My wife hadn’t always been like this—and despite how it seems, she’s not crazy—and our relationship hadn’t been like this either. We’d been high school sweethearts, and then I’d left for the Army right after we graduated and everything changed. I came back home to visit after a deployment, and though we had stayed together, Liv and I weren’t close anymore. I knew why she’d stayed with me, but I hadn’t cared either way. She was someone to come back to when I visited my family.

Her parents hated me, and they let me know it every time they saw me. I wasn’t good enough for their daughter because I wasn’t going to college and didn’t come from money like they had. My family wasn’t poor by any means—we’d grown up in a great house in a great neighborhood. But we weren’t dripping with money, and we didn’t belong to the country club that Liv’s parents did. So apparently that meant we were trash. Olivia loved that her parents didn’t accept me, and I knew that was the only reason we’d stayed together as long as we had. But like I said, I didn’t mind.

I had a year left in the Army when my world changed. She called me crying, saying she was pregnant. I’d requested emergency leave as soon as we got off the phone and married her the minute I got home. Her parents were furious—hell, so were mine—but no way was I going to let her go through that alone. I couldn’t take care of her like her parents did, but I’d take care of her the best I could.

It took a lot of people high up pulling strings, but I was able to get us a house on base for as soon as I got back. Only thing was, she refused to go back to the base with me. Basically said thanks for marrying her and she was going to stay with her parents until I decided I was done “playing Navy.” Shit you not. And I wasn’t even in the Navy.

I couldn’t get leave often, but even when I did, she still didn’t see me. Didn’t even try. When I’d ask her, she’d say, “What’s the point? We’re already married.”

Yeah. Married and I haven’t seen you since two days after the fact.

The only thing she did include me in was the baby. After every appointment she sent pictures of the ultrasound, and she’d let me help her pick out a name. I’d gotten the message the minute she went into labor and received more pictures after he was delivered. The next time I got leave she still refused to see me and wouldn’t let me see our son. Instead, I stood outside her parents’ house and called her, only to find out that if I wanted to see either of them, I wouldn’t reenlist and I’d move back to Jeston.

So that’s what I did. When it came time to reenlist, I declined and moved back. Bought us a house—it wasn’t much, and her dad let me know that all the time—but I’d bought it and that’s all that mattered. Once I had it furnished, I called her, and she finally let me meet my son for the first time.

“Brody!” Olivia snapped, and I blinked away the best day of my life. She held out her hand momentarily to show she was on the phone before continuing. “Daddy said he’d pay you back for the couches, since obviously with your pay you can’t afford what I need to be happy.”

My eyes narrowed. It was almost 12:30 in the morning, and she was calling her dad to talk to him about the damn couches? I rubbed the sharp pain in my chest and pushed away from the table before standing up. “He can keep his money, I don’t want it. Good night, Olivia.”

“BABY, ARE YOU awake?”

I sat up in my bed less than an hour later and rubbed a hand over my face. “Uh, yeah. What’s up, Liv?”

“I’m so sorry!” She burst into tears and crumpled to the floor.

Aw hell. I hopped out of my bed and went over to her. Sliding down until I was sitting up against the wall, I pulled her onto my lap. “It’s okay, you just have to stop spending our money like that.”

“B-but the c-couch we had w-was three years old! The Cunninghams never have couches three years old.”

“I know, but ours was still a perfectly good couch,” I crooned softly. “Just because your parents and the Cunninghams can refurnish their entire houses every few years doesn’t mean we can, all right?”

She nodded vigorously. “I just—I just needed something to do.”

I took a deep breath in and scrunched my face together as I prepared for what might happen next. I knew this could turn out bad again, but I had to try. “Maybe we should get a dog.”

“A dog? A damn dog? No! You can’t just give me a dog and make it all better, Brody!” She scrambled off my lap and sprinted down the hall, heading for her side of the house.

Yes, I said her side of the house. I normally don’t even see her because she prefers to spend her days at her parents’ house unless she’s in a mood like the one tonight. It usually lasts a week, as this one has, and we go through every emotion possible about fifteen times a day. I try to be patient with her because I know I’m the reason she’s like this, but after four and a half years of this constant happy-depressed-flirty-pissed-horny-sweet-flat-out-bitch roller coaster, I feel like I’m losing my damn mind. And what’s worse? As soon as we’re in public she’s normal Liv—not the Liv I fell in love with in high school, but the one who’s confident in herself and her parents’ money, and the one who will eat you alive if you cross her.

Her door slammed shut, and I stood to stumble over to my bed, thankful again that I was able to buy a big enough house that we could have our own spaces. We’d been married for almost six years, and I could count on one hand the number of times we’d had sex in those years. We hadn’t even slept in the same bed since a few months after I got back from the Army.

As I tried to get comfortable enough to go back to sleep, I rubbed at the ache in my chest and prayed the nightmares stayed away.

2

Kamryn

May 5, 2015

“KINLEE, YOUR HUSBAND thinks I’m a freak now.”

“Did he not before?”

“Funny,” I mumbled drily. “I just burst out laughing as soon as I saw him because I thought of y’all’s crazy sex life.”

Kinlee froze with the boxes of cupcakes still in her hands. “Did you just say y’all’s? I’m adding that to wald and shew. Where’d you say you were from again?”

“East of here.” I smirked. We were almost on the coastline of Oregon. Everything was east of here. To avoid her narrowed eyes, I took the boxes back from her and started arranging the cupcakes in the holders I’d brought with me.

