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“Being apart was too much for her. She met some people in school who introduced her to drugs... mainly cocaine. She eventually dropped out of classes and moved in with her dealer. From what she told me later, cocaine soon became heroin. Then she got flighty and took off.” He sighed. His fingers intertwined with Jade’s on his thigh.
“When I finally found her, she told me she hitchhiked across the country in search of this awesome dealer she’d heard about. She hitchhiked because she’d already burned through our savings and sold our car for money for her next high, which meant she didn’t have any other options.” Ryker shook his head. “I’ll spare you the details, but basically her addiction escalated to the point that she cheated on me and sold her body in exchange for drugs, money, and a roof over her head, all before she OD’d.”
Jade squeezed his hand. “I’m so sorry, Ry.”
He kissed her cheek. “I’m not. If things were different, I wouldn’t have met you.”
He continued, “I finally convinced her to go to rehab. She got clean, but she was depressed all the time. She didn’t want to write or pursue her old interests anymore. When I was home, she didn’t want to spend any time rebuilding our relationship. She wanted to stay in bed and watch TV all the time.
“To top it off, I couldn’t convince myself to be intimate with her anymore. We’d been each other’s firsts, and I hadn’t been with anyone but her. I was extremely hurt and betrayed that she’d been with who knows how many other men. I think she knew that, because she never asked me to be intimate again, either.
“She finally came to me and said she wanted to travel. To find herself somewhere else and not be stuck somewhere that she had so many bad memories.
“We agreed that we would both pursue what made us happy. That we would be friends and be supportive of each other, but that we both needed to move on.
“That night, I went out, had a few drinks, and had my first meaningless hookup. Barely three years into my marriage — which I’d naively thought would last forever — it was already over, and I was fucking a random hookup for the first time. That’s what I’ve been doing since. Until I met you.” He pressed his lips beneath her ear. “You make me want to stop the hookups and start something real again.”
“I’m completely on-board with that,” she said. “You do realize, I’ve been with a lot of men and the occasional woman, right? Does that scare you? I’ve always been safe, but I do have an extensive hookup tally.”
“Me, too, baby. Mine probably bypasses yours by a long shot. No, your past doesn’t bother me at all. It doesn’t matter who we were with in the past. That all happened before we met. But if we’re going to move forward together, I want us to be exclusive. Just you and me. No one else.”
“Are you asking me to be your girlfriend, Ryker?”
He grinned. “I am, Jade. Will you ‘go steady’ with me?”
Jade laughed. “Yes, I will.”
“Yessssss,” he said, kissing the corner of her mouth. “Best news ever.”
Chapter 16
Jade
The sun fully set over the lake by the time they finished talking. They were surrounded by darkness. The moon gave them enough light to see, and its reflection was beautiful on the water.
“It’s such a gorgeous night. Want to go swimming?” Ryker asked.
“Sure, but I didn’t bring a bathing suit so you’ll have to shut your eyes till I get in the water,” she teased, winking at him.
“Ooooh, skinny dipping, are we? Naughty woman.”
“You know it.”
“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours first.” He laughed.
“Okay, you asked for it.”
She stood up and faced away from Ryker, still within his reach.
She slowly did a little striptease for him, pulling her shirt off and tossing it aside, then unhooking her bra and dropping it. She bent over at the waist to slide her shorts and panties down her legs, giving him a perfect view of her intimate folds.
His hands went to her ass and caressed her cheeks. She gasped when his warm breath touched her pussy lips then his tongue teased her slit from behind.
“Oh, Ryker,” she breathed.
“I have to taste you, but I’ll make this quick so we can swim before it’s too cold, baby.”
He swirled his tongue between her folds and teasingly sucked on her pussy.
