Hold On

| 08 |

Getting out of the bath this morning, I rub a towel into my hair and bump into John since my vision is temporarily impaired.

He's shirtless, and only has on his trunks. Staring at me as I nearly fall backwards from the impact of his tough skin.

"Oh hi!" I say and drag the towel down to my neck.

"Morning." He rasps and frowns. "You're chipper."

"I'm always chipper." I battle.

I am especially chipper this morning because I had sex last night. Mindblowingly delicious, hot sex. The type of sex that you didn't want to just end. The type of sex that made your mind split into a million pieces and sit in a puddle of toe curling goodness.

We walk into the bedroom where he grabs a shirt and begins to button it on. I should probably iron more of his shirts or something. Do things the typical wife should do.

I sit on the bed, watching as he pulls on his pants now. I imagine having sex with John, and begin to compare the thought with having sex with Thomas.

"I'm glad you're this way," He says and kisses my forehead. "Keep that kind of energy throughout the day, will you? You're starting work today."

I nod, so Thomas was right. "Do you know what my job will entail?"

He walks over to his tie drawer and pulls one out. "Legal stuff. Bookkeeping, scheduling, a little bit of math, I'm sure. And you'll be our in-house nurse."

I nod, wondering when I allowed myself to live this kind of life. There's a soft silence that fills the room, and I wonder what he's thinking about as he puts on his tie.

"Sorry about getting so drunk last night." He sends me a sympathy smile through the mirror.

"You were really drunk." I break into a smile.

"Was anyone over last night?" John asks, turning around.

"Mmmm-" I slightly panic. "Nope." I should shut up, "Why do you ask?"

"Because someone left their tie here. In the living room."

Fuck. "Oh! Well yes, your brother was here. He helped lug your body inside. I-I couldn't do it alone, you see."

"Alright."

"Okay." I murmur.

He's about to walk away when he stops abruptly and turns around. He raises a hand and I look up into his eyes to see that he's refraining from harming me. He holds his breath, and a bulge appears at the side of his neck. John points a finger down at me, and that finger curls into his fist.

"D-Don't lie to me." He rules, clenching his jaw.

He struggled to cough up those words, and I feel as though it's because he really wanted to hurt me.

Holy fuck. My cheeks burn. "Okay, I'm sorry."

"Come on then," He nods and swallows. "let's go to work."

We start work at nine sharp, and John and his brothers go along into their offices as I am left with the little one Finn who marvels over me.

"You're really beautiful," he says, tapping his foot.

I smile, flattered by the complement but lure him to come closer to me, as I've got to share some top secret information with him. "I'm not all that pretty, you know. Outside of England there are really, really beautiful women. Like, really pretty. Prettier than me."