Leaving at Noon (2 page)

Yeah, Zoey had focused almost all of her
time and attention on the Well Women clinic, but that wasn’t an
issue for Theo. He was used to her working hard. Hell, Zoey was a
doctor. They’d been together through her clinical studies,
internship and specialization. Theo knew all about her long hours
and sleepless nights.

Besides, when he wasn’t pissed at her, he
was dead proud of his wife. She wasn’t yet thirty and she was
making a difference to women all over Sydney.

He felt the gazes of his mates on him. Knew
the shocked silence was all his doing. And Zoey’s. But he couldn’t
handle the recriminations now. If he couldn’t deal with his wife,
how could he face their friends, looking at him, judging him?

He forced his lips out of their grimace and
slowed his mindless eating.

Deep breath. Don’t let this fuck with your
head.

Yeah? Easier said than done. His head was
already fucked-up. A jumble of pained confusion and
frustration.

He’d watched Zoey disappear into the ladies’
room, even heaved a sigh of relief as she’d stalked away. Being
with her lately rubbed him up the wrong way. It rubbed them both up
the wrong way.

Yet somehow the relief of her departure
didn’t provide him with respite. Zoey’s spine had grown straighter
with every step she’d taken, which meant only one thing. He’d hurt
her with that last comment.

The straighter she held herself, the worse
she felt.

The bitch of it was, he couldn’t even
remember what he’d said to make her walk away. The words—designed
to hurt—had formed, and he’d tossed them carelessly in her
direction.

What he did remember was the not-so-subtle
slur she’d slung at him seconds before, while talking to Liv and
James—but only because it had been complete and utter bullshit.

“
You want to know what we
did this weekend?” she’d asked Liv. “Let’s see. I worked yesterday
morning and spent the rest of the time reading. Great book. You
should read it.” She’d picked up her phone and opened an app,
presumably to show Liv the book. “As for Theo…” She’d shrugged and
cast him a disinterested glance. “I have no idea. This is the first
time I’ve seen him since Friday morning.”

They’d slept in the same bed on Friday and
Saturday night. And walked past each other fifty times over the
last two days. Yeah, he may have spent the weekend watching
cricket—in another room—but they’d seen each other plenty. Spoken?
Not so much. Okay, not at all. But they’d seen each other.

He needed another beer.

Theo raised his gaze to find the waitress,
but his view was blocked. Troubled brown eyes stared into his.

Ava Torres was in his space, shoving her
face right up close. A soft palm covered his hand, preventing him
from signaling for a drink.

“
You know, Hughesy,” she
said as she wrapped her fingers around his, “it took me over a year
to admit to any of you that I had a problem.”

Theo squared his jaw. Any reminder of Ava’s
problem sent his blood pressure rocketing—and thanks to Zoey, his
blood pressure was already sky-fucking-high.

Ava had been abused by her soon-to-be
ex-husband and hadn’t told any of them. Theo’s helplessness and
guilt at not having helped her—at not having known—still gnawed at
him, just like it ate away at all of their friends.

“
It was the toughest year
of my life,” she went on. “I can only say this in retrospect, with
the whole hindsight-and-twenty-twenty-vision thing, but I should
have spoken about it before everything got out of hand. I should
have let you all in on my secret, so I could get some
help.”

Hell, yeah, she should have said something.
Any one of the Dinner Club—that was what the friends called their
group—would have bent over backward to keep her safe.

“
All I’m saying is you
should talk about whatever’s happening with Zoey. If not to
everyone here, now, then to one of us, sometime soon. Let it out so
we can help you.”

“
You and Zo are the glue
that holds us all together,” Liv Taylor spoke up. “You’re rock
solid, always. So when you’re not, it shakes us all.”

Thrown by the intensity of Ava’s expression
and Liv’s words, Theo let his gaze travel around the table.

“
They’re right,” Greg
Thurston said. “The whole Dinner Club is shaking.”

Spencer Allen sat with his hands linked
together, his elbows resting on the table and his face solemn. He
nodded his agreement.

James Elliot, Liv’s man, wore a serious
expression. “Listen to the women, Hughesy. They know what they’re
talking about.”

