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He threw open the door to the patio and ran outside. There was nobody there. Just a mostly empty street, and a neighbor walking his dog.
Not again.
Fuck. Fucking fuck. He was losing it. Must be the stress.
It makes you start seeing shit.
He had to get out of here. To the one person who could center him. To the most real thing in his life.
The yoga studio Mary frequented was two blocks from the center she worked at. A little over a dozen people with rolled-up yoga mats were standing outside. Some were chatting, others were on the phone, or getting to their car.
He was there just in time to see Mary leave the building. Her hair in a messy bun on top of her head, a radiant smile on her face. He’d liked to think he was the one who put that smile on her face. Maybe she was thinking of last night too. Fuck, for a moment there, he felt like some kid in high school asking himself if his crush was into him.
He parked his bike, toed the kickstand down, and walked over to her. There stood a guy next to her. Seeing the man watch Mary with scarcely veiled hunger made him want to plant his fist on his face, but he restrained himself. He’d be the first to admit that he was perhaps a tiny bit territorial when it came to Mary.
“Oh, hi.” She looked surprised at seeing him. The immediate smile that spread across her face reassured him that she liked having him there.
“Hey, gorgeous.” He nudged himself between her and the asshole and pulled her close.
“I didn’t know you were going to pick me up.”
“I wanted to take my wife out for lunch.”
“Lunch sounds great. I could use pancakes. Lots and lots of pancakes.” She leaned against him. “Storm, this is my husband, Hector.”
Storm?Yeah, Hector could see one forming on the fucker’s face. This must be Jodi’s father, the widow.
“Really?” Storm looked surprised. His expression said, “What is a nice girl like Mary doing with a scarred grunt like you?”
“Yeah, really.”
“Nice to meet you.” Hector had never heard a more blatant lie.
“It sure is.”
Not wanting to spend another second in Storm’s presence, he took Mary to his bike.
He saw the man’s envy at both his woman and his Harley. The douche could look all he wanted, but he couldn’t touch. The second he did, Hector would finish him.
He took her to a diner down the street. A graying waitress with big glasses guided them to a booth and took their orders. Their pancakes with hash browns on the side arrived in no time.
“I’m so ravenous,” Mary said, squirting a generous amount of maple syrup on top of her pile.
The waitress smiled. “Oh girl, I was just like that when I was pregnant with my first one. How far along are you?”
Mary froze. “I… um… I’m not pregnant.”
“Aha.” The waitress put the check on the table and left, not wanting to put her foot in her mouth any further.
His wife blinked. “Surely I’m not… you know.”
“Do you want to have kids?” He’d taken that as a given, and he was surprised by the slight panic on her face.
“I do.” She paused for a second. “Um… what about you? I mean, we never discussed it and I know it’s probably too soon, and…”
Ah. It was his reaction that worried her, not the idea of having his kid. He relaxed.
He shrugged, trying to appear casual. “I like kids.” Honestly, he couldn’t wait until he got her pregnant. Another child would strengthen their bond and would make it harder for her to leave him.