Addiction
His fingers pulled at the collar of his button-down as he pocketed the plastic keycard for their hotel room.
It's the first time in two months that his schedule had aligned with his wife's, putting them in the same city for more than two days. He was grateful— He'd spent far too many nights alone, not even utilizing the gift of FaceTime because Elizabeth was far too tired by the end of the evening to help him out. And now, in the mid-July heat of Raleigh North Carolina, the last thing on his mind was sex.
The cotton of his shirt was dampened from sweat, and he was sure that his white undershirt would have stains on the material that covered his underarms because, against his wishes, he had stood shaking more hands than he could count for the last two hours at a state fair. Elizabeth was supposed to make the appearance herself, but on the ride over to the Fairgrounds she'd looked unwell, and her staff had become legitimately worried about the possibility of heatstroke.
He grabbed a plastic water bottle from the mini-fridge before he crossed the suite to their bedroom.
He expected to find her in bed, Mike had mentioned a nap, but when he saw Blake face down on the duvet instead, he thought the heat had begun to screw with his head.
"Babe?" He called as he unscrewed the lid on the bottle of water.
She shushed him, and his head turned, following her voice— she's curled up in the chair in the corner, computer resting in her lap.
He kept his voice low. "Is he alright?" He'd never seen Blake crash this hard midafternoon… Actually, he can't remember a time that Blake's been off his game at all.
He took a sip of his water as Elizabeth quietly closed the lid of her laptop. He watched her stand, and before she walked towards him, she gently set her computer on the cushion of the chair.
"He didn't sleep yesterday." She grabbed his hand, pulling him out into the living room. "He drove to Baltimore and back through the night."
"Why?" Not that he was ever in the loop of her staff's schedule, but he didn't know of any events happening in Maryland this weekend. Though that didn't mean much.
Elizabeth's hand rose to her face, and she pushed away a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her right eye. "He sat in the back of Miller's town hall. Apparently, he caught wind that Charlie's staff was sending two guys dressed in clown suits."
His lips curved up at the corners. "I saw it on Twitter." He smirked. "They're not too far off."
He watched her own lips pull up into a smile. "No," she laughs. And then she turned serious. "He's addicted, Henry."
"Beauregard?"
"Blake," she said. "He's addicted to campaigning." Her hands waved around, emphasizing her point.
He couldn't help but laugh. "That's absurd." He brought the bottle of water to his lips again.
"I'm serious, Henry." She looked straight into his eyes. "It's a real thing. He's addicted to the spontaneity." She shrugged. "He's never experienced something like this."
Her feelings of worry weren't uncommon, and he didn't blame her for fretting over the wellbeing of her staff— the potential for burnout in this line of work was off the charts… She had reason to worry, but Blake was Blake.
She chewed her lip, looking back through the doorway to their bedroom. "I'm worried about him," she admitted.
"He'll be fine, Elizabeth. Let him sleep." He'll wake up in an hour pumped to drive down to South Carolina to track the Amash event this evening. They had plenty of interns to take care of the task, but Elizabeth was right, Blake had taken it upon himself to once again go above and beyond with this job.
"You're right," she breathed.
"Now…" He tossed the water bottle towards the couch before grabbing her waist. "How about we finish what we didn't get to start last night?" He pulled her into him, hands running up her sides.
She smiled as he leaned in for a kiss. "Blake's in our bed."
He froze… He hadn't thought about that. "Do you want to wake him or should I?"