Page 7 of Out of Bounds (Atlanta Demon Series #4)

Listening to Masai cry herself to sleep last night fucked me up, especially with me knowing that I was the cause of her pain and suffering.

I never meant for her to find out about Kreed Jr. like this.

Shit, to be completely honest, I thought I had more time.

I don’t know what story Ashton had sold Masai, but whatever it was, I can guarantee it was the furthest thing from the truth.

I fucked up. I’d danced with the devil one too many times, knowing what I was risking.

I never meant for shit to get this far, nor did I expect the proof of my infidelity to come out this way.

When I found out about little Kreed, I knew Masai was going to file for a divorce and take my kids.

That’s the reason I’d kept the shit quiet.

My kids were worried about their mom so much that I’d packed them a bag and sent them to my mother-in-law’s house.

Maddie Claire wasn’t buying the story of her mom being sick.

The entire ride to her grandmother’s house, she kept asking me what I did.

I couldn’t look at my baby and tell a lie, so I kept my mouth closed.

When I made it back from dropping the kids off, I perched myself outside my bedroom door and waited for Masai to emerge.

I wanted to barge into the room to plead my case, but I knew she needed time.

I was scared that time would have her doing the one thing I feared the most. If Masai left me, I don’t know how I would survive.

My wife was my lifeline, my best friend, and the one person I had in my life who I knew for certain loved me more than she loved herself.

And I hurt her—fucked up the sanctity of our marriage.

When I heard what sounded like shuffling in the room, I hopped up.

Knocking on the door softly, I pushed it open.

Sai was sitting in the middle of our bed, still in the clothes that she had on yesterday.

Her eyes were damn near swollen shut, and her face was puffy from all the crying she’d been doing.

Shoving my hands in the pockets of my sweats, I leaned against the door frame and mewled. “Baby...”

Masai glanced up at me and swiped her hand across her nose. “She sent me screenshots.” Her eyes flicked back to the screen. “You love her?”

“No.”

“That’s not what this message says.” Tapping on the screen, she read off. “ I love you, Kreed. I want us to be a family. She loves you. Like, deeply loves you.”

“I don’t love her, Masai.”

“Don’t do that. Don’t insult me, Kreed. Just tell me the truth.”

“It’s not what it looks like, Masai.”

“Not what it looks like...” She snorted. “Really? Because it looks like you’ve been sleeping with someone else.”

Running my hand down my face, I sighed heavily. “I messed up. I wasn’t thinking. It just happened.”

“Shit doesn’t just happen, Kreed!” she yelled.

“I know...” I exhaled. “It was a mistake. A stupid, selfish-ass mistake, and baby, I swear... on my kids, I never meant to hurt you.”

“But you did. Every time you looked me in my eyes and lied, you hurt me.”

Taking a step forward, I held my hands up, palm side out. “Masai, on everything I love... it didn’t mean anything. I love you, on God I do.”

“Then why wasn’t I enough?” she cried.

Sitting on the side of the bed, I dropped my head to the ground. “You are enough, baby. I just.. I fucked up.”

“Kreed, you have another baby. A son... named after you. I wanted to name Kree after you, but you said you wanted him to have his own identity. This kid… He… He has your name,” she bawled, breaking my heart even more.

“She did that, Masai. I had no control over it.” When Ashton was picking out baby names, she mentioned naming him Kreed, and I told her ass no. She let her homegirls hype her up and did the shit anyway. I didn’t find out until I got to the hospital after he was born.

“This is so fucked up! I feel like I don’t even know you. My partner, my best friend, the man I fell in love with... He would never lie to me. He would never do this shit to me.”

Masai’s soft cries and the weight of my infidelity lingered throughout the room. “I’m sorry for lying to you. I’m sorry for hurting you, Masai. I regret that shit every single fucking day. I don’t regret him—I could never. He’s innocent and didn’t ask to be born into my mess.

“But I regret everything that led up to his existence. I regret the lies, the sneaking around, the nights I looked you in the face and kept the truth from you. I made a mistake.”

Masai sat there, listening to me apologize, clearly not moved by anything I’d just said.

