Page 13 of The Single Dad Project

He didn’t ask her to expound; he seemed to know for what she pleaded. And he gave it to her. Cradling one breast and pinching the diamond-hard nipple between his fingers, his other hand snaked down over her trembling belly and between her thighs. He circled her clit, rubbing it. Then pinched it just as he did the beaded tip of her breast.

She exploded.

Detonated with a cry that abraded her throat and a fear that shuddered through her soul.

Because even as he powered into her from below and followed her into orgasm, she couldn’t shake the instinct from earlier.

This—Adam, the night with him,sexwith him—might’ve been the biggest mistake she’d made.

CHAPTER THREE

“BABY, IPROMISEI’ll be back. You be a sweet boy for your daddy, okay? Listen to him and be good. I’ll see you soon.”

“No. Don’t go.” Adam clutched at his mother’s arm, putting all his weight on her.

Desperately trying to keep her there, in the house. Even at seven years old he knew if she walked out that door, he wouldn’t see her again. She wouldn’t be there to meet him at the bus stop after school and take him home to share a snack she’d prepared as she questioned him about his day. Wouldn’t be there to help him with his homework and never yell at him if he didn’t get the answers right away. Wouldn’t be there to read him his favorite bedtime story about the Wild Things and not get mean when he asked to leave the bathroom light on and the door cracked.

She just wouldn’t...be there.

And he would be stuck with Daddy.

Adam tugged harder. “Please, Mommy. Please. Stay,” he begged.

“Stop that fucking whining and get off of her,” his father snapped.

A second later he yanked on Adam’s arm. For a moment Adam’s grasp tightened on his mother, but in the next, he stumbled backward, his hands grasping air. Grasping for her. His back slapped his father’s leg before he tripped and hit the wall of the foyer.

“Get out, bitch.”

Adam knew his father wasn’t talking to him because he hadn’t said “lil’ bitch” just “bitch.” So he meant his mother.

“Maurice...” his mother whispered.

“You let another man get his dick wet in what’s mine and think you’re going to stay in my house?” he snarled. “Get the fuck out and don’t come back. We don’t exist for you anymore. None of us.”

Adam didn’t understand all of what his father said, but he more than got one part.Don’t come back.

A wild grief and fear churned inside him, and that morning’s Froot Loops pitched toward his throat. His mouth watered in the way it did just before he’d thrown up on Halloween after he’d eaten too much candy.

“Mommy, don’t go,” he pleaded, risking his father’s anger turned on him. He didn’t care. Just as long as she didn’t leave. “Please.”

“Shut up,” his father barked, glaring down at him. Then he switched his narrowed gaze back to his mother. “Why are you still here? Get. Out. Before I put you out.”

Adam went still, quiet. And his mother swallowed, releasing a soft sound that made his stomach hurt, his chest tight.

“I’ll be back, baby,” his mother said to him, and she smiled.

But the sight of the small, shaky curve of her lips only caused his belly to hurt worse. And tears burned his eyes. Even knowing his father would call him a bad name, he still couldn’t hold them back.

His father snorted. “The hell you will. When you fucked another man, you gave up all your rights to this.” He slashed a hand in front of Adam. “Say goodbye, bitch. This is the last time you’ll see him.”

She stared into Adam’s eyes, and even though tears blurred his vision, he stared at her, burning her face into his memory.

“I love you, Adam,” she said as his father grabbed the knob and yanked the front door open. As he gripped her shoulder and shoved her toward it. “I love you. I’ll see you soon...”

Adam jerked awake, chest heaving, breath shuddering out of his lungs. Sweat dampened his skin, and his heart beat against his rib cage like a drum. Just like seven-year-old him, sour swill roiled in his gut.

“Fuck.” He scrubbed his fingers over his head, then down his face.

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