A Scorching Contemporary Romance Serial
Chapter 1: He’s Everywhere — With My Wife, In My Mind
I walk away from her to clear my head and collide with him — the one who wants to steal her.
I slammed the door and stepped out into the frigid night air.
I needed to leave, just until I calmed down.
I was so angry with her! How could she want to break our wedding vows and tear us apart?
My feet led me away from the house with heavy steps and without conscious intention toward her gym.
My wife works out here every morning.
She told me earlier this evening, “Adrian, I met someone this morning at the gym…”
The building loomed large in front of me now.
I released my fists from my pockets, strode across the street, and pulled open the glass doors of the workout facility a bit too roughly.
Then, I froze. Images of her working out here bombarded my mind as soon as I walked in. I could hear her laughing and sweating, pushing herself to strength and fitness — with him.
🆂🆄🅱🆂🅲🆁🅸🅱🅴 🆃🅾 🅶🅴🆃 🅼🆈 🆂🆃🅾🆁🅸🅴🆂 🅸🅽 🆈🅾🆄🆁 🅼🅰🅸🅻🅱🅾🆇
“Excuse me, sir,” the squeaky voice curtly interrupted my runaway thoughts.
I had been standing in the middle of the lobby — like a madman. Slowly, I turned my attention to the young girl at the front desk.
“Please scan your membership fob, sir.”
I fished my keys from my pocket, slowly lifted my arm, and scanned the access key.
“Er, um,” I cleared the large, painful lump in my throat. “I left my gym clothes at the office. Do you have any workout clothes I can buy?”
I was in my head again, giving myself a pep talk, Yes, Adrian, you’re going to be okay. You can work out, burn off these feelings of angry frustration —
Then I heard him. “Adrian?”
With utter malice, I looked toward my boss, Norm, as he strode into my space.
With a pleased and surprised expression, he said, “I didn’t know you worked out here!”
Rage and helplessness choked my voice; I couldn’t respond to him. My eyes stung, my nostrils flared, and an involuntary sniff escaped me. Why the hell does he smell so good?
He continued, unaware of my reaction. “That exquisite woman I told you about this morning interrupted my routine. My priority became reconnecting with her.”
A vortex of furious insanity consumed me as his words played differently and echoed loudly in the chambers of my mind.
I heard, I ran into your wife this morning, Adrian. I couldn’t think about working out when I had to persuade her to abandon you.
© Scarlet Ibis James, 2023: All Rights Reserved.