Accidental Heartbreak (The Accidental Series, Book 2) (18 page)

Shayla remained quiet.

“And just so you know, and to ease this
unnecessary tension between us, yes I had a brother. He died.”

“I’m sorry,” she empathized.

“It’s okay.”

“When did he die?”

“Doesn’t matter,” Carter said, threading his
fingers together. “He’s dead and so is my Mother.”

“Why are you saying it like that, Carter?
Like you don’t care? It’s hard to lose someone you love…especially
a relative.” Shayla scooted a space away from him so she could look
him in the eyes.

“It hurts but life goes on, right?”

“Are you listening to yourself?”

Feeling pressured, he responded, “What do
you want me to say?” He didn’t want to talk about his brother in
any more detail than necessary. If he did, Shayla was bound to ask
for more details about him – like his name – and he hated to lie to
her. Again.

“I want you to tell me what happened without
being all
blasé
about it.”

“I
told
you what happened,” he said
testily. “Why are you drilling me about this, Shayla?”

“Drilling you? I’m
drilling
you? I
thought I was having a conversation with my husband. Jeez, Carter.
Can I not ask you any personal questions? Is that it? I haven’t
earned the right?”

Carter ignored her, took the remote from the
coffee table and powered on the TV.

“You know what…forget I said anything!”
Shayla angrily stood up and headed for the door. “I can’t believe
this.”

Carter jumped off the couch after her and
grabbed her arm before she could leave the den. “You really wanna
do this? You want to get mad at me over something trivial?”

“This is our life, Carter. How is getting to
know my husband better
trivial
? How? Explain that to me!”
she said, standing her ground.

“Because everything was fine between us
before you started all of this.”

“Started what? The only thing I did was ask
you about your brother and it sparked all this chaos, but you know
what…I
promise
I will never ask you anything else about your
family if this is the response I’m gonna get.” Shayla snatched her
hand away from him, leaving the den.

“Fine, then!” he shot back, sitting down
again.

“Fine!” she yelled halfway up the stairs.
“Let me know when my normal,
sane
husband returns.”

She hit a nerve. Carter’s mind went blank
when he heard her say those words. He was already under extreme
pressure – pressure from work, from guilt, from marrying her, from
keeping Jacob a secret – it was all too much for him. He jumped off
the couch like a mad man, dashed upstairs to catch her. He stopped
her in the hallway, just steps from their bedroom.

“Who do you think you’re talking to like
that?” He glared at her, his chest quickly rising in and out as his
body pressed her against the wall.

“Leave me alone, Carter.”

“No. This is what you want, right? You wanna
fight? Let’s fight,” he said yelling.

“I don’t want to argue with you,” Shayla
said nervously, her palms flat against his chest, pushing him
slightly as he confined her to the wall. She’d never seen him this
angry before.

“It’s too late for that, don’t you think,”
he said, slapping the wall.

Shayla tried to push him again, but he
hardly moved.

“You don’t think talking about my family is
difficult for me? You think I don’t care about my family?”

“You act like you don’t care…don’t care
enough to discuss anything with me anyway.”

“Did it ever cross your mind that maybe I
don’t want to talk about them! Hunh? That it hurts me to talk about
them?”

“Carter, stop yelling at me,” Shayla said,
her voice cracking.

“Seems that’s the only way you can hear me,”
he said even louder, if that was possible. “I can’t believe this!
We ain’t even been married for two weeks and here you go starting
some—”

“I don’t want to start anything. I just
asked you a question and look at your reaction. What’s wrong with
you, Carter?”

“You need to ask yourself that. I’m done
talking to you! Done!” Carter turned around, headed downstairs,
back to the den.

Shayla stood there in the hallway for a
moment more, trying to make sense of what happened. And after she
got a hold of herself, she quietly walked downstairs, took her
purse and keys from the kitchen table and walked out the front
door. She needed to get away from the house. Time alone would give
them both a chance to cool down.

