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DELILAH

I f this is the last day before I implode my marriage, it’s a good day filled with beautiful simple memories. Asher stays home and out of his office. It’s just normal and mundane activities like laying together and watching movies. Still, a good day to have as my last with him.

I sit up on my knees when something clatters in the kitchen. He’s said I’m not allowed in since he went in there twenty minutes ago, and I can’t smell anything burning. I can’t even imagine Asher cooking or doing anything other than ordering food from a restaurant.

Flattening my arms on the back of the sofa, I shout down the hallway. “Do you need help so you’re not one-handed?”

He pokes his head around the door and playfully scolds me. “Keep your pretty ass right there. You won’t let me eat, so you’ll let me feed my wife.”

My brows go up at the possessiveness and I lift my hands in the air as I try to contain my smile. I slowly turn my body and catch the way he looks at me. There’s so much longing on his face and I know I’m going to kill everything in the morning.

There’s more clattering and his voice is further away as he says, “Close your eyes, baby.”

I do it and sit cross-legged on the sofa. Pulling the blanket over my thighs, I listen out for his steps. They’re nearly silent as he stops behind the sofa. His lips touch my cheek, and he softly whispers, “You deserve everything, Lilo.” My lashes flutter and he adds, “Not yet.”

He steps around the sofa, and it takes all my willpower to keep my eyes closed at the sound of something being placed on the table. He takes two more trips to the kitchen and back before the cushions beside me dip and he wraps his arm around my shoulders, finally allowing me to open my eyes.

The table is filled with melted chocolate, strawberries, marshmallows, and every treat imaginable. He kisses my cheek and pulls me closer as his voice softens. “I know I missed our anniversary, and it’s a little late, but it’s still tradition.”

The longing in his eyes is intensified up close as I cup his cheek. I hate my mind for assigning him traits that don’t belong to him. In my memories, all of these soft moments were with someone else, but they’re not. They’re between the two of us and the doctor’s assumptions are right, my guilt over the fire made him into a villain when he wasn’t. He never has been anything other than what he’s showing me right now.

My voice lowers with the guilt heavily weighing on my shoulders. “Asher, I love you. I really love you and I?—”

“Love you too. Come on, eat. The chocolate will start to set.”

He cuts off my confession, so I stick to my original timeline, and I’ll explain everything in the morning.

Lifting me by my hips, he sits me between his thighs and drags the table closer. I settle back into his chest as he plucks up a strawberry and swirls it through the chocolate. His cast lays across my thighs and I thread our fingers together. His lips brush my cheek as he brings the strawberry to my lips and says, “I thought holding hands was too childish for you?”

The melted chocolate drips into my mouth but I don’t bite down.

I’ve never said that to him.

I shake the thoughts away because they can’t be trusted and hum despite the way my mind latches onto the words. His fingers stiffen in mine, but he doesn’t continue with the topic as I lean forward and use a napkin to collect a few snacks from the table so we can relax as the movie starts. The melody makes me look up because it’s not anything that has been commissioned and my voice is in it. It’s me playing the piano. Specifically, me playing naked and staring at the window when I was waiting for Ghost on the night he turned up bleeding.

Asher massages the tops of my thighs and presses his fingers near my panties as he pulls me backwards into his chest. His lips are by my ear and his voice is filled with excitement.

“Did you make a home video for me?” His fingers tighten against my inner thighs while I struggle to breathe. “You’re so fucking beautiful and talented.”

I can’t see the remote anywhere and my voice is weak as fuck to hide my betrayal.

“Why don’t we turn it off? Someone might see through the windows.”

He shakes his head and kisses a path down my neck. I can’t move and I watch in terror for the moment that everything explodes when my plan was to calmly explain everything that’s happened. I fucking hate Ghost. He probably is an evil fucking spirit, and he knew I was going to tell Asher everything, so he’s taken control of it.

Asher’s dick presses into my back and I add another thing to be ashamed of as I force my voice to be husky. “Why don’t we go upstairs? I’ll give you a live show as a present?”

He shakes his head again and cups between my thighs, his voice deepening and full of need as he breathes out, “I want to watch what you’ve been doing while I wasn’t here.”

