A Different Divergent: Everyday Love

23

Chapter 23

I groan as I roll over in my warm, soft, luxurious bed, not quite ready to wake up and face whatever the day has to bring. It feels like I just got to sleep. It's a good thing the kids are at my parents or Tobias and I would both be sleepwalking through the day. When we walked through our door last night, or should I say early this morning, he practically attacked me, taking all my clothes back off just like he had promised he would when we were still in Erudite. We leisurely made love on the couch because we couldn't wait two minutes to go up one flight of stairs to our bedroom. When we finished, he carried me upstairs, and after talking, laughing, kissing, and cuddling for about an hour, the passion exploded once again, and we couldn't keep our hands off each other.

I reach out for Tobias, but all I find are warm, empty sheets. He couldn't have gotten up long ago. I finally pry my heavy eyelids open and am nearly blinded by the midday sun filling our bedroom. I raise my head and look at the clock on Tobias' nightstand. I'm surprised to find that it's nearly 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I guess we slept longer than I thought. I roll out of bed and stumble into the humid bathroom, still half asleep. I smile when I see the outline of my handsome husband through the cloudy shower door. Before I go to join him, I relieve my extremely full bladder. When I finish, I stand to join Tobias, and the room starts to violently spin, so I plop back down on the toilet seat trying to make my world quit turning.

"Tris?" Tobias opens the shower door and sees me sitting with my head practically between my knees. He hurriedly grabs a towel off the warmer and wraps it around his hips then kneels down in front of me, water dripping off his body onto my bare feet. "Are you okay, love?"

"Yeah," I say as I look up but the dizziness is very profound. I sway but before I can fall his arms are around me, rooting me in place.

"No, you're not," he worriedly says, kissing the top of my head. "Do I need to call the infirmary?"

"No," I mutter but suddenly my tummy does a series of flip flop and I roughly push against his chest but he doesn't budge. "Oh, God! Let go of me!" He releases me, and I move as quickly as I can, turning around just in the nick of time to empty the contents of my stomach into the porcelain bowl. He holds my hair away from my face as I continue retching. When the nausea disappears as quickly as it came, I flush the toilet then sit back down.

"You're white as a ghost," he fretfully says, caressing the side of my face with a gentle, loving touch. I give him a small smile.

"I must be coming down with something," I say. "I got really nauseous in the hotel last night. I thought it was the dust and mold. That place reeked."

"You didn't tell me that," he says. He gets up and fills the small tumbler that sits next to the faucet with water and hands it to me.

"Thanks." I take a couple small sips. "I actually forgot until right now," I say, chuckling embarrassedly. "When I heard the laughter and couldn't figure out where it was coming from, I hightailed it out of there. I hate to admit it but I was…"

"Scared," he softly says, interrupting me. I nod my head.

"Yeah, I was. The ghost stories got to me, I guess. That place is beyond creepy. I can see how the rumors that it's haunted got started."

"Are you feeling better?" he asks as he takes the empty glass from my hand and puts it back on the counter where it belongs. "Your color is better."

"Actually, I do feel much better," I say. "Do you need to finish your shower?"

"Well, I probably should rinse the conditioner from my hair."

"May I join you?"

"Of course, you can," he says. "You don't have to ask permission."