No matter how much I scrubbed, I couldn’t cleanse away the yearning that his presence left behind. The way he made me feel protected and wanted was like a flame that smoldered even whenhe was gone. It burned a hole in my conscience, reminding me constantly that I’d betrayed not just Damar, but myself.
When I heard Damar come into the suite, I prayed he wouldn’t notice that I was still awake. I hoped to God he wouldn’t try anything sexual. I turned my back to the bedroom door and wrapped myself tightly in the covers like a cocoon, hoping the darkness would shield me from what I’d done.
As he stumbled in, I held my breath. When he climbed into bed, I could smell the tequila seeping from his pores. Soon, he was snoring softly beside me. I quietly let out a long sigh of relief. I lay there with my back to him, staring out at the busy street below. The lights of 53rd Street twinkled like distant stars. Cars honked now and the occasional late-night pedestrian moved like shadows against the streetlights. The distant noise of sirens pierced the stillness of the night.
Tears continued to stream down my face, saturating the pillow. As the night wore on, my eyes never closed. My heart ached with every beat, and sleep refused to come. Though my husband slept next to me, I felt alone in the bed. My thoughts were a jumbled mess of what-ifs and should-have-beens, and I was haunted by the memory of Mythic’s touch.
A few hours later, the sunlight filtered through the hotel room’s curtains. As I stirred awake, I realized that I had managed to get a few hours after the sun had risen. The last time that I had looked at the clock before closing my eyes, it was almost six in the morning.
There was a brief moment where everything felt right. It felt like I was a devoted wife about to start my day, heading to work, and that Mia would be there asking me where I wanted to go for lunch.
But as I slowly opened my eyes, the illusion shattered. I wasn’t in my cozy bedroom at home; I was in this foreign hotel room, surrounded by the unfamiliar. The memories rushed back—the fire, the chaos of Mia’s arrest, and Mythic’s epic penetration.
His presence lingered all over me. I could still feel him inside of me.
I turned my head to the side, hoping to see Mythic, but instead, I was met with the sight of Damar lying beside me. He stared up at the ceiling. His face was a mural of weariness and frustration, catching me off guard. I was convinced that he somehow knew about my betrayal.
My pulse quickened, but I forced those anxiety-filled thoughts away as I rolled over to face him. “Are you okay?”
He glanced at me with a weary look and sighed. “Yeah. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”
I discreetly swallowed hard. “Like what?”
“It’s nothing you need to worry about.” He brushed it off with a shrug of his shoulder. “It’s business stuff. But there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”
I leaned in, raising a brow.
When he placed a hand softly on my waist, I relaxed, but only for a second before I felt like I didn’t deserve his tenderness.
“I want you to finally fulfill your dreams and go to nursing school.”
I was taken aback. I sat up a bit, raising a brow so high that it felt like it touched my hairline. “Really?”
He softly chuckled at my animated shock. “Yes, love.”
“What changed your mind all of a sudden?”
He looked at me with a sincerity I hadn’t seen in a while. “I want you to be happy, Avi. I feel like I’m holding you back. Go to school. I’ll pay for everything.”
My head dramatically reared back.“Whaaat?”
He grinned. “Yes. I got you, baby.”
I was still reeling from the shock. “But what about the baby? I thought you were ready for me to get pregnant.”
He shifted a bit. “I am. But we can do both. I’ll work hard so that when you get pregnant, you can quit working if you want to. I’ll make sure that you have enough help with the baby so that you can focus on school. I’ll even get a bigger team so that they can take up the slack and I can spend more time at home.”
I stared at him, trying to process the sudden shift in his attitude. “Are you sure about this, Damar?”
He nodded confidently. “Yeah. I just want you to be happy. That’s what matters most to me.”
I cuddled close to Damar, feeling the warmth of his body against mine and major guilt. “Thank you, baby.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” he said as his fingers began to softly caress my scalp. “I’m your husband. It’s my job to make you happy, and I’m going to get much better at doing that.”
I sighed as shame and guilt swallowed me. I snuggled so much closer to him that I could smell the remnants of cologne and alcohol from last night.
“What do you want to do about getting another car?” he asked. “Do you want another Jeep?”
