But it wasn’t Truth.
It was a notification from my security system.Front door unlocked 11:47 PM.
I frowned, checking the timestamp. Three hours ago. I hadn’t given anyone my code except?—
Fuck.
Alexis.
I’d given her the code two weeks ago after she’d complained about waiting outside when I was running late. Told her to let herself in if she got there first. I’d forgotten about it. Forgotten she even had it.
I climbed out of the car and walked to the front door, my jaw tight. The house was quiet when I stepped inside. No lights on in the living room or kitchen. But I could see a faint glow coming from upstairs.
My bedroom.
I took the stairs slowly, each step deliberate, trying to figure out what I was going to say. Trying to figure out what I even wanted.
The bedroom door was open. Alexis was in my bed, asleep on top of the covers, still wearing the dress she’d probably worn to whatever event she’d been at earlier. Her shoes were on the floor next to the bed. Her purse on the nightstand.
She looked peaceful. Beautiful. Exactly like the kind of woman I was supposed to want.
And all I could think was,She’s not Truth.
I stood in the doorway for a long moment, watching her breathe. Trying to feel something. Anything.
Nothing came.
Just the hollow ache that had been living in my chest for two weeks.
I moved into the room, my footsteps quiet on the carpet. Started unbuttoning my shirt. Alexis stirred, her eyes opening slowly, focusing on me in the darkness.
“Hey,” she said, her voice soft and sleep-rough. “I didn’t think you were coming home tonight.”
“I wasn’t planning on it.”
She sat up, pushing her hair back from her face. “Long night?”
“Something like that.”
She watched me undress, her eyes tracking the movement of my hands. When I was down to my boxers, she reached for me. Her fingers were warm against my skin.
“Come here,” she said.
I should have said no. Should have told her I was tired, that I needed to sleep, that this wasn’t a good idea. But I didn’t. Because the alternative was lying in this bed alone, staring at the ceiling, thinking about Truth and whoever the fuck was making her smile.
So, I kissed her instead.
It was rough from the start. Urgent and desperate and completely devoid of tenderness. I pushed her back against themattress, my hands already pulling at her dress, yanking it up over her hips. She made a sound—surprise or arousal, I couldn’t tell—and wrapped her legs around my waist.
I didn’t slow down. Didn’t ask if she was ready. Just pulled her underwear aside and pushed inside her with a force that made her gasp.
“Amai—”
I didn’t want to hear my name. Didn’t want to hear anything. I covered her mouth with mine, swallowing whatever she was about to say, and started moving. Hard. Fast. Primal.
She matched my rhythm at first, her nails digging into my shoulders, her body arching beneath mine. But something was off. I could feel it in the way she tensed. In the way her hands went from pulling me closer to just holding on.
I didn’t stop.
