Slice of Temptation

SLICE OF TEMPTATION A REVERSE AGE GAP ROMANCE SUGAR AND SCOTCH DUET BOOK 1 D.L. DARBY Copyright © 2023 by D.L. Darby ISBN 979-8-9869973-1-5 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Names, places, and events are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, organizations, or events, is purely coincidence. Edited by Virginia Carey Cover design by Rachel McEwan Created with Vellum For all the women who have carried the past with them. It’s okay to hold on—but it’s so beautiful when you let go. CONTENT WARNING This book contains materials that may be hard for some readers. Teenage pregnancy, off-page death from childbirth, cheating (not MFC or MMC), perceived cheating, and estranged parent. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me on any platform to further inquire about these triggers. Please read responsibly. CONTENTS Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Epilogue Ready for more? Prologue Chapter One Afterword Acknowledgments About the Author The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for. -Bob Marley PROLOGUE God, guys are fucking dumb. Well, let me rephrase that, high school guys are dumb. I would have given him forever. Devon Eddison. We’d been together since we were kids. Grew up next door to each other. I’ll never forget when he asked me to be his girlfriend while we chased frogs through my backyard when we were just ten. “There’s no one else I’d rather catch frogs with, Rylee. All the other girls are stupid. Well, except for Rysta, I guess. But only ‘cuz she’s your sister.” I thought it was so romantic. Our parents thought it was so cute. My younger sister was devastated because she’d been infatuated with Devon ever since he shared a cookie with her when she was four. No one thought it would last. One year turned into two. Two into four. And by seventeen, I was ready to spend the rest of my life with him. But Devon had monsters in his closet that I think a lot of boys do at that age. Back then, they were taught to hide their feelings and keep them inside. Even though I feel like I gave him the safest space he could ever have to truly be himself, he decided he couldn’t talk about his fears of the future with me. Maybe because I was supposed to be a part of it. Or maybe because Cherie Johnston was just easier to talk to that day on the beach. Senior skip day–a day when the seniors ditch school and find something to do for fun collectively. We’d all decided to head to Whittle Beach, down the road from Daytona Beach. I was so excited to spend the day soaking up the sun and watching Devon’s rippling abs while he played catch with the other members of the football team. Much to my dismay, I caught the twenty-four-hour flu and wasn’t able to go. It wasn’t a huge deal. Whittle was less than twenty minutes away from our small town Sandridge, so I could go whenever I wanted. But a few of the guys on the football team had fathers in high places and were able to get a bonfire permit, so it did suck that I would miss out on that. Said guys also had filled water bottles with various alcohols. So, as day turned to night and everyone got drunk, Devon found himself in a tangled web of bad decisions with the dark-haired girl known as Cherie. She was sweet, quiet, and artistic. And everyone knew she had a bad situation at home. Her dad was abusive, and her mom needed to leave him but didn’t have the courage. Cherie and I had actually gotten along really well until the bonfire happened. Until she and Devon fell into a deep conversation over a water bottle full of Southern Comfort and woke up tangled in each other's arms amidst the white sand and dune grass. They weren’t even discreet about it, which meant that the whole senior class knew before I did. No less than fifteen people had told me before Devon had called me himself. I was in such denial that he would do something so shitty–and shocked that I was hearing about it from everyone else–that I hadn’t even entertained the idea of calling him. And my twenty-four-hour flu turned into forty-eight hours with all the stress I’d been under. It was overwhelmingly embarrassing going back to school that following Monday. Everyone whispered behind my back, sending me looks of pity as I slowly passed through the halls with my face hidden behind my mocha-colored hair. Some people even said I deserved it because Devon was so devastatingly hot, and rumor had it I hadn’t given him my virginity yet. That tidbit of gossip was a lie, but I didn’t owe anyone that information. Devon had kept trying to talk to me every chance he could, but I refused to speak to him. It affected the relationship our parents had with each other, they’d been friends for so long but it was awkward and none of them knew what to say to each other. Then the real kicker happened. Cherie ended up being pregnant. She at least had the grace to tell me before it got around to the rest of the school. But it was all very dramatic. It happened in the hall during classes, with my best friend by my