Keeley had already vomited into a nearby trash can before Aaron arrived, but her stomach still churned. Feeling feverish, she saw a red haze around everything when he appeared, making him look oddly like a cartoon devil.

"You look awful," he noted.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious. Get me out of here before I throw up again," she hissed, still annoyed that this could have been avoided if he hadn't stopped her on her break.

He sighed and crouched down, rather undignified, to give her a piggyback ride. "Please don't throw up on me."

"What if you deserve to be thrown up on?"

"Does anyone really deserve that, though?" he asked wryly. "I can admit this is at least partially my fault; that's why I'm here. Get on."

Keeley didn't argue. She might vomit again if she opened her mouth, and despite her bravado, she didn't want to die today because she'd vomited on the vice president of Hale Investments.

Aaron carried her a few blocks back to the parking lot near the medical school. His driver waited.

Her stomach felt even worse in the car. She weakly asked, "If I throw up in your car, are you going to kill me?"

"Don't be ridiculous."

Less than ten minutes later, they pulled into the basement parking lot of an unfamiliar building.

"This isn't my apartment complex," she said.

"It's mine. I didn't think you'd make it all the way to Washington Heights in your condition, so you'll have to stay here for now," Aaron responded in his usual cold tone.

Too sick to protest, she inwardly screamed. Aaron's apartment was the last place she wanted to be! How had this happened? He was supposed to take her home, period!

He carried her to the elevator and they rode up to the penthouse. She was shocked by how different the interior was from their house after their marriage. It was almost completely empty except for some severely austere modern furniture. This was definitely a bachelor pad.

"Aaron, I'm going to throw up again," she warned, and he hastily slung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and deposited her in front of the nearest toilet.

"Stay there, I'll get you some water."

How would he know that people with food poisoning need to stay hydrated? The kind of restaurants he frequented would never serve food that caused this. Did helook this up on the way to pick her up?

Keeley vomited twice more before he returned. The extraneous sentence about a website has been removed.

"Thanks," she said miserably, accepting the glass of water and chugging it. She then refilled it with tap water and gargled.

"Do you feel any better?"

"Not really. I'd like to brush my teeth, but I don't know when I'll make that pointless by vomiting again," Keeley sighed.

"Well, whenever you're ready, there are spare toothbrushes and toothpaste in the drawer to your left. I'll refill this for you," he said casually before leaving.

Since when was Aaron this nice? Maybe he was capable of guilt after all. Too bad he learned it over a decade too late.

Over the next two hours, Keeley vomited until only bile remained, and Aaron continued bringing her expensive Icelandic spring water. He was surprisingly patient, which clashed with her image of him.

She hadn't been cared for like this in a long time—possibly since before her mother died, as her father was so squeamish. It was kind of nice. Her anger lessened as his apology seemed genuine.

"I think I'm done vomiting," she informed him with a yawn. "I'm going to brush my teeth, and then you can take me home."

"You're exhausted; why don't you take a bath in the Jacuzzi and sleep in one of the guest rooms? If your dehydration worsens, my place is closer to the hospital," Aaron offered.

Her first instinct was to refuse. Spend more time with the enemy? Stay in his apartment overnight? No way!

But a relaxing bath in a Jacuzzi…his mattresses were probably amazing. She was tired, sick, and sorely tempted. Her head was too muddled to think straight.

"Someone needs to feed Molly," she said weakly, clinging to rationality. "And my roommates will be worried."

"Give me your phone; I'll text them."

She took her phone from her polka-dotted skinny jeans and lay back on the cool bathroom floor. "Text Valentina…she's my emergency contact."

"Found her."

A minute later, he handed back the phone. Keeley saw the message: 'I got food poisoning across town, so my friend is taking care of me overnight. Please feed Molly for me.'

Simple and to the point, just like Aaron.

"I'll start that bath for you," he said softly before leaving her alone.

Keeley remained on the floor, her mind racing. The clearest thought was how glad she was to carry a spare pair of underwear in her backpack after a previous incident involving heavy menstrual bleeding on campus. This necessitated wearing the soiled underwear for four hours until she could buy pads and cover the stain with her jacket. It was incredibly uncomfortable, prompting her to always carry a spare. She still needed pajamas, though. The bath was her only focus now.

When Aaron returned, he helped her upstairs to the master bathroom and showed her the towels and pajamas he'd left. It was one of his Egyptian cotton pajama sets, surely too big for her. She almost forgot he used to wear those.

"And while you're relaxing, you need to drink this entire water bottle," he said sternly. "You lost a lot of fluid."

Keeley nodded mutely, wanting him to leave so she could enjoy the hot water and jets. Once sure he was gone, she locked the door, removed her clothes, and melted into the water. It felt amazing!

She sipped from the water bottle occasionally but mostly closed her eyes and relaxed. Sometimes, it was nice to be rich—the Jacuzzi tub in their old house had been her favorite thing. She could do this every day.