Chapter Sixteen

                                    

                                          
I needed a drink. It was only nine in the morning and I needed a drink. I could really go for my fire whiskey right now. Brad actually saw Steve leaving the office, and saw him stop and look at the truck. Obviously Steve knew I was in there. Brad was tense, agitated, distracted.  His scowl was pronounced and his jaw was clenched. He drove us to work in silence, opened my door in silence, and walked into the building in silence, my heels clicking obnoxiously on the pavement. 
"Text me when you want to get done", Brad said as we parted ways in the lobby. 
He didn't even make eye contact. He may as well have slapped me as much as that cold parting stung. 
I actually stood there, motionless in shock for a moment, staring after him, before I caught myself. 
No drama at work!  
I was a professional, damn it.  I rallied the troops and headed to my office, full speed, heels clicking away. 
When I got into my department, I was actually kind of hot from the power walking. Angela had a list of notes from Heidi, who was recruiting at a job fair this morning, thank God. 
"You okay?", Angela asked, looking at me strangely.
"Yes, I just about ran here is all", I laughed. 
I grabbed a cold bottled water from the department refrigerator and headed to my office to check emails and get my day started. As my computer was booting up, I chugged a few swigs of the freezing water...and immediately threw it back up. I literally had no time to do anything other than bend over. Thank goodness my garbage can was right under the desk!  I didn't make a mess anywhere except there. 
What the hell just happened?, I wondered, totally confused and still nauseous.  My head was spinning slightly. I lowered my forehead onto the desk and shut my eyes. In a few minutes I felt normal again. Completely fine, like nothing had happened. I tied up my garbage bag tightly, brought it out to the main garbage by Angela, and grabbed a new bag from the small supply cabinet we had on hand. 
I finally started checking my emails and my stomach growled angrily. "Well you wouldn't be hungry if you hadn't thrown up anything remaining of breakfast", I grumbled out loud, annoyed that I had to stop working again to grab a granola bar out of my desk drawer. I drank the water more slowly this time. Everything went down okay and the growling stopped. My stomach felt fine. 
I reasoned that the Steve and Brad dilemma this morning had upset my stomach, and the shock of the large amount of cold water on top of it was too much for my touchy system to handle. I resolved not to say anything to anyone. It was a fluke. I sure hated throwing up, probably more than anything I could think of, and I would do anything to avoid it. It had been so sudden though, I didn't have time to try not to. I could only react.  
I was pounding away at my emails, and then I remembered I had the same sensation at the courthouse right before I had to plunge into the bathroom and barely made it to a toilet.  
I hoped I wasn't getting an ulcer or something serious. 
After work, Brad was still quiet and not paying very much attention to me.  When we got home, I wrapped my arms around him and confronted him about it. 
"I feel neglected", I said. "I know you're upset we saw Steve this morning but you've been ignoring me all day". 
He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed. Looking down at me, he said genuinely, "I'm real sorry, babe. I love you".  He put his hand against my face and tipped my chin up to his.
As usual with us, one kiss turned into many, which typically turned into us ripping off each other's clothing and losing control.  Tonight, however, when Brad caressed my breast, it actually hurt, and I got a surprising surge of rage, from which I barely restrained punching him in the throat. Instead, I shoved his hand away and squirmed away from him.