Instead, she sat there staring at me like she was trying to memorize my face.

I almost felt like this was the last time she planned on seeing it.

Outside of the tears rolling down her face, she was calm.

It was the kind of calm that comes after a storm, when everything’s already destroyed.

I opened my mouth to speak, but she raised her hand, cutting me off.

“You had a baby, and I didn’t even know you were breaking us until it was already done.

You made a life with someone else while I was still here.

Waiting, raising our kids, trusting, believing that the bond we had was unbreakable—I was here doing all of that.

I’m not angry, Kreed. I want to be so bad.

Like, I really want to fuck some shit up around here, but I can’t.

I got five kids to take care of. I’m empty inside.

And as much as I love you and don’t think I can do life without you, I refuse to stay in something that has hollowed me out. ”

“What you trying to say, Masai?” I asked and reached for her hand.

Masai drew back as if the thought of me touching her disgusted her. “I’m saying...” She licked her lips. “I’m saying, I wish you and your child the best. Truly. None of this is his fault. But I won’t raise someone else’s betrayal.

“I refuse to look in his face and see the lies that you fed me. That’s not fair to him, and it for damn sure ain’t fair to me.

I’m saying that I’m choosing peace for me and my kids, Kreed.

” Flipping the covers back, Masai stood from the bed.

“I’ll give you time to pack your things.

I’ll even let you explain to the kids why we’re separating. ”

The weight of everything we shared fell on my shoulders; the years, the love, our children, my mistake.

I felt it all, and Masai telling me to pack my things hurt me in more ways than I’d imagined.

I couldn’t stomach not being able to wake up and go to sleep with my family.

My favorite thing to do as a father was tucking my kids in at night and seeing their smiling faces first thing in the morning.

Those were the things that kept me driven.

Those were the moments I cherished more than anything.

They meant more to me than any football game that I’d won.

My hands trembled as I reached for her. Masai didn’t move away this time.

Instead, she just looked at me with tears in her eyes.

“We’ve built a life together. Fourteen years, five kids.

.. That has to count for something. I know I fucked up.

I know I did. I was weak, shit, selfish even.

But this...” I waved my hand around the room before pointing between the two of us.

“This is real, Masai. What we have is worth fighting for.

“Don’t take my kids away from me. Don’t take you away from me.

I don’t know who I am without you. I’ve never had to be anything without you.

I’ll do the work, baby. I’ll go to counseling.

I’ll earn your trust back. I’ll restore our foundation, brick by brick if I have to.

Just... please, Masai. Please don’t leave me,” I begged softly, praying my words were enough.

My own tears had started to roll down my face.

I was filled with instant regret, and part of me knew there was nothing I could say to really fix this chaos.

There was nothing I could do to change my wife’s mind.

I’d fucked up for real this time, and there was probably nothing I could do to restore her faith in me.

After a few minutes of me begging and pleading, Masai finally spoke, her voice low and steady.

She was exhausted, and that much was proven by the despondent look on her face.

“It’s not so much the betrayal, Kreed. It’s the fact that you let me believe that we were okay.

While you were giving another woman a piece of the life that was supposed to be reserved for us, I was continuing to give my all to this house, our kids, our family.

She got to have you in ways that only I was supposed to have you. I can’t... I just can’t.

“This is making me question myself as a partner, as a mother, as your supposedly best friend. This hurt is to the point where I’m sitting here, willing to put the blame on myself, which lets me know that it’s too far gone.

You did this. I’m not responsible for your actions, and I won’t allow myself to carry that burden. ”

“Please... don’t let this be the end.”

Letting my hand go, Masai crushed me with two simple words. “I’m sorry.”

The longer I sat there, the more tears sprouted from my eyes.

Instead of wiping them away, I allowed them to just fall.

What else could I do? My wife was walking away, and not just from me, but from the life we’d built, and all because I’d stepped outside of my marriage.

For the first time in fourteen years, I realized that love wasn’t enough to keep her.

I’d lost my heart and fucking soul, and I didn’t know if I could ever recover.