Chapter 8

Sinking into the hot bubbly liquid, with a full glass of wine, Brooklynn shut her eyes and relished in the feeling, letting her body completely relax. She'd been hoping to have a conversation with Mark without being interrupted, but alas, the joys of having a mouthy, bratty teenager. Sipping her wine, she had the lights turned down low with a few candles lit. It was one of her favorite things to do. When the door opened, she cracked an eye open and smiled at the sight of Mark, glad it was him instead of Claira bugging her. He had a beer in hand, leaning against the bathroom counter and his eyes slowly devoured her, even though bubbles hid her body.

After being teased by her the day before and then given the cold shoulder, which had resulted in him having some solo time in the shower, Mark wasn't feeling the need to pounce her. Instead, he just appreciated the sight before him. Even after all these years, she was still just as beautiful now as she had been in her youth.

"Enjoying yourself, darlin'?" He asked with a soft smile.

Considering all that happened the day before, such as the kitchen being lit on fire by their daughter's temper, Brooklynn hadn't been in the mood for sex. "Just trying to relax." She smiled back at him, sliding her hands up her arms with the loofah sponge and dropped it in the water to take another pull of her wine. "Trish called me today. Melina is pregnant again, that's been confirmed and she wants to have a girl's night out. You and Steve can hang out since you haven't in a while and maybe get started on the kitchen, make yourself feel useful around here. I'm calling Lowe's in the morning to cancel the installment, so you can do the kitchen and I won't hear any arguments." A lot of fast food and pizza was in their future, but hopefully, Mark wouldn't take too long to do the kitchen. "The only things I am keeping are the appliances we picked out."

"Brooklynn, stop." Mark ordered, shaking his head. "You not hearing things is how we wound up with the contractors anyway. I don't want to do it anymore, darlin', and you doing that just makes it worse." Because now it was her just handing it over instead of letting him have a say in the first place. "Next time I get a hankering to do anything like that, I'll go eyeball the basement, or my garage. Been meaning to add onto it." He didn't say a word about Steve, frowning as he considered her. "Want a refill on the wine, darlin'?"

He had more beer waiting and had no idea why, but there was an urge to get nasty. To 'thank her' for 'allowing' him to hang out with his friends, or demand to know why she thought planning his time was all right. Where had that come from?

"I can get it myself, thanks anyway."

Brooklynn couldn't believe the way he was acting towards her, trying to wrap her mind around it. She was trying to make things right and even apologized for jumping the gun. It was as if her apology didn't mean a damn or had fallen on deaf ears. What was going on? Brooklynn was too tired for this, first Claira and now Mark giving her attitude…she really did need a night out away from it all.

"Forget it. I'm going to Trish and Steve's for the weekend and you and Claira can torture each other. I'm leaving tomorrow." Since it was Friday and she already knew she had a bed waiting for her at Trish and Steve's. "Got a problem with that, or is another bug gonna crawl up your ass?"

"Do what you want, Brooklynn," He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You do anyway, darlin'."

Mark was too tired to deal with her and walked out of the bathroom, his gaze landing on Bastet. He loved the woman, but for as long as he had known her, she thought she was in the clear to tell people what they were doing instead of asking. Here she was, TELLING him what he was going to do, after apologizing for just doing the same thing that morning. Loved her, she was definitely great for keeping his mind spinning one way or another. Bastet looked… out of sorts. Frowning, he set the now empty beer can down on the dresser before scooping her up.

"Overworked you today?" He rumbled, scratching between her ears.

After her bath was ruined, Brooklynn drained the tub and slipped into her black cotton robe, tying the front tightly. Mark's scathing words echoed in her ears – do what you want, Brooklynn, you do anyway darlin' – what the hell was that supposed to mean? She didn't always do whatever she wanted! There was no way she was sharing a bed with him, not tonight and possibly not for a while. The thought of losing him struck her to the core, but Brooklynn couldn't stop it from happening. If he wanted to leave her, he could with no ties except their teenage daughter.