I’m going to fucking die.

“When the cat’s away, the mice will play. And, Lilo, you play like a fucking dream.”

Awe fills his voice while every inch of my skin is on fire. I do the only thing I can and drop the food to turn and straddle his thighs. His eyes are focused behind me, on the screen that will show me bringing another man into our home, and I move to block his vision, but he slips my panties to the side while still fucking watching. Stroking two fingers through my slit, he tuts. “You fed this pussy while I was away, didn’t you?”

I gulp and lose every word I have ever known. He smirks and his eyes darken as he continues. “Did you use your fingers or one of our toys?”

Our . He said our when I used them with another man.

His smile touches my jaw and I’m still frozen as he whispers, “Tell me, Delilah, don’t be embarrassed. I’ve seen every part of you, and I know how much you need to be fucked.” He kisses my neck and softly sucks the sensitive skin under my ear between his teeth. “I love that my wife needs me as just as much as I need her and every time I fuck you feels like the first time because my beautiful little slut is here for whatever I need.”

He roughly pushes two fingers into me as I hold his shoulders. I’m wet and there’s definitely something fucking wrong with me when I’m petrified of what he’s going to see, but I don’t stop him and give him a half truth.

“B-both,” I stammer as he curls his fingers up. “Fingers and the toy in the bedside drawer.”

He strokes my hair back as the piano notes slowly taper off—the moment I saw Ghost standing outside—and he’s going to see me go to the window.

Fuck!

I let go of his shoulders and pat the sofa cushions for the remote. They’re empty and my fingers don’t touch the cool plastic. Without realizing, Asher saves me as he pulls his fingers out of me and groans, “I need to taste you.”

He swaps our positions and kicks the table back to kneel on the floor. The screen shows me still sitting at the piano with my neck stretched to look out of the window. A gasp is pushed out of me as he grabs my hips and pulls me to meet his face. He doesn’t remove my panties and my back arches as he gently grazes his teeth against my clit. My hand goes to the top of his head, combing my fingers through his hair as I look down to make sure he isn’t watching the TV, and he smiles. It’s not warm. It’s filled with lust and satisfaction as he says, “Take this off.” He plucks my t-shirt with two fingers.

I’d give him my soul if he let me turn the security footage off. Or a limb. Literally anything. Pulling the t-shirt over my head, I throw it behind me and the screen flickers to me guiding Ghost into the house. My heart is going to be battered and torn from how hard it slams against my ribcage. It drowns out my speech as I grab Asher’s head and pull him closer.

“Done. Now it’s your turn.”

He smirks and massages up my body as he buries his face between my thighs. I push my hips forward and pull him closer as the security footage speeds up. I can feel the phantom of Ghost’s cool knife tracing my features and I dig my hand between the sofa cushions as a moan is forced from me.

Asher pushes his tongue inside me, and my thighs tighten around his head. His arm that’s free of a cast drops and my imagination makes up the image of him stroking his dick despite my thighs blocking the view. My muscles tense as he fucks me with his tongue while I watch Ghost use me, building me higher.

Tears burn the back of my eyes when he tries to pull his head back. I can’t let him see. Smooth plastic grazes the tips of my fingers and I push my hand deeper between the cushions, wrapping my fingers around the remote. I pull it free and turn everything off.

The TV turns black and reflects the image of my husband on his knees for me like a twisted mirror when it last had the image of me on my knees for another man. A man whose name or face I don’t even fucking know.

This is wrong and he needs to know.

I can’t wait until the morning and I tug on Asher’s hair and unwrap my thighs from around his head. He slowly moves back, and his brows draw together as he asks, “What’s wrong, baby?”

My eyes burn and I swallow to wet my throat as he sits up on his knees, tucks his dick away, and cups my cheek. All of his lust has drained away in favor of worry.

“I need to tell you something,” I whisper.

He nods and strokes my cheek with his thumb. “Anything, Delilah.”

His eyes flick between each of mine and I clear my throat as I will my heart to stop racing. My mouth opens ready to spill my betrayal, but a loud bang comes from the kitchen. Asher jumps up and his voice is low, telling me not to move as he silently walks in the direction of the metallic clattering.