Then, as my dick bottomed out inside her, pleasure and dread clashed together to form a chaotic fucking mess of my insides.

What am I doing? What have I done?

My neurotransmitters clicked back online, sifting through the absolute shit show I had just found myself in.

Everly began to gyrate backwards, which triggered my next move. I shoved her off me and threw her to the ground. I heard a pained umph but didn’t bother to look at her in case I fucking vomited everywhere.

With speed, I readjusted my pants, grabbed my keys and raced out the door.

Looking back on that moment, I shouldn’t have been driving, but the thought didn’t even cross my mind—another sin added to the countless others I had already committed that night.

As soon as I got home, the disgust could not be contained any longer. I emptied my stomach on the front lawn, the foul mess a great representation for what I had done to my life.

I betrayed my wife. I cheated on my wife.

What have I done?

Chapter 1

ALEXIS

Present day…

“I’m pregnant… with your husband’s baby,” said Everly, my close friend I’d known for years.

I had come home from work to find her in my driveway, saying she had to speak with me. I even offered her a cup of tea as we settled on the couch, side by side. In no way did I expect those next words out of her mouth.

My brain glitched… then glitched again. Surely I misheard?

Then, she kept talking.

“We didn’t mean for this to happen…”

Crack.

“He’s been so scared to tell you…”

Crack.

“But we have to try. For the baby…”

Crack. I could feel my heart splintering with each statement, each revelation.

Then, the front door slammed open, my husband stalling in the doorway. His usual soft brown eyes looked anything but as his gaze bounced between us to then settle on mine—with sheer and utter panic.

Shatter.

Everly bolted to her feet, which made Owen snap into action.

He came for us—for her.

“What the fuck have you done?” he asked, pulling on Everly’s arm as if to get her away from me. Probably for her own safety in case I snapped into a psychotic rage. Lucky for them both, I felt numb.

“She deserves to know.”

“I was going to tell her my way. Fuck, Everly.”

Up until that point, I was in some bizarre dissociative state. It was as if I was a third person floating from afar, silently watching my own life implode before my eyes.

That’s when some arbitrary emotions sparked enough for my thoughts to take root, for their absurd declarations to actually make sense.

Owen was fighting with a woman… A woman who was not his wife. I listened, concentrated hard, finally hearing his words above the roaring in my ears.