Chapter 1
Lucille Radford heard water running in the bathroom.
It should be Cedrick Maynard taking a shower.
It was three in the morning, and he had just come home.
Lucille stood at the door, waiting to discuss something with him.
Her stomach knotted as she wondered if he would ever agree.
While she was rehearsing her speech, a strange noise drifted out.
After listening carefully, she finally realized–he was jerking off!
Every moan and groan hit her like a kick in the guts. Pain spread through her in thick, suffocating waves, leaving her struggling for breath.
Today was their wedding anniversary. It had been five years since she married him, yet they had never once slept together.
So, he’d rather play with himself than touch his wife.
His breathing quickened until he finally bit out a low growl. “Mari…”
That name was the last straw.
Lucille felt like her heart had been shattered into a million pieces.
Trying to hold back her sobs, she clamped a hand over her mouth and bolted. But right after she took a step, she collided with the sink and hit the floor with a thud.
“Lucille?” Cedrick’s voice was still ragged. He was trying to sound normal, but the heavy breathing betrayed him.
“I… I had to pee. I didn’t know you were in the shower.” She rattled off the crappy lie as she clawed at the sink, desperate to yank herself up.
But her frantic movements only made her clumsier. There was water all over the floor and the sink. She had just struggled to her feet when Cedrick walked out. His white robe was
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Chapter 1
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thrown on crooked, but the belt was knotted tight.
“You fell? Let me help.” He bent down, trying to pick her up.
Though tears of pain shimmered in her eyes, she shoved his hands away, pathetic yet resolute. “No, I’ve got this.”
While trying to stand up, she almost slipped again. Then she finally limped back to the bedroom.
It was more like running away.
That was what she had done the whole five years since marrying Cedrick: hiding from the outside world, the strange looks in people’s eyes, and his pity and sympathy.
Who would have thought Cedrick’s wife was a cripple?
How could a lame girl deserve a golden boy who had it all?
But once, she too had legs that carried her with strength and grace.
Cedrick came right after her, his voice gentle and worried. “Did you hurt yourself? Let me check.”
“No, I’m good.” She yanked the blanket over herself, hiding her mess and her shame.
“You sure?” He really cared.
“Yeah.” She nodded hard with her back to him.
“So, lights out? Weren’t you gonna pee?”
“Not anymore. Let’s sleep,” she murmured.
“Alright. Oh, today is our anniversary. I got you something. Open it tomorrow and see if you like it.”
“Sure.” The box was right on the nightstand. Of course she had spotted it. She didn’t even need to open it to know what was inside.
Every year, he gifted her the exact same watch, wrapped in a box of the exact same size.
Nine of them were sitting in her drawer, either from birthdays or anniversaries. This would be number ten.
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The chat ended there. Cedrick clicked off the light and lay down. The damp, sweet smell of shower gel still drifted in the air, but Lucille hardly felt the mattress dip. On the king–sized bed, she hugged one edge while he hugged the other, with space for three more people in between.
Neither of them brought up the name “Mari” or what he had just done in the bathroom. It was like nothing had happened.
Lucille lay stiff on her back, tears welling up in her eyes.
Maricela Archdale was Cedrick’s first love back at college, the one he never got over.
When they graduated, she went abroad, and they broke up. He almost fell apart, going on a drinking binge every single day.
Lucille had known him since middle school.
She admitted she had liked him back then.
He was the cool, handsome top student, while she was in the art track–pretty, sure, but plenty of girls were. In a high school where grades were everything, art students were overlooked, even looked down on.
So it stayed her little secret crush, and she never thought she’d actually end up marrying him.
She only ran into him again that summer after dance–college graduation, when he was a total
mess.
That night, he was wasted, zig–zagging all over the road. He walked straight into traffic without looking, and a car came screaming. She had been tailing him, worrying something might happen, so she shoved him out of the way and got slammed herself.
She was a dance student, grad school already in the bag.
But the crash screwed her leg.
She would never dance again.
After that, he quit drinking and married her.
He felt he owed her, so he’d say thanks and sweet stuff, but still kept his distance. And he flooded her with gifts and cash.
But he never ever loved her.
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Chapter 1
She thought time would fix everything. At the very least, it would make it hurt less.
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