Skye
I woke up before him.
That almost never happened. Ducane had always been the early one, the one who was already gone before I registered the other side of the bed was empty.
I wanted to gloat. I had put it on his ass last night.
But reality was slowly creeping in. I opened my eyes to him on his back, one arm behind his head, breathing even and deep.
I lay there for a minute just looking at him, wondering if I’d lose him again.
I couldn’t lie and say I hadn’t been enjoying myself.
Every second of this week had been exactly what I needed and more than I had let myself hope for.
But it was almost over, and I didn’t know yet what over looked like this time.
Last time over had looked like a decision I made alone in my dorm room after Christmas dinner.
This time, I had a ring on my finger and a truth I hadn’t told him yet.
The ring caught the light when I moved my hand.
It was so damn beautiful. He was so damn beautiful. Such an amazing soul. I didn’t know how he came from his father. But Ducane had decided differently. I was proud of him for that.
This was our last day, so I got up, found his shirt on the floor, put it on, and ordered breakfast for us. I wanted to make the best of it. By the time I did that and cleaned myself up, Ducane was wrapping his arms around my waist and placing kisses on my neck.
“Hey, Mrs. Simmons. How did you sleep?”
“Not as good as you, Mr. Simmons. You didn’t go for your run this morning.”
“I got my workout last night.” He gripped my ass before heading out of the kitchen. “What’s the plan for our last day?”
“I want to soak up some sun, sand, and just chill.”
“Say less. You ain’t gotta lift a finger today.”
We ate breakfast, taking our time, trading bites off each other’s plates.
Once we finished, we made our way down to the private cabanas lining the shore.
The water was calm, the sun already adding ten degrees to the temperature.
The island felt like it was giving us everything it had left before we had to go home and be real people again.
We had been out there a while, talking about nothing in particular, when Ducane stretched out and looked over at me.
“You were going to tell me something last night.”
The laughter settled. I looked at the water. He pulled my chin, making me look him in the eyes.
“If you vandalized my pops’ shit again, it’s cool,” he laughed.
I choked on my water. “Excuse me?”
“I’m just saying if that was you that egged the office that one time, don’t worry about it.”
“That was not me.”
“You sure? Because the description of the suspect—”
“Ducane.”
“Short, natural hair, suspicious amount of knowledge about slingshots—”
“I am going to need you to stop.” I was laughing and pointing at him. “That was not me. I retired.”
“Uh huh.” He was grinning. “Retired.”
“Professionally and permanently.”
He laughed and settled back into his chair, and we sat there for a minute. Then he turned his head and looked at me.
“Skye, whatever you gotta tell me, it’s already forgiven. I’m not pushing.” He reached over and found my hand. “But we go home tomorrow. I don’t want to leave this island with you carrying something.”
I opened my mouth. He leaned over and kissed the corner of my mouth.
“Ducane, I love you. Please know this, but uhm, I...”
“Wow, so it is true, Ducane.”
The voice came from the path behind us. We both turned. I’d never forget the face of Bianca Morris. You don’t forget energy like hers. Snotty, too important, and not who she thought she was. But I digressed. She wasn’t my problem.
“Bianca, why are you wasting your time?”
“My time has already been wasted. Might as well waste it some more.” She looked at me. “The help?”
I laughed and lifted my sunglasses. “Watch it, bitch. I’ll smack you back to Upland.”
She scoffed and turned back to him. That was her best bet.
“Ducane, you made a fool out of me. I deserve an explanation. I demand one.”
“You don’t demand shit from me, B. I let you run your mouth to every blog, page, shit podcast too, because I didn’t feel like fighting a woman over a lie we both signed up for. That’s the only courtesy you’re getting. We had a deal. That deal’s dead, same as whatever you thought this was.”
“Let me guess, you think you two are just going to be one big happy family.” She scoffed. “We’ll see about that.”
That got my attention. I sat up and stood.
“Bianca, I’d suggest you think very carefully about what you say or do next. This is my only warning.”
She smirked and stepped back. “Oh, he doesn’t know. Isn’t that rich?”
“Say whatever you want to say to me, Bianca, but leave him out of it. Whatever happens next is on you.”
Another scoff and an eye roll. I rolled my shoulders, understanding how she was going to play it.
“Ask her who Cadence is, Ducane. Ask her.” She pointed at me.
Before she could get another word out, my hand cracked across her face hard enough to snap her head sideways.
She stumbled and grabbed her face.
“I warned you.”
