Текст книги "Until Fountain Bridge"

Автор книги: Samantha Young

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stared into his dark eyes and lost my breath so badly I had to look away.

“Stop acting like one.”

“I’m annoyed,” I explained. “I get to be annoyed.”

“Would you fill me in?”

I turned to him again, and this time I don’t think I managed to mask my hurt and confusion

over his actions because his own expression softened with concern. “Why did you threaten

Nicholas with physical violence when he came to you for advice about asking me out?”

Understanding dawned in his eyes and he sighed heavily. “He’s not good enough for you.”

“That’s not up to you to decide.”

His fingers dug into my hip as they curled in reflex to my response. “It’s up to me to

protect you.”

I closed my eyes, his words hurting me. “I’m not yours to protect.”

Adam’s body grew solid next to mine and we sat in awful silence for a moment.

The silence was broken when his arm loosened its hold around my waist. I was just

turning my head to look at him questioningly when I felt the touch of his fingers against my

upper back. Slowly, torturously he skimmed them down my spine and I flushed feeling my

nipples harden visibly against the fabric covering my chest. “You sure about that,” he

murmured hoarsely in my ear.

My eyes widened as I stared into his, a flurry of confusion and questions rioting in my

head, none of which I had time to voice before Donna and Darren took a seat next to us with

our drinks. Adam’s arm came back around, his hand resting gently on my hip, and I sat there

in stunned silence wondering what the hell he’d meant by that.

Chapter 7

Adam winced as he looked over at me. “I really did send you some pretty mixed signals.”

I snorted. “You think?”

He smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry, Els. You pissed me off. I was trying to make a point that

you were mine. It wasn’t fair.”

I shrugged. “You were torn. I forgive you. Especially since it makes a really good story.”

He laughed as I reached for the diary again, flipping through the pages to find the next entry.

“That night at Club 39 wasn’t nearly as bad as the night at Fire.”

Adam groaned. “Damn, I don’t know if I want to read this from your point of view.”

“I get quite detailed.”

He quirked an eyebrow at me. “Detailed?”

I nodded, blushing.

He saw the blush and grinned, pulling the diary out of my hand. “Baby, that’s hot.”

Sunday, September 16th

I’m done. It’s over. I don’t care what history lies between me and Adam… it’s finally

over…

I hadn’t been looking forward to the night at Fire because it meant being stuck in a club,

watching Adam flirt with everything that moved, but it was a big night for Braden as he was

holding a special event for Fresher’s Week, and I promised him I’d be there.

As per usual he and Joss were so wrapped up in their own stuff they didn’t notice the

tension between me and Adam. It was this horribly awkward tension, mixed with sexual

frustration, and it had sprung up between us after our clash a little while after the eventful

night at Club 39.

It had happened when I accepted a date with a guy called Jason that I met in Starbucks.

Jason was hot and seemed nice and I saw no harm in grabbing a drink with him. Except,

Braden had informed Adam of my plans and Adam had spent the entire night calling me up

with stupid questions. He ruined the date. It was immature and completely outrageous.

Even more so was the fact that, as Joss so bluntly pointed out, I had rudely kept answering

the phone instead of switching it off. The truth was I’d been enjoying Adam’s reaction to my

date. Somewhere along the line I had forgotten my vow to move on from him after the night

at his apartment, and I was playing our stupid game again. I wanted a reaction from him and I

got it. But after chewing him out at my parent’s Sunday lunch the next day, Adam had gone

from hot to ice cold. He tried not to be alone with me and when he was alone with me he

spoke to me about things you’d chat to a perfect stranger about. It had been wearing on my

nerves for weeks, and that along with my worries about school and the recurring headache I

couldn’t seem to get rid of, I found myself wanting to lay my frustrations at his feet.

Everyone else would get nice Ellie, sweet Ellie, the Ellie everyone knew and liked. Adam

would get crabby Ellie, tired Ellie, the Ellie with the bitter, broken heart.

While Braden detained Joss after a small skirmish about her dress (my brother was such an

alpha-male idiot sometimes) Adam led me up to a private booth across from the bar. I slid in

one side and was surprised when Adam sat down quite close to me.

“Careful,” I warned him dryly, “I think you’re breaking your one meter distance rule with

me.”

He curled his lip, unimpressed. “Don’t start. Not tonight.”

“Not any night.”

His eyes flashed. “You know why I don’t date, Ellie? So I don’t have to put up with this

shit. It’s like being in a fucking relationship without the benefits.”

