ONCE PENNY FINISHED coating Mara's hand with antibacterial spray, she bandaged the cut. Mara made faces and squirmed throughout the entire process and Trent held her close, allowing her to burrow into his shirt. Part of him wanted to scoop her up and force her into his car so he could take her to the hospital. But a tiny rational part of his brain agreed that sitting in a waiting room for a scratch on the hand made no sense.
But then she picked up the bloody towel that had fallen to the floor and he knew he was seconds away from losing it.
He grabbed the box of bandages. "I'll go put these away," he muttered before escaping the kitchen. He barely made it to the hallway before his breath started coming fast and hard, choking him. Images of Mara, bloody and pale, swam before his eyes. The box of bandages fell from his fingers and hit the floor as he leaned against the wall.
Nothing could happen to her. Not again.
Slowly, the sounds of laughter and conversation infiltrated his jumbled thoughts. His breathing slowed down and his memories both past and present converged. Instead of white tile beneath his feet, it was the tan carpeting that Mara had decided was most practical. The wall next to his cheek was a soft butter cream instead of blue.
He was at home with his friends.
Mara was fine. He would take care of her the way he'd been doing for years. And nothing would take her away from him. As his heart rate settled, he leaned down to pick up the box of bandages that he'd dropped. When he straightened, Matt stood in front of him watching him.
"You okay, man?"
Trent nodded, swallowing hard over a throat that felt like it had been coated with sandpaper. He held up the bandages. "I just dropped these."
"Yeah, I see that." Matt continued watching him as he walked down the hall, ducking into the bathroom to put the box away.
While he was there he splashed his face with water, allowing the cool water to rinse away the sheen of sweat that made his skin feel clammy to the touch. As he dried his face with a hand towel, he looked up, his eyes meeting his own ref
lection.
Blond hair sticking up in the middle. Blue eyes. Pale skin. The face that stared back at him could have been a mirror image of how he'd looked years ago, on the day his world had stopped spinning. Except everything was different now and he couldn't allow any of the ugliness of his before to taint his now.
"She's fine. And she's going to stay that way," he stated aloud.
He would make sure of it.
* * * * *
OVER THE NEXT few weeks, Trent was moody, distracted and always too tired for sex. Although she’d initially thought he’d been hiding job troubles, his behavior over the last few weeks told her what was really going on. There was only one condition that produced these symptoms in a healthy twenty-something male.
Another woman.
Tears welled in her eyes and she hastily wiped them away with the back of her hand. It was devastating to even think of Trent leaving her to be with someone else but there was no other explanation. And since he’d left a few days ago on “business” with another pitiful explanation, it was time to face a harsh reality. There was something going on. There had to be.
Obviously he wasn’t going to be honest about it. And she had to know. Had to. It pained her to admit it but she couldn’t walk away without ironclad proof of his wrongdoing. The part of her that had loved him since college wouldn’t allow it.
It was time to get some outside help.
She parked in front of her friend Ridley’s sprawling white colonial home. There were already a bunch of cars out front so she must be one of the last to arrive. Girl’s night out was always the first Friday of the month. Mara’s usual circle of troublemakers included her brother’s girlfriend, Penny, and the Alexander twins, Ridley and Raina.
Despite being aware of the standing date, the men in their lives always found some way to invite themselves along or otherwise sabotage their attempts to go out. Although it was funny to watch her friends from college and her brother acting so jealous over the women in their lives, their co-opting of Girl’s Night usually bugged her.
But not tonight.
Tonight she was thrilled to see all the guys’ vehicles in front of the house because it meant that Eli was probably there. That was far preferable than having to call him and explain her problem over the phone. This was already guaranteed to be humiliating enough. Especially since she didn’t want the rest of her friends to know about her problems with Trent. He was their friend, too. It wasn’t fair to put them in the middle, especially when she wasn’t really sure what was going on.
As she walked up the steps, the front door opened. Ridley stood in the entryway, one hand on her rounded belly.
“Mara! I’m so glad you’re here.” Ridley grabbed her by the arm and pulled her over the threshold.
Several children raced by, followed by the sounds of shrieking. Something crashed in the distance. Her friend didn’t even blink. She followed as Ridley tugged her toward the kitchen.
“The guys were supposed to take the kids out so we could have a quiet night in but then Jada got sick so Nick didn’t want to take her too far. So now everyone somehow ended up here. Katie came over to help with the kids and brought Hunter and Matthew. Then Laura’s husband Pete brought Annabelle and Isabelle.”
By this time, they’d reached the kitchen which was just as loud as the entryway. Nick stood in the corner bouncing his daughter Jada in his arms. She wasn’t impressed by his efforts if her screams were any indication.