Jared, Greg’s twin and Ava’s boyfriend, shot
him a concerned look. “I’ve been back two months, mate. Haven’t
seen you touch your wife in all that time.”

Unable to stand the concern in their voices
and on their faces, Theo dropped his gaze to the table. The fingers
of his free hand were curled into a fist. His knuckles were
white.

Was that true? He hadn’t touched Zoey in
public in two months?

“
She hasn’t touched you
either,” Ava said.

Theo was well aware Zoey no longer offered
her affections freely. Hell, she didn’t offer her affections at
all. She didn’t take his hand when they walked together, or cuddle
up to him on the couch to watch telly. There were no sultry kisses
anymore, or even quick pecks on the cheek. He couldn’t remember the
last time she’d put her hand on his shoulder while they spoke to
other people.

Zoey’s habit of placing her hand on his
shoulder was her way of reminding him—and anyone they spoke to—that
Theo was hers. A possessive habit, maybe, but he fucking loved
it.

Yet, in the last few months, he hadn’t even
noticed she’d stopped doing it.

“
Theo?”

Surprised, he looked up. None of his friends
called him Theo.

Spence hitched a thumb over his shoulder,
his expression as sober as his tone. “You should talk to her.”

Yeah? And say what? Going after her at this
point wasn’t an option. If he spoke to Zoey now, the insults and
slurs would only get worse. Theo had learned this the hard way.

He stared past Spence, at the door to the
bathrooms, noticing Chelsea looking in the same direction, concern
on her face. She frowned and crossed the restaurant, coming to
stand beside Spencer and resting her hand on the back of his neck.
“Everything okay?”

Once again, all eyes focused on Theo.

He rubbed the scar on his wrist as he
watched Chelsea, noticing the way she caressed Spence. She always
touched him and Levi. Ever since the three of them had gotten
together, she’d been very open with her PDAs. As had Levi and
Spencer been with her.

Theo had no problem with affection. Touching
Zoey, anytime, had once not only been a pleasure, it had been a
necessity. He’d needed to touch her like he’d needed to breathe.
Now his problem wasn’t with showing his wife affection publicly, it
was with showing his wife affection at all.

“
Hughesy?” Greg prompted,
reminding him that Chelsea had asked a question.

He shoved his fingers through his hair.
No, nothing was okay
. His marriage was a mess, his wife and
he had stopped communicating, and she was currently holed up in a
bathroom with one of their best friends. “Yeah, everything’s
fine.”

James whistled his disapproval.

“
She’s hurting,” Ava said.
“You both are. Speak to us about what’s going on so we can help
you.”

“
You know what’ll help?”
Theo asked.

“
Tell us.” Liv threaded
her fingers through James’s. “Please.”

Theo looked at Chelsea. “Another
Corona.”

“
You’re welcome to one.”
Chelsea picked up his empty bottle and tilted it toward the bar.
The bartender nodded in response. “But I don’t think it’s going to
help.”

“
Since when do you drink
beer anyway?” Liv asked.

“
Since I was
fourteen.”

Ava cleared her throat.

“
Sixteen,” Theo
amended.

“
That’s not what Liv
meant, and you know it,” Ava chastised him.

“
Okay, okay.” Theo held
his hands up. “Since I was eighteen, and not a day
before.”

It was Greg’s turn to call bullshit. “Mate.”
He cast a meaningful look in the direction of the bathrooms.

Pain shot from Theo’s neck down his
shoulder, his muscles going into spasm. “I don’t know what’s going
on, okay? I have no idea what’s bugging her. Maybe she’s
premenstrual.”

Liv sucked in a breath, Chelsea bristled and
Ava
tsk
ed.

James shot him a bemused smile. “You trying
to piss off every woman at the table?”

“
Lucky Zoey’s out of
earshot,” Jared said calmly. “She’d tear you a new one for that
comment.”

Yeah, she probably would. And maybe that’s
why Theo had said it. To get a response from his wife. A real,
honest-to-God response as opposed to a bitchy comment thrown at
him. Or worse, a disinterested roll of her eyes. Not that the
comment had any effect on Zoey—seeing as she wasn’t anywhere near
him.