She found herself at Southpark Mall,
browsing shops, thinking about how great it would be to have
girlfriends to confide in at this moment, but she had no friends,
well besides Rebecca, but that was more of a work-type friendship,
not a shoulder-to-cry-on friendship. The only real friend she had
was her husband, and from the looks of it, he didn’t want to be
anywhere near her. Two hours had passed since she left the house
and he hadn’t even called to see where she’d run off to. Did he
even know she was gone? Or was he so angry, he didn’t care?

Shayla walked in Belk, browsing skinny jeans
and fall gear. Bored with that, she headed to The Cheesecake
Factory, ordered a strawberry daiquiri and sat there, alone,
watching a little boy at a nearby table whine like a two-year old –
only he was much older. Nine, maybe ten.

She took her straw and twirled it around in
her drink, just daydreaming, but her thoughts were interrupted by
her cell ringing. She took it from her purse, checked to see who it
was as if that was necessary. Carter was bound to call sooner or
later.

“What?” she answered.

“That’s how you gon’ answer the phone when I
call you?” he asked with anger in his voice.

“You’re lucky I answered at all.”

“Where are you?”

Shayla sighed, thought about ordering
another drink but dismissed the idea since she had to drive
home.

“I
said
, where are you, Shayla?”
Carter asked impatiently, as he paced the sidewalk in his front
yard.

“I’m at the mall.” Shayla rolled her eyes as
if he could see her.

“Which mall?”

“What does it matter?”

“Which mall, Shayla?”

“Southpark.”

“When are you coming home?”

Shayla checked her watch. The time was
fifteen minutes past ten. “Not sure.”

“You’re not sure?” Carter repeated with
raised brows.

“I’ll be there in a lil’ while.”

“How long is a lil’ while?” he tossed
back.

“I don’t know, Carter. I need time to think.
Can I have that, or—”

“I want you home…now. We’ll talk when you
get here.”

“You mean you’ll yell at me again and smack
the wall…not talk.”

Carter was so angry, he felt warmer than
usual. And it didn’t help that it was muggy outside. “What time are
you going to be home?”

Shayla sighed. “I’ll be there in a few.”

“Stop playing with me, Shay, and tell me
when.”

“I don’t know when,” Shayla said raising her
voice. It was so loud in the restaurant, she hadn’t disturbed
anyone. She fit right in.

“So you want me to come there? That’s what
you want?”

“And why would I want you to come here when
I left the house to get away from you?”

Carter rubbed his head with his right hand
out of frustration and asked as calmly as he could, “When are you
going to be here?”

Shayla closed her eyes, took a moment to
calm down. As much as she longed for marriage, like every other
woman on the planet, now she realized it wasn’t all pink roses and
champagne. Marriage was hard, no matter how much you love the
person you’re with. The highs and lows took a toll on a person, and
making the union work required more patience than the average
person possessed.

Shayla thought about calling Rebecca,
spending the night at her place instead of facing Carter tonight.
Maybe he needed more time to cool off.

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes,” she said
crestfallen. “Is that good enough for you?”

“Yeah. Fine. And if you’re not here in
twenty minutes, I
will
be on my way to Southpark Mall.”

Shayla rolled her eyes, ended the call and
slid her phone back in her purse. She paid for her drink, left a
five dollar tip on the table and headed for her car.

* * *

At home now, she walked in the house
slinging her purse carelessly to the living room couch. She could
hear the TV still going in the family room, so she figured Carter
was in there. So continuing on upstairs, she undressed and stepped
in the shower, squeezing berry scented body wash on a loofa and
rubbing it all around her body. She shampooed her hair too, all the
while thinking about Carter, their fast marriage and how they
didn’t know much about each other. And had she ever seen him so
angry?

Carter heard her come in. He’d been
patiently waiting for her to get there, sitting in the family room,
on the couch with his head hanging low, wondering how he could let
himself get so angry with her and what he would do to make things
right between them.

