Page 2 of Promised Summer
A smile tugged at my lips.
He must have gone to bed early to have some fun time. Now that I was back, we could have some fun together. Sex with Deke was the one thing that was never an issue. We both liked sex, and a lot of it.
“Honey, I’m home!” I called cheesily as I pushed open the door.
I was expecting to be greeted by Deke in the middle of pleasuring himself, happy to hear that I was back. Instead, a surprised yelp came from my boyfriend, who was in the middle of being fucked senseless by a man who wasn’t me.
They both froze when the lights flicked on. The stranger pistoned inside my boyfriend one last time, eliciting a loud moan that Deke tried to suppress as he pushed himself away and turned to face me.
“Babe! What are you doing here? I thought you were coming home late,” Deke asked, wide-eyed as he scrambled toward me, cock still hard and on full display.
The other man seemed to have realized the situationhe was in and tried to cover himself with my sheets. The sheets I’d shared with my boyfriend just this morning. On the bed Ryker had helped me build with our bare hands.
I’d been so proud of the masterpiece we’d crafted out of beautiful mahogany, but now the magnificent red tint of the wood only clouded my vision until it was the one thing I could see.
I could feel Deke trying to grab me, rambling on about how this was all a misunderstanding. But the red was too blinding, and the quicksand pulling me under had stolen all my air.
How had I gotten here?
Oh, that’s right.
I sank into going through the motions of it all, thinking a life that was ‘good enough’ was one worth living. Instead, all I did was allow myself to sink further until the sand became a comfortable cushion away from everything else.
I’d submitted to a prison of my own doing.
“You believe me, don’t you? Babe, say you believe me.”
My focus cleared enough to see Deke’s crazed expression and tears welling in his eyes. His hands gripped my clothes hard enough for his nails to dig into my skin. In the past, I would have done anything to quell his tears, because even if I wasn’tin lovewith Deke, I still cared about him. Now, looking at him,almost on the brink of hysterics, all I felt was a strange peace.
I gently loosened his grip, took a step back, and let his hands drop into the empty space between us. Without another word, I turned and left.
Deke sobbed as he begged me not to leave, crying that we could work on this, and it was all a mistake.
I didn’t pause.
Each one of my steps was lighter than the last, as the quicksand yielded to me until I was completely free.
Chapter Two
RYAN
“You’re going to love Kither Springs. This is going to be a good new start for the both of us,” I told my goddaughter—or more accurately, my now daughter.
Karla stayed quiet. Her stuffed yellow lab plushie was gripped in one arm, while her other tiny hand gripped as much of my T-shirt as she could reach.
My mom came barreling out of the house, gray-blonde hair tied in her signature braids that ended in pigtails over her shoulders, and a blinding bright smile you couldn’t help but smile along with. She was just as I remembered, and with all the changes that had happened recently, I desperately needed this tiny piece of familiarity.
“My boy! I missed you!” She pressed a kiss on my cheek, then pulled me into a quick hug before kneeling in front of Karla. “And look how big you’ve grown,Karla! I’m so happy to have you here. Do you remember me?”
Karla hid her body behind my legs, hiding half her face as she stared at my mother. I knelt as well and wrapped Karla in a hug. It still did funny things to my insides when she melted into my arms and her little shoulders loosened all the tension a girl her age never should have had in the first place.
“This is my mom, your nana. You might not remember, but she used to hold you all the time as a baby,” I said softly. “She’s family, just like me and?—”
I stopped myself before I could saythe next word—Mommy. It wasn’t like we didn’t talk about her mom anymore, but Karla was already stressed enough with this move that I didn’t want to stress her even more right now.
Thankfully, my mom seemed to have sensed I needed help and swooped in to save the day.
“—and your Gigi. That’s my mother, your great-grandmother,” she explained with a toothy grin that wiggled a small smile out of Karla. “And we’re so excited to have you here! We got your bedroom all ready, and I think you’re really going to like it. Do you want to see it now?”
