Nora never wanted much. Just a steady home. Simple days. A life that held its shape. She didn't crave excitement or change. She only needed predictability. Her routines, her quiet, her small world. It was enough. She believed that if she kept everything perfectly still, the life she had built would hold. And for a long time, it did. But when the ground finally shifted under her feet, Nora didn't move with it. She froze in place, the way people do when they have no other direction to turn. Because where does a person go when they have nowhere to go? Warning: This story uses mature language and scenes. © IcecreamSundae5. All rights reserved.

Sadie married Gage, thinking he was as head over heels in love as she was. Then Gage broke her heart when she overheard him telling his brother why he actually had married her. Months later, he came back into her life to win Sadie back. Only to break her heart again.

Alex had been my friend with benefits, and like a stupid cliche, I had to go and fall in love with him. I thought...I really thought...he was falling in love with me, too. Getting ready for a serious relationship. And he was. Just...not with me. He told me he wanted to find a girl just like me...

Esme Things can become clear in a second. When I found Tanner in his office with that woman, so many things became obvious. Tanner's always held himself back from me, but now, secrets and lies come tumbling out into the light. He's never loved me and he never will. I'm no longer willing to be a placeholder in his life, and I have to end our marriage. Tanner I'd been married for four years to someone I didn't believe I loved because I thought I still loved another woman. A woman I had to give up when I chose to marry my wife after I got her pregnant. Now, the other woman's back, she's divorced and is telling me it's our time to be together. Just as soon as I divorce my wife, who's pregnant with our second child. The allure of the past was impossible to resist, so I gave in, met her at my office and my wife found us just...after. So many things became clear to me even before I looked into my wife's devastated eyes. What had I done? I knew what I'd done, and now I had to prove to my wife that she's the one I want.

I watched as my boyfriend saved another woman when a rival club shot up the clubhouse. He never even checked on me as he took her to the hospital -- and I almost died. So I disappeared for a year, and when I came back, he was waiting for me. He wanted to win me back. But the way he'd betrayed me...there was no way to come back from that. He was convinced he could change my mind. Or die trying.

My husband was playing happy families with another woman and her son, to honor a promise to his fallen friend. After I had emergency surgery that he missed because he was with her, it was a wake up call for both of us: I was done and he was sorry. But there was more to this story that I didn't know. I just wasn't sure it mattered.

Tabitha thought she was ready for the Big D, but when she saw him kiss another woman at a party he'd taken her to, she realized their whirlwind relationship may have happened too fast. When he didn't contact her for a month, she was sure of it. But then he came for her and wasn't letting her go.

A married couple has been drifting apart for a while. He's on the go. She's more comfortable at home. He has a female friend at work he enjoys hiking, mountain bike riding and running with. She can't keep up. One day she tries and ends up in the hospital. He doesn't notice for three days that she's missing. It's his wake up call. But now, she's not answering.

When you find out your entire marriage has been a lie... The night before our sixth anniversary, my in-laws told me that my husband had gone out on a date with his ex, and had run off on the morning of our wedding until his father forced him to come back. For six years, I thought we'd been happy and that my husband loved me. Everything was a lie. And things just kept getting worse.

One lesson I learned very early in life was to be cheerful, to be agreeable, to do as I was told and ask for nothing, and to never ever complain. Smile Maddie. Be happy Maddie. Don't make trouble and maybe they'll love you. I grew into an adult who took care of others and never expected that those I loved would take care of me in return. I gave and never asked, never expected, never demanded. Smile Maddie. Be happy Maddie. Don't make trouble and you'll find someone that will love you. And then one day, a Dragon walked into my workplace and turned my world upside down with a single wink. Having grown up watching his father treat his men like they were disposable, just meat bags to be fed into the grinder, Dragon was determined to be different when he became president of the Dragon's Inferno MC. He cares about his people. He takes care of them. He was upfront with me, taking care of his MC and those he considered to be his would always be his priority. And I agreed to that, I joined him in that mission, throwing myself into becoming the perfect old lady of the prez. Smile Maddie. Act happy Maddie. Take care of them and maybe they'll love you. Smile Maddie. Be happy Maddie. Don't complain and maybe he'll love you. I told myself I was independent. I was strong. And I didn't need my Dragon to take care of me. And I almost believed it. Almost. But now I'm watching him with her. I'm watching him comfort her. I'm watching him listen to her, support her, reassure her. I'm watching him take time from his day to check in with her. I'm watching him worry about her. I'm watching them become closer right in front of my eyes. I'm seeing every thoughtful gesture he does for her. And me? I'm not happy. I'm not smiling. I'm done being agreeable. Fuck not causing trouble. I'm about to set my Dragon's world on fire. And then I'm walking away. She can have him. For the first time in my life, I'm choosing myself.