Page 65

But I was free.

And it was oddly sad.

Not that I was divorcing my ex-wife, but that I viewed it as a failure on my part.

I didn’t like to fail. Hell, no one does.

But somehow knowing that I’d promised to spend my life with that woman, and it had fallen apart somewhere along the way, made me feel a bit sad and a whole lot confused.

Adding to my confusion were my feelings for Aspen. I cared about her, and I wanted to be with her. Hell, I was even willing to do it again and that scared the absolute hell out of me.

If I couldn’t make it work the first time, what made me think I could make it work the second?

All of those questions followed me out of the lawyer’s office and swirled in my head the entire way home.

I was so lost in those thoughts, I was actually a bit surprised when I pulled into my driveway.

The entire ride home was a blur.

I shut the engine of the truck off and got out, staring up at the house that would be mine for a long time to come.

My phone rang, and I groaned when I saw it was my ex-wife.

“Hello?” I answered tiredly.

“I can’t believe you did it. You quit us.”

Chapter 12

Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because I didn’t end your miserable existence like I wanted to, bitch.

-Aspen’s secret thoughts

Aspen

I took the dildo out of the box and was surprised to see all the other items in there.

“Jesus,” Naomi said from the phone I was holding. “Why did they send you more?”

I smiled, even though she couldn’t see me.

I was pointing the phone at all the goodies that’d come in the mail.

“There’s a shop in Uncertain, Texas called Uncertain Pleasures. They really liked my reviews of their products and wanted me to try a few of their other product lines,” I explained. “But they sent half their store.”

“What’s that one sticking to the window?” She asked. “What’s the purpose of the suction cup?”

I heard the door open behind me but didn’t bother to stop explaining.

I was mad at Downy, and he was four hours late…for the second day in a row.

I wasn’t really seeing the point of doing anything with him this late in the day, either. It was now twelve o’clock PM on one of my ankle monitor free days. I had things to do and he’d promised to take me. It wasn’t enough time to get back by five, no matter what I did.

I needed to go to Longview and get a new computer. Mine was acting wonky.

I wasn’t sure how long that would take me, either, and I didn’t want to be too long.

“Oh, my God.” Naomi exclaimed. “What is that?”