My Peace (Beautifully Broken 5)

“Pax, why were you and Natasha holding onto each other, if it’s not what it looks like?”

He takes a breath, and when he does, when he exhales, I smell it.

Whiskey.

“Were you out there drinking?” I ask him, astounded. Because what the hell?

“No,” he rushes to tell me. “I had a drink in my office, hoping to settle down, but I wasn’t drinking out in the garage. I just… I missed my car so I went to sit in her.”

“With Natasha,” I say slowly.

“No. Natasha came to check on me. I wasn’t with Natasha.”

I’m still and I don’t know what to think and I’m not supposed to be walking around.

“I’m going back to bed,” I tell him. Natasha looks helpless and Pax is flustered. He trails next to me, and that’s when I realize that he’s limping again.

“Your knee is still bothering you,” I point out, turning to him.

“Just a little,” he answers. “Don’t worry about it, babe. Let’s go back to bed. You have to rest.”

I turn, and wordlessly walk the rest of the way and I notice that I have to slow down for Pax to keep up.

“You need to go back to the doctor,” I tell him.

He shakes his head. “It’s not necessary right now, Red. Trust me.”

I climb back into the cool sheets and Pax lies down beside me.

“You swear to God nothing was going on with Natasha?”

I hate the suspicious tone in my voice. He’s never given me a reason to doubt him. Not ever. But I think any wife would question her husband coming out of a darkened garage with another woman in the middle of the night.

“I swear to God,” he says firmly. “Lord. Why would I want anyone else when I have you?”

“Well, I am pretty perfect,” I quip, relaxing. “I guess you’d be crazy.”

“I might be crazy,” he tells me. “But I’m not stupid. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, and I’m not losing you. Not ever.”

“So you weren’t doing anything with Natasha?” I can’t help myself.

“God, no.” He’s firm and immediate.

“Ok.”

I curl onto my side, and close my eyes. But I open them a minute later.

“Pax?”

“Yeah, babe?”

“Please don’t sit in a dark car with her again.”

“Promise.”

I grip his arm in my hands, and his muscle bulges beneath my fingertips.

“You’re mine.”