Текст книги "Until Fountain Bridge"
Автор книги: Samantha Young
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mouth against mine. I pulled back and cocked my head in thought. “I thought the year you
started to see me differently was the one after my eighteenth.”
“The one after…?” Adam’s eyebrows drew together in thought for a minute and then
instantly cleared as he remembered. “The almost kiss.”
While he’d been reading the last entry, I’d found the entry I’d expected him to allude to as
to the moment he started to see me as more than Braden’s little sister. I held the diary out to him and he took it with a small smile as the memories flooded him.
Friday, July 5th
Tonight I had my first truly grown-up, sophisticated and, well, HOT, date. I’m just not
sure who I had it with…
As Christian helped me out of the taxi I had to wonder if this was going to be “it”.
Christian was handsome, charming, a total gentleman and he had class. He had yet to make
me laugh but I was sure that would come as we became more comfortable with one another.
He smiled at me again as I pushed the hem of my black dress back down. It had shimmied
up while I was sitting in the taxi. “You look stunning.”
I flushed. When he looked at me like that I felt stunning. I was wearing a plain black
sleeveless dress that should have been somewhat modest considering its high neckline and
mid-thigh hemline. However, the dress hugged every inch of my body leaving little to the
imagination. It was a sophisticated dress with a splash of “hot”.
I’d bought it earlier that day specifically for Christian.
We’d met a week ago in the student union. Christian was pre-law, two years older than me
and from an obviously wealthy and well-to-do family. They had an actual “estate” in the
highlands. That had nothing to do with what attracted me to him of course. I was attracted to
him and how he’d acted upon our first meeting– with a fresh and open honesty that really
appealed to me. It made me feel like I could be just as open with him. It made me feel like I
could be myself.
Christian had told me that although his family had the estate, they also had a home in
Corstorphine, a busy suburb out in the west of the city. His parents had bought it when his
sister had moved to Edinburgh and started popping out children. She was pregnant with her
third and the entire family was living in Edinburgh to be closer to her. I thought that spoke
volumes about them and was more than a little excited to meet them already.
To my delight, Christian had booked us a table at La Cour for our first date. I didn’t even
get a chance to tell him it was Braden’s restaurant. He inherited it from our father. As we
entered I opened my mouth to tell him but Christian started speaking about the menu and
what he thought I should order. I was going to tell him I knew what I wanted to order, since
I’d eaten at La Cour more times than I could count, when I heard Adam call my name.
Christian and I drew to a halt as the maitre’d led us to our table, and I turned my head to
see Adam sitting in the center of the restaurant across a small table from a gorgeous brunette.
I ignored the flare of jealousy, squashing it, and reminded myself I was on a date with a
fabulous man, and that the gorgeous brunette was just one of many sexual partners for Adam.
He was a manwhore.
But he was my manwhore, and I couldn’t help but walk over to him, Christian at my side, with a huge smile on my face, because as always I was delighted to see him.
Adam grinned up at me, his smile dimming slightly as his gaze flickered to Christian. He
gave Christian a once over and then turned those beautiful eyes of his back on me. He
perused me with a small smile and when his eyes hit mine they were full of tenderness. “You
look absolutely stunning, Els.”
I didn’t just flush at his compliment, I burned. “Thank you,” I murmured and then gave his
date a polite smile. “Hullo.”
She glared at me.
Oh well.
“Adam, this is Christian.”
Adam gave Christian a taut nod and then flicked his hand to his date. “This is Megan.”
“It’s Meagan,” she corrected him waspishly, pronouncing it like ‘mee-gan’ instead of
‘meh-gan’.
I saw Adam stifle a long-suffering sigh. Uh oh. His date obviously wasn’t going well.
“We better get to our table.” Christian gently pulled on my elbow.
I gave Adam another smile. “Enjoy your evening.”
“You too, sweetheart.” I moved to follow Christian but had only taken a step to walk away
when I felt a tug on the hem of my dress. I glanced down, frowning, and watched Adam pull
off the price tag. I blushed as he winked at me.
I closed my eyes briefly. I’d left the price tag on. I was always doing stuff like that. God, I hoped Christian hadn’t seen it. Opening my eyes I deliberately ignored Adam’s date and
mouthed a heartfelt “thank you”. He grinned at me and I smothered a laugh at myself before
hurrying to catch up with Christian at our table across the room.
“Who was that?” Christian asked casually as we were seated.
“My brother’s best friend,” I replied equally casually. “We grew up together.”
Christian nodded and then ordered us white wine. I preferred red.