Hurt, I gave him the dirtiest look I could muster. “No, it’s like being in a friendship you broke.”

Having successfully spread my hurt to him, I felt awful, and feeling awful made me even

angrier at him. I didn’t want to care that I hurt his feelings.

Adam was about to respond when movement drew our heads up and we saw Joss trying to

escape our argument. He gave her a look that told her to plant her bottom down beside us and

save him from me.

I was almost as relieved as he was when she sat down on my other side.

“Braden’s having drinks sent over,” she said, her eyes taking in all the guests. “I didn’t

realize he had other friends appearing tonight. I thought it was just us and random people.”

“No,” I replied absentmindedly, my bad mood causing the rope bridge between my brain

and mouth to snap. “Some of his exes as well as his previous friends-with-benefits girls love

clubbing. He invited them and a few of his guy friends.”

It wasn’t until Adam snapped, “Ellie, what are you playing at?” and I turned to see him

gazing pointedly at Joss that I followed his gaze and saw Joss had frozen at my careless

comment.

Mortified, I hurried to assure her apologetically, “Oh crap, Joss, I didn’t mean anything. I

mean, those girls don’t mean anything…”

“Let’s get drunk,” she announced overly cheerily and I felt unbelievably guilty for making

her feel uncomfortable and uncertain of Braden.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Let’s just wait for Braden,” Adam insisted.

However, Braden spent an awful long time flirting and chatting with guests and the

tension at our table grew so thick we all sought to escape it. Joss and I headed for the dance

floor, and I kept her company for a while until I headed to the bar to get some water. As I

approached I caught sight of Adam and felt that oh so familiar burn in my throat. He was

wearing a black shirt, rolled up at the sleeves, with black dress trousers. It was simple, it was hot. He always looked hot. And tonight he looked hot as he leaned into a girl who was sitting

on a stool at the other end of the bar. She had her head tilted back while Adam braced one

hand on the bar and leaned in to whisper in her ear. She laughed and he lifted his face so they were almost close enough to kiss. Whatever he murmured to her made her laugh soften to a

flirtatious smile and I felt that burn in my throat transform into a lump of tears.

As if he sensed my gaze Adam’s head lifted and our eyes met. I’d never found it easy to

hide my emotions when I was feeling something particularly deeply and I hurried to look

away before he caught it.

“What can I get you?” One of the bartenders finally approached me.

“Bottle of water,” I replied, my voice hoarse with pain and he had to lean in for me to

repeat the order. Just as I handed him money for the water, I felt a hand on my lower back

and his cologne hit me seconds before his mouth brushed my ear.

“Els,” Adam said quietly, his voice thick with emotion.

I didn’t know how to respond. My eyes fixed downward on the bottle as I tried to control

myself, knowing that every day I was getting closer and closer to forcing our situation into

some kind of resolution by putting the truth out there.

“Sweetheart, look at me.”

I did as he asked, searching his face for answers I knew he wasn’t ready to give me,

answers he may never be ready to give me.

He lifted his hand from my back and brushed his knuckles tenderly along my jaw, his eyes

following their movement. “The prettiest thing I’ve ever seen,” he murmured.

The words stung because they signaled another round on this merry-go-round of mixed

signals. I reared back from his touch, grimacing. “Don’t.”

He dropped his hands. “Ellie—”

I gestured to the girl at the other end of the bar who was now throwing invisible daggers

my way. “Did you say that to her?”

“El—”

A surge of shocked murmurs and shouts interrupted him and we both turned to look over

his shoulder to see Braden rearing back from hitting… “Gavin,” I gasped.

Adam immediately took off to be by his friend’s side and I followed, my heart racing for

Braden. Gavin had been his and Adam’s friend at school, but he’d grown up into a prize

arsehole. Braden, for some reason, felt loyalty to him and kept him around. That was until

five years ago when he’d slept with Analise and betrayed Braden.

Now he was in his nightclub?

“That is Gavin.” Braden threw Joss a disgusted look. “The friend who fucked Analise.

Why the hell were you talking to him like you know him?”

Oh dear God, Joss knew him? For a moment I felt absolute panic take over me at the

thought of history repeating itself for my brother. But I remembered this was Joss, and

despite her flaws, she would never be disloyal. I only had to watch the shock fall across her features at the discovery of who Gavin was to realize that whatever this was, it was a big

misunderstanding.

Well, at least on Joss’s part. I sneered at Gavin.

