Married to the Devil

Chapter 14

"Jesus," I breathed, glancing at my phone for the first time in weeks.

I used my thumb to scroll down the list of 122 unread messages and 24 missed calls, each one having a voicemail after it and most of them dated back to the day of my party.

Each one was from Mum or Dad's phone.

Silently, I cringed. Cass was right, I should've checked this sooner.

Much sooner.

My thumb wavered over to the endless voicemails and quickly typed in my password to access them.

The first voicemail came up and I held the phone to my ear, Mum's voice appeared.

'Kate where are you? I'm at the house right now and its a disaster! Come and meet me.'

Okay. That wasn't so bad. I kept on the line until the second voicemail showed.

'Kate, why haven't you answered any of your texts? Are you okay? Call me back. '

Again, Mum's frantic voice was insistently searching for me. Next.

'Kate! I swear if you're simply refusing to answer because you've trashed our house then I'll-'

I plucked the phone away from my ear and switched it off.

I can check those later.

I walked back to mine and Derek's room. As usual, his side was slightly messy, a couple of shirts hung along the floor and the covers of his sleeping bag were sprawled open, his pillow was somehow tossed over to my side of the room.

I don't know why he didn't just buy a bed. I kept telling him that he shouldn't be sleeping on the floor, even offered to move one of the couches from the living room in here.
But Derek refused, claiming that he was old enough to hold his own life together without any of my help.

What was it with men and their pride? It wasn't a crime to lean on someone else for a little bit.

Even as his legal wife he still didn't take to my aid. And we seemed farther apart than ever, the incident at the beach made him super careful about the amount of distance he kept between us. He made me feel like a stranger in my own home with his one word answers and unreadable expressions.

And it was getting on my nerves.

Frustratedly, I marched over the line of tape that I forbade him to cross and picked up a few of Derek's scattered shirts and shorts. When I got to the last piece, a standard pair of black shorts, something fell out from beneath them. My heartbeat quickened as I bent over and picked up the garment.

In my hands was a set of Calvin Klein underwear.

I blushed as I looked at them, the red flaming over my face. They were black and had the brand name typed across the band. I swallowed as I slowly scanned my eyes over the expensive fabric. There was this huge bulge in the bottom part, probably indented from where his...

A hot breath panted at my exposed shoulder, "That's a nice hobby, looking through other people's private things."

I jumped and turned around in a haze, stumbling over myself. My hands scrunched up the underwear and I hid them behind my back hurriedly.

Derek was so close to me and definitely invading my personal space again. His broad shoulders were the first thing I saw before I dragged my eyes upward into his own. His cologne was light and heavenly, lapping itself into my senses, and there lay a knowing smugness in his smile.

"What's that you've got behind your back?" He asked softly, taking yet another step closer.

I shifted backward, feeling my face burn in shame, my left eyebrow quivering from embarrassment. I swallowed hastily, the dryness in my throat unable to be parched. A spark of amusement flickered over his eyes as I tightened my hands on the garment.