Frowning, Brooklynn brushed her teeth and grabbed her wine with the glass to head out of the bedroom and down to the kitchen, setting them both on the counter. She then grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch and laid down, turning on her side closing her eyes. It felt as if her world was falling apart and Brooklynn had no idea why. The woman was the most stubborn and stupid he had ever met, not a good combination. She genuinely rarely seen where she was wrong and god help him if he even tried explaining it to her. Some people just wanted to take it personally.

"I don't think so." Mark snorted, scooping her up, blankets and all, and tossed her over his shoulder. "The fuck you think you're doing, woman?"

First, she gave him the cold shoulder last night and now tonight she was sleeping on the couch? He was beginning to wonder if she was gearing up to leave him. It would explain why Brooklynn was picking him apart for not jumping at the bone she thought she was tossing him. Brooklynn was too shocked to really speak while she was hauled up the stairs to their bedroom and planted on the bed.

"What the hell, Mark?! I was comfortable on the damn couch!" She tried to stand up from the bed to walk past him, only to fly back on the bed with a wave of his hand. Damn magic! "Not fair, asshole! I apologized to you for jumping the gun and you were a complete dick to me in return! I'm not staying in here with you, not tonight, now get out of my way!" It'd been a LONG time since they had an actual fight, not physical since he'd break her in half, but the whole screaming bit hadn't happened in quite a while. "You're the one who spouted off at the mouth about how you feel worthless around this house! You're not obligated to stay here, with me, you know, so if you feel that way, then why don't you leave and find something to feel worthy of? I'm not tying you down here by anything, not even Claira anymore!"

It was almost like Brooklynn was trying to push him away, make him leave her, and he didn't like it. Mark knew things became stale and stagnant. Going from what their lives had been to this white-washed family, that was almost the nuclear model, minus the white picket fence and the dog, was something he doubted either of them had ever anticipated.

"It's almost like you WANT to fight, Brooklynn." He said calmly, his tone dropping slightly. "You jump and twist things to sound the way you want them too. I wasn't being a dick and I apologize if that's how it came across." Mark moved so he was straddling her legs. "What's this about tying me down?" What was her damage?

"No, I don't want to fight! Claira has taken the fight out of me if you haven't noticed and it doesn't help that you feel worthless around here! I don't understand why. I'm trying to understand, I really am, but I'm not a mind reader and I wish you would've…told me about this or something sooner!" Brooklynn tried moving out from beneath him, but it was like moving a Mack truck off someone. It wasn't happening. "I feel like I've tied you down and forced you into this lifestyle and you're not happy. I can see it. Claira's not happy either. And I feel absolutely powerless because all I want is my family to be happy…and you both are miserable." In truth, so was she, but it was due to Claira's recent behavior and attitude. "If you didn't want my input about the kitchen, if you truly wanted to do it yourself, you should've just gone to Lowe's yourself. I thought I was helping you out by hiring them to do the work. I really did…and it's not what you wanted because you don't COMMUNICATE to me how you feel or what you think." Mark kept a lot bottled up inside, which wasn't good because it all came spilling out sooner or later. "I-I don't know what you want from me anymore…"

"I tried tonight, Brooklynn, and you took it the wrong way. You were TELLING me, again, how it was going to be. You can't do that, darlin', and then when I said something, you instantly flipped the bitch switch on." That was how they had gotten here. "It's not that I DON'T want to communicate, it's HARD when you seem to go out of your way to hear it as someone being an ass to you, instead of just how someone feels."

"I was trying to make it right. I didn't know how much you had your heart set on redoing the kitchen yourself. If you would've told me, if you would've just said 'I'm doing this, I don't want Lowe's involved', I wouldn't have fought you on it. I would've said okay, whatever you want to do and left it at that. But you just went along with it and I thought it's what you wanted because it is a lot of work to redo an entire kitchen." Brooklynn didn't flip the bitch switch on often; she had learned from her mistakes after their fight with Nemesis and did her best to change her ways. Sometimes, the old Brooklynn resurfaced, however, and messed everything up. "And then you told me you feel worthless around here, which I still don't get why…" That hurt her badly to hear from the man she loved because she never wanted Mark to feel that way, ever.