“He’s a trainer at my gym,” Joss explained. “He helped me once.” She looked up at

Braden and as she promised him she had no idea who Gavin was she let her feelings for my

brother all hang out. I knew she probably didn’t realize it, would even be mortified if she

thought for one second she was making herself transparent. However, I was glad to see it and

wished Braden wasn’t so riled up because he didn’t even notice it.

“Looks like you moved on to better things, Bray.” Gavin peered at Joss in a way that made

my skin scrawl and I saw Adam’s shoulders tense in front of me. “Here’s hoping history

repeats itself because I’ve wanted between her legs for fucking weeks. How about it, Joss?

You fancy shagging a real man?”

I’d never witnessed my brother hit someone but he was on Gavin before anyone could stop

him. Adam tried his best, but I knew there was a part of him that didn’t want to pull Braden

off the sleazy little traitor. But he did, only just managing to keep a grip on Braden when

Gavin said something so crude I almost threw a punch.

By the time security came to drag Gavin out, I thought Adam was going to let Braden go

just so his own arms were free to start swinging. And poor Joss. I watched with concern as

Braden, bristling with adrenaline and anger the likes I’d never seen in him before, hauled her

out of the main club and up the stairs into his private office.

I didn’t even want to know what was about to happen in there.

Instead I stood there, still shaking from the whole thing, as the excited customers and

guests returned to enjoying their night. Adam and I were just standing on the dance floor

staring at one another. I reckoned we were both trying to work out where we were at, and

what the hell had just happened.

The girl from the bar strolled over to him in a tight jersey dress that showcased a

bombshell figure. She was shorter than I was but like Joss she had more hips and ass. I

suddenly felt dowdy in my shapeless, shimmery shift dress. Stopping beside Adam, the girl

placed a proprietary hand on his arm. “Let me buy you a drink after that.”

Adam glanced up from her to look to me and desperate not to bleed as openly as I had

earlier, I closed my features down and told him flatly, “Go. I’m leaving anyway.”

I brushed past him before he could reply, pushing through the crowds, and carefully

making my way downstairs to the street level. A hand suddenly curled around my bicep as I

was about to step outside and I looked up in surprise to see Adam was there with his jacket

on.

“I’m making sure you get home okay.”

“You don’t need to.”

He didn’t reply and he didn’t let me go. I was too tired to struggle so I let him manhandle

me into a taxi and I sat in absolute silence with him as the cab drove us to Dublin Street.

He paid for the taxi and followed me out and up the front stoop. He waited patiently as I

got out my keys and let us in to the dark flat. I took a few steps into the hall, flicked the light switch and turned around, kicking off my heels. “You can go now.”

Instead Adam slammed the front door shut behind him and stared at me sullenly.

I sighed softly, tired of fighting. Mum had always joked I wasn’t a fighter, I was a lover.

She’d even bought me a T-shirt that said it. “You can leave now, Adam. Thank you for

seeing me home.”

“What do you want from me?” he suddenly asked, his voice husky with anger.

I backed up at his tone, hitting the wall, watching warily as he stalked me. My chin tilted,

my lips parting in surprise as he placed his hands above my head on the wall and caged me

against it. He lowered his head, his nose sliding along mine until his mouth rested just above

my lips. I swallowed, finally finding my voice. “What do you want from me?”

His answer was to crush my lips beneath his.

Like the last time he’d kissed me like this, the world just disappeared, taking reality and

all the important stuff with it. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my fingers curling into his hair, my breasts pressed hard against his chest as we devoured one another.

After a while Adam eased our carnal kiss, releasing my swollen mouth to press soft kisses

along my jaw and down my neck as his hand slid up the inside of my thigh. I sank against the

wall with a sigh, my eyes closed as he kissed my lips again, his tongue teasing mine. His

fingers slipped under the fabric of the lacy lingerie I was wearing under my sweet dress and I

groaned into his mouth at the pressure of his fingers pushing inside of me.

Adam pulled back, his breathing as shallow as mine as he toyed with me. I closed my eyes

again, the pleasure tightening. I gripped his arm as he pushed me toward it. “Adam,” I

pleaded.

“Look at me,” his words rumbled over my mouth and I immediately opened my eyes to

find his blazing into mine. “I want to watch you come.”

I felt my cheeks flush even harder at the demand but I held his gaze as his fingers worked

me, my hips undulating against his hand, my gaze turning drowsy. Adam’s breathing grew

harsher and harsher as he watched me, and when he pressed down on my clit with his thumb

and I broke apart, clinging to him through my orgasm, he swore loudly and rested his head in

the crook of my neck.