We chatted as we waited for the waiter to return, and Christian told me all about a charity
he was organizing. He stopped talking when the waiter came back and he began to order my
food for me. Deciding to think this was charming rather than overbearing I informed him this
was my brother’s restaurant and that I knew what I wanted. He was impressed that Braden
owned La Cour and for five minutes I told him about Braden’s other businesses.
After that we were back onto Christian.
By the time the second course arrived, my hope for this being “it” was diminishing
rapidly. Not once did my date appear to take any real interest in me, and the more I realized
how self-absorbed he was, the more aware I became of Adam sitting across the room from
me. Adam whose eyes glittered with interest every time I opened my mouth.
I had just picked up my fork to take a bite of my steak when a phone rang. Debussy.
Really? Even his ringtone was pretentious.
Yes, by this point the shine had definitely worn off.
Christian pulled the phone out of his pocket and answered it, his eyes going wide. “I’ll be
right there.” He put the phone back in his pocket and stood up.
I stared up at him in absolute shock. Was he about to leave me here? In the middle of a
date?
“My sister just went into labor,” he explained, and I watched as he threw a wad of cash on
the table. “Stay, finish your meal.” He leaned down and pecked my cheek. “I’ll call you.”
And then he was gone.
I couldn’t exactly hate him because he’d abandoned me on our first date to go be by his
pregnant sister’s bedside. At that thought I slumped against my chair. Christian was
obviously a good person. He just also happened to be incredibly self-involved. It occurred to
me he’d been the same way at the student union last week but I’d twisted it in my overly
romantic little head and called it open and honest.
I looked at my food glumly.
A hand came down on the back of my chair and a shadow appeared above me. I glanced
up to find Adam bending over me, a scowl on his face.
“Where the fuck did he go?” he growled.
God, I loved him.
“His sister went into labor.”
Adam relaxed but didn’t move.
“I’m okay,” I promised him. I wasn’t okay. I wanted to cry. And he knew it.
He straightened and called out to one of the waiters by name. “Can you move us to a
larger table?”
“Of course, Mr. Sutherland.”
“Adam, no,” I protested. “I’m not crashing your date.”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me up. “You got all dressed up, sweetheart. At the very
least you’re going to get to finish your meal.”
Holding my hand, Adam led me to the new table and gave a jerk of his head to his date to
tell her to come to us. He sat next me as Meagan took the seat across from him, her green
eyes flashing with annoyance.
“Ellie’s joining us,” Adam informed her, his tone brooking no argument
“Sorry,” I mumbled apologetically to her.
“Don’t apologize,” Adam replied firmly. “You’ve nothing to apologize for.”
The waiters quickly brought over our plates and as we dug in Adam asked me about
Christian.
“Well.” I sighed after swallowing a piece of tender meat. “Up until forty minutes ago I
thought he was perfect. Forty minutes ago I didn’t know he’d try to order my food for me or
talk incessantly about himself.”
Adam grinned. “Was it about his hair? I bet he could get a good forty minutes out of how
long it took him to get that quiff just right—what styling mousse he uses and why, the
amount he uses in order to get just the right amount of height and curvature…”
I was giggling like an idiot as he continued to tease me. It was true. Christian had a rather
large quiff. Forty minutes ago I’d thought it spoke of his individuality and style. Now, I was
guessing Adam was right. The man probably spent more time on his hair than I did and that
was never a good thing.
Throughout the meal Adam made me laugh until I forgot all about my ruined evening. It
wasn’t until the waiter came to take our plates away and offer us the dessert menu that I
remembered Meagan was even there. She reminded us by scraping her chair back and glaring
at Adam. “I just remembered I have an early morning. Thanks for dinner, Adam. I’ll see you
around.”
Before Adam could say anything she’d turned on her designer heels and stormed out of the
restaurant.
I instantly felt terrible. Adam and I hadn’t included her in our conversation at all. It was
such a shitty thing to do.
Adam must have recognized my guilty expression because he shook his head at me.
“Don’t feel bad, sweetheart. She started complaining the moment I picked her up. If I was
rude, it was only in retaliation.”
I gave him a sympathetic smile. “Looks like we saved each other from crappy dates then.”
He grinned. “Looks like.” His eyes dropped to the menu. “Now, what are you having for
dessert?”
“We don’t need to,” I told him quietly. “We could just pay up and I’ll go home and let you
get on with your night.”
His eyes rose to meet mine and he gave me an “are you daft?” look. “Els, shut up and pick
a dessert.”
