Keeping You

Chapter Sixteen

Toby

Caleb and I have been pacing back and forth for the past hour. Juliet had called us, but Caleb had a client, and I was in a meeting.

She was with Simon, talking, and even though we didn't have the right to be angry, we were furious, and anxious. So fucking anxious.

What if she didn't come back home? What if she left for god and decided to work it out with Simon?

There were a million what if's swirling and racing in our minds and even though we were trying to reassure and comfort each other, we were too tense.

Caleb tried ringing her again, but she wasn't picking up her phone at all which added to the tension that we were both feeling. It was a sign.

She wanted to make it work for her husband, maybe he agreed to give her everything she's ever wanted, maybe absence made the heart go fonder and he missed her.

I didn't want to think about that. Didn't want to believe that we'd never see her again. That all we had were a few stolen moments of touches and kisses and orgasms.

I wanted every moment with her. The happy. The sad. The broken. The good. The bad. All of it. I wanted to kiss her pain away, to hold her in my arms, and feel her fingers trace over my cheeks.

Caleb grabbed my hand, stopping me from pacing, and hugged me. His hand rubbed my back soothingly as we silently comforted each other.

The sound of the door opening had us pulling apart to see a very exhausted looking Juliet sanding there.

She opened her mouth to speak, but we were already running toward her. We held her, closing her between us, and her body begun to shake, and I could hear her crying.

It was broken sobs, sobs that tore my insides up and made me want to murder the person responsible. She cried harder, and I could feel her fists at my chest, and I didn't know what to say.

I didn't know how to comfort her. I didn't know what happened between Simon and her or if she came here to say goodbye.

I was terrified of asking, my heart shattering at the thought of never having Juliet in my arms, in my life ever again.

I wrapped my arms around Caleb tighter because I never wanted to let go. I wanted this to last. I wanted it to last so bad I was willing to do anything.

"Please tell me you're not leaving us." I whispered; my voice hushed against her neck.

"I'm not leaving you guys." She sniffled.

We released the hold and Caleb cradled her jaw so he could wipe away her tears while I rubbed her back.

"I left Simon an hour ago, but I couldn't stop crying. I parked my car in some parking lot until I was able to calm down."

"You were crying alone?" I asked, and Caleb looked even more hurt. "Baby, you could have called us."

"I needed to work through my emotions by myself. Simon agreed to the divorce. He...he-"

She shook her head, her voice so pained that I could feel tears brimming in my eyes.

"He held me like how he used to hold me. I hurt him. I did that. That pain that I inflicted on him will stay with me forever. I'll hold his pain in my heart. I should have never gone this way about it. He kept saying he loved me."

"Caleb, why does it hurt so much?" She asked through a sob.

"You were with him for years. You cared for him, lived with him, held him, loved him, and saw him at his most vulnerable and at his highest. Marriage is messy. Messier than divorce."