My legs were trembling as I came down from my high, reality settling in. Confusion

overwhelmed me and I felt tears prick my eyes. Adam’s warm breath caressed my skin as he

lifted his head to whisper in my ear, “I almost came just watching you.”

I shivered, tingling all over again.

“You make me so goddamn hard,” he confessed and he gently lifted my hand to press it to

his erection straining against his trousers. Triumph melted the confusion away for a second, a

powerful feeling of victory taking over me as I caressed him and felt his groans of pleasure

against my ear. At least he wanted me. At least he was in torment over that.

“You don’t stop, baby,” he peeled my hand away with a regretful sigh, “I’m going to

blow.”

When he lifted his head our eyes met and he saw the tears shining in mine and pushed

away from me with another curse. Running his hand through his hair, Adam sighed heavily,

“I shouldn’t have done that. Els, I’m sorry.” His face crumpled and I saw the self-flagellation in his expression.

“Why?” I asked softly, needing to know once and for all what was happening to us. “Why

shouldn’t you have done it? Why can’t we be together?”

Those gorgeous dark eyes of his lifted to mine in surprise, as if he couldn’t believe I didn’t

understand. “Because of Braden, Els. He’s my best friend. He’s family. I can’t take the risk

that he won’t forgive me for…” he gestured helplessly to me.

The warmth from the aftermath of the orgasm he’d given me was destroyed by the chill

his words created in me. I stood up from the wall and tried to control that burning lump in my

throat. “But I’m willing to. I’m willing to because I’m in love with you. You know I’m in

love with you.”

The lack of surprise on his face was confirmation.

I shook my head, laughing bitterly as I wiped at tears that had begun to fall. “All these

years, even now, you’ve told me all you ever wanted to do was protect me from getting hurt.

And yet you say things and do things to confuse me, to make me think you might feel the

same way that I feel about you, and then in the next second you’re cold and you flaunt other

women in front of me.” The tears fell fast now and I could see Adam’s own eyes starting to

shimmer with pain. I didn’t care. I had to get this over with. “The only person who’s ever

really hurt me is you. And I keep letting you.”

“Ellie,” he sounded in pain as he took a step toward me. He stopped though, the pain

transferring to his eyes when I moved away from him. “I do love you,” he admitted and

instead of feeling joy at those words, the last piece of me holding onto hope crumbled.

I shook my head. “But not enough.”

“You know that’s not true. Els, you of all people have to understand. If you and me start

something and it all goes south, I lose Braden too. I’ll lose the two people in the world who

mean anything to me.”

I wanted to understand him. I tried to understand the reasons behind people’s actions

because I wanted to believe the best in everyone. But all I knew was that I loved him enough

to risk it all—to risk our history– for something more, and the fact that he wasn’t willing

told me he couldn’t possibly feel the way I felt about him. I didn’t want to be in a relationship with someone I loved more than he’d ever love me.

“Go home, Adam,” I replied softly. “We’re done.”

His eyes widened in shock. “Ellie—”

“I’ll pretend for Braden. When we’re all together, I’ll pretend for Braden that nothing has

changed between you and me.” I held his gaze, attempting to be strong as I ended us. “But

whatever this is, it’s over. Everything. Don’t call me, don’t visit… just don’t. I don’t want

you near me when you don’t have to be. It hurts too much, and if you care about me even just

a little bit, you’ll stay away from me.”

I didn’t let him reply. I couldn’t. I turned and strode down the hall and into my room,

closing the door behind me and leaning against it while I tried to catch my breath.

There was silence in the hallway for what seemed like forever, and then finally I heard the

front door open and close quietly.

The burn in my throat burst out into sobs, and I slid down the door panting for breath

through the pain…

Chapter 8

“Most miserable bloody weeks of my life after that.” Adam turned the pages, scanning my

sparse entries after that night.

I slid my hand around the nape of his neck and gave it a squeeze. “Me too, honey.”

He lifted my hand from his neck and brought it around to give my knuckles an

absentminded kiss. “The night at Jenna and Ed’s wedding was fucking torture.”

Agreed. We’d both taken dates. I’d taken Nicholas just to be particularly annoying and

Adam had taken some random girl with him. Although I’d flitted around the wedding acting

my cheery self and steadfastly refusing to look Adam’s way, it was one of the most painful

experiences of my life.

Adam threaded my fingers through his and rested our hands on his lap. “Here it is.” He

held the diary up.

