Tori knew something was going on. Everyone was acting weird. Meghan was being weird. Her mother was weird plus distracted. Alex was avoiding her texts. Carmen had swept in and out like a criminal avoiding a checkpoint and now Cam balls out ran phone interference. She was deliberately cock-blocked, and since it was her damn cock, she was not happy about it at all.
Her back was starting to ache like crazy, and the normally active baby was quiet and heavy. Maybe her mind was overreacting but a sense of unease hovered close. She’d expected Draegyn to return home immediately once he located the King of Dashur’s son. Having to cool her jets another day because of weather wasn’t helping her mood.
“Mom,” she called out. Within seconds her mother appeared, carrying a tray loaded with god only knows what.
“I’m right here sweetie,” she said as she hurried to Tori’s side of the big master bed and lowered the overladen tray to the nightstand. “Brought you some munchies. You didn’t eat anything for breakfast, and you know how important it is for you to keep your strength up now.”
Pulling a side chair closer to the bed, her mom sat down and reached for a soft croissant. “Look,” she cooed. “Honey cinnamon butter.”
Breathe in, breathe out, she reminded herself. Tori fucking hated being managed, but that’s precisely what her mother was attempting to do. And so was everyone else with their strange behavior.
They were managing her!
She was pregnant, not mentally deficient! Sure, being pregnant had been a hormonally challenging time for her, and maybe a bit of management had been needed here and there – but this? This felt different.
In a huff, she snatched up a croissant, slathered it with a dense layer of the flavored butter, then stuffed half of it in her mouth. Reaching for the glass of fruit juice on the tray, Tori inhaled half of it, then put it back.
“Don’t pout my shugah,” Stephanie chuckled. “Y’all asked me here to take care of you, so you don’t get to be cross when I do. Eat up, and then we can get you up for a little bit.”
Uggh. Tori didn’t want to move around. Her back was acting up, and her belly just felt so heavy today.
As if a lightning bolt hit her, she suddenly started crying hysterically and gasping for breath.
“Oh my god, Victoria,” her mother cried. “Baby girl – what’s the matter?”
It was all just too much, Tori thought. She fell apart so fast she could barely catch air between sobs.
“Mom,” she moaned. “Something’s not right. I need Draegyn. I need my husband,” she wailed inconsolably.
“Oh baby, shhh, shhh. Calm down shugah. Tell me what you mean by something’s not right. What’s happening Victoria? Don’t you feel well?”
Tori struggled to sit comfortably, swinging her legs off the mattress to dangle toward the floor. She sat cradling her tummy and struggled to get her careening emotions under control.
“I’m fine. At least I think I’m fine. But I am upset and when I say something’s not right I mean a lot of things. I do feel funny, but it may just be nerves ’cause I know something is going on with my husband that people are determined not to tell me.”
“Victoria,” her mother answered swiftly. “If something is going on with Draegyn, then I am in the dark as well. No one has indicated that there’s anything remiss. Is this just your imagination running wild?”
Was it? Tori calmed and thought long and hard. Nope. It most certainly was not her imagination. Draegyn knew she needed to speak to him, not text, or email. Actually, speak. She thought it odd when he texted following Majid’s rescue but chalked it up to the madness and mayhem of the moment. But just now when Cameron had so clearly been deflecting her call to her husband, well – she hadn’t imagined any of that.
“No, I’m not making mountains here. Something is up.” The tears threatened again.