipped into a pair of flats from over in front of the closet and went out into the rest of the house. I found him, dressed and standing near a small pile of moving boxes, the paperwork that’d come in the mail in his big, tattooed hands, his blue eyes keen as it drifted over the legalese.
There was a keen intelligence in those eyes, etched into the lines and angles of his hard face, his expression dark as he absorbed what was in those papers. Except where it had wrought sorrow from my breast, in Fen it stoked anger. I could see the spark, the blaze igniting behind his eyes and I was surprised to find I wasn’t at all frightened, but rather… warmed.
“You got a lawyer?” he asked, and I jumped slightly.
“Yes, but they have a lot of cases and I’m afraid they’re hard to reach. I’m feeling a little forgotten lately but I’m sure they’re doing their best.”
He snorted and said, “I’ll make some calls.”
“To who?” I asked, frowning slightly.
“Club’s lawyer, see if he can recommend someone better.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “I’ve already put so much into the lawyer I’ve got and I’m not sure I can afford—”
“Don’t worry about that right now,” he said gently, and I bit my lips together.
“What should I worry about then?” I asked, the silence too much to handle.
“Getting to work on time would be a good place to start.”
“Oh! Right!”
He smiled at me as I rushed to gather my coat and purse and twisted this way and that taking in the disaster that was my mom’s kitchen and living room.
“How long’s it been like this?” he asked.
I let out a breath and looked around myself and confessed, “Too long. I mean, everything has been happening all at once – first Mom and then Copper, then my husband all together like that. Then when I said I was leaving, Charles insisted I be the one to leave the house, and I wasn’t even a quarter done boxing things for Goodwill here. I just, I don’t know… it just all got to be too much,” I stammered, realizing I was rambling, my face growing hot.
“Okay, this is easy. We’ll take it one box at a time.”
“What?” I asked, looking up at him in surprise.
“I’ll come by tonight and bring a pizza and some beers. We’ll get through some of it. A little at a time.”
“I can’t ask you to do that,” I said, voice trembling.
“You didn’t ask, and I’m not either. I’m coming by tonight and I’m going to help you.”
