Chapter 35

Rachel POV

Rachel's Bedroom

Rachel POV

Rachel's Bedroom

"Hello? Tyler?"

I couldn't help the breathlessness I was experiencing as the phone line was answered. It felt as if there hadn't even been enough time for it to ring and suddenly there was the sound of someone else on the line.

Breathing.

How could I identify Tyler from the way he breathed alone?

"Who else would be answering my phone at this hour?"

I smiled at his grumpy response. He sounded tired. I wondered how bad things were for him if Dylan had felt pressured to come to me in person to appeal for my help.

"I don't know. Magda has answered before."

"Magda is never here later than six. She's got to be home for her grandkids."

I gave a fond thought to the older woman who was Tyler's personal housekeeper. Magda had always been a comforting presence in the house. She'd been there before me and it felt fitting she was there after I'd gone.

I realized I trusted her to take care of Tyler in my absence. I wondered if I would have left him if there had been no one else to care for him without me around.

"Magda is approaching sainthood at this stage. Dylan says you're not sleeping."

"Dylan needs to keep his mouth shut," Tyler griped, a sound coming from his side of the line which made me think he was squeezing his phone too tight. It wouldn't surprise me if Tyler broke his phone in a fit of anger. He'd never been the most delicate of men.

Tyler Wright was more like an anvil than a raindrop if one were to make a comparison.

"You sound tired."

Tyler didn't bother replying. I listened to him breathe for a minute as I waited to see if he would say anything, anything at all to me. He was such a stubborn bastard!

"I've been tired a lot lately, too. Apparently it's normal for there to be some tiredness in the first trimester as the body adapts to being pregnant. I've been trying to read books on what to expect. They recommended taking naps. Can you imagine me trying to arrange a nap right now?"

I felt as if I were prattling, but Tyler had yet to hang up or interrupt me.

Some part of me wondered if he might be comforted by the sound of my voice. I knew I had relished calls from him in the past, especially since they had been so rare. Tyler had never felt it was necessary to check in with me during our day-to-day life.

I wondered if part of the reason for his distance was fear someone might overhear him saying my name which would give away his "secret mate."

"Dylan is worried about you. He came to me after I finished recording for the day. I didn't know you'd told him about the money for Ethan's ransom. Did you know he thought I was a prostitute?"

Tyler gave a bark of laughter, "Dylan thought you might have been working an angle to get money. He never outright called you a whore."

"I asked him how I could have been a virgin if I was a prostitute. You didn't tell him I was a virgin?"

"I didn't think about it. I---didn't know you were at first."

Not for the first time, I wished I remembered my initial encounter with my mate. Everything had been such a blur due to the drug coursing through my system. I still only had flashes of what had happened between us in those first hours.

"I wish I remembered more. I know I bled though. There was still blood on me when I got home to shower. Why did you think there was blood if I wasn't a virgin?"

Tyler sighed on his side of the line; I wondered where he was in the house. Was he lying in the bed we'd shared? Sitting on the couch in the living room we never used? Behind his desk in his office where he spent most of his waking hours?

"Where are you? In the house, I mean."

"Sitting in bed. Why?"

"I just wanted to know where you were. I'm sitting in bed, too. It's a much smaller bed than ours. I find it's easier to sleep with less space just---lingering next to me."

"I'm not getting a smaller bed."

Trust Tyler to try to take my head off when I was only trying to connect with him.

I didn't know why I was bothering. He wasn't going to change. All he would see between us would be my lies and his suspicions. Neither of us were benefitting from a continued connection after the rejection ceremony.

"I think I should go. I just wanted to reach out because Dylan seemed concerned. He is concerned, Tyler. Very concerned. You should call him or arrange to meet with him this week so he knows you're doing fine."

Why had I ever thought Tyler wouldn't be fine? He might hate having lost me because it was a blow to his pride, but he didn't 'miss' me.

I had no reason to believe he'd ever cared enough about me to feel genuinely wounded by my loss. In all our communications since the separation, Tyler had yet to tell me he missed me in any personal way.

"Good luck, Tyler. I do hope things get better for you."

"Don't."

I hesitated before disconnecting the call.

Tyler had sounded as if he were choking on the word, but did he realize he was still not talking to me? He was just issuing commands.

I was tired of being ordered around by him.

"Can you just talk to me, Tyler? Take a break from ordering me around or snapping at me. Just talk to me."

It was my turn to go silent as I held on the line for his response. I wasn't feeling very hopeful, but I felt I owed it to both of us to give a last push.

I had enough regrets in my life without worrying I'd left Tyler in misery without a backwards glance.

"What do you want me to say?"

"Goddess! You are so frustrating!"

I wanted to strangle him. Tyler used up all the patience I had in me within minutes whereas I could last hours with anyone else. He had a way of getting under my skin I couldn't define.

"I can say the same thing," Tyler muttered darkly.

"Oh please. You're over there brooding so hard I can see you from here. I ask you to just talk to me and your entire response is 'What do you want me to say?' like there's some magic phrase to make everything all better."

"Isn't there?"

I literally wanted to drop an anvil on his head the way I'd imagined him acting earlier. It should be illegal for a man to be so infuriating. Women should have the right to strangle any man who made them this kind of crazy.

"No, Tyler, there is not a magic saying to make our problems go away. How do you talk to Dylan? Can't you talk to me the way you'd talk to him? We could be friends."

"I don't want to be your friend."

"Well I'm not willing to let you be anything more right now so are you willing to take what you can get? I can hang up, you know? I don't have to keep trying with you."

I wasn't even sure I was trying with Tyler any longer. The more I reached out to him, the farther away he seemed to get. Every time I saw a glimmer of hope for us he said or did something to convince me my decision to reject our mate bond had been the right one.

Tyler interrupted my brooding by saying, "I want any part of you I can get. I don't want this to be my life. I don't know how to talk to you like I talk to Dylan. Most of the time? He does all the talking."

Thinking of my own interaction with his best friend, I could easily see Dylan leading his conversations with Tyler. They weren't very alike in personality. Tyler was gruff and abrupt whereas Dylan was charismatic and friendly to a fault.

"What about just starting with today? What did you do today?"

Plenty of couples made their relationships work by open communication. Why couldn't Tyler and I find a way to be friends if we shared our lives freely?

I told myself not to get upset no matter what he told me he had done or who he'd done it with during his day.

"Did you go out for lunch with anyone? Entertain a client or something?"

"I haven't been doing much direct client contact. I did have lunch with the producers for your movie today. We had a good talk about the production and I worked out a new deal with them."

I wondered what kind of deal Tyler might have made with the filmmakers. Moonrise Entertainment did business with big budget productions for the most part. I was still surprised Tyler had wanted to invest in the little romantic comedy which had picked me up for the soundtrack.

"Oh? What have you worked out?"

"Jenny is going to be the costar."