Thirty-Two

“What do you mean a lot more often? He slowed down after he met her and stopped all together when she moved.” says Ethan.
“I mean a lot more. He’s online practically all night. Check his new scores and levels and you’ll see what I mean. The man doesn’t sleep, then he goes to work and works long hours. They are both not doing well if you ask me.” says Micah.
“Oh my goodness I didn’t know he was taking things this bad. I mean naturally we all worried about her because of what happened at the hospital and how she was when she came home, but Jameson has always been a rock. I guess we neglected him thinking that he was alright. We need to fix this. He’s our Captain and he’s always been there for us.” says Alicia.
“You’re right. Well for now we should finish putting up these groceries and then I guess find a movie to watch until Jameson gets home.” says Daniel.
They all agree and start to put up the food then head to the living room and order two large pizzas with wings and drinks and pick out a movie. They settled on watching an old movie called Commando with Arnold Schwarzenegger. When the food arrived they took one pizza and some of the wings and left the other one for Jameson and Renee along with their drinks in the kitchen. Once the movie was over and everyone was full, Alicia told the guys to head home and she would be there after Jameson came home.

End of Daniel, Micah, Alicia, and Ethan’s Conversation

After they all said good night then she went to the bedroom and knocked softly on the door before opening it slightly. Renee was fast asleep on the bed on top of the covers. She looked cold and uncomfortable. “I should wake her up so she can eat.”
Alicia walked closer to the bed and gently shook Renee until she woke up. They both walked to the kitchen once Alicia finally won the argument of whether or not I should eat. I wanted to stay in bed and sleep but she insisted that I eat something. Now I’m sitting at the table drinking my soda and eating chicken wings and pizza. I guess she was right about me needing to eat. We were supposed to be eating healthy but if I’m honest, I haven’t really been taking care of the house duties like I should these past months. The house isn’t dirty or anything because I did hire someone to come and clean but as far as cooking and making groceries, I dropped the ball on that one.
“Why didn’t you go home after you dropped me off? You could have taken my car if the guys couldn’t take you home. I heard them come in but then I guess I fell asleep.”
“I didn’t want to leave you here alone. Yeah they were here until about twenty minutes ago. They brought over your groceries.”
“They didn’t have to do that. I said to leave them and I would get them another time. If they tell me how much the groceries were I’ll write them a check to pay them back.”
“Are you trying to insult them? In case you haven’t figured it out yet, you’re family now. We take care of our family. As long as you’re in the Captain’s life you’re in ours. We love you as much as we love him Renee, and we’re happy that you’re in his life. He deserves to be happy after everything he’s been through in his life.”
“I’m happy that I’ve found him. He makes me so happy every day. I feel bad though because I don’t think he knows that I feel that way anymore. After the baby died I was and still am heartbroken and angry. My heart feels like a piece is missing and I don’t know how to fill it yet. He spends his time playing online games and I’m not upset about it because that’s his outlet, but I think that underneath he’s angry with me. I know how bad he wanted a child and I failed.”
“You did not fail and I’m sure he isn’t mad at you. He may be hurt and angry that you both lost a child but I know he doesn’t blame you. That would be crazy if he did because he knows your medical history. You both knew going in that a miscarriage was a possibility.”
“Then why doesn’t he talk to me? He comes home and goes to the kitchen and eats if I’ve cooked and if I haven’t he makes a sandwich or I hear him order something. Then he takes a shower or a bath depending on how tired he is and when he’s done, he comes to the room and gets dressed in his boxers and a t-shirt then he goes to the living room. We haven’t slept in the same bed in a long time. He’ll fall asleep on the sofa playing his games and then in the morning he’s dressed and gone before I’m up or it’s even time for him to head to work. I have no idea what he’s doing. You guys would tell me if he was with someone else or planning to leave me right?”
“Oh honey don’t think like that. I know him very well and he’d tell you if he had found someone else or wanted to leave. He isn’t a cheater and hasn’t been as long as I’ve known him. He’s probably out exercising. I know he used to go for runs early in the morning to stay in shape then he would meet the other guys at the gym. Maybe that’s what he’s doing now. You should talk to him.”
“I’ll try to talk to him tonight. Hopefully he’ll talk back. All he does is kind of grunts and then he disappears into another room. I know I’ve been gone emotionally since it happened but I’m trying to come back from that dark place. Therapy is helping but I just need him to be patient with me and to let me know if something I’m doing is hurting him.”
“Men don’t know how to do that kind of thing. He believes that he needs to be strong for you and not the other way around. He did have his breakdown moments when you weren’t around to see them. He’s a protector and he has been protecting all of us for a while now and we’ve done the same for him, but now you’re the one that he wants to protect. My advice is to let him be who he is naturally but don’t lose yourself. When he’s being too overprotective don’t be afraid to say so and stop him. He’ll fight you at first because he’s an Alpha male but he’ll submit when you show him that you’re his equal. Remember, the only wolf in the pack that can control the Alpha is his Luna a.k.a. the Queen to his King. She’s the only one that doesn’t submit to him, he submits to her.”
Her phone makes a noise and she checks the message. She tells me that Micah is almost here to pick her up and we both stand up and walk to the front door. We hug for a while and she kisses my cheek before we hear him blow the horn. I open the door and she walks down the steps and gets in the car as I wave goodbye to her and Micah. They really do make a cute couple.
After closing and locking the door, I head back to the kitchen and clean up my mess. Then I head to the living room and start the movie over that they were watching and wait for Jameson to come home. He should be on his way since he got off thirty minutes ago. Like clockwork he comes through the door fifteen minutes later and heads straight to the kitchen and I get up and follow him.
“Hello baby. How was work?” He turns around and looks at me like I’m a stranger then he turns back to the counter and finishes making a plate.
“Work was fine.” For some reason the way he’s talking to me makes me sad.
“That’s good. Umm there’s something I should probably tell you. I sort of almost went to jail tonight.” He looks up at me and stares for what seems like forever before he sits down at the table.
“What did you do?”
I told him everything that happened from start to finish and he listened quietly though I had no idea if he really cared or not from his expression.
“And that’s everything. Alicia just left almost an hour ago.” I don’t know what else to do other than to sit there while he eats and says nothing about what I just told him.
“Aren’t you going to say anything?” I watch his face but he isn’t showing how he’s feeling so I’ll have to wait for his answer. He finishes his food and after cleaning up the mess he looks at me.
“No, I don’t need to say anything. Looks like you’ve handled everything on your own.” Then he leaves me in the kitchen and a minute later I hear the shower come on and a door close. I get up to go to the bathroom to ask him what his problem is and the door is locked. Before I can knock on the door, I hear him talking.
“No Daniel, the whole situation is messed up. She’s my girlfriend, so why in the hell wasn’t I called? Is there something going on between the two of you that I need to know about? Why would she call you and not me?”