Sunday Snippet: Good for the Soul

Ugh. This has been a rough week. A nasty stomach virus worked its way through the entire family. So glad we're all back to being semi-normal.

Looking forward to catching Talking with Chris Hardwick tonight. I'm excited to see what he brings to the screen each week.

Legends of Tomorrow had a solid finale. I look forward to seeing how the team deals with the time quakes. Awesome to see Mick pretty much choose his side.

Riverdale keeps getting better and better. I love this show. Watching Archie screw things up makes me happy. It's nice to have a character who gets to grow and change… as long as he actually gets to do both.

Finished up season three of City Homicide and got a start on season four. I'd forgotten how much I didn't like Rhys. Can't remember if he ended up growing on me or not. Took a small break to rewatch Pitch Perfect and do my happy chair dance while viewing.

That's it for television this week. Tonight's post is from Good for the Soul, a novella where my main characters realize love is good for the soul.

Here's the mini-blurb:

Dex Thurgood has ideals he upholds and wants to keep it that way. But when he's forced to confront a sinister underground trade leader, he has to face his darker nature to bust up the extortion racket, which won't be easy because Ramsey Markum knows one of Dex's deeply buried secrets. Lana Denman steps up to help Dex deal with the fallout of not being perfect.

And a sneaky peek…

With his past staring him in the face, Dex dug in and refused to bend. Ramsey could do what he wanted with the information. Dex couldn't give a shit anymore. The guilt nearly ate him alive anyway. If Ramsey shared the information, maybe Dex could move the fuck on and put that dark decision in the past. He and Erica started out great. They had fun and enjoyed each other's company. And the sex couldn't be better.

Until Erica used it as a weapon.

By the time Dex realized he and Erica did not make a good fit, she told him about the pregnancy. He reacted to the news with stone-cold silence. A baby wouldn't fit in his life, and he couldn't be the type of father he'd want to be. Erica knew. They'd talked about it. She'd heard his deepest concerns about trying to raise a child, yet not being there due to deployment or getting stationed somewhere a family wouldn't thrive. Did Erica think he'd be overjoyed? Far from it, Dex had the horrible thought she'd done it on purpose, to bind them, and keep him in her life. Had she known he'd lost interest? That he'd found someone he wanted more? Did her instincts warn her or had he given her some kind of indication about his swiftly changing feelings?

Erica interrupted his stream of consciousness. "Dex? What do you want to do? About the baby?"

He honestly couldn't answer. He didn't have one. Erica laid a hand on his knee and he felt trapped. Smothered. Penned in.

"Dex? Did you hear me?" She punched his leg. "The baby? What should we do?"

Disentangling himself, he put some space between them. "I, uh, I don't know." He wanted to bolt. Run. Hop a transport off planet.

Erica frowned. "What do you mean, you don't know? You don't seem very happy."

His eyes widened. "Did you think I would be? I've got four more years in the service. You know how I feel about trying to raise a child when I'm active military."

Erica shrugged. "But, Dex, you could muster out. You don't have to stay in the service."

Her utter lack of comprehension made his head hurt. "Erica, you don't just leave the military. You have to have a reason, a damned good one, and a pregnant girlfriend does not qualify."

She frowned again. "But I thought—" She stopped, her gaze flying up to meet his.

She couldn't quite cover the flash of guilt.

Dex saw red. "Oh, hell no. You did it on purpose, didn't you?" How had he missed the manipulative side to her?

Erica tried to play her maneuver down. "Well, not really on purpose. I might've missed my birth control shot by a week, but I didn't plan it."

Dex shook his head. "Maybe you didn't plan to miss it, but you knew what could happen because you did. If you'd told me, I would've taken precautions." He shot her a look. "Or we could have skipped having sex until you were covered again."

Erica pouted. "But I didn't want to forego the sex." Her hand moved to his crotch. "I love your hard cock inside me."

Dex doubted it would ever get hard for her again. His dick certainly had no reaction to her current touch.

She jerked her hand away and he figured she realized the same. "I don't know why you're so pissy about it. It's a baby, Dex. You won't miss much. They don't do anything overly useful until they start school anyway."

Incredulous, Dex shook his head. A child amounted to a commodity to her. He'd rather not be involved at all.

Making a decision, he rose. "Do what you feel is best, Erica. If you continue the pregnancy, I'll support the decision and the kid."

Her lips thinned. "But you won't be around, will you?"

He held her gaze. "I'm deploying in two weeks. You knew that."

She stood up. "Not what I mean. You're not planning to be with me."

Dex gave a terse nod. "I'm sorry, but, no, I’m not."

Erica's eyes went cold and flat. "Nice. Knock me up and walk away. What a guy."

Dex didn't bother pointing out the flaw in her statement. He grabbed his hat and headed for the door. "Think what you want, Erica. I'll leave the base contact information with Smythe on my way out." He pushed the door open. "You can keep me informed via the main switchboard until I have a permanent post."

Erica lifted a slim shoulder. "Whatever, Dex. And by the way… your financial support won't be needed. You can't hold a stick to my father's money."

Dex snorted. "Never tried to, Erica. But I'll pay my fair share, either way."

She chose to ignore his assertion. Dex tucked his hat under his arm and left, wandering through the huge house to the butler's quarters. He left his military personnel details with the nonplussed man and took his leave.

Getting behind the wheel of his car, Dex breathed a resigned sigh. He hadn't expected the breakup to be easy, but the curve she'd thrown hadn't helped. By the time he pulled to the end of the drive, he questioned whether he'd made the right decision. A month after he deployed, he discovered he'd never find out. Erica had been killed in a car accident when she lost control of her vehicle. Smythe informed Dex she'd been driving at a high rate of speed and spun out around a sharp curve leading to the family's summer estate.

Dex's downward spiral will go out of control… unless someone checks his progress. Good thing there's a woman willing to do just that.

That's it for this week. Catch everybody of the flipside.

ML Skye