The Space In Between(8)

She glanced in their direction and back to me, whispering between her teeth. “If you come inside, we can talk. They’ll get their pictures and we can figure out where to go from here. You’ve been all over the tabloids since your…” She cleared her throat. “Since your vacation.”
“Unbelievable.” Stunned. I was f*cking stunned by the actions of my twisted wife. “I’m done, Iris.”
I turned, choosing to walk in the opposite direction of the paparazzi, leaving a desperate woman standing there. The last thing I heard was her voice hollering down the street, towards me I assumed. “Okay! Love you.”
How did we get so messed up? I swore there was a time when we were happy, but that was a long f*cking time ago.





IRIS WALKED INTO the living room wearing a tank top and panties. I smirked as I sat editing pictures from a photo shoot over in Paris. “Let’s go to bed.” She offered. I kept working; I had to get the edits to the magazine by the end of the week. She walked over to me, sliding between the desk and I. Wrapping her legs around my body, she rubbed her face against me. “Bed. Please?”
“I’m almost done…” I explained as I tried to peek around her sexy body pressed against mine.
Her hands rose to the air and her eyes lit up. I stopped peeking around her and allowed myself to take in the beauty of my wife. My hands lifted her tank top off and I rested my head against her stunning body, delivering her a few kisses.
“Bed?” I offered and she laughed lightly.
As I lifted her up, she snuggled her head into my shoulder and kissed my neck. “I’m pregnant.” My walking came to a halt, and she looked me in the eyes. “We’re pregnant.” She didn’t cry, but she was happy. I could see it in her face, and she could probably see the joy in mine. We had tried so f*cking hard for so long and we were officially pregnant.
I covered her lips with mine as we continued onto the bedroom to celebrate our new beginnings.





I COULDN’T HELP but roll my eyes behind my sunglasses as I strolled down the streets of Manhattan with Kyle, my manager and best friend. He was rambling off nonstop about something or other, but I wasn’t really in the mindset of listening to him. As we walked past a newsstand I cringed, seeing my and Iris’s photo plastered on the cover. Most of the time, the headlines were extra insane. Total bullshit. But this time, some read ‘divorce,’ ‘mental health clinic,’ and ‘cheating scandal.’ They were spot on. Then again, whenever some famous couple had a fight, it was a divorce and cheating scandal with a sprinkle of crazy. So Kyle informed me to lay low and ignore it all.
It was tough to ignore it as the paparazzi scooted down the streets of New York with us, hardly giving us enough room to breathe. I was tired of all of this shit. Pulling my baseball cap lower, I cussed under my breath and continued walking.
“I told you not to go see her,” Kyle scolded me. I informed him of the mail exchange between Iris and me, and let’s just say he was less than pleased. “I mean, seriously. If this is going to blow over, we gotta communicate. You understand?”
My silence was enough to make him realize I was out of it. He softened his tone, patted me on the back, saying we should grab a bite to eat. The paparazzi’s questions were echoing in my ears. “Hey, Cooper! Over here! Where’s Iris?” “Coop! My man! Can we get an exclusive?” “Where have you been? We heard you took a trip to a mental health clinic after your breakdown at the bar a few months ago. Are you crazy? Tom Reed?”
When I heard Tom’s name I snapped my head up, rage running through me. Turning towards the cameras my eyebrow cocked up. Tom Reed. Tom Reed. None of the paparazzi’s lips were moving. They weren’t asking about Tom Reed at all. My f*cked up mind was just dishing out some more reminders of my messed up life.
The paparazzi drew in closer. My body tightened up. I was caged in by the wild animals chasing me. They wouldn’t let up. And that feeling I’d felt when Iris told me she was pregnant started creeping back into me. This was after all, her fault. She was the reason why they wouldn’t leave me the hell alone. She was the reason…
“Unclench your fists,” Kyle whispered harshly. I didn’t even know they were clenched. Relaxing my fingers, the fist format faded. Kyle smiled brightly for the cameras as he poked me in the side and delivered me a confirming grin. I took the order, smiled towards the cameras, and waved.
I was so happy when we sat inside the restaurant. One thing they weren’t allowed to do was follow me inside.
“My cousin is having a Christmas party. I got the invite when I picked up my mail from Iris.” I cringed when I said that. Even hearing her name from my lips made me sick.
“You have a cousin?” Kyle asked. I rolled my eyes and thought back to the proper invitation I had received. It was very fancy, the words written in beautiful cursive. The perfect shades of reds and silvers. A perfectly tied bow at the top.
“They asked me to be the photographer.”
Kyle laughed so hard he almost spit out his food, but he managed to choke it down. “Fat chance. What, do they think they can use your services whenever the hell they want? Get real.”
It was true people had a tendency to try to use me once I made it big, but I didn’t see my cousin’s family as those types of people. Within the past five years, my uncle Wayne had created a brilliant ‘As Seen On TV’ item that sold like wildfire and sent him to the outskirts of the small town he’d raised his family in.