After giving her a few more minutes to get
settled, he jogged upstairs, took a kiss from her without even
saying a word and they were on the bed loving each other the way
they should’ve been instead of fighting.

“I’m sorry,” he said, softly into her
ear.

“Me too.” She leaned forward to kiss
him.

“I didn’t mean to yell at you, baby,” he
told her.

“I know.”

“It’s just that I don’t like talking about
my brother…never been able to come to terms with how things ended
between us.”

Shayla kissed his chest. “That’s okay,
Carter. We don’t have to talk about it. I understand.”

“No, I want to talk about it.” He squeezed a
chunk of her hair. “And I do
want
to share my life and my
past with you. Don’t ever think I don’t, okay?”

“Okay,” Shayla whispered.

Carter took a much needed breath. “My
brother and I were very close back in the day but as we got older,
we drifted apart. I never had a chance to make things right with
him and it weighs heavily on my conscience. Have you ever wished
you would’ve said something to somebody, and you never got the
chance to?”

“Yeah.” Shayla knew that feeling all too
well.

“It hurts, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Shayla closed her eyes, fully
relaxed trailing the length of his left arm with her right hand,
finding his hand and interlocking their fingers.

Carter held her tight and let his worries
subside, just for the night, but come morning, his anxiety was sure
to return. Because even though he strategically gotten past what
could’ve been a very bad situation, he was now troubled even more
because at some point, Shayla would want to know his brother’s
name. And then it would be downhill from there.

Shayla kissed
Carter on the cheek as he sat at the kitchen table, flipping
through the newspaper at six in the morning.

“
Good morning,
sweetie,” he told her, watching her walk around the
table.

“
Good morning.”
She walked to the countertop, and standing in front of the coffee
maker, she poured coffee in two mugs, stirred in some cream and
sugar and placed one on the table in front of him.

He dropped the
newspaper and took a sip of coffee. “Thank you, baby.”

“
You’re welcome.”
Shayla sat next to him and took a sip of coffee. “What are you
doing dressed so early?”

“
I gotta run by
the office…pick up some documents.” Carter took another sip. “Plus,
I didn’t sleep much last night so I got up earlier than
normal.”

“
Why couldn’t you
sleep?”

“
I spent most of
the night watching you sleep.”

“
You did?” Shayla
said blushing, feeling flattered.

“
Yep.”

“Why?”

“Just thinking.”

“About?”

“
About us, of
course. I didn’t want to admit it yesterday, but you made some
valid points about us not knowing much about each other. So last
night, I’m watching you sleep and all the while I’m thinking how
grateful I am to have found you, found love and happiness. But then
I also think about our marriage, about how I
love
you
with all my heart, but I don’t
know
you with all of
it. For instance, why do you hold me so tightly when we make
love?”

A nervous smile touched
her lips. “Because I love you, but I didn’t realize I was squeezing
you so hard. I’ll try to be more conscience of it.”

“
I actually like
it, Shayla. I just wanted to know why you did it.” Carter set the
mug aside. “And the scratches…I see scratches on your face and your
body but I don’t know where they came from, though I know they tell
a story.”

Shayla felt her
heart sink. “I thought you said you didn’t care about my
scars.”

“
I don’t. I
mean…how can I put this? Um, I think you’re beautiful regardless of
the scars, but I want to know how they got there.”

Shayla frowned and
closed her eyes. Looking at him she said, “My life on the street
was rough, Carter. I’ve been through things I don’t even want to
think about…let alone talk about.”

“
Yeah, but I’m
your husband. I want to know you. Completely. We should know each
other on a level that no one else does. Isn’t that the reason why
you were so upset with me yesterday? Because you didn’t know I had
a brother.”

“Yeah, but—”

“
So why put up a
wall when I ask you a few questions? I just want simple answers. I
think I’m entitled.”