Free ON AIR by Hadley Quinn

risen to a perfect 10 on my scale.
    “First of all, you don’t have anything to apologize for,” I said. “And second, you unloaded jack shit on me, beautiful. You didn’t leave me with a damn thing except your tears.”
    The crease between her brows deepened. I was expecting her to come back with something sassy, but she didn’t. Maybe pushing her into sharing wasn’t the route to go. It felt stupid to think she needed some time to learn to trust me since I felt she’d always been able to, but perhaps that wasn’t my call to make.
    The television was on a commercial, so I grabbed the remote and found a movie. I’d never spent time with Natalie after having sex so this was uncommon behavior for me, but I grabbed the throw blanket from the other couch and used it to cuddle up with—Natalie included. I put my arm around her and scooted her closer until she eventually laid her head against me.
    We watched The Lord of the Rings for the next few hours, and during that time, I avoided two texts from Holly. Yes, two. One asked if I was okay—I guess because I never responded to her other one—and the other asked me to give her a call.
    Sorry, but not really. I tried all week to get together with her, and after thinking back on it, I’d been extremely accommodating with my time and schedule. It’d been she who had different things going on or reasons my ideas wouldn’t work out.
    I didn’t care anymore.
    When midnight hit, I made Natalie go back to bed with me. She didn’t resist, and didn’t make any comments about the changes in our routine.
    I had no idea what to think of that.

9
     
    “ D ude, you have some explaining to do,” Madden hissed at me as he slipped into my office and shut the door behind him.
    “Explaining about what?” I asked, making two marks on my plans before dropping the pencil on the table.
    “So a certain someone’s car was here overnight…” he began.
    I waited for him to continue but he didn’t, so I shrugged. “So?”
    “Ahhhh- ha !” he exclaimed. “So that’s the new deal? She meets you here and you take her home with you? I like it, brosky. Do your bang thang . ”
    I shook my head. “It’s not like that. There’s something going on with her but she won’t tell me what it is.”
    “What? With Nat? What makes you think that?”
    I knew I could trust him to keep it to himself, so I told Madden how Natalie had burst out in tears the day before.
    “Whaaaaat?” he asked with disbelief. “Our little badass New Yorker cried like a baby in front of you? Damn. And she wouldn’t tell you why?”
    “Nope. Not a thing. I just let it be for now. Hopefully she trusts me enough to tell me.”
    “Nah, man. It has nothing to do with trust.”
    I didn’t know what he meant by that, so I sat against my desk and waited for more.
    Madden sighed. “She probably just doesn’t want to disappoint you.”
    “What? Why the fuck would she disappoint me? It’s Natalie we’re talking about, here. There’s nothing she could tell me that would disappoint me or make me think less of her.”
    “You sure?”
    I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
    “No man, not at all. I just mean maybe you’re not thinking of allll the possibilities, you know? Like…a fight with a friend or... she lost her job or… she’s pregnant ,” he coughed out with a mumble.
    I shook my head adamantly. “If she is, it ain’t mine.”
    “You sure?”
    “What the fuck? Yes, I’m sure! And Natalie isn’t pregnant. Even so, I don’t see why that would be a big deal to tell me.”
    “It would be if it wasn’t yours,” he muttered.
    “Well it’s not. Jesus, and it’s me, Madden. Even if she was pregnant and it was or wasn’t mine, she wouldn’t be so weird about telling me.”
    “If she’s in love with you she would. Maybe she’s afraid it’ll ruin everything. Especially if it wasn’t yours.”
    Okay, that was the second person this week to mention