Cover Me: Marriage Reconciliation Romance (Doc Exclusives Book 3) by Nia Arthurs

Author:Nia Arthurs [Arthurs, Nia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-07-13T23:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Four

Santiago

I thought all I ever wanted to do was be single again. That distance and another taste on my lips would be better than endless fights, doors that slammed and eyes that burned with disdain.

I thought the grass was greener.

Somewhere else.

Anywhere else.

With anyone but her.

My marriage was like acid rain.

It destroyed me.

Destroyed everything it touched.

So I made a stupid proposition. Told her to see other people. My bags got flung at my face. My clothes followed. Screams to leave made the house shake.

I thought I was teaching her a lesson when I left for the job with my uncle. I didn’t know I was about to get shot by my own bullet.

Life is funny like that.

And bitter like that.

It likes to humble you. It likes to show you who’s boss.

A year later, I came home to betrayal. The pain would have lasted forever. It would have turned into hate and bitterness. Immature fights. Long paragraphs on social media about how evil women are. The whole lot of them.

Then Doc.

And simple things changed.

Not my fault, but always my responsibility.

I’m the source of the dumpster fire that my marriage became.

Who knew?

Who would ever accept that?

I don’t.

Didn’t.

I’ve never ascribed to Doc’s principles. I was half-hearted in following this process, but after seeing the results after so little time, I’m all in. Because now Ashley is bearing gifts. Laughter flows between us like old friends.

Now my arms are around her. And she keeps them there. Joins her own hands until they meet around my neck.

I touch her and I know what it is to find peace.

But beautiful moments don’t last forever.

“Dad?” Ashley’s breath tickles my neck.

My hands tighten around her when she loosens her grip. I don’t want to let her go. Don’t want to give up this moment. Not to her father. The man who uses her like an ATM machine.

But Ashley’s already gone.

She pushes my hand down and steps away. “Dad, is that you?”

“Sorry to interrupt,” my father-in-law says. His voice is a deep rasp, vocal chords shredded from cigarettes and habitual lies.

I glare at him.

He flinches. “I’ll come back another time.”

Like hell he will.

Ashley—sweet, clueless Ashley—darts toward her father like a gazelle frolicking around a lion. She grabs her father’s hand and drags him deeper into the backyard.

Howard ducks his head and carefully avoids my eyes.

I fold my arms over my chest. My voice cracks through the night like a whip. “What are you doing here, Mr. Howard?”

“Santiago!” Ashley hisses. “Don’t talk to him like that.”

“Like what?”

“Don’t mind him, dad. He’s just tired.” She gives her father a besotted smile. One the old man does not deserve after all the times he’s stolen from her.

Howard glances around stiffly. The way he’s moving slow and steady tells me he’s putting on an act. Too bad I can see the blood vessels popping in his brown eyes. Too bad I can smell a strong mouthwash and breath mint which means he’s trying hard to cover something up.

Ashley’s eyes are twinkling so brightly, they’re competing with the stars.

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