This woman was insane and did not apparently realize just how much here at home she had taken upon herself. Mark didn't even know where to begin in explaining it to her. Dinner was on the table every night. Brooklynn had even done it while sick; she made breakfast and usually had it done before he was even downstairs. If something was broken, she either fixed it herself or had someone in and out before he was clocked out. The woman was the damn grease that kept everything running smoothly. Hell, he couldn't remember the last time he had done a chore around the house… groaning inwardly, Mark bent down and kissed her.

This confused her as well. They could go from yelling at each other and arguing to kissing and making up in the blink of an eye. Brooklynn wanted to push him away, to demand some answers, but his lips felt too good against hers. His body felt too good against hers and, honestly, she really needed some kind of release after all the hell their daughter had put them through lately. She kissed him back with equal fire and passion, feeling his hand fumbling to undo her robe and felt it fall open, gasping in his mouth as his fingers began playing with her sex. Again, she wanted to stop him to demand answers, but all she could do was writhe beneath him and let him have his way with her, melting further as his mouth sealed to her neck.

Mark could feel the warring inside of Brooklynn, after spending all these years together. Some things were taken for granted for sure, but he also came to know her inside and out, in every way possible. They could talk later, they both needed to relieve some stress and he also knew that talking came easier in the after-sex relaxation glow, when people felt more connected. He tormented her, his fingers delving into her dampening sex while his lips sought out the one spot on her neck he knew made her toes curl.

"Mark!" Brooklynn screamed out a couple hours later, collapsing on the bed face first and could feel him still pulsating inside of her.

He exploded inside of her, but his cock was still hard and she finally starting to feel it deflate. Every part of her body had a delicious ache to it and she couldn't help relishing in the feeling, the bath and sex had definitely relaxed her. Mark dropped down beside her, his strong hand gliding up and down her back while they slowly came down from their intense sexual high.

They needed to do this more often. There had been a time when they couldn't keep their hands off each other, but having a kid had sort of changed that. Trying to sneak in quickies had been a chore and, over the years… routines happened. It was insane when he thought about it; they were both supernaturally gifted, their lives had been anything but routine and boring and, yet… here they were. Mark both loved and despised it.

"I love you, Brooklynn." He murmured, kissing her shoulder blade.

Brooklynn smiled sadly back at him and nodded, sighing heavily. "I know you do. I love you too…and I'm sorry." Reaching out, she stroked his face with the back of her hand and could see the trouble in his eyes. Their lives weren't what they'd originally thought. They had both wanted peace and tranquility, but it had gotten to be stifling. "Maybe we should move, get out of Texas and go somewhere completely different. New scenery, new people, new adventures…" She would do anything to make him happy and had proven it over the past 17 years being with him. "Maybe it would be good for Claira too…"

Leaving Texas… if anybody else had said that to him, he would have laughed them straight to hell and back, twice. However, it was Brooklynn and… he didn't think she was wrong. "Why don't we focus on Spring Break out of Texas and, when we come back, if you really want to move, we can." He suggested after a few moments, still trying to catch his breath. "During the summer." Because there was no point in uprooting Claira at the end of the year. "Getting away would be good for her." Maybe straighten her up too.

"I love Texas, don't get me wrong. Maybe I just need a vacation to get away from here for a bit and it'll really make me appreciate what we have here more. Right now, I'm feeling…restless and I don't know why." Brooklynn scooted closer to him, caressing his face with her hand and softly kissed him, enjoying being naked in bed with Mark. He was the only man she ever wanted to be with and it showed in her eyes, the way she touched him…everything. "What can I do to make you happy again? To make you feel like you're not worthless around here because you're not. Tell me what to do and I'll do it, Mark."