Page 25 of A Treasure To Keep

When I arrive at their apartment building, I barge up the stairs, realizing there’s a major possibility they’ve locked the door and won’t answer. They’re talking to me even if I have to bust down the door.

To my surprise, when I turn the handle, the door opens. I wonder if they knew it was unlocked.

“El! El, come talk to me!” Andrea appears from the kitchen, blocking the hallway that leads to their bedroom.

“Marco, this is not a good time. You need to leave.” My heart instantly drops like a rock into my stomach when I notice the sadness in Andrea’s eyes. What is happening, and why is this my reaction?

I shake away the thought, physically picking Andrea up, and place him behind me. He yells at me in French while I march down the hallway. When I bust through their bedroom door, I freeze at the unexpected sight in front of me.

She’s normally the definition of a put-together woman, her hair and makeup pristine with stylish yet classic clothing. Instead, the woman I see in front of me has a naked face, her hair is in a messy bun, and she’s wearing sweatpants with a tank top. She raises her eyes, red-rimmed with tears, defeat filling them.

Instead of an empathetic answer, my first thought escapes my mouth. “You own sweatpants?”

“What are you doing here? Do you get some signal in your head every time you have the opportunity to fuck with me?” Niceto know her annoyance with me still exists. At least one thing is the status quo.

I walk over to the bed, kneeling until I’m face-to-face with her destroyed eyes. “What happened?”

She shakes her head as she buries her face into her hands, sobbing into them. I take my shirt and belt off, stripping down to something comfortable. “Move over.”

El lets me lift her and move her over to the side, climbing into bed with her before she nuzzles into my side. The position she puts herself in makes her appear smaller than normal against my large frame. I keep my eyes locked on the clock while stroking her back, noting she cries against my chest for an hour before falling asleep.

Chapter 26

El

When I wake up, the sun has set, and I’m still curled up next to Marco’s shirtless body. Wow, he’s a big pile of solid muscle. Maybe that’s why his brain is small. Any muscle that would be in his brain is in his upper body. Is the brain a muscle? Who cares? This isn’t the right time for my internal monologue to kick in.

Marco’s massive tattooed arms keep me close to him. To get away, I have to peel myself out of them. I roll over, noticing that the bedside clock says it’s almost midnight. I’ve spent the better part of the last twelve hours in this bed, even though you could tell me it’s been twelve years and I’d believe you.

Marco sleeps soundly on his back as I climb out of bed and head into the bathroom. When I catch my reflection in the mirror, I notice the shell of the person I am. I’m not surprised Marco said some dumb shit to me. I never wear my hair up unless I’m in the shower or washing my face, and Mamma always said sweatpants were for ‘ugly and lazy people.’ I can’t believe Andrea kept something this big from me. We promisedto tell each other everything. I can’t help but wonder what else he may be keeping from me.

I open the door and head to the kitchen for a glass of water. My hands cover my mouth to muffle my gasp when I step on the creaky spot on the floor. This is a two-bedroom apartment, not my parent’s large estate. The chances of avoiding Andrea are slim to none. No matter how hard I try.

I finally find the courage to move, leaping over the spot to continue down the hallway. When I turn the corner, Andrea is in the kitchen, a glass of Armagnac in his hand as he stares down into the glass. Andrea notices my presence, and his milk chocolate eyes focus on me instead of the glass. We exist in silence as I walk to the fridge, filling a glass with water before standing on the other side of the island. One of my hands holds the glass while the other leans against the countertop, my nails strumming on the marble.

“Why didn’t you tell me? We’ve been dating for three years. I haven’t hidden anything from you, no matter how painful it could be to tell you. I put all of my trust in you after every dumb guy I’ve ever dated. Especially you know who. Was I a fool to put my trust in you? Did you know about this when we had that pregnancy scare a couple of years ago? Do you have any other secrets? Is this petty payback for what Marco and I did months ago?” My words are quiet, and my voice sounds defeated. I’m afraid of his answers, but I need him to tell me. How can this relationship move on if he’s not honest with me? The last thing I want to do is go crawling back to my parents. If that’s my only option, I’ll swallow my pride and practice rolling my eyes while they say I told you so.