I swallowed a smile and lowered my eyes to the menu.
***
We stepped out into the warm summer night, and Adam took my arm and tucked it in his.
“Where to next?”
I blinked in surprise. We’d finished our meal and I’d just assumed I’d be going home.
“Um, where do you fancy?”
“The Voodoo Rooms is only a five minute walk away and I know the bartenders so we’ll
get a seat.”
I nodded, trying to stop my heart from taking off. Adam was taking me out for a drink.
He’d never taken me out for a drink just the two of us before. Recently he, Braden and I
would meet up for a drink or two but never just Adam and I.
As I walked down the street with him, arm and arm, I allowed myself the fantasy that we
were a couple. That’s what other people would see when they passed us. My chest squeezed
with utter longing.
Unrequited love wasn’t nearly as romantic as the books made it seem.
“Who don’t you know in this city?” I teased in an attempt to appear normal around him.
Adam grinned. “There are a few people I’ve yet to meet.”
I snorted at that. Adam and Braden called Edinburgh “their city” and they almost meant
that literally. They had acquaintances everywhere and anytime I was out with one of them we
spent half our time greeting people they knew. Some might say that Adam would never have
had that kind of relationship with the city if he hadn’t grown up as Braden’s best friend.
Unlike us, Adam didn’t come from a well-off family. His mum and dad were ordinary folks
who never really gave the impression that they’d wanted to be parents. Adam had been an
accident. Although they’d never been neglectful or cruel, his parents had been distant, and
he’d spent most of his childhood hanging out at Braden’s and bemoaning the summers when
Braden was off in Europe with his mother. As soon as Adam turned eighteen and moved into
student housing that put him into a lot of debt, his parents had gotten on a plane and moved to Australia. He heard from them once a month. Incidentally, Braden had paid off Adam’s
student debt as a graduation present, something he proudly wouldn’t accept until Braden had
gotten him drunk and recorded his slurred acceptance on his iPhone. I’d heard the recording.
He’d said “Love you, mate, you’re beautiful” so many times to Braden I’d almost peed my
pants with laughter.
I knew Adam well enough to know his difference in background didn’t mean anything.
Even if he hadn’t had Braden there opening all these doors, I believed with his charm and
charisma he’d still be a guy that a lot of people knew, liked, wanted to be or wanted to sleep
with.
When we got to the bar and restaurant, dinner service was just finishing up and the place
was crowded.
“Adam,” a bartender called to him as soon as we walked in and Adam gave him a chin
nod. “I’ll get you a table.”
We followed him as he claimed a table a couple was leaving, wiping it down with a wet
dishrag. The guy eyed me as I slid into the booth and then he gave Adam a smile of approval
that made me blush to my roots.
“What can I get you?”
“I’ll have a Macallan and ginger ale. Sweetheart, what do you want?”
“I’ll have a mojito, please.”
Adam settled into the booth with me, his arm sliding along the back of the seat behind my
head. For some reason I felt incredibly awkward and I struggled to find something to say.
“Sorry your date was rubbish.”
Adam shrugged. “I’ll just celebrate with you.”
“Celebrate?”
He gave me a small grin, looking boyishly pleased about something. I felt that look hit me
between my legs. I needed help. “I’m now a registered architect.”
My lips parted on a silent exclamation and I impulsively threw my arms up and around
him. “Congratulations!”
He chuckled against my ear and I shivered, loving the press of those strong, creative hands
against my back. “Thanks, sweetheart.”
“Does Braden know?” I asked, pulling away.
“Yeah. He congratulated me by giving me a permanent contract.”
I laughed. That was so Braden.
Adam had gotten his practical experience to complete his qualification by working
alongside Braden’s architect. This last year, however, he’d been doing the work himself and
having now achieved all the qualifications and experience he required, he’d applied to ARB
(Architects Registration Board UK).
“I’m really happy for you.”
“I know. That’s why I’d much rather be here with you than with Megan.”
“Meagan,” I corrected.
“Whatever,” Adam muttered.
Our drinks came and I asked him about the project he and Braden were working on now.
Adam then asked about my classes. I had chosen to study History of Art and Fine Art with
grand hopes of becoming a gallery curator one day, but now that I was in the course, at the
university, I was falling in love with the idea of a career in academia. Clark, who was a
professor of classical history at the university, was extremely proud and excited that I wanted to follow in his footsteps. When I told Braden I was thinking of doing a phD in Art History
he’d given me Adam’s “are you daft?” look, but then kissed me on the forehead and told me
to do whatever made me happy.