“What?” I frowned, trying to read my writing.

“I’m fast forwarding to my wake up call.”

Monday, December 17th

I’m writing this as quickly as I can because I can see Adam is about to rip the pen from my hand and use whatever means at his disposal to bring my attention back to him. Since I like the means he will use I need to get this down. It’s been an utterly exhausting weekend but

today I woke up feeling stronger than I have in a while. This morning I woke up to something beautiful, and I swear after the last week I’ve had, I didn’t think that was possible…

Focusing on a crack in my ceiling I determinedly attempted to push the fear and

desperation back. There was this buried part of me that kept trying to push up and grip my

chest from the inside out to pull me to it to whisper desolately, “I’m not ready to die.”

Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it, stop…

I couldn’t think like that.

But it was what I’d been hiding from for months. When my doctor told me I needed

glasses I’d ignored my own instincts and grabbed onto that solution with utter relief.

Still, the headaches kept coming, the exhaustion worsened as the anxiety I kept hidden

from everyone built and built.

Ten days ago I’d had a seizure in my kitchen. I was terrified but also strangely relieved as

I sat in the hospital and waited for my turn on the MRI—sick to my stomach with fear but

relieved that I was going to know once and for all what the hell was wrong with me.

A tumor, though. A brain tumor.

I tried to catch my breath. We’d waited ten days for the results and it was a brain tumor

and they wouldn’t tell me anything else. I had twenty four hours of waiting to find out if I had brain cancer or not.

I wanted to handle it graciously, not just for me but for Braden and Mum and Clark and

Hannah and Declan. I wanted to handle it graciously for Joss, knowing it would be difficult

for her. However, her reaction…

A tear slid down my cheek as I thought on her reaction only a few hours ago. I’d watched

the panic in her face and then she just… shut down. She just left me. When I needed her the

most, she just… left me.

Braden was furious and panicking about me and about her and trying not to. His anxiety

was making me worse so I told him to go and speak to Mum and Clark. Understanding I

needed just a little time to myself he gave me it.

I couldn’t think of the worst. I wouldn’t be like Joss. I mean, I wanted to be prepared but I

wasn’t a pessimist. And surely, I was too young to… You never think something like this will

happen to you. It feels like a dream, it’s so surreal, like you’re watching someone else’s life play out in a movie.

My phone rang and I turned my head on my pillow to eye it on my bedside table.

Adam Calling.

I breathed through the tightness in my chest and reached for the phone. Since I landed in

the hospital ten days ago, Adam had reneged on his unspoken promise to stay out of my life.

He called me every day and came by the flat as much as he felt I’d let him get away with it.

Too exhausted to fight him, I did let him get away with it.

“Hullo,” I answered and even I could tell I didn’t sound like myself.

There was a crackle down the line as he let out a heavy sigh. “Braden just called.”

I tensed, hearing the roughness in Adam’s voice, the choked brokenness in his tone.

“Yeah.”

“God, Ellie,” he groaned as if in agony. “Sweetheart—”

“Don’t.” I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me, and I bit my lip to try and stem

the flow of tears. As soon as I felt I could speak without crying, I continued, “We don’t know

anything yet.”

“I know I need to come to you. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”

“No, don’t,” my voice was sharp as I sat up, my heart pounding at the thought of having

him here to hold me through this. “I don’t want you to.”

“Fuck, Els.”

I winced at the hurt in his voice. “Please, Adam.”

“I need to. I need to be with you. I love you, Ellie. I’m fucking in love you.”

He was crying.

I’d never heard or seen him cry before. At his tears and outright confession I started to cry

too and collapsed back on my pillow, squeezing the phone tight to my ear. Finally I

whispered, “Just stay on the line with me, okay.”

Adam cleared his throat, his voice breaking as he replied, “Anything, baby.”

I sighed and snuggled deeper against my phone. “We don’t know anything,” I repeated.

“It could be nothing,” he added.

“Whatever it is, I’m going to fight.”

“I’ll fight with you.”

“Ssh,” I hushed him softly. “No promises. Not like this.”

“I’m done wasting time, Els.”

I smiled sadly, too weary to go there. “Just waste a little more time for me. Please.”

He was a silent a while and then he replied quietly, “Only a little, baby. Only a little.”

***

Adam’s phone bill would be ridiculous but I doubted he cared. He stayed on the phone with

me for two hours and we hardly spoke. I just listened to him breathe as he listened to me

breathe. We finally hung up when Braden returned, but Adam refused to let me say the words

goodbye and it was the first time I heard undiluted fear in his voice when he begged me not

to say that word.

