Adam, Enough Said (This Can't be Happening) (27 page)

“I
didn’t sleep with another woman until after we met and you asked me for a divorce. I won’t lie about that. I’ll also tell you that I’ve been with plenty women since then, but probably a hell of a lot less than you think. I didn’t realize it until I saw you sitting in that room last night, but I was only passing the time, Mia. And the only reason I hadn’t realized it sooner was because I never thought I’d get another chance with you.”

“You
don’t have another chance with me,” I whispered and I watched, in slow motion, as Adam’s lips tipped up.

“Yeah,
Freckles, I do and I’m taking it.”

I shook my head in
a mixture of denial, confusion and just plain terror.

“I need to go home.”

“You are home,” Adam replied, so fast it was like he’s had the answer his whole life.

Oh
my God.

T
ears pricked my eyes.

“This is
n’t my home. I’ve never had one,” I breathed and watched as his expression grew tender.

“
Yeah, Freckles, you did and you do, and that home has always been with me. So get your shit together and get over whatever doubts you have going on in that head of yours and realize that. And while we’re at it, I have plenty of money and a lot of friends, some of those friends are lawyers and judges. You don’t play this my way, I will play dirty. I’ll make sure you’re ordered to live in this house with me. Either that, or I’ll burn your place down.”

I gasped. “You’re insane.
Can you ever just act like a normal guy instead of a cocky asshole?”

“Nope, then you wouldn’t like me so much.”

I sighed. “That's the thing, Adam... I don’t like you at all. I hate you, which is exactly why I’m not staying here...ever.”

I said I hated him, and I did, but why did
n't I feel as strongly about it?

"Fine, I'll stay with you." And as soon as
the words left his mouth, I felt my world crashing around me. I felt sick.

"You can't. Can we
please stop talking about this?" I begged.

"I can
--"

"I
'm moving in with Max," I blurted out. Adam's hands fell away from my face like I burned him. The devastation on his face rocked me on my feet, but I hadn’t meant to say that.

Max had asked me to
move in with him, but I hadn’t said yes.

"You love him," he accused
.

No!

I wanted to scream, but I couldn't even open my mouth for fear I'd shout, "
I love you!"

I
didn’t love Max. There was no way I'd ever be able to love anyone other than Adam, but I couldn't go back. How ridiculous would I be if I admitted that I still loved him after six years? And our past? I still wasn't over it and wasn’t sure I ever could get over it. He'd hurt me so badly I was surprised the scars hadn’t magically engraved themselves into my face for the world to see.

We
couldn't just change an entire past with one night. And there were still so many unanswered questions.

"
Get dressed and I'll take you
home,"
he spat the word. "Unless you'd rather me call Max to come get you."

"Please stop. It's been so long
...six years, Adam. You moved on...you never came for me. What was I supposed to do? I had to move on too."

"Do I look like I fuckin' moved on
? Jesus, you're still the most hard-headed woman I've ever met! Did you ever stop to think that maybe I refused to sign the divorce papers because that fuckin' piece of paper was the only way I could hold on to you? I still keep all the furniture in this house the exact same way you left it. And the only reason I didn't come for you is because of
what I did
," he roared, jabbing his finger in his chest.

"
I thought you were better off without me. But you know what? I'm done. I'm a fuckin' idiot and always have been. When you're dressed, I'll take you home. And don't worry about the divorce papers, I'll have some drafted and sent to you."

And with that he stormed away and
my sob broke free.

Five minutes later, I got Eric’s voicemail.

“Eric
, it’s me,” I said softly into the phone. “I’m okay, I’m still at Adam’s, but I’m about to go home. I’ll call you again when I get there, but I really need to talk to you. Adam told me things…I just need to hear the truth from you,” I finished in a desperate whisper.

Chapter
Twenty-One

Adam Bryant

I
nfuriatingly psychotic knife-wielding maniac
!

Cutting up shit one minute, fucking my brains out,
being vulnerable, pissing me off and then finishing it all off with a crying jag. But
fuck
if I didn't love every single one of her multiple personalities. Half the reason I always said the wrong things around her was because she knew how to flip my switch. To see idiot - flip her
e
.

Every stupid
word that flew out of my mouth was her fault. Her fault! There, I said it. Everything that was wrong with me was her fuckin' fault 'cause she had that beautiful face, that fiery red hair and that
mouth
.

I needed a beer.

No, I needed a goddamn keg to deal with her little ass and it wasn't even noon yet.

I squeezed the steering wheel until my knuckles
turned white, trying to decide what in the hell I was gonna do. I wasn’t divorcing her - that was out of the question - but I had to figure out a way to get her back and saying stupid shit - again, was her fault - wasn't going to help my case.

I glanced at her again.

She wouldn’t even look at me, choosing instead to stare out the passenger window as I drove her to her goddamn apartment.

She
was wearing the same clothes she wore last night and the small view of her face that I could see was red from crying, which made me feel even more like a total asshole.

A
nd fifteen minutes later, when I pulled up to her place, I hadn't figured out a damn thing.

When
I put the truck in park, her eyes hit my face, but they skittered away, so fast I never got to make eye contact.

"
Mia, I'm sorry," I said low, but loud enough to hear.

