Page 5 of The Devoted Husband

August

“I feel hopeful. Tomorrow is the start of our new lives. How do you feel?”

“Relieved.”

“Yeah? Why?”

“I’m finally with the girl of my dreams.”

Sade’s eyes playfully rolled as she tried to pull herself out of Dante’s grasp, but he held her closer—tighter.

“Spare me, Dante.”

He chuckled. “Why don’t you believe I’ve been in love with you since we were kids, Smiley?”

“Because you friend zoned me and got with my sister.”

“I didn’t friend zone you. We just didn’t date back in the day.

And Imani...that just happened. I never should have let it.

That’s probably my biggest regret in life.

” Dante placed a kiss on the center of Sade’s forehead.

“Even if I had never worked up the courage to go after you and risk our friendship, I never should’ve gotten with your sister. ”

Sade’s hands slid down his chest. It didn’t seem to matter now. Imani was in prison, and after decades, Sade finally had her man...even if it was temporary.

They continued their sway before pigging out on Chinese food. The relaxed, intimate moment seemed like the perfect way to end their time in Vanzette and, unbeknownst to Dante, their time with each other.

Sade’s thoughts were so clouded by memories of her time with Dante that she forgot where she was and who she was with.

The feel of fingers grazing her cheek pulled her out of her thoughts.

But they weren’t Atlas’s fingers. Her eyes shifted to the left, where a man stared at her with a grin on the opposite side of the escalator.

“Damn, you fine.”

Before Sade could calculate a response, Atlas grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt and lifted him onto their escalator.

“Atlas, no!” she whisper-yelled, watching as he dragged the man down the escalator.

If this indicated how things would go between them during their time in Memphis, Sade already wanted to return to her island.

“Stop!” she yelled, tugging at Atlas’s neck. The action didn’t seem to faze him as he repeatedly punched the man in his face. “Are you trying to get put on the no-fly list? Get up!”

“Hey!”

At the sound of security, Sade tried one last time before deciding she’d leave him there.

“Atlas! Get your butt up! We have to go!”

Tugging with all her might, she was able to remove him from the unconscious man’s body. They rushed out of the airport. Sade wasn’t sure if the run or her anger had her heart racing as they jumped into Atlas’s car. Before she could stop herself, she slapped him.

“What is wrong with you? Are you out of your mind?”

Sucking his teeth, Atlas swerved out of the parking space. “He disrespected me and touched you, so he had to pay for that.”

Rolling her eyes, Sade stared out of the window. She hoped they could pay for parking and leave without further issues. This was yet another example of the stark difference between Atlas and Dante.

Sade trusted Dante and knew he could defend himself and protect others.

He also had a clearer head and wasn’t easily swayed by his emotions.

On the other hand, Atlas was quick-tempered and could become volatile quickly.

There was no doubt in her mind that the only reason he was okay with her being with Dante for months was because they weren’t in Memphis.

Things would have gone differently if he had witnessed the affection between the two.

There was a time Sade thought Atlas’s possessiveness and anger were cute.

..passion, even. But those days and that perspective faded the moment a man’s perusal of her body or harmless compliments led to arguments and fights.

One time, she called him insecure, and the darkness that filled his eyes before he punched a hole in the wall beside her was something Sade would never forget.

With Sade, he’d always been romantic and sweet. It hadn’t mattered that he was volatile and violent. Now, with a baby in her womb, Sade wondered if she’d made the wrong choice to return to him.

Hours later . . .

Atlas placed kisses along Sade’s neck that softened her toward him. Her body arched, making more room for his as she smiled.

“Does this mean you’re calm now?” she confirmed.

“Yeah. I’m sorry about that. He touched you, and I saw red.”

With a sigh, Sade turned in his arms. She was in the bathroom doing her makeup.

They were supposed to go to his parents’ home for dinner.

..which was the last thing she wanted to do.

Still, she put her desires aside to please Atlas because she knew how important family was to him.

There was a time when family was important to her as well—until her parents died and her sister became a terror.

“I won’t deny that he was wrong for touching me, but that wasn’t the way to handle it, baby.

If you had gotten stopped and put on the no-fly list, who would I travel with to see the world?

Not to mention, you could have gotten arrested.

Then that would have been yet another reason for your family to hate me. ”

Atlas licked his lips, hiding his smile. “They don’t hate you, Day.”

“They do, and you know it.”

His lips went from her forehead to her lips and neck.

“They don’t hate you. They just...hate how things played out.

” Sade pouted, her head lowering slightly.

Atlas lifted it by her chin, gently forcing her to look into his eyes.

“Hey, I love you, okay? I don’t care what they think.

I’m happy with you, and that’s all that matters. ”

Except, that wasn’t all that mattered. If it were, Atlas wouldn’t shut down every time his family expressed their disdain for Sade being the reason Adam had been killed.

It didn’t matter how many times he told them Adam was killed while trying to rape her and shoot the police. In their minds, it was Sade’s fault.

“Okay,” Sade agreed softly, still unable to tell him she loved him too. The truth was, her heart was too busy reserving love for the father of her child.

“How much longer will you need in here?”

“Maybe like fifteen minutes.”

“A’ight, I’m gonna go ahead and get dressed then.”

“Okay, baby.”

After giving him another quick kiss, Sade turned and looked at her reflection in the mirror.

She couldn’t remember the last time her smile reached her eyes.

Even though the plan had always been to protect Dante and bring her sister and Adam to justice, blurring the lines and getting physical with Dante made things.

..sticky. She didn’t think it was possible, but Sade loved Dante even more after their brief tryst as a married couple.

There were still times when she felt his hands between her thighs, around her neck.

Times where flashbacks would bring tears to her eyes and a smile to her face.

Times where she wished she wouldn’t have taken the money and abandoned him at the airport to be with Atlas.

But that was an action she couldn’t take back now.

Even if Dante planned to get her back, she had no idea if he still felt that way after learning about the money she’d taken. So far, he hadn’t tried to contact her.

However, he updated his friends on Facebook about how life had been going for him, and Sade kept up with him through a spam page.

Instead of starting his own financial firm in New York, he’d been traveling the world before planting roots back in Memphis.

Apparently, he would become a partner with his old college friend, Ian Sanders—the same Ian Sanders who peeled the blindfold off his brain and unlocked a few memories.

Sade’s hand ran across her flat belly. At only ten weeks pregnant, she had a long journey ahead, and with each day that passed...she was less and less sure it was Atlas she wanted by her side.

Shaking off the sadness that was trying to consume her, Sade finished her makeup and snapped a few pictures of herself to post on Facebook. Her mind was so caught up in thoughts of Dante that she sent them to him via text instead of posting them to her social media.

“Oh, crap!”

Before she could delete them or pray he’d changed his number, Dante read the message as if he were holding the phone when they were sent.

Her heart palpitated as she waited for his response.

How would she explain sending the pictures after a month had passed?

Would he even care what she had to say? His dots began to bounce against the screen, and her breathing hitched in anticipation of his response. When it came, a quiet gasp escaped her.

Do Not Answer: Hello, Smiley.