by L. B. Dunbar
How could he not speak? How could he not look at me? How could he let me go? I sobbed into my hands.
There were deeper questions then those, but my brain could not process the depth of my despair at the possibility, the reality, of what his father had said. That was my fault. I was the fool. Tempted by his seduction, I bit the poisoned apple, in hopes to find something more, and only lost myself instead.
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13
[Cain]
My father didn’t even let me shower. The smell of Sofie surrounded me. She was still on my dick. She was still on my hands. She was still in my head.
He charged through my room, throwing things into my bag and zipping it with enough force that it almost fell off the bed. Standing tall, he pointed for the door and I followed. I had to follow. It had been my fault, and I needed his support to bail me out. I never meant to kill the man; a man who shouldn’t have been in the ring with me.
My secret was exposed. The look of pain on Sofie’s face would have said it all. I couldn’t meet her eyes, but I sensed those innocent blues had turned to ice as I felt her stare on me. I was naked before her in more ways than one. The snake on my chest was fully revealed to her, like it had been the morning before, only now she would know the truth. The Cobra kills. I was an evil man.
My eyes wandered to the side of the bed, and I crossed the room to pick up the ring that Sofie had left behind a second time. I had to let her go. While the temptation to keep her ran deep, I had to free her. Fruit once tasted is sweet but left aside shrivels and dies over time. Sofie would surely not survive in my world.
“Forget the slut,” my father said. I lunged for him with a strength I knew I had—strength enough to kill a man.
“Don’t you ever call her that,” I warned with my forearm against his throat, as I slammed him into the wall beside the door. We were the same in stature, but I was a few inches taller. My workouts made me broader and I filled the space before him. He didn’t cower, though. His hard eyes met mine. His own wife had cheated on him, and every woman afterward was a whore in those eyes.
Atom Callahan had been a scrappy boxer in his homeland of Ireland. When he came to the United States, he thirsted for success. His feisty spirit led him to meet a sweet girl, father three children, and leave his wife alone too often. Evelyn was introduced to the underground world and the life of success around a ring, where she connected with the wrong man, became addicted to a poison, and fell from the grace of her husband. The three children left behind faced the wrath of his unhappiness often, but I learned to hold my own against him. Dark features similar to my own faced me. Cold brown eyes, large dark brows, and thick dark hair mirrored me, but didn’t reflect who I was.
I pressed into his neck one last time as Kursch tugged my bicep to release my father. He nodded once with his hardened face still pointed at me. I stepped back, and my father turned to exit the room, handing my bag to Kursch. I followed and Kursch brought up the rear as we entered the hall. I felt like the prisoner I once had been when I was arrested for the death of a man. My sentencing was worse now. I was leaving behind a paradise I should have never known. But once I took a bite, it would not suffice until I had the entire feast.
In the front foyer of the villa, I stood while my father settled the bill. One of the divorcees who partook in my sham of a wedding ceremony approached. She was a larger woman with glasses and a jovial look on her face.
“There you are. I’ve been looking for you,” she said with a cheerful smile.
“Party’s over, honey,” my father’s voice spoke across the otherwise silent space. His voice carried and echoed off the terracotta tile. He scanned the round woman up and down, while the young guy behind the counter finalized my charges. “Aren’t you a bit old to play with the snake?” He crudely addressed the woman.
She dismissed my father by turning her attention away from him after giving him an evil glare.
“I have some papers for you,” she said, reaching into her oversized bag.
“What papers?” I asked.
“Your certificate,” she replied, as she rummaged through the bag. My father was at my side again as she pulled out a legal sized envelope.
“My certificate?”
“Yes, marriage license and decree of matrimony.”
I stared at the manila envelope she held out to me.
“His what?” my father growled.
“His marriage license and decree of matrimony,” she repeated, shaking the wide object at me.
“He didn’t seriously marry the girl,” my father said with disgust, as I continued to stare.
A vague image of Sofie and I signing papers came into my memory. She looked over at me, soft waves of dark hair cascading over her shoulder. Her red rimmed glasses sliding down her nose.
“Is this for real?” she laughed in that way that warmed me.
“It’s for real,” I returned her smile and kissed her shoulder as she signed her name. Sofie Vincentia.
The woman’s voice broke my thoughts. “He most seriously did. I’m an ordained minister, and by the power vested in me by the state of California, I pronounced them man and wife.” She beamed up at me for a moment, before her face slowly shut down and her lips turned into a frown. She was examining my face.
