Free Distraction (Finding Me #1) by Jada Crystal

Chapter 1
Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired
     
     
     
     
     
    I’m Kendra Watts. I’m thirty-one. I’ve been married for nine years and in those long, rather dreadful years, I’ve managed to be a faithful wife and mother of one – a little boy named Brandon. I love my family as a unit, but lately, I’ve been feeling invisible to my husband. Don’t get me wrong, Corey is a good man. He faithfully goes to work every day (albeit late, but better late than never, right?) and he manages the bills, but when he gets home, he’s a complete slob. He sits on the sofa, his feet smelling like Gods knows what, eating junk food like an acne-faced teenager while watching stupid YouTube videos and catching up on his friend’s Facebook statuses.
    I’m just getting started...
    People usually say in marriages, or any relationship for that matter, that it’s the woman who “let herself go”. In my case, it is the complete opposite. I keep my size twelve body tight with a regular routine of exercise. I make sure my hair is done, keep my nails looking good and I take good care of my skin and body.
    Corey, on the other hand, looks rough. Two years into the marriage, he tried to keep up with me and my style but then I guess his true style of dress came through – jogging pants that were two sizes too big, faded T-shirts and mud-dried flip flops. Besides his job, he has nothing going for himself. No goals. No ambitions. Quite frankly, I’m surprised he’s able to keep a job.
    I’m not a stay-at-home mom. I work, too, full-time, because one income can’t pay all of our bills. Three months ago, I was hired at a finance company and I absolutely hate it – having to basically force high interest loans on people, even if they didn’t come in for a loan. I must hit my quota, according to my manager, or else I’ll get written up. So all day, I’m basically under pressure, stressed out to the max, and to make matters worse, when I get home, there’s no relief. I have to do more work, entertain my son, vacuum, dust, sort through the mail, cook dinner, load the dishwasher, take my son a bath, take out the trash, shower then get in bed. Finally, peace and rest, right?
    Wrong!
    Corey slides up behind me, all three-hundred pounds of him, and rubs my back because that’s how he initiates sex every, single time he wants it. Every time. Mind you, he hasn’t showered, and I’m just too tired to even think about sex. So I brush him off and go to sleep.
    That’s been the routine for the past few years , the worst years of our marriage. I noticed the downturn in our relationship around year five, after Brandon was born. That’s because being a mom changed me. It showed me what unconditional love was all about. I thought I knew, but I didn’t know what love was until I had my son. I also came to understand what women meant when they said men were like children. The same way I clean up after Brandon, I clean up after Corey. I wash Brandon’s clothes. I wash Corey’s clothes. I cook for Brandon. I cook for Corey. I damn near spoon feed Corey and there’s no appreciation whatsoever. Not one ‘thank you’. Not a single gesture of appreciation. Some men just don’t know how to be husbands, and I got one of them.
    Now, I’m tired – tired of feeling like a roommate instead of a wife. Never in a million years would I have guessed I would be stuck in a dull, passionless marriage, one that left me wishing I had a man who appreciated me more. A man who was exciting. Who had drive. Someone who could have a conversation with me without it turning into a pointless argument.
    I’ve never been one to stray, to look at other men because it was just wrong. I had my beliefs and morals and marriage was sacred – meant to last forever, but what if the person I married was no longer the person I was married to? Wouldn’t that be a breach of contract by that individual? I upheld my end of the bargain. Corey just couldn’t hold up his