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I pack all the food back in the containers and put them in the industrial size refrigerator Zach has in his state of the art kitchen.
“Thank God I didn’t cook all this,” I chuckle to myself when I notice how much food I actually ordered.
I decide to leave the dining room table set as it is right now. We can use the plates tomorrow, no sense in putting them all away just to take them out again. They’re clean, so no biggie.
By now, it is close to eleven o’clock at night. Zach’s never been this late, and he’s always responded to my messages. I get a sinking feeling in my stomach that I just can’t shake off, but I try not to think of it too much.
I wash up and prepare myself for bed, realizing that I haven’t eaten anything all day. I normally have something with Zach when he gets home from work. He always comments on how skinny I am, in shock sometimes. The stress of the last seven years took its toll on my body, and I’ve never been able to get back the little bit of curves I had when he and I first met.
My head hits the pillow, and I let out a sigh of relief. It feels so good. The pillowcase is nice and cool to the touch. I burry my nose in it and sniff it, knowing that I’ll be able to smell Zach off it. I love that smell.
That’s the last conscious thought I have before I am out.
CHAPTER 35
Married
Zach
Today’s been hellish, with trouble all over the place, to the point where I couldn’t catch my breath while putting out fires left and right. Our office in Tokyo went haywire when the company we buy the microchips for our electronic game consoles went under unexpectedly. It created a shit storm of epic proportions.
It is way late when I finally come up for air. I grab my cell phone off my desk and realize that I haven’t heard from Hunter all day long. I check the screen and see that the battery is dead.
“Fuck,” I drop it back on the desk and run my fingers through my hair.
“Bossman,” I hear from the doorway to my office. One of my project leads, John, is standing there with a tired smile on his face.
“Hey,” I lift my chin in greeting. “Thanks for staying this late. Quite the rush, right?”
“Yeah, for sure,” he nods. It’s three in the morning. Since we are on a different time zone than the Asian office, we had no choice but work our asses off while everyone here was sleeping.
“I’m gonna take off now,” John tells me. “But I’ll be back tomorrow, as soon as I’m up.”
“Good deal,” I wave him off, then lean back against the cushiony back of my chair.
I need a stiff drink, but I also need to sleep. In the end, I pull the bottle of scotch I keep in my bottom drawer. It is something I learned from my dad.
“You never know when life throws you a curveball, and you need a strong one,” he’d always say.
With that thought in mind, I pour myself a glass and try to decompress from the shit show of the day. When I am done with my drink, I notice that all lights in the office are off. Since I haven’t had much food today, I am now feeling a little buzz coming on, so I decide not to go home. I’m sure Hunter would understand, I muse.
I walk through the hidden door that’s to the side inside of my office. It leads to a private room that’s simple but has everything I need in it to get some shut eye. I drop on the couch, thanking whoever picked one that’s extra long and wide.
I close my eyes, but my mind wanders to Hunter. I hope she is okay. She and I have been in a weird kind of limbo lately. We don’t talk much during the day. I go home at night, I fuck her senseless, making sure that she always comes first, then we both fall asleep. The cycle has been repeating itself for three months now, ever since I lost it over the hockey player she dated at some point.
I hope she ate today, I think to myself with a sigh as I try to make myself more comfortable on the couch. I don’t think she eats anything during the day, which is driving me bonkers. She is not any skinnier than when we got married, but I can’t stand the way her ribs and hipbones poke through the skin when I get her naked. It looks painful and unhealthy.
I finally fall asleep. I am out for the count for the next eight solid hours, and am confused as hell when I wake up after having fallen off my office couch when I tried to turn over.
“Fuck, I’m too old for this shit,” I grunt when I stand up and stretch.
I go to the bathroom attached to this room and try to pull myself together. I wash away the sleep from my face and run wet hands through my hair, smoothing it all back. After some digging in the vanity drawers, I find a new toothbrush and toothpaste which I take advantage of and use.
By the time I am done, I actually look all fresh and like I just stepped out of the shower.
I am taken aback by the noise coming from the office when I step out of the makeshift bedroom. Everyone is hustling and bustling out there, making me feel guilty for having slept half the day away.
I go to check my phone but it’s still dead. I never plugged it in last night.
