Between Us

Chapter 53 - M

Max

"You've been quiet all evening," I murmur as I walk out of Alianna's bathroom. I lean back against the wall and watch my wife. She's in nothing but a towel, seated in front of her vanity with a blank expression. She's been combing her hair for several minutes now when it rarely takes her more than a few moments. I can pretty much guess what's going through her mind.

She looks up at me through the mirror and forces a smile as she puts her hairbrush down, but she makes no move to come near me. Instead, her gaze travels back to her face, and the way she stares at her reflection breaks my heart.

She and I have been existing in an environment that has been wholly supportive of our marriage. Everyone around us has acted like my past with Crystal is non-existent, and the fact that very few people ever even knew about Crystal and me made it much easier to live in our facade.

I expected this trip to be hard, but this has exceeded my expectations in the worst way. I should have done more to make her feel better, but there's nothing I could have done without breaking my promise to her. She asked me to keep the peace and put her father first, and I've tried my best to do so... but I shouldn't have.

"Alianna."

I walk up to her and grab her hand, pulling her to her feet in one swift motion. She gasps as she crashes into me, and I wrap my arms around her with a smile on my face.

"Max," she says, her voice soft and filled with anguish. She's stiff in my embrace, and it pains me. She isn't herself here, and I wish I could just take her home.

"Cherry," I whisper as I lean in, my lips brushing over hers. She tenses, and a sense of loss washes over me. Normally she'd have smiled as she rises to her tiptoes, kissing me in that way she knows drives me insane. But here, now, she avoids my touch.

I let my fingers trail up her spine, until I've got them buried in her hair, my grip tight. I force my wife to face me, yet she still defies me, averting her gaze, "Baby, look at me."

She inhales shakily as her long lashes flutter for a moment before she looks up at me, her eyes filled with tears. Fuck.

"Max," she whispers, my name a plea on her lips, "Please don't. I can't do this tonight. I can't keep up the pretence tonight."

"We stopped pretending long ago, Alianna, and you know it," She looks into my eyes, and my beautiful, strong wife... looks broken.

"Did we?" she asks, "Or are we just fooling ourselves? Even my mother is trying to push you two back together, and it's exhausting, Max."

She tears her gaze away and pushes against my chest, but there's no way I'm letting her go. Not now. Not like this.

"Just now, Crystal mentioned this would be the first time in years that the three of us would be spending the night in the same house, didn't she? Do you know why that is, Max?"

I shake my head, unable to tear my eyes off her. My heart is racing, and a deep sense of dread fills me. Even though I've got her in my arms, it feels like I'm losing her.

She looks into my eyes as a tear runs down her cheek, and I catch it with my thumb.

"It's because I could hear you two," she whispers, "That wall my bed is pushed up against Crystal's bed is on the other side of that wall. Every single time you stayed over, I could hear you two. I could hear her moaning your name. I could hear how badly you wanted her, how loving you were with her."

Fuck. Fuck.

"I thought I was over it, you know? But the memories still plague me. It still hurts, Max. I thought I'd be able to deal with the pain, but seeing you with her today? I..."