Buttons and Blame (Buttons 5)

“It’s still so horrible. I feel like she died.”

She was dead. In just a matter of days, Tristan’s men would be weighing her corpse down into the sea. She would probably swallow the pills sooner rather than later. I debated telling Pearl the truth. It might give her some comfort, but it also might make her upset again.

It was better not to say anything.

“How’s Cane?”

“He’s okay.”

“How can he be okay?”

“I only talked to him for two seconds. He hung up on me. I can tell he’s hurting.”

“How can he not be hurting? I know how much he cared about her. I saw it every time he looked at her.”

I saw it too. I kept expecting Cane to go back on his word and run off with her. But he obviously couldn’t risk my well-being as well as Button’s, not when Constantine was a potential risk.

Button sniffed then the tears came.

There was nothing I hated more than listening to her cry. The sound was obnoxious from other women, high-pitched and irritable. When Button cried, it wasn’t annoying at all. It was heartbreaking for me to listen to it. Whatever pain she felt, I felt it a million times more. All I wanted was for her to be happy. I worked hard to make sure that would happen. I wanted my wife to be safe from everything, hidden away in my mansion where no one could ever touch her. But pain found a way inside—always.

“Button…” My hand moved to her cheek, and I wiped her tears away.

She sniffed again before she helped herself to my lap. She cuddled into my chest and hung on to me as she allowed herself to break down, to mourn the loss of the woman she’d come to care for as a friend.

I was grateful she didn’t push me away, that she didn’t see me as the bad guy. I rested my chin on her head and rubbed her back, comforting her in silence. Button was a tough woman who didn’t give in to tears, but this was a painful subject for her. I knew she pictured herself in Adelina’s shoes. She understood better than anyone what it was like to be a captive. She knew exactly what Adelina was suffering right at that moment.

That was something Cane and I would never understand.

“You know I would fix this for you if I could.”

She nodded into my chest. “I know…”

* * *

I went to the base every day to check in on Cane without making it obvious I was only there to look after him.

But he didn’t come into work.

He responded to Bran via email, but he didn’t set foot on the compound. He did everything from home, handling email and clients electronically. He obviously didn’t want to be around people right now.

When I called him, his phone was still off.

Since he wasn’t in immediate danger, I couldn’t stop by his house to pry. He wanted his space right now, and it would be wrong for me not to give it to him.

But that didn’t mean I stopped worrying.

He was my younger brother. Concern was a natural compulsion.

Button was quiet around the house. She wasn’t interested in sex or food. She chose to spend her time reading or walking through the vineyards. She didn’t come to work with me, choosing to stay home.

But as the days passed, she slowly came out of her shell. She talked to me about the book she was reading, ate a little more at dinner, and would at least snuggle with me in bed. I wondered if her lack of sex drive had anything to do with Adelina. Sex probably reminded her of what her friend was going through. It felt wrong to enjoy it when Adelina was obviously in so much pain.

“Have you talked to Cane?” she asked as she lay beside me in bed.

“No.”

“I wonder if he’s okay.” Her face was close to mine, and her hand rested against my chest. Her makeup had been washed off, and her hair was pulled into a loose bun. I liked the way she looked right before bed, when everything was removed, and it was just her natural features underneath. When we woke up the following morning, she would look even more beautiful after a long night of rest.

“He’s working with the men through emails. He’s fine.”

“Maybe physically….”

“His phone is still off. I don’t think he wants to talk to anyone right now.”

“Do you think I should stop by?”

I shook my head. “No. Leave him alone.”

“What if you stop by?”

“He doesn’t want to talk to me either. When he’s ready, he’ll let us know.”

“Yeah…I guess you’re right.”

It’d been three days since the last time we’d made love. Our schedules were centered around our sex lives. We always got busy in the morning before I went to work, when I came home from work, and then right before bed. Now there wasn’t any action at all because she was too emotional to be excited about anything. I didn’t want to be insensitive, but I was beginning to become frustrated.