“Not tonight, alright? I’ll get up with you,” Ethic said, as he stared down at her. Obligation made him lift her chin and kiss her cheek. He could, practically, see her deflate from his refusal. He wasn’t trying to hurt her feelings. That wasn’t his intention; but giving her more than casual sex wasn’t an option, and tonight he wasn’t even beat for that.

He was a man conflicted, scarred, burned by emotion he couldn’t seem to get a grip on. To a man that was used to being in control, his current state made him feel weak. I’ve got to get my mind right, he thought. Dolce’s eyes were pleading with him, her body language begging him to take out his angst within the heaven between her legs. Women were equipped with superpowers in that way. Within their opening lied bliss, and Dolce was offering it to Ethic, without uttering a word. He had never missed a sign from a woman and Dolce was giving him the green light to fuck his problems away. A lesser man would have taken her up on the offer, but Ethic just wanted to breathe.

He walked over to the door and held it open as she walked out. She turned, sharply, huffing in angst, as she pointed a warning finger in his face. “One day, you’re going to look up and I’m going to be gone.”

“I know,” he replied, simply. He closed the door. The weight of the world was too heavy for one man to carry. He thought about the things he had done, the lives he had taken, the poison he had pumped into the veins of his community, and he couldn’t help but think this loneliness was his karma. Ethic believed that God made man and woman in pairs. The reward for a good life lived was to meet that soul that was intended to be your mate. The consequence for a life squandered was what he was living through now. To find an amazing woman, not once, not even twice, but three times, and to lose them all was nothing short of punishment. Ethic had struck out and now he had to navigate through parenting a teenage girl, and his own, two children - alone.

He wanted to go upstairs and talk to Morgan about her behavior. Perhaps, punish her for being reckless, but he didn’t know how. She reminded him so much of Raven that it hurt to watch her grow. It angered him that she was slipping down the same, slippery slope that had destroyed her sister. His head wasn’t right at the moment. I’ll address it tomorrow, he thought. When I cool down.