Page 56 of The Broken Beginning: Part One

Her body stiffened so quickly that she actually hit me in the dick before she flew out of the bed as if it were on fire. That woke me up quicker than anything because normally Shaina would have teased me, grabbed my dick, and told me she could show me something hotter.

The minute my eyes flew open, I knew how badly I’d just fucked up, and my stomach turned so damn hard I thought I’d puke right there in the bed.

“Oh shit!” The words escaped me before I could pull them back. Lily had her back to me, so I could see the tattoo in the light of day, and the image of me tracing it last night came to the forefront of my mind as she bent down to pick up her clothes.

“Lily!” I called out but she was already moving beyond the sheets that hung from the ceiling, and not speaking. Quiet Lily was never a good thing.

“Lily,” I tried again, softer this time as I jumped out of the bed and followed her.

“Get dressed, Merc. I need to get back so I can be there when my dad brings Deck home.”

“Lily, please, look at me.”

“Why?” She yelled angrily. “Do you need a visual reminder of who you actually fell asleep with last night?”

“Fuck! Baby, don’t.”

“Don’t ‘baby’ me, you dick. You made me believe your little fairytale all day yesterday. You told me to trust you, and I did. I gave you that, and this is what I get in return.”

“Lily, I promise you it’s… it’s fucking complicated, okay? I never thought I’d have a chance with you again after last time!”

“And you’ll never get another one.” She shook her head sadly. “I have never been enough of a thought in your mind to keep you from going to your whores on the side. Actually, I guess it’s just one now, right? Shaina, was it? She gets your faithfulness while your wife gets another woman’s name whispered to her in bed! Fuck you, Merc!”

She huffed out a frustrated groan. “If you were ever serious, I would have gladly tried with you. The thing is, you have never once made the attempt to be serious about us, otherwise you would have never been with other women while trying to make that happen.” She angrily yanked her jeans up her legs and then buttoned them before throwing her shirt on, followed quickly by one of her boots.

“Lily, it was a mistake,” I tried again.

“Oh, you’re not wrong about that part!” She laughed as she thrust her foot into the other boot. “It was definitely a mistake and one that won’t be happening again.”

I knew there would be no talking her out of this while everything was still fresh, so I moved back beyond the wall of sheets and grabbed my own clothes, putting them on just as quickly as Lily had put hers on.

All the while, I thought about how long she might stay pissed before my thoughts drifted to Shaina. Shit. That was another fuck up. Lily wasn’t wrong. I had pledged my faithfulness to another woman. I had only been exclusive with Shaina for the past four months, before that I’d been casual with her and still fucking some of the club women for a few months. Shaina would lose her shit over this, especially since I never told her I would be gone last night.

Unease settled deep inside me as I realized the truth of what Lily had guessed. I’d given other women the one thing I’d never given her, and I’d excused it all away based on how I thought Lily felt about me. All the while, if I’d just shown Lily an ounce of respect, it would have changed her mind and maybe her heart completely.

Boone tried to warn me so many times. Robbie just threatened to kill me on the regular, and then he told me he couldn’t wait until the five years was up so that I would have to watch his daughter fall in love with the right man and have him dote on her and my son.

I never understood, until recently, why Robbie didn’t just release his daughter from our marriage, but then Boone explained it to me one night when he was trying to make me see reason.

“That man loves that girl something fierce. She is all he has left, and he knows that once she’s free, she won’t stick around here where her whole life has been tainted by things she couldn’t control. He’s using your marriage, and their deal, to hang onto her just a little bit longer. He’s part of the reason she’s been so miserable, and he knows she’ll run the minute she’s able to.”

“Not with my son!” I demanded.

“Boy, if anyone in this world could have stopped that from happening, it would have been you. Unfortunately for all of us, you’re too fucking dumb to see you have everything you could ever want, and you’re going to lose it all.”

“You’d let her walk away with my son?”

“I sure the fuck would. That girl deserves no less after watching you give and give to everyone else over the past few years. I’ll go with you to visit wherever she ends up, because that girl is too good a person to keep her kid from you, but make no mistake, we will all let her go when it’s time. And I won’t allow you to blame her for any of it because you didn’t care to fight while she was here.”

He had laid it all out for me when I first started getting serious with Shaina. I guess my father saw the writing on the wall and knew what was happening there. Once again, I never listened to good advice. Now, it looked like I would pay for it twice over. The thing is, losing Shaina didn’t matter one bit, but because I had her in the first place, I would lose any hope at changing Lily’s mind about me, and there definitely wouldn’t be an us in the equation.

17 - Double Betrayal

Merc

When we got back to the house, Lily hopped off my Harley like the fucking thing was on fire. Not that I blamed her.

“Thanks for the shameful night. Please, don’t come around for a few days.” She took two steps away from me. “Actually, call before you try to come over even after that.”

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