CRYSTAL POVIt was done.My days as a student had finally come to an end.The very moment I set the pen down before submitting the answer sheet, I felt like I have been revived. I don’t know if it was just all in my head, but I have never felt anything so rejuvenating. I slipped out of the exam hall and into the long corridor, feeling overwhelmed by a rampage of emotions.I didn’t know I was crying until Anna walked up to me and started screaming.“Why the fuck are you crying?” She stood back a foot and gawked at me. I sniffled the ugly snort in my nose before smiling.“It’s my last day being a student,” I announced, and she linked. The cartoon-like kind of blinking.“And?”“And it’s been the hardest time of my life. The four years were like hell. Student loans were like my personal kind of torture, going up and down trying to find something to provide for the cubbies and… and…” and now, the tears were pouring down on my face like a summer stream.“Awwwww…” Anna walked up to me before

DUNCAN POVIt has never been an easy job for me to open up and talk about myself to literally, anybody.Six years in marriage with a 5-year- 5 daughter, Felicia still didn’t even know how I ended up in the US. Not that we had the healthiest relationship of all time, but that was the truth. To him I was just Duncan who sprung off a rock, like boof! And then roamed the surface of the earth.Even the people I always felt like they knew me better than others, Dom, France, you name them; they never really knew the depth of my being and all the littlest details that compromised my being.Everybody just knew the basics. I was a grumpy man who never laughed, with a billion-dollar firm in Houston, a very failed marriage, and a beautiful daughter. That was that.And I never felt any itch to change that. I was fine with the solid boundaries I set for everybody, and they had all stopped asking and nagging. All was merry. Until Crystal...There was just something about her that was deeply allur

DUNCAN POVDinner was phenomenal. Or I should say, overboard because that was my mother’s middle name. A shendyt wrapped belted on my waist, heavy pectorals hanging around my neck and onto my chest, with some heavy eyeliner that mom insisted on. But that’s not what actually stole my breath the entire evening. I was in awe at Crystal’s kalasiris. It was as if the old rag had been made to perfectly fit her. The band secured on her forehead and holding her unruly curls made her look like something that had stepped out of the dream. The heavy jewelry that I have always found a big nuisance just complimented her even further. If I wasn’t before, then now was the correct time to fall head over heels for this woman.It was as if she was created for this very moment, and fuck… Mom was ballistic. I have never seen her so woke over someone who wasn’t blood as she was with Crystal, probably because Crystal ticked all the little ‘requirements’ boxes she created in her mind. Her caramel skin,

DUNCAN POV “Am I supposed to wear the same thing I was wearing last night?” Crystal came spilling out of the bathroom with a white towel wrapped around her body, and one on her head. A small ‘oh’ escaped her lips when she took in my form on the seat beside her bed, dressed in a simple dress white dress shirt and navy blue pants.“You aren’t dressed. Are you leaving like that?” She inquired walking to her suitcase on the other side of the bed. My gaze followed her, my cock dancing with the idea of her being naked beneath that little towel. Just a small tug and everything would be revealed. A feast for my eyes.“It’s a boat cruise with lunch. Just wear anything you'll be comfortable in.” I said, shifting in my position to adjust the bulge in my pants. She whisked her head toward me and stared at me, “Is it a big boat? A ship?” I could tell she was nervous. The way her eyes were narrowed was enough to let me know all it was that was running through her mind. Deciding to come to her

DUNCAN POVSolid 24 hours have passed since we left what was now the remains of what used to be Crystal’s refuge, but Crystal’s sorrowful eyes still accused me with every ticking second, burned in the back of my mind. The sound of her disgruntled cries had filled the whole neighborhood and my brain, infesting themselves in what felt like a grotesque turmoil of umbrage and simmering vehemence and bubbling through my veins. The look on her, the hopelessness on her face danced behind my closed eyelids as I stood in the middle of our living room in Rosehill, a space inundated with deep grey hues and white touches, my hand gripped right around the small device on my ear, my jaw ticking so hard I felt my pulse picking pace. “Let me know if you find anything.” Was all I grunted before cutting the call and throwing the phone across the room where it collided with a solid wall before kissing the hard ground in a loud rattle. I turned around and gripped the strands of my hair with both hands,