“I...I couldn’t have married her,” I said slowly.
“Well, you did,” she replied with sternness in her voice. She narrowed her eyes at me and waved the envelope one more time.
My father’s hand reached out and snatched it from her. Without opening the envelope, he ripped it in half and then half again. He let the pieces fall to the ground in front of her.
“Didn’t happen,” he emphasized at her shorter height. Her larger frame allowed her to stand up to my father.
“Just because you tore that up doesn’t make it so. And doesn’t absolve the marriage. It’s already registered with the state of California.”
My heart stopped cold. Sofie Vincentia was really mine. She belonged to me as my wife. How could I have let this go so far? I knew how it happened. She had been the sweetest of temptations, and I, the snake, desired her. I seduced her with charm, like the cobra does to its prey, and she was ensnared into my trap. She would resent me, and hate me, like she should. My heart grew colder at the thought.
My father huffed in the woman’s face, then walked around her when he saw that Kursch had pulled up the SUV. I followed him like an errant child, and he opened the door for me. I climbed into the passenger seat next to Kursch, feeling the glare of the minister woman on me as I sat facing forward. I watched my father enter his own car and noticed my younger brother sitting in the driver’s seat.
We drove off. In an instant, I was about to face the fight of my life. The wrath of my father was strong. His resentment deep. I had to forget my luscious apple. I couldn’t bring her into my world, into the ring with me. It would be a fight she couldn’t survive, and neither would I. Like the snake I was, I slithered away, leaving the damage behind.
What happened to the snake after he tempted the woman in the garden with his fruit? The woman fled paradise. The father damned the snake, or so he thought. The rejection of both only made the snake meaner.
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Does Cain return to Sofie? Find out here: CAIN
Read his brother’s story in Abel: ABEL
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More by L.B. Dunbar
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After Care
Midlife Crisis
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Second Chance
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The Silver Foxes of Blue Ridge
More sexy silver foxes in the mountain community of Blue Ridge
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Silver Player
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Collision novellas
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Smartypants Romance (an imprint of Penny Reid)
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Love in Due Time
Love in Deed
Love in a Pickle (2021)
The World of True North (an imprint of Sarina Bowne)
Welcome to Vermont! And the Busy Bean Café.
Cowboy
Studfinder
Rom-com for the over 40
The Sex Education of M.E.
The Heart Collection
Small town, big heart - stories of family and love.
Speak from the Heart
Read with your Heart
Look with your Heart
Fight from the Heart
View with your Heart
A Heart Collection Spin-off
The Heart Remembers
The Legendary Rock Star Series
Rock star mayhem in the tradition of King Arthur.
A classic tale with a modern twist of romance and suspense
The Legend of Arturo King
The Story of Lansing Lotte
The Quest of Perkins Vale
The Truth of Tristan Lyons
The Trials of Guinevere DeGrance
Paradise Stories
MMA romance. Two brothers. One fight.
Abel
Cain
The Island Duet
Intrigue and suspense. The island knows what you’ve done.
Redemption Island
Return to the Island
Modern Descendants – writing as elda lore
Magical realism. Modern myths of Greek gods.
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Heph
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About the Author
Love Notes
www.lbdunbar.com
L.B. Dunbar has an over-active imagination. To her benefit, such creativity has led to over thirty romance novels, including those offering a second chance at love over 40. Her signature works include the #sexysilverfoxes collection of mature males and feisty vixens ready for romance in their prime years. She’s also written stories of small-town romance (Heart Collection), rock star mayhem (The Legendary Rock Stars Series), and a twist on intrigue and redemption (Redemption Island Duet). She’s had several alter egos including elda lore, a writer of romantic magical realism through mythological retellings (Modern Descendants). In another life, she wanted to be an anthropologist and journalist. Instead, she was a middle school language arts teacher. The greatest story in her life is with the one and only, and their four grown children. Learn more about L.B. Dunbar by joining her reader group on Facebook (Loving L.B.) or subscribing to her newsletter (Love Notes).
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Also by L.B. Dunbar
Paradise Stories
Abel: A Fighter Romance
Cain: A Fighter Romance
In The Beginning
The Island Duet
Redemption Island
Return to the Island
Watch for more at L.B. Dunbar’s site.