It was a lot. It was huge. But it was one thing for him to admit to me again that he loved

me and an entirely different thing for him to admit that to Braden. I needed to get through this crisis before I could deal with me and Adam.

I watched television with Braden for a while, snuggled up into his side as he stroked my

hair soothingly. Mum and Clark had gotten into a huge fight with him because they wanted to

come to me but Braden insisted there was nothing they could do right now and while I was

stuck in limbo it would be best if I had peace and quiet and didn’t have to worry about how

they were coping with this. I appreciated it but I also gave them a quick call so they could

hear my voice and I could ask them to take me to my appointment the next day. They were

okay at first but then suddenly Clark had to say a quick goodbye when Mum started to sob.

Of course that set me off for a while, and then I calmed, and then as it got darker outside and the evening began to pass, the fear over what I’d hear tomorrow hit me.

Braden laid me back on my bed and curled my hand around a mug of hot water and

whiskey. He sat on my bed as I drank it and he watched me until my eyes finally fluttered

closed.

They slammed open at the sound of my bedroom floor creaking. I was curled up in a ball

on my bed in the dark, and through the moonlight spilling in through the large window I saw

Joss standing at the bottom of my bed.

Surprised that she had come to me but still gripped by hurt at her defection earlier, I just

gazed at her with round eyes.

At a breathy gasp, my eyes grew wider as I realized Joss was crying. Joss was crying.

Joss. I knew she’d run earlier because of the baggage she carried around about her family’s deaths.

I’d known that on some level that fear had sent her running from me, but actually

witnessing her tears, I realized it all meant that she cared about me. She was frightened of

losing me.

The tears slipped down my cheeks and moved Joss to action. She crawled up onto my bed

and as she settled in beside me I turned on my back. Joss immediately rested her head on my

shoulder and shifted closer to me. She took my hand and held it between both of hers.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“It’s okay,” I promised her and meant it. “You came back.”

“I love you, Ellie Carmichael. You’re going to get through this.”

I’d won the love and affection of someone as lost as Jocelyn Butler? For me that was a

whole lot of light in a whole lot of dark and it overwhelmed me. I tried to swallow past an

answering sob as I whispered the truth back to her, “I love you too, Joss.”

***

Braden had woken us up that morning and he’d made us breakfast. Even with the

appointment with the neurosurgeon looming over me that afternoon, I could tell something

had gone horribly wrong with Joss and Braden. Upon asking them, I discovered they’d

broken up and attempted not to feel guilty. I failed.

They’d clearly broken up because of me… because of Joss’s reaction to what was

happening to me. Hearing Braden’s deadly cool voice with her and seeing the flinch of pain

in Joss’s face, I wanted to intervene, I wanted to fix what I had inadvertently helped break,

but they wouldn’t have it and I was ushered out of the room and into a shower.

At one point I heard their escalated voices over the spill of water and then a plate crashing

followed by more shouting. Worried, I switched off the shower and clambered out but the

voices had quieted to a murmur. Still, I hurried getting dried and pulled on a bathrobe, ready

to put myself between them if need be.

Instead as I walked quietly down the hall I heard Braden confessing that he loved her and

that he wasn’t going to stop fighting for her. He promised her in his way that he would be

relentless. The romantic in me almost passed out on the spot.

“You’re insane,” Joss hissed back.

“No,” I disagreed, coming to a stop in the kitchen doorway, giving them a smile. “He’s

fighting for what he wants.”

“He’s not the only one.”

I turned my head in shock at the sound of the familiar voice, and watched with a pounding

heart as Adam strode into the flat toward me. He looked like hell with dark circles under his

bloodshot eyes, and it looked like he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days.

He was still absolutely beautiful, and the way he was gazing at me, like I was something

precious just dancing out of his arm’s reach, was absolutely beautiful.

When he stopped before me he took my hand and raised it to his mouth, squeezing his

eyes closed as he pressed a kiss against it. My breath caught as he opened his eyes and I saw

the tears from yesterday were back again, shimmering in their depths. I also knew from the

determined fire blazing in his eyes that he had really meant it when he said he’d only waste a

little more time for me. As in less than twenty four hours.

That’s why when he tugged me by the hand and drew me into the kitchen as he faced up to

Braden, I let him. Because in a few hours I’d discover whether or not I had the biggest fight

of my life on my hands, and even after everything, the only person I wanted fighting by my