The night seemed to speed away from us and before I knew it I was on my third mojito
and snuggled much deeper into Adam’s side, laughing as he regaled me with his and
Braden’s antics at work and elsewhere.
To the outside world the two of them were extremely mature young men in their mid-twenties.
I knew better.
I wiped tears of laughter from my eyes and reached for another sip of my drink. “You two
are idiots.”
“Ssh, that’s a secret.”
I grinned back at him and the smile he gave me suddenly froze.
“What?” I breathed, my heart stopping.
He swallowed and shook his head. “I just sometimes wonder where the time has gone.”
“I know. We’re all grown up now,” I teased.
His eyes searched my face, his expression enigmatic. “Yes, we are,” he murmured and
something about the way he said it made the air between us grow suddenly charged. I swore I
stopped breathing altogether. His eyes were dark and focused and I felt the heat of his look
slide sensually down the center of my body. Nervously, I licked my lips and his gaze dropped
to my mouth.
My gaze dropped to his.
I don’t know which one of us moved. Me to him, or him to me? Both of us moved?
Whichever one of us it was, our faces were so close our lips were almost brushing. I could
feel his breath on mine and he obviously could feel mine on his. The smell of Macallan and
Adam played chaos with my hormones. My chest began to rise and fall with excited nerves
and hopeful anticipation.
I moved my head that little bit closer and our lips brushed. Infinitesimally. Still, that
slightest touch sent a bolt of lust straight through me.
Adam made a sound in the back of his throat and I swore he was about to close the
distance between us…
…but I’d never know for sure. His phone rang in his jacket pocket throwing a bucket of
ice cold water over the moment. I jerked back and watched his face cloud over as he realized
what had almost happened. Jaw clenched, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone
but it had already stopped ringing. He lifted his eyes to me and told me darkly, “Braden.”
I guessed he meant that Braden had been the one who’d called him, but I also guessed it
had a double meaning. I knew I was right when he quickly paid for our drinks and put me in a
taxi, abruptly ending our night together.
I was Ellie, Braden’s little sister. To Adam I would always be Braden’s little sister, and
that meant I was off limits.
When I laid in bed that night I cursed Adam Sutherland to hell and back. If he hadn’t
already ruined things for me before, he definitely had after tonight.
A lip brush.
One tiny lip brush and I felt that spark I’d been waiting on since I was fifteen and I kissed
Pete Robertson on bowling night. Whatever guy came next had a lot to live up to.
Chapter 5
“I was freaking out,” Adam admitted. He threw me a wicked smile. “I’ve never been so hard
in my life from a lip brush. I wanted to fuck you every time I saw you after that.”
I shoved him playfully, blushing. Adam was often deliberately crude because he knew it
made me equal parts embarrassed and turned on. I’d always hated when people used the “f-word” to describe sex, thinking it emotionless and casual. But after Adam and I became a
couple I’d discovered that when you were in love with someone and you knew they loved
you back there were different levels to sex. At one end of the spectrum there was the tender,
sweet, slow sex that I would call “making love” and at the other end of it there was the rough, wild, can’t-get-enough-of-you sex that was definitely the “f-word”. Adam was more than
proficient in both kinds.
I thought about what he’d said and frowned. “You did a good job of hiding it.”
He harrumphed. “I don’t know about that.” He looked back at the diary and frowned.
“What ever happened to that Christian guy, by the way?”
“I let him down gently when he called to reschedule our date.”
“I would say “poor guy” but I had to endure five years of wanting you and not having
you.”
“That was entirely your own fault.” I searched for the diary I wanted and once finding it,
found the entry easily since it was a night I would not likely ever forget, “Nine months before Joss showed up… it’s a perfect example of it being entirely your own fault.”
Sunday, October 23rd
That’s it. I give up. I’m humiliated. Confused and humiliated. And hurt. God… hurt
doesn’t even cover it…
I was supposed to be spending my Saturday evening with Jenna and a few girls from uni
sipping cocktails and talking about anything else but our degrees. Instead, I was in a taxi
heading to Adam’s duplex apartment in Fountain Bridge. I could have walked there, but I felt
a sense of urgency to get there and make sure he was okay.
And I really needed to thank him for having my back, like he always had my back.
The last week had not been a particularly good one. That was putting it mildly.
