Our honeymoon night should have been special. We were finally alone in our hotel room when his phone rang. It was Tara, his stepsister, crying about a nightmare. Derek left immediately and he didn't come back that night.
When he returned the next afternoon, he smelled like her perfume and had a hickey he claimed was a mosquito bite.
Once, I found him in our shower pleasuring himself to Tara's high school portrait. When confronted, he said the photo accidentally fell into the bathroom. I found more photos hidden inside his pillow that night.
Every attempt made to have sex was met with reasons all connected to Tara. She needed help moving furniture. She felt sick. She wanted company for dinner. She called with another crisis.
I tried everything humanly possible to win his attention. Explicit movies to create mood, I booked Expensive restaurant reservations, losing weight but nothing worked. He would always find a reason to leave early or not show up at all.
Now it all made sense. Derek never wanted me. He wanted Tara and I was just a cover.