I was on her before she found her balance, grabbing a fistful of her hair and yanking her right back toward me. A grown woman with a good job and a kid at home had no business out here throwing hands on a resort beach. I knew it even as I did it.
She clawed at my wrist, trying to pry my fingers loose, then grabbed a handful of my hair in return, more panic than strategy behind it.
I slipped free of her grip, got behind her, and locked my arm around her neck. She scratched and pulled at my forearm, trying to get out of the headlock I had her in. I squeezed harder.
Ducane was there in seconds.
“Spot!” he yelled. “What the fuck is going on?”
He stepped between us, wrapped an arm around my waist, and dragged me backward while I still reached for Bianca.
“Baby. Baby.”
“Move!”
“Skye.”
“I said move, Cane! Or I’ll punch you in your shit too.”
I fought against him, trying to get one more shot.
“You don't mean that.”
“Try me. I’m sick of her.”
Bianca finally found enough sense to stay where she was, one hand tangled in her hair, breathing hard. A strand of that expensive weave hung by her ear. She was a mess, and she was furious about it.
Good, I’d been wanting to do that since she scuffed my damn shoe.
“You lucky he’s holding me back,” I shouted. “Keep my daughter out of your mouth, you borrowed-time-ass bitch.”
“And you picked her.” She laughed once, bitter and breathless.
“This is the woman you gave everything up for?” Another breath.
“Ruben spent years trying to save you from this ghetto bird.” She jabbed a finger toward me, her hand still trembling from the fight.
“Ducane, she hid a child from you. What else do you think she’s hiding? ”
Nobody moved.
Ducane let me go.
He looked from Bianca to me.
Then back again.
His hand found my chin, gently forcing me to look at him.
I tried to turn away so he wouldn’t see the tears in my eyes because this was going to be the test.
“Baby, what is she talking about? What child?”
A lone tear slid down my cheek. He didn’t budge. His hands were still on my face, his eyes searching mine. I had nowhere left to go.
“I’m sorry, Ducane.”
“Sorry for what? Skye, I need you to tell me what I’m missing right now.”
I exhaled.
“We have a beautiful six-year-old daughter named Cadence Noelle Simmons. That’s what I was about to tell you before this bitch showed up.”
He went completely still. His hands stayed on my face, his eyes on mine, but he’d gone somewhere I couldn’t follow. I watched it move across his face, everything hitting at once, none of it landing anywhere yet.
He blinked once.
His hands fell to his sides.
Without a word, he turned away from us and walked a few steps toward the water. He stood there with his back to us, shoulders rising and falling as he drew in one slow breath after another. The ocean stretched out in front of him, calm and endless, the opposite of what I know he felt.
That caused me to lash out at Bianca again, “Do you feel good about yourself? Did you win?”
That wiped the smirk right off her face.
Then Ducane turned around.
His eyes were glassy, his jaw tight enough to crack a tooth. He looked at me first. There were a thousand questions behind his eyes, but there wasn’t an ounce of hatred.
Never.
Only hurt.
I wanted to cross the distance between us and pull him in my arms. I didn’t know if I still could.
Then he shifted his attention to Bianca.
“You have five minutes to get off this property.” Flat. Final. “My wife and I have a conversation to finish.”
“Wife?”
“Yes, wife. Surprise.” I wiggled my ring in her face.
“Wow, Ruben said…”
“Finish it, B. Get it all out, because you only got four more minutes of my time to waste.”
“Ruben said you’d come to your senses eventually. Guess he was wrong about that. I was there for you when you needed a prop on your arm, a hand to hold…”
“Everything you did, you did for yourself, Bianca. Let’s not rewrite it now.” His eyes stayed on me. “What I do from here has nothing to do with you. Two minutes.”
“Looks like your borrowed time finally ran out.”
She gasped and tried to speak, but Ducane wasn’t entertaining any of it. He called over resort staff without taking his eyes off me, his voice low and controlled as he told them to have her removed immediately.
Within minutes, she was being escorted off the property, her voice trailing behind her along with whatever dignity she thought she had left.
I didn’t feel bad.
Not even a little.
Fuck her.
My stomach dropped at the thought of what was coming now that she was gone. It was just him, me, and the truth, no interruptions left to hide behind.
I took a step back. One. That old reflex to get gone before I got left showed up.
“Don’t.” His voice stopped me cold. “You don’t get to run this time.”
He stood there a beat, his tongue sliding across his bottom lip, slow, thoughtful, before he stepped in close and wrapped his hand around the side of my neck firmly, just enough weight to hold me exactly where I stood.