I’d been betrayed. Again. But this time it was worse than ever. For the last five months I’d
been dating Rich Stirling. For the last five months I’d thought I was dating a nice guy who
worked in Glasgow for a recruitment agency. I’d only just discovered that in actuality he was
a corporate spy for a competitor of Braden’s in Edinburgh. This property developer was so
desperate to outbid Braden on a piece of coveted land down by Commercial Quay that they’d
enlisted Rich to get close to me, to get close to Braden, to unearth Braden’s bid and offer
more money for the land.
I wasn’t in love with Rich but I’d let the sleazeball into my life, into my bed, and I’d given
him a piece of me. I don’t think I’d ever felt so completely stupid in my entire life. All of my friends and family kept telling me I was too nice, that I didn’t have good intuition when it
came to people, that I let a-holes into my life, and I was finally starting to believe they were right.
I could close down, refuse to let people close, be smarter, more selective… but that wasn’t
me, and that was somehow letting Rich win. So I refused to change and there was a tiny sense
of victory in that, at least.
It still stung like a mother that I couldn’t do anything, couldn’t take some kind of
retribution. So when Braden turned up at my flat – this gorgeous property on Dublin Street
that he’d renovated and then allowed me to stay in rent-free – to tell me he and Adam had
bumped into Rich out on the town the night before, I’d held my breath, knowing exactly what
was coming. Sure enough, Braden had had to haul Adam off of Rich and take him home to
calm him down and ice his knuckles. Apparently, Adam had let the whole world know how
he felt about anyone betraying me. He didn’t like it. And when he didn’t like it, he’d acquaint your face with his dislike.
As soon as Braden left I buzzed around my flat in a tizzy, wondering what I should do.
Should I call Adam and thank him? Should I go to his place and thank him in person? Should
I berate him for using violence to make a point? No, that last one definitely wouldn’t wash
with him. He wasn’t a violent person. In fact, although he could be intimidating and had
warned off a number of bullies when I was younger, this was the first time I knew of that
he’d actually gotten physical with someone on my behalf. I’d half expected him to go after
Rich. Adam had exploded and stormed out of my mum and Clark’s house when Braden
relayed the news to them all. Braden had told them after he told me but my throat was still
tight with tears as I had to hear it a second time.
After Braden’s departure, I finally made the decision to cancel my night out with the girls.
I jumped into the shower, blow-dried my hair straight, and threw on a long skirt with a low
waistband, my Uggs, and a wooly turtleneck with a cropped hem. I wanted to be casual, of
course, but whenever I knew I’d be seeing Adam, I liked to remind him in some way that I
was a woman with a woman’s figure. Not that it made any real impact. Despite evidence that
he checked me out sometimes, Adam had been carefully platonic in our interactions since our
lip brush three years ago. I had dated three guys in a bid to get over him. It never worked.
The guys just paled in comparison to him and the relationships fizzled out.
With a mind to the cold, I’d thrown on a short wool jacket over my top, along with a scarf,
and I’d flagged down a taxi outside my flat. It was only as the cab was pulling up to Adam’s
place that I thought maybe I should have called to warn him I was coming over. It was a
Saturday night. He might have company.
My stomach lurched unpleasantly at the thought. The last time I’d visited Adam
unannounced had been four months ago, and I’d walked in on him with a girl called Vicky.
Not only was I horrified once more to play witness to one of his sexual interludes, but I’d
been shocked to realize that he and my brother shared women. Not at the same time, thank
God. I knew they shared (and I didn’t want to know if it was a reoccurring thing) because
Braden had been seeing Vicky for three months. In an effort to soothe my severely bruised
romantic notions, Adam had explained Braden and Vicky were really casual and when Vicky
had said she fancied Adam, Braden had mentioned it to his friend and Adam had—la, la, la,
la, la, la, la! I didn’t hear the rest of the explanation because I had indeed stuck my fingers childishly in my ears and “la, la-ed” at him.
Sex was not casual to me. Not only was I annoyed that my brother, who had once been a
secret romantic, had turned into a serial monogamist, I was even more annoyed at Adam for
encouraging it. I couldn’t even describe how angry I was at Vicky.
After asking the cab driver to wait a second, I pulled out my phone and called up to Adam.
“Hey, Sweetheart,” he greeted me, his rich voice filled with concern. He was clearly still
worried about how I was coping with Rich’s treachery.
“Hullo,” I replied quietly, letting the warmth of hearing his voice fill my chest. “I’m
downstairs. Are you okay for me to come up?”
“Of course. I’ll buzz you in.”