“
He’s trying to distract
us,” Ava clarified before graciously cutting him loose. “Look, if
you don’t want to talk to us, that’s fine. But for God’s sake, sort
this out. Whatever’s happening between the two of you, it’s been
going on too long. Do something, now, before it’s too
late.”

Theo stared at Ava. “Too late for what?”

She stared back, her eyes troubled. “Too
late for you and Zo, Hughesy. That’s what.”

Theo’s stomach tightened. The beer and
risotto churned in his gut.

Levi chose that moment to return to the
table. His lips were pursed, his eyes worried. “Zoey’s gone.”

“
What do you mean?” Liv
asked. “Gone where?”

“
Home.” Levi’s gaze
settled on Theo for a second then moved around the table. “She
wasn’t feeling so hot. She said to tell you all goodbye and she’ll
see you at the next Dinner Club, then she left through the
backdoor.”

The air around Theo turned thick, syrupy,
making breathing difficult. He looked at her empty chair, saw the
handbag hanging over the edge. Without saying a word, Theo had
handed her the car keys when they’d arrived, and she’d slipped them
into her bag, just like they did whenever they went out.

If the bag was still there, the keys were
too.

“
She walked,” Levi said,
and though Theo was staring at the bag, he knew Levi was telling
him personally.

Telling, or accusing?

Jesus. Home was a good forty-five-minute
walk from here. And Zoey’d worn heels tonight. Theo knew because he
always took note when she wore heels. Before, when things had been
good between them, she’d slip on a pair and shoot him a mischievous
look. Zoey knew what wearing heels did to him. She also knew that
when they arrived back home, seconds after slamming the front door
shut, he’d strip her clothes from her body and fuck her against the
wall—Zoey dressed in nothing but her shoes.

Sometimes, he wouldn’t wait to get home.
Impatient to have her, he’d corner her in a secluded spot, away
from prying eyes, and slide his cock inside her already slick
pussy.

That was the thing about Zoey. She was
always ready for him, always as aroused by him as he was by
her.

Or that’s how it had been. Before.

Tonight, his cock had barely twitched in
response to the shoes. And she sure hadn’t caught his eye or
flashed him that wicked smile, letting him know she’d donned the
heels for him.

She hadn’t hitched her skirt, offering him
an enticing glimpse of thigh, as she always did. (Zoey had great
thighs. Fucking gorgeous—just like the rest of her body.) She
hadn’t run a promising finger along the seam of his chinos and over
the bulge beneath his zip either.

Hell, there hadn’t even been a bulge.

There might have been, had she run her
finger over his pants. But Zoey hadn’t shown interest in a very
long time, and Theo had trained his body to stop reacting to her.
He hadn’t stopped wanting her. Fuck knew, he’d always desire his
wife. But he had stopped reacting.

“
She walked?” Theo asked,
sure he must have heard Levi wrong.

“
I offered to drive.”
Levi’s gaze was intense. Focused fully on Theo, as though he wanted
to say something more but didn’t. “She said no, she had her phone
and she’d be fine.”

Theo glared at him, unsure whether to be
grateful he’d offered or pissed off he’d let her walk. “You let her
walk out of here alone?”

“
Let
her?” Levi’s
gaze cooled.

“
Yeah,
let
her.” If
she was lucky, she might make it three or four blocks without
twisting an ankle or breaking a leg. And fuck knew what troubles
lurked outside at night when a beautiful woman dressed in a sexy
dress that called attention to her ass, breasts and curves, walked
home alone.

“
First off, Zoey’s an
adult, capable of making her own decisions. And second, it’s not my
place to stop her.”

Theo disagreed. “You went after her when she
left the table.” In doing so, he’d accepted responsibility for
Zoey’s care.

“
Yeah,” Levi agreed.
“Because you didn’t.”

Tension crackled through the air.

“
Levi…” The warning was
audible in Chelsea’s voice. She placed a placatory hand on his
arm.

Motherfucker!

Irritation surged in Theo’s gut. He hadn’t
gone after his wife because Zoey didn’t want him coming after her.
Besides, who the fuck knew what he’d have said when he’d found
her.