She
didn't even look at me as she whispered, "I’m sorry too."

Sh
e moved to unbuckle her seatbelt, but I stopped her by covering her hand with mine.

“Adam
, please,” she whispered in desperation.

“We’re not done. Not even close,
Baby. No divorce. I’ll find a way to get you back --”

“I haven’t told him yes,” she
whispered and my heart stopped.

“What?”

“Max asked me to move in with him, but I never told him yes. I just told you that because I was scared and you were pushing me.” She sighed. “I need to think, Adam, and I need to do it without you around. You’re just so…overwhelming. And you were wrong about what you said earlier, I don’t love Max, because if I did, I never would have cheated on him with you.”

“Goddamn
it, Mia. You can’t cheat with your own husband.”

“
Adam, please stop acting like years haven’t passed between us. You came back into my life by accident just last night, and now you're refusing to leave? If everything you said earlier was true, that you never got over me, then why let all this time pass? I can’t help but think it’s because you just found out about Max and don’t want someone you actually know moving in on your property.”

My teeth hurt from clenching so hard. “You know that’s not true.”

“Do I?”

“Mia, I don’t want to let you go
, because I still love you.”

“Do you, Adam? Do you love me, or do you love the memory of me? Because really, you don’t know me anymore.”

“Yes--”

“
No, don’t say anything. Just think about that. You love a memory of me…a memory that holds a lot of guilt and regret that’s now leaking into the present because we haven't seen each other in so long.”

“So
what you’re saying is you don’t love me?” I asked because what she said was a two-way street.

“No, I’
ve never stopped loving you, Adam,” she admitted in a soft, resigned tone. “But it’s different now. I don’t know you anymore than you know me. Up until the day I left, I used to look at you and get butterflies in my stomach. My world revolved around you. I worshiped you and ate up every bit of attention you showed me. But now when I look at you, all I feel is fear and anger and sadness and…lost. It’s difficult to wade through all of my pain to get to the love that I have for you now, but it is still there. I just don’t know how to stop hurting, or if I ever will.”

“You will. We both will. As soon as you come back to me.
And if it’s not tonight, I’ll come for you tomorrow.”

She blinked a few times.
“Did you not hear anything I just said? I need time.”

I shook my head. “I’ll give you tonight, but I’m coming back tomorrow. We’ve already wasted six years because we both have too much pride
, and I don’t want to waste one more day. But for you, I’ll give you just that. One day.”

"
My God,” she breathed. “You haven't changed at all, have you?" She made it sound like I had a disease.

"No, I haven't changed, but I
have learned not to make the same mistakes twice. I’ll be here tomorrow."

"
Well the same goes for me. No more mistakes. You can't force me to come back, Adam." And with that, she threw the door open, jumped out of the truck, and ran up the stairs without looking back. I just watched her go and fought the urge to follow her until I couldn’t fight it anymore.

S
he opened her front door and damn near fell inside. I jumped out of my truck, because I refused to let the morning end like this.

But b
y the time I made it halfway up the stairs, I changed my mind and turned to go back. I’d only piss her off more and she’d asked for time.

Tomorrow
was time enough.

And then I was running as if the devil himself was on my heels and fire filled my veins.

“I don’t know!”
I heard Mia’s scream again.

My heart
pounded behind my chest and blood rushed through ears from adrenaline. Only when I made it to the front door, did I realize it was left open and I barreled through.

Mia was
against the wall being held up by her neck with tears in her eyes, and rage seeped out of every pore in my body.

Her
attacker turned, spotted me, let Mia go and she fell to the floor. I didn’t pause, didn’t even have time to think and I was rushing toward him with every ounce of power I possessed. He moved to run around me, but I tackled him. Both of us grunted and he struggled, but I wrestled him to the floor.

I vaguely heard Mia rushing around and
then I heard her voice giving her address and my name, but I couldn’t concentrate on anything but ripping apart the son of a bitch who touched her.

“Get off me
,” he grunted and struggled, and then he shoved and swiveled, swung and missed.

“
I’m gonna fuckin’ kill you,” I vowed as I swung and landed a right, and then another right, and I kept going until he stopped struggling as much. I hit him and hit him and hit him until he was no longer moving.

“Adam
, stop!” Mia shouted, and I hit him one more time, before my arm was caught mid-air.

I
twisted, more than ready to keep slamming my fist into someone’s face, when I realized it was a uniformed officer.

“Calm down, Sergeant
, you’re gonna kill him,” the uniform said, which pissed me off because that was exactly what I wanted to do. I ripped my arm from his grasp and rose to my knees, still high on adrenaline. I looked down at the unmoving asshole who deserved to die and wished I had it in me to murder him in front of others.

“No, I want to see him!”
I heard Mia’s frantic scream from somewhere behind me and I pushed to my feet and twisted around to find my woman, but I couldn’t see her. Another uniform was standing in front of her, blocking my view, trying to escort her outside and I could tell she was struggling against him.

“Let her go,
” I barked to the uniform’s back and he spun around. When his eyes hit mine, his body visibly stiffened, surely from seeing the pure fury on my face.

Mia
wasted no time, shoved out from his hold and ran. She slammed into my chest, jumped into my arms and I buried my face in her neck to breathe her in as I squeezed her tight.