Page 9 of Duty Became Desire

It was a showstopper.

But there was something else that was far more shocking.

It was the bright red rose that was permanently etched into her skin.

"When the hell did you get a tattoo?" I nearly screamed.

She laughed, as if it was nothing, as her fingers ran over the raised rose starting its healing process.

"The same night you got married."

"You never wanted a tattoo."

"I know, Sky. Something just...happened. I wish I could share what, but there are even more blanks than just your wedding, honestly."

I narrowed my eyes at the comment, something not adding up. If they went up to her room because she wasn't feeling good, when did she go get a tattoo? And if I recall, due to my own love of ink, tattoo artists won’t tattoo you when your shit faced.

Without thinking, I grabbed my phone and sent a quick text to Alec, asking if he saw any new ink on James, because I highly doubted that Skylar was the only one who did dumb shit that night.

Well, besides me and Alec it seemed.

"Never mind the tattoo, what about the dress?"

"Do you feel like the billion bucks you look like?"

"Oh, hell yes!" she exclaimed, making me smile.

"Then you have your answer, and I think it's perfect for you. I also happen to think you are going to knock your husband out with this look."

"You mean like how someone always stares at you?"

My eyes opened wide at her comment, and I couldn’t help the words that fell out. "He does not. He looks like he might want to kill me but that’s about it. I think you’re downright delusional if you think that man stares at me with any kind of lust. Especially after kicking him in his nuts."

"Bullshit, Skylar. Look, you can ignore everything if you want. But there are those of us who see the truth. Who sees the undeniable chemistry between you two. Who sees the passion that erupts that neither of you know what to do with. So yeah, keep being in your blissful world, but that's also a foolish world."

I can't help but roll my eyes at her, not buying all of that. Maybe a part, but not all.

"I think it's best if the two of us just got a divorce. It's not like this is going to work. No matter what you think, we’re far too different. He’s not even the type of man I would be into."

“I think you’re wrong. I think he’s the perfect man for you and you just don’t want to see it because of one bad comment.”

“Or he is that asshole and just has everyone fooled and it would simply be best for everyone all around if we called it quits before we did damage, we can’t fix.”

"Or,” she started, dragging out the little word, “you know, you might actually want to give it a shot and see what other fun times you can have."

She knew my feelings, she knew him and I could never really talk, could never really have fun together. So, what fun times did we have? Even better, what fun times did we have that we didn't know about?

Chapter seven

Alec

Idon’t know why I thought it was a good idea to have Skylar in my domain. She had never set foot in my three bedroom, two bath house, and I didn’t even think she knew about it. But at the time, after her bridal dress shopping and my tux hunting, this just seemed like the best place to talk.

Because if we needed to get loud, to let some steam out, this wasn’t going to cause looks.

I looked around the living room, making sure everything was clean. I’m sure she would also think it would be a pig pen. Yeah, I grew out of those days when I was still a teen. My oldest sister, on the other hand, was the one who was constantly making messes, and that annoyed her husband.

I smiled to myself at the thought as the doorbell rang and I walked over to the front door, swinging it open.

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