A Little Harmless Fantasy(85)
* * * *
Later, they lay in bed and Rory sighed. He hurt Zeke in so many ways over the years, he couldn’t really fault his lover for what he said.
“Love, it’s okay. I...deserve it.”
Zee shook his head. “No, no one deserves that.”
“I do a little. I just...I hate seeing her that way.”
Zee studied him for a second, then said, “Love sometimes hurts.”
“I didn’t say I loved her.”
“Jesus, there is no one here but us. Admit it.”
“I...okay, I sort of love her.”
Zee chuckled. “I guess we can take that for now.”
He settled his head on Rory’s chest and snuggled closer. “So what do we do?”
“We can’t do anything right now. She’s in pain and she’s hurt. Yelling at Maura will not work.”
“You yelled at me and it worked.”
“You’re an asshole, she’s not.”
Rory couldn’t argue with that. “So we just wait?”
“She needs some time.”
“How much?”
Zee looked up at him a small smile playing over his lips. “Not sure, but we have to be there when she figures it out.”
“What if she doesn’t figure it out?”
“Then we yell at her.”
Rory smiled. “That, I can do.”
“You have to understand that Maura was not raised to confront and that is part of her personality. Well, she does confront, but not in the way other people do. She thinks things through, then goes for what she wants. She doesn’t do much without thinking it through.”
“And so we wait.”
“For a little while.”
The phone rang and Rory saw the number. “Shit, probably Conner.”
Zee picked it up. “Hey, Conner. Yeah. I was busy, that’s why I didn’t answer my phone. What? Oh, so...the threat is over?”
“Okay.”
He hung up.
“Well that was short and I am assuming not so sweet.”
Zee clicked the phone off. “Yeah. Well, apparently Conner found out that Petersen’s been taken into witness protection.”
“He found that out?”
“Officially, he seems to have been killed in an accident, but Conner still has a few connections. He’s turned state’s evidence. They got some little nobody to turn on the big guy. We’re no longer in danger. So, that’s that.”
“You think he called Maura?”
“Yeah. Probably before us.”
“You should call her still.”
He glanced at Rory. “Why don’t you?”
“She needs you more.”
He frowned. “That’s an asinine thing to say. She needs both of us. She’s being stubborn, which is nothing new. As Jillian pointed out, she hates anyone to know that she is weak.”
Rory said nothing to that, just stared up at the ceiling.
“I talked to her before you got home.”
“Maura?”
“No, Jillian. Apparently, Maura’s been seeing a shrink.”
Rory glanced at him, then back up at the ceiling. “She is?”
“Yeah, I didn’t know. She talks to her all the time, apparently.”
Another beat of silence.
“She hides things from a lot of people, Rory, not just you.”
“She’s not hiding. She’s just not there, Zee. I don’t know how to deal with that.”
It hurt to say the words—worse than the gunshot wound he took in the chest a few years earlier.
“You have to give her space, but I guess we should call her.”
Neither of them moved.
“You do it, Rory.”
He glanced at Zee. “Why me?”
“Because, she will expect me to. If you call, it might surprise her a little.”
He got up out of bed and searched for his jeans. He hit the contact icon for Maura and waited for her to answer.
“Hey, Rory.”
“I guess you talked to your brother.”
She sighed. “Yes, but then I never thought it was all that important. Petersen wasn’t involved.”
He wanted to argue but he didn’t. She retreated completely when he confronted her.
“So, I guess we don’t need the detail anymore,“ she said.
Something told him he should just do it, to ease her mind, but with Maura, Zee had told him being up front and truthful went a longer way than any pretty words.
“Yeah, I guess not. You still have that kick ass security system.”
She said nothing.
“Maura--”
“Look, I have some work here to do.”
“Okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Sure,” she said and hung up. He turned off his phone and looked at Zee. “She’s not happy.”
“You got to see Maura at her best, but I’ve told you, love, life isn’t about just being happy. You have to make it through those tough times to appreciate the good times.”