Squeak

The Setup

**Early update because I'm in a good mood because Green Bay lost. You'll get two updates on 02/02/2024 and then weekly updates after that.**

Jezebel

I stared at the red numbers of my digital alarm clock while Adrian molested me. Someone who loved their partner and was receptive to their advances would consider it foreplay, but I wasn't in the mood. Sex with Adrian was just okay compared to Erik—nothing to write home about. It was probably because I was always thinking of something else or Erik and wasn't present. It was a rare occurrence, but sometimes I did initiate when I had an itch that needed to be scratched—he was there and willing, and in most cases, it was better the dick you knew than the one you didn't.

There was no love between Adrian and myself—at least on my part. I didn't even consider him a friend. I compartmentalized and categorized him as a roommate—one I happened to sleep with and raise my daughter with.

A hand ran down the delicate swell of my hip, and I felt the satin fabric of my nightie shift to my waist.

Come on...come on...come on.

My prayers were answered when the red nine switched to zero and the alarm buzzed.

Thank you, Jesus.

He groaned into the back of my neck as I reached over and turned off the alarm while simultaneously wrestling out of his grasp. "It's still early. Come back to bed, Jez."

"I have to get to the office early, and I still want to get my morning run in."

"C'mon, Jezebel. Just give me five minutes."

I rolled my eyes and retrieved athletic wear from my dresser drawer. "Just because you can get off in five minutes doesn't mean I can."

With Erik, I could. I shivered thinking about how he'd have his hand on the back of my neck and my face smashed in the pillow as he pumped inside me.

Two days...

One thousand eight hundred and twenty-three days had passed since I last laid eyes on Erik King, but for some reason, forty-eight hours felt like a lifetime. I'd already called out of work for Friday and planned on spending the day with Erik until it was time for me to go home in the evening. Saturday was the day Izabel would meet her father. My anxiety about their meeting made my stomach bubble. I expected her to be shy around him—that was a given, but what troubled me was how attached she was to Adrian. Again, I couldn't fault her for that, but something had to give. Killing him would be the only reasonable solution.

I was tying my tennis shoes when Adrian dropped a bomb on me.

"I think we should get married soon."

"How soon?" I asked absentmindedly, forming the bunny ears.

"I was thinking we should elope."

"What's the rush, Adrian?"

"Why not? We're basically married already. Let's make it official. How does Friday sound?"

Really? The day my man is being released from prison?

"That's not going to work for me."

"Why not?" he asked. I could hear the edge in his voice and knew he'd throw a hissy fit.

"This weekend will be a little busy. Erik will be released from prison, and Helen is throwing him a welcome-home dinner on Saturday. I'm taking Izabel with me to meet her father."

"Why should Erik getting out of prison have any bearing on us getting married? And when were you going to discuss Izabel meeting him with me?"

I raised an eyebrow at his sudden close proximity. If he thought he'd intimidate me, then he had another thing coming.