I never thought the plane ride would end. We'd spent the last forty minutes of our flight experiencing massive turbulence, but all I could concentrate on was his words to me, ‘you’re perfectly safe here.’ We’d finally arrived at the hotel, and now, we both followed the bellhop down the hall to what would be our room.
"You’ll need to jiggle the key a little," he said as he wiggled it in the lock before turning the key, then he turned, smiled at us, and turned the key, the lock clicking. He opened the door, and we followed him in. I glanced around the room. A bottle of champaign sat cooling in an ice bucket, a card that read Congratulations to the Newly Married Couple sat beside it.
"Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Wright. Could I pour you both a glass of champagne?" the bellhop offered, walking over and pulling the bottle from the ice, while waiting for a signal from Maddox.
I felt my face fall as I looked around the room, spotting his-and-her robes laying on the bottom of the bed. All of this had been part of the upgrade that I had forgotten to cancel. Maddox took one look at me, and then cleared his throat, stepping forward.
"Thank you, sir, but I'm sure you can understand that we have both had an extremely long flight," Maddox said once again, looking over at me.
"Perhaps a nice hot bath? I'd be more than happy to send someone up to draw it for you. There is a tub for two," he said, heading over to what I figured was the bathroom.
I could feel the tears sting my eyes, trying to figure out why the hell I had come on this trip. I did not know that this was going to be so hard. Instead of standing there waiting for the tears to fall, I walked over and opened the curtains, looking down on the streets below us, trying hard to divert my thoughts.
"Honestly, sir, I thank you, but I just really want to spend some time alone with my love. If you catch my drift."
I turned in time to see Maddox shove some money toward the man and lead him over to the door, trying his best to get rid of him.
"Certainly, sir," he whispered, finally stepping into the hall in time for Maddox to shut and lock the door. He turned to look in my direction, while I stood there staring at everything that reminded me of what this trip was supposed to be.
I didn't know if it was the fact that I was exhausted, emotionally drained, or what, but my hand went up to cover my mouth to stop the sobs that were threatening to escape, but they won, and my shoulders began to shake.
"Oh, Tess," I heard Maddox murmur as he walked over to where I stood. “I’m sorry, sweetie.”
I didn't fight it this time. I turned to him and buried myself into the comfort of his arms.
Maddox
We stood in the room, her face buried in my chest, the only sound were her sobs as tears poured. The only thing I knew to do was to comfort her the best I could. So, I held her small frame tightly against mine and let her cry.
"I'm sorry, Maddox." She sniffled. "I didn't expect this to be so hard, and then the bellhop thought you were my...my...husband...it just...humiliating." She cried as she buried her face in my chest yet again as more tears fell.
"Tess, it's fine. Really, he doesn't know, and it's not like I'm bothered by it," I said, placing my finger under her chin, tilting her head back so she could meet my eyes.
She wiped the tears from her cheeks. "How can it not bother you?"
"Look at me, do I look bothered by it?" I questioned.
"But I didn't remove the upgrade package. I didn't even change the suite, and now we only have a king-size bed. I certainly didn’t think this through." She sniffled, looking over her shoulder at the bed that sat behind us. "This is nothing but a disaster. Now I am going to be even more humiliated when I ask the front desk to change our room to one with two queen beds." She cried, pulling away from me and sitting down on the bottom of the bed, picking up the robe that sat there, running her finger over the embroidered letters.
I reached down and removed the monogrammed robe from her hands. "So what, so I sleep on the couch. I can call down for an extra blanket and pillow. It looks comfortable enough," I said, throwing the robe down on the desk and walking over to the couch, lying on it. "Yep, totally comfortable," I said. "It will be fine."
That couch could have been as hard as concrete, and I would have told her I'd sleep on it because she was literally breaking my heart standing there with those beautiful eyes of hers filled with tears.
"Really?" she questioned, her voice shaky.
"Really. Now it has been a long day of travel. Why don't I go in and run you a hot bubble bath in that gigantic tub in there, and you can soak and decompress while I order us some food. Then you can lie down and have a long-ass nap, and we can get this adventure on the road tomorrow."
"No, Maddox, really, I'll be fine. See, fine," she said, wiping away the tears from her cheeks and looking at me with tired, red, bloodshot eyes.
I studied her for a minute and noticed the tremble in her bottom lip. I could see she was about to break down again any second as her eyes landed back on the bathrobes. I shook my head. "Nope, I insist."
I made my way into the bathroom and turned on the water. She came in just as I held my hand under the water to check the temperature as steam rose. She leaned against the wall, exhausted, as she watched me reach for a bottle on the counter. I dumped some of it into the bath, bubbles instantly forming.
"You don't need to do this," she murmured behind me.
"I know, but I am. Now, let this fill. I am going to leave you alone. I want you to relax. What bag did you put that book in. You know, the one you bought at the airport?"
"My carry-on. Why?"
I held my finger up and took off into the other room and found the book sticking out of the bag. Grabbing it, I made my way back into the bathroom. "Here you are." I smiled, holding up the book. "Now relax," I said, stepping forward, placing my hand at the back of her neck, pulling her forward, and placing a kiss on her forehead. I slowly backed up and pulled the door closed, but before it clicked shut, I heard her call my name.
"Maddox?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you," she whispered, her voice crackling.
"My pleasure, Tess. Enjoy." I smiled and then pulled the door shut and turned around to look around at the room.
As I walked over to my bag, everything I passed reminded me she was supposed to be here on her honeymoon. I couldn't allow her to walk out of that bathroom to see all that again. So instead of unpacking, I took a few minutes and removed everything that would remind her of that fact, including the his-and-hers robes from the end of the bed, all while cursing Derrick under my breath.
My best friend had done this to her, ripped her heart out and broke it into a million little pieces, all because he couldn't resist temptation. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. I knew what loss felt like, and I would never do this to someone intentionally. I never wanted anything to ever make me feel that way again, nor would I ever take for granted the person I chose in the future to spend my life with, like he had.
As I looked around, my eyes landed to the card sitting beside the champaign. I walked over and ripped it into pieces, depositing it into the garbage, and then took one more look around the room, making sure I had gotten everything that might set her off again. Satisfied I had taken care of everything, I went to unpack my bags but stopped. I'd promised her something to eat, so I took a few minutes, sat down, and went through the room service menu. The second I had decided on something, I picked up the phone and placed the order, then began unpacking my bag.