Trusting the Truth: A Having Faith In Love Series, #1

By Bre Simone

Ebony Russel has just broken up with her ex after months of being in a relationship and is trying to get back on her feet emotionally. It should be easy, with her paintings to keep her busy, but she quickly runs into an attractive waiter who's everything she's been looking for in a romantic partner. But nobody's perfect, and even Darius has secrets.

Oman isn't so quick to let Ebony go, and he hatches a plan to get her back. With the help of Ebony's roommate and long-time friend Dina, they seek to break up Ebony and Darius with secrets from his past. Can Ebony persevere when she learns the truth?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bre Simone
• Release date: Jul 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386285649

Book preview

One

Ebony

Icouldn't believe I was seeing this. I didn't want to believe Dina when she'd told me, and part of me wanted to ignore it. Oman had no reason to lie to me—we did everything together! —but the fleeting feeling in my chest wouldn't let it go. I'd sat and prayed for a while, begging God to give me the answers. To question someone that I loved, without a basis for my curiosity, felt like a betrayal.

But Dina didn't have a reason to lie to me either. We'd been fast friends for a long time, and she'd never led me astray before. And though I had no reason to doubt her, this was a question only my God could answer.

So I'd prayed, and I'd been told to trust my gut, that to continue blindly without seeking the truth for myself was a mistake I couldn't afford to make.

That's where I found myself now, staring at the photo gallery of some woman I didn't recognize, with Oman's face beside hers. He didn't have a sister, so that excuse was quickly ruled out. A friend from work was the next logical conclusion, but if that were true, he wouldn't have had to lie to me about where he was: business meetings, staying after work, taking care of clients, et cetera. No, he was out with another woman, wining and dining her just as well as he'd done for me when we'd just started going out.

The dull pain in my chest made it difficult to breathe, even more difficult to stop my eyes from welling up with tears. I'd given him my heart and soul, and this was how he chose to repay me. With betrayal and anger and tears, and all my trust thrown aside like last week's garbage. My dedication to him had obviously meant nothing to him.

I wasn't going to just sit by with my anger either. I wasn't going to let my ire get the better of me, but it was only fair that Oman suffer some of my wrath for his actions so that he would know the full extent of why I was ending our long-standing relationship.

The phone rang three times before he finally picked up. He sounded cheerful, completely oblivious to the reason I was calling.

Ebony! Hi!

Who is she, Oman?

His silence was deafening, almost to the point of making my ears ring. I was determined to get my answers.

Who are you talking about, Eb? The suspicion was heavy on his voice. I wasn't about to let him backpedal with some excuse.

The pictures here online, of you and this girl. You said you'd be working late at the bank that night. Do I need to read the timestamp to you?

I heard a heavy sigh from the other end, and that was confirmation enough that my assumption was right.

I'm begging you, Ebony. Give me a chance. He didn't sound at all worried, and for some reason, that made me even more upset.

Really? He was going to resort to begging? Bile rose in the back of my throat as I listened to his words. As if I could ever believe anything he tells me ever again. Not after I found out he cheated on me.

I trusted you, Oman. And this is how you treat me? Why should I give you a second chance? I tried to remain calm, knowing my roommate was in the other room. She didn't need to hear this conversation, and I didn't want to have to explain to her why I was yelling.

There was a sigh on the other end, and I could tell he had no answer to give. He knew that anything he said was already tainted with his betrayal.

... because you love me... he sighed again into the phone, and it broke my heart. No, not broke. He did that when Dina told me she'd seen him with another woman. His words drove a stake into my heart and twisted it with such agonizing pain, I could barely breathe. But it was not for tears; there was nothing in my lungs but the hot air of anger.

Loved. Past tense. I gave you my best, and this is how you treat me.

Ebony, wait—

Goodbye, Oman.

It's over! I ended it with her, it was just a one-night stand! You have to believe me!

I gasped in horror; I didn't know he'd had sex, but his admission turned my stomach and made me want to throw up. If that was his last-ditch effort to try and get me back, then he failed big time and made everything drastically worse. He took our promises to each other, shattered them on the rocks of adultery, and secretly buried it in the hopes I would have never found it.

Some part of me wanted to believe him, however; we'd been together too long for him to just throw everything away. But that doesn't make it sting any less. If he chose to do this now, who's to say he wouldn't do so again in the future.

You still made me look like the fool, Oman. And I don't intend to look like the bigger one just because you said sorry.

I hung up on him before he could say anything else. It's easy to recount the number of times I'd heard other women in life take back men who'd treated them like crap, like just another cog in the wheel that kept on turning. They believed they have no one else, nothing to add fulfillment to their lives. But I could never be one of them. I knew what I was worth, and I wasn't about to throw that away for some man with false promises. Like a festering wound, it was best to cut it off before it became gangrenous and poisoned the rest of your life.

My phone rang again, and I didn’t have to look at the screen to know that it was Oman calling me back. I took the phone and tossed it to the far side of the couch before burying it beneath the cushions. Silence came after the fifth ring, only for it to start all over again. Oman was avoiding the voicemail prompt, hoping that if he was persistent enough, I would provide him with some attention.

He should have learned a long time ago how stubborn I could be.

I let the phone continue to ring and could already feel the swelling around my eyes from the tears I wouldn’t allow to fall. A cold shower, some hot tea, I sought to distract myself with anything but sitting on the couch and listening to that infernal device continue to ring.

Matters were made worse as I walked right into the kitchen to find Dina sitting there, nursing a cup of coffee in her hands at the kitchen table. The steam was absent, meaning she'd been sitting there a good long while. She looked like she'd heard everything, but she was wearing her best smile to pretend as if she hadn't. Perhaps to maintain some kind of normalcy in our apartment, or because she knew I didn't really want to talk about it. She'd already had to tell me the story that had led to my argument with Oman in the first place; she had described the woman to me in intricate detail. Thankfully, this woman wasn't anyone I knew—so that was one less hurdle to deal with.

That... went about as well as I expected... Dina finally said, and I watched as she took a sip of her cold coffee. Come on, sit. She patted the seat of the chair next to her, and I felt myself obeying, despite wanting to be anywhere else but here. However, Dina had that quality about her that