Andrea sighs when he runs his hands through his hair. Wow, he looks hot when he does that. What does that movie say? Something about the guy looking hot when his hair is pushedback? Don’t get distracted right now, El. He hangs his head low as he shakes it back and forth before answering.

“When I was five, I got diagnosed with cancer. The doctors told ma mère there was a fairly large chance the traditional treatment we were doing wouldn’t work, and they were right. The tumor kept growing. I was bald and sick constantly. I was no longer the happy boy I was once upon a time. As preparations were made to put me on hospice care, we got word that there was a treatment I qualified for. Unfortunately, there were copious amounts of side effects, including long-term skin issues, kidney disease, and infertility. She knew this treatment was my best shot at living. The tumor shrank to a point that they could do surgery to remove what was left over. The day we heard I wasn’t sick anymore was the best day of our lives. Ma mère took me to the beach for the first time. It was something I always wanted to do. While I was sitting by the water, I knew I had a bright future and could do anything I wanted. When I moved to America, I never wanted to be Andrea, the man who had cancer as a kid. When I met you, I was still in that mindset and wanted you to love me as the person I am as an adult. Not the man who was a sick child. With that, plus the combination of your parent’s disapproval of me, I never found it relevant to mention I may not be able to give you children. Even though I’ve known about the possibility since the treatment. When you brought up having a baby at Luci’s wedding, my heart dropped, and I didn’t know what to say. Instead, I held you, convinced I could lose you because I knew it would be a possibility. That’s why I was in a rush to schedule those appointments. If I wasn’t going to be able to give you a baby, I needed a definite answer sooner rather than later. Now I’m sitting here, fearing I’ll lose you because I can’t give you a baby. I promise I have no other secrets. Please, El, mon trésor, I can’t lose you.” He hangs his head in an attempt to hide his tears, but the small ripple in his drink from a lone teartells me what I need to know. Does he truly think I’ll leave him over this?

I grab his hands in mine as his eyes rise to meet mine. “My love. You’ll never lose me. You and I both know I’m crazy enough that you’d have to hire someone or get me arrested to get rid of me.” He gives me a small smile when I lean in, kissing him. He grabs one of my hands when I pull away, dragging it up the back of his head until I notice a small scar. Our eyes meet, and I know he’s seeing the realization I have about why he’s never let me touch that area of his head. Instead of continuing to concentrate on this whirlwind of a day, I move my hand from his scar, pressing my hand onto his chest.

“Come to bed. We can talk about this more later.”

“Is Marco still in our bed?” When I try to move away from him, he pulls me into his lap. “I never said it was a bad thing. He comforted you when I couldn’t. To answer your question, yes, let’s go to bed. We will work through this together.” I nod, knowing that even though he has his secrets, we will become stronger at the end of the day.

Marco is still sleeping on his back when Andrea and I walk in. I take Andrea’s hands and lead him to the bed. I climb in to lie on Marco’s large chest while Andrea wraps his arm around me, my back pressed against him. We sleep soundly through the night, the three of us temporarily living in peace.

Chapter 27

Andrea

In the morning, light streams into the bedroom as I kiss El’s shoulder, up her neck, and behind her ear. A mysterious low groan comes from the other side of the bed, and when I snap my eyes open, I’m surprised to see Marco is still here. Marco stares at me, his gaze lingering on where my lip meets El’s body. Once he notices I'm looking at him, his eyes flick down to what’s going on in the waistband of his pants.

I chuckle when I notice that half of El’s hand is down Marco’s pants. “That’s a regular thing. Except, it’s normally my waistband her hand is under.”

His reaction to El’s touch is obvious in his eyes and the bulge in his pants as I give him the push he needs. “Let’s wake her up, Marco.”