Chapter 27 — JERRISON

A RINGING CELL phone jars me from restless slumber.

I cling to the dream, reluctant to face the world. My fingers tighten around a woman's body.

The cell phone stops.

Then it starts wailing again.

I bury my head in the woman's neck. "Harriet, get that would you?" The cell phone screams at me.

A huff of annoyance builds in my chest. Didn't she hear me? That thing is going to wake the damn neighbors.

I groan her name again.

The woman in my arms turns as rigid as steel. I pry my eyes open. Blink sleepily.

A face comes into focus. Brown skin. Long hair. Gap-tooth. Not Harriet.

Not my wife.

Ashley's face is twisted into an expression I've never seen on her before. Eyebrows pulled tightly together. Lips flattened into a furious line. Nostrils flaring like a raging bull.

I brace myself to be skewered. "Let me get that." Turning away from her, I pick up my phone and check the screen.

Nathan Zedina.