Buried Deep ✔️

Chapter Twenty [Moving Forward]

There were numerous rounds of sex before the night was over, and eventually, we fell asleep with our bodies locked together. My muscles were tight as I shifted my body away from Adrienne who was still sleeping with her face buried into the pillow. The rays of sun burst through my curtains and a yawn escaped my chest. Without waking sleeping beauty beside me, I snuck out of the bed and stepped over by the window.

The alleyway was covered in a blanket of snow that sparkled when the sun kissed it. There were thick clouds threatening to overtake the sky and more snow was on the horizon. I gripped the curtains in my hands and pulled them closed so that Adrienne wouldn't be blinded when she awoke. My eyes roamed to her sleeping form and a smile crept onto my face.

My life was a mess, and I was a broken shell of a man; however, with each day that I grew closer to her, I felt stronger. My inner demons made me who I am, but they did not dictate where I was going with the rest of my life.

Her small body stirred beneath the covers allowing a brief glimpse of the perfect curve of her waist and dip of her back. She was a beautiful work of art that I had spent the night signing my name on. As much as I wanted to wake her to hear her sweet voice, I decided to let her sleep a little longer.

The door shut with a gentle click as I left her in my bed. I avoided the creaky steps as my feet carried me down the stairs before coming to a halt in the living room. My fists clenched, and my pulse quickened as I laid my eyes on a strange woman standing in my living room.

"Who the fuck are you?" I growled as my eyes narrowed on her.

She was a slim bean pole of a woman with thick black hair pulled into a tight ponytail, only a few wisps of her hair stuck out around her face. She turned her dark eyes onto me as she placed her hands with freshly manicured nails on her hips.

"Is that anyway to speak to a woman? Use some manners, young man." She pushed a box full of our family pictures across the floor.

I stared her down. "Use some manners? You're in my house. I don't think you get to make the rules."

She pointed a red-manicured finger at me. "This is your father's house, Spencer. I am his guest here."

My jaw locked at her words. So, my father let this one come home with him. My eyes glanced to the box of family pictures on the floor. After all this time I had been trying to remove those old memories, he allows her to toss them to the side with no questions asked. My blood was boiling and my skin raced with heat as anger consumed me.

"Where is my father?" I asked through gritted teeth.

She reached to remove the last picture from the shelf. "He's taking a shower, but he will be out soon. He has some stuff he wants to talk to you about."

She stepped back to admire her work. My eyes narrowed on her left hand where a glistening diamond sat on her ring finger. It wasn't just any diamond, it was second ring my mother talked my father into right before their wedding. My mother gave me her original wedding ring which sat in the corner of my nightstand drawer, in the same place it had been for ten years. There was no way he proposed to her, was there?

I tore my eyes away from the ring and stepped to the kitchen, deciding to grab something to eat to settle my stomach that started to churn. I needed a few minutes to breath, but unfortunately, her light footsteps were behind me. I spun on my heels to look at her and raised an eyebrow. "I don't need a babysitter. You can go back to whatever you were doing before I came downstairs. Just act like I'm not here."

That's what my father always did.

"Well, your father wanted us to sit down and have a nice breakfast together. I don't want you to ruin your appetite," she said with a demanding tone.