Page 5 of The Devoted Husband

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 sheknew 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 hadalways 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 amonth 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.

DoNotAnswer:Hello, Smiley.

Sade

The Thanksgiving Adam Came Back

The definition of rage was violent, uncontrollable anger. That was exactly how Sade felt at the sight of Imani being a little too flirty with Adam. Imani failed to mention he and his cousin, Atlas, would be coming around—otherwise, she wouldn’t have joined them for the evening. Sade found it suspicious that Imani opted out of the family trip with Dante and his family to Denver for the holiday, and now, she knew why. Imani’s original excuse was that she didn’t want to make anyone miserable because she was miserable and suffering from a stomachache. She was perfectly fine now.

Sade’s eyes squeezed shut at the sound of Imani’s giddy laughter. Hot tears slipped down her cheeks as she fought to pull in short, ragged breaths. It was one thing for Imani to cheat on her husband; it was altogether different for Imani to cheat on Sade’s best friend. Though she and Dante didn’t hang out as much as they used to, he was still and would always be her best friend. They spent time together twice a month alone and went on quarterly trips. Her heart felt as if it were breaking into pieces at the thought of Imani cheating on the man Sade had wanted since they were kids. When she couldn’t take it anymore, Sade stormed through the living room and lifted Imani off Adam’s lap.

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