I have a beautiful woman in my arms, and her bastard husband wanted to force her away. Maybe I’m not that skilled at pleasing women, but this damn world I stepped into required that I learn things quickly. No matter how long it took, I still planned on breaking that wall of distrust and separation between me and Adele. In a way, I’m kind of stubborn. I never did like people telling me what I can and can’t do.

As I kissed and caressed her gently for a while longer, I broke the kiss so she could breathe. As I was definitely breathing heavily, I noticed Adele’s face, ears, and neck held more color. She looked at me, her eyes searching mine. I knew she was seeking a reason to stay in my arms. Her husband changed so suddenly, and she couldn’t trust me.

“You didn’t expect me to do this,” I reflected on her thoughts. She acted like I was reading her mind, and she looked down.

“I can’t do this,” she whispered. “I’m not falling for the same lines as before. You’ve hurt me too many times.”

“Listen, I’m not the same guy for a lot of reasons,” I explained, then my thoughts went back to her boyfriend.

Crap, I’m not too late, am I?

“Don’t tell me you’re in love with that jackass I saw last night,” my voice came out in a growl. “A beautiful woman like you can certainly do better than that wimp.”

Her frozen glare came back, and she again tried to push away. I held on tight.

“All you got to do is tell me you love that piece of shit. Come clean and tell me. Is that something that’s going to please you? Will getting rid of me truly make you happy with him?” Surprised that my voice got loud, I hesitated.

Inside, I found myself quite calm since I wanted the truth from her. But a thought came to me. Was the little black book wrong? Maybe I should let her ride off into the sunset. Hell, I’ll still have money afterward.

Then, I’m just following this setup. No fucking way am I doing that!

“Tell me the truth, Adele. Do you really want that crappy guy or not? Is it your goal in life to be like Jenny?”

I used her friend’s name because the black book told me that Jenny kept introducing Adele to other men. Her best friend reminded me of a slut who enjoyed dictating the lives of others. Lane Dagger despised Jenny, and it showed in his writing. My guess was they were too much alike. Still, the notes showed me that Adele apparently understood that Jenny’s relationships were far too shallow and momentary for her. According to the black book, Adele fell for Lane because he treated her like royalty and acted like his partner in life. Even if untrue from Lane’s perspective, Adele fell for him, hook, line and sinker.

Tears welled in Adele’s eyes, and I suddenly thought my tight hold on her body was causing the pain. However, she collapsed into my chest as her anguish spilled out in her sobs.

I admit I had plenty of second thoughts at this point. Harming someone is not something I enjoy. Besides, I was hurting a woman I only met a few hours before. Yeah, an NPC in my mind, but the flesh and blood woman in my arms felt too real to disregard. Just as I loosened my hold, she mumbled a whisper that I almost didn’t hear.

“Lane, I’m so tired of being alone,” she confessed through sobs. “I don’t want someone who doesn’t give a damn about me.”

Adele lifted her head to look at me. Her mascara covered tears running down her face.

“I tried so hard to make you love me again, even though I never understood why you quit. But now I know you can’t change,” she wept. “That’s why you can’t fix this.”

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For some reason, it hurt me to breathe when I saw her tormented confession. Seriously, who can handle a distraught woman in their arms?

Then I realized why I was upset. That bastard went after someone who couldn’t directly fight back. Lane emotionally broke her because he knew he could do it. It was like I understood Lane even without reading his notebook. Even now, Adele didn’t punch me or slap me like I half-expected. Her soft personality would not allow it. Instead, Adele’s sensitive nature meant that even though she carried a powerful memory of her negative experiences, she believed there was something good in the other person.

It was one thing I remembered from my psych class about such a personality. It’s hard for them to let go of their relationships, even if it’s toxic. A person like that wants to believe in their lover’s good side so desperately that they’ll suffer for it. Remembering this item, I redoubled my efforts to turn this around. I still had a chance to make lemonade out of the lemons this place handed me.

“Like hell, I can’t fix this!” I gripped her tight.

Even if I wasn’t the cause, gazing at such heartfelt pain made me draw her back into my arms. Feeling those warm tears on my shoulder as she continued to cry made me reconsider trying to get her on my side. We stood together for a while. The warmth we shared made us strangely comfortable. I heard Adele sniffle as she turned to place her head on my chest.

“I need a tissue,” she mumbled.

I remembered there was a handkerchief that I found earlier in my suit pocket. I reached down and gave it to her. As Adele dabbed at her nose as I put my arms around her waist. I noticed she didn’t try to stop me.

“Listen, all the words I say, you’ll be suspicious about. You have every right to feel that way,” I said. “I have no shame in telling you I need you. Yeah, I’m an idiot who just figured it out late, but I can guarantee you that things are going to be different. It’s a promise that I must keep. Please, no more of this bullshit that it’s impossible.”

“You don’t sound like yourself.” Her bloodshot eyes wavered. “The person I married never apologized like this.”

I kissed her delicately on the lips, suddenly hoping that my morning breath didn’t offend her.

“Adele, there’s no doubt I’ve changed. I can make that in the form of a guarantee.”

That’s a no shit statement!

I took her left hand and lifted it for us both to look at.

“You still wear this wedding ring even after all this trouble. I know all I’m saying can’t fix everything at this point. However, I want you to remember some of the good things we did as well, so I can prove I’ve changed for the better.”

I kissed her hand.

“Nothing is impossible if we work together. It’s just that I’ve been a stupid fool. Believe it or not, people can change.”

That’s for damn sure, so I’m begging you to believe me!

Adele put her head back on my chest and the tears continued, but she kept her hand clutched with mine. I kissed her head while continuing to hold her tight, and she wrapped her right arm around me. Slowly, the sobs stopped.

“Can you tell me what I did to make you want to leave me?” I heard the pain in the words as she took on the guilt for Lane Dagger and it pissed me off. However, I remained still, letting my anger calm while trying to come up with an acceptable answer for her. I tried a version of the truth with a story that came back to me.

“Do you remember that story about King Midas?”

She nodded amid her sniffles.

“I think that the guy you married finally found out the same lesson.” I combined the Greek myth with what I figured out about my character as I rambled on. “When he turned everything into gold, he regretted his wish and cursed it. Dagger got wrapped up in his own world without a thought to how much he hurt others. The only thing on his mind was how to control and manipulate you and your money.”

Pleased with how I managed to put that story together, I softly kissed her head again.

“That you still can love a guy like that makes you an angel in my mind.”

Adele looked up at me with surprise filling her tear-covered face.

“I never thought I would hear such ideas coming from you. Everything you said before told me you wanted the world, not me.”

The woman put her head on my chest again.

The time slowly passed by, and I kept my arms around her. Even in the silence, the position felt more comfortable. Gradually, I felt her relaxing.

“Your heartbeat still calms me,” she breathed. “By the way, you never called me an angel before. Please don’t let it to be another throwaway line.”

This time, I grasped her shoulders and gave her a deeper kiss than the last one. I felt no resistance when I softly sucked on her lips and savored its softness. I pulled away slightly to look into her eyes. They revealed a passionate interest now over the doubts I witnessed earlier. Adele wanted our relationship to work out. I saw this clearly in her reaction.

Yeah, even if I'm a scumbag, I’m going there!