I hung up, paid the taxi driver and hopped out, my heart racing as I hurried to the entrance
doors just as Adam let me in. My palms began to sweat as the lift took me up to his floor. It
was strange but my reaction to being alone with Adam had only gotten worse over the last
few years. Every time was like a first date, and yet I knew him better than I knew practically
anyone.
When the lift doors opened my eyes met Adam’s. He was standing in his doorway across
the hall, his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned his shoulder against the doorjamb. He
wore a plain white T-shirt and a pair of old jeans, his feet bare, his hair mussed, and he
needed a shave.
He was so bloody hot it was a wonder I didn’t start hyperventilating on the spot.
I crossed the hallway to him and held out the bottle of wine I’d brought him. He took it
with a quizzical smile and I sighed. “It was either a bottle of wine or a slap on the wrist.” I eyed his bruised knuckles pointedly.
Adam’s lips twitched. “Wine will do.”
I followed him into the duplex, my eyes drinking in the space as always. A large open
staircase greeted you at the front entrance, leading up to two spacious bedrooms, a bathroom
and an office. Beyond the staircase on the ground floor was just wide open space—a massive
sitting area with floor-to-ceiling glass windows covering one wall, and at the very end of the
room a stylish kitchen with an island, breakfast bar, and a dining table and chairs.
It was a luxurious property and one he could more than afford. Not only did Braden pay
him extremely well, Adam had invested in his own rental properties these last two years and
it supplemented his income nicely.
I took another look around the large space, smirking. Unlike my flat, Adam’s was
completely clutter-free. All items were carefully chosen and had their place. In fact, if I didn’t know first-hand that he was the straightest straight guy ever (well, with the exception of
Braden), Adam’s duplex might convince me otherwise.
“I think I’ll crack this open… I feel a lecture coming on.” His voice was teasing as he
wandered toward the kitchen.
As I shrugged out of my jacket and took off my scarf, I tilted my head and watched his
delicious arse walk away from me. The man had the most perfect bottom in the history of all
bottoms. Laying my jacket over his huge corner sofa, I wandered toward the kitchen,
watching as he pulled two glasses out of a cupboard and began to pour wine into them. Adam
turned just as I reached him and I saw his eyes flicker over the bare skin between the hem of
my top and the waistband of my skirt before quickly shifting away. I gave myself a secret
smug smile. Good wardrobe choice.
“Here,” he said somewhat gruffly, handing me a glass.
Our eyes met as we each took a sip of wine, and as I lowered my glass I told him
solemnly, “I came here to thank you.”
Adam shook his hand. “Ellie, you don’t need to thank me.” His face darkened. “It was my
pleasure, believe me.”
“Braden said he had a hard time pulling you off of Rich.”
“He fucked with you, Els. I mean he really fucked with you.”
“Literally,” I murmured and Adam stiffened.
“Don’t,” he warned me. “I’m this close to finishing the scumbag off.”
I felt a small thrill go through me at the sincerity in his voice. I loved that Adam cared this much. He might not be willing to see me as anything but Braden’s wee sister, but it was a
nice consolation prize to know he had some feelings for me. “I should be reprimanding you.”
I reached for his free hand, using his wounds as an excuse to touch him, and lifted it closer to me for inspection. His knuckles weren’t just bruised, they were swollen, and the middle one
had a small, healing gash in it. I hissed in a breath. “How many times did you hit him?”
Adam stepped closer, staring at his hand in mine. “I hit the wall next to his head as a
warning shot. He didn’t heed the warning, said shit he really shouldn’t have, and I think I got in four really good hits before Braden pulled me off.”
I lifted my gaze to his face, no longer feeling the thrill. “Did you leave him conscious?”
“Barely.” Adam’s eyes narrowed. “Do you care?”
“I don’t want you to get in trouble.”
His expression softened and he gently tugged his hand free from mine. “Don’t worry,
sweetheart, according to sources I was nowhere near New Town or Rich last night. We’ve
got a dozen witnesses who will all claim that I was at Bar Khol last night at the time of the
said attack.”
I nodded but worried my top lip with my teeth.
“Els, how are you really?” Adam asked softly, tentatively.
Instead of answering right away, I turned around and slowly made my way toward his
comfy sofa, listening to him follow behind me. I settled on the couch and Adam sat down
close to me, relaxing his arm along the back of it. Finally, I met his gaze and shrugged. “I’m
an idiot.”
Adam’s eyebrows puckered and his mouth got tight. “You’re not an idiot.”
“I’m an idiot,” I insisted. “I’m stupid and naïve and… humiliated.”
He slid closer to me, his fingers touching my wrist gently in comfort. “You have nothing