Jace came into the kitchen talking on his phone and grinned at me curiously before kissing Kinlee’s head and snatching a red velvet cupcake. “Sweet, I’m glad you’ll be here. Yeah, man, see you soon.”

“Who’s coming, babe?” Kinlee took a piece of his cupcake and shoved it in her mouth before helping me arrange the rest of them.

“Brody. Guess the bitch is letting him out of the house without her for once.”

“Oh, thank God. I thought you were about to say she was coming too.”

Jace gave his wife a horrified look. “Uh, no. She’s not allowed here, and she knows that.”

Kinlee was shaking her head back and forth as she said in a softer tone, “Well, I’m glad he’s coming. It’ll be good for him to get out. We haven’t seen him in a long time. Poor guy.”

“Um, who is Brody?” I asked sheepishly. Not like it was my business, but Kinlee had sat in my lap to finish arranging the cupcakes, so it wasn’t like I could leave the conversation.

“Jace’s brother—”

“Jace, you have a brother? How did I not know this?”

“’Cause his wife’s a bitch and doesn’t let him do anything other than work,” Jace said around the rest of the cupcake.

“That must be hard for him if y’all—you guys—don’t get along with his wife.”

Kinlee turned in my lap, her eyes wide. “No way. Honestly . . . bitch is practically a compliment for that woman. Brody doesn’t even like her.”

“Then why is he with her?”

“He—it’s just been difficult for them,” she said, eyeing Jace, and I saw him nod his head at her. “It’s really sad. Brody’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet, but he’s just stuck in this marriage with her. And it’s wearing on him—every time we see him he looks a little worse. Like she’s just making everything that makes Brody Brody disappear.”

“Shouldn’t have married her,” Jace said with a small shake of his head.

“Babe, he was just trying to—”

“He shouldn’t have married her,” Jace repeated, then walked toward the living room when there was a knock on the door.

Kinlee sighed and leaned her back against the table, still facing me. “Jace hates Olivia. Well, we all do, but I think he hates her more than anyone. Jace and Brody were inseparable growing up, probably because they’re only a little over a year apart, but like I said, we almost never see him anymore. And it’s all because of her.”

I just nodded my head and kept my mouth shut. I knew from experience there could always be some underlying situation that kept a bad couple together. And Brody and Olivia were married—it wasn’t like he could just break up with her . . . or disappear like I had. Obviously, whatever was going on with them, Jace and Kinlee knew all about it, but I doubted they realized how hard it must be for Brody to have his family so against his wife. Whether he liked her or not.

“Hey, KC, I’ve got someone I want you to meet,” Jace said on his way back in.

I rolled my eyes and let Kinlee know that I was going to kill her as soon as this barbecue was over. I’d been in a relationship for six years before getting here, and then I was trying to start my business. I didn’t have time for, or want, a relationship then or now. But Kinlee and Jace were set on setting me—oh, holy firemen buddies.

“Which one?”

Kinlee, still in my lap, leaned back to whisper, “The cute one.”

“Right.” I nodded. “Which one?”

She laughed and stood up to hug each of the guys as Jace started the introductions. “KC, these are some of the guys on my crew: Josh, Craig, and Aiden. Guys, this is Kinlee’s friend KC.” Before I could say anything, Jace whispered, “Aiden, this is the girl I was telling you about—”

“With the bakery, right,” Aiden said with a bright smile. “It’s great to finally meet you.”

Finally? Really now? I glanced at Jace and shot him a glare as I stood up before turning to look at Aiden. “Nice to meet you too.”

Aiden was even taller than Jace’s six-one frame and had kind brown eyes and short buzzed hair that made his handsome face look rugged, and God it worked for him. He was wearing a loose gray V-neck shirt that seemed to add to his looks rather than make him look feminine, like it did Charles. And while he wasn’t bulky, his muscled arms promised a hell of a lot to look at underneath that shirt.

A slow grin tugged at his lips, and I realized I was just standing there staring at him. Turning away quickly to hide my embarrassment as Jace left to answer the door again, I began gathering up the boxes to break down.

“So Jace said you just moved here?” Aiden grabbed the last two boxes off the table and followed me toward the kitchen counter.

I risked a glance at him as I nodded. “Yeah, about eight months ago.”

“Where are you fr—Oh, KC. I thought your name was Casey.” He looked at the top of the cupcake carrier for another second before flattening the box and moving on to the last one.

“No, it’s just my initials, but I’ve gone by KC forever.” If eight months could be counted as forever.

Before he could ask another question about my name, one of the other guys spoke loudly. “Oh, hell. Aiden, you need to try these.”

Aiden smiled and tilted his head back toward the kitchen table. “Which one do you recommend?”

My mouth popped open, then immediately shut. “The—” I worried my bottom lip as I looked over the four different cupcakes. “You really—” I started pointing toward the triple chocolate and quickly brought my arm back. “Well, this one—”

“That good, huh?” He chuckled and flashed that bright smile at me again.

“Well, I made all my favorites today. You can’t ask me to choose between them.”

“Then I won’t.” Grabbing one of each, he set them all out in a row in front of him and pulled another chair toward him. “All right, let’s do this.”

I laughed out loud and grabbed a knife before moving to take the seat next to him. “Trust me, you’d regret it if you ate all of them.” My cupcakes weren’t exactly small, and they were rich—he would go into a sugar coma in about half an hour if he finished those off. I grabbed the triple chocolate and cut it into fourths before handing him a piece and cleaning off the knife.