I snatch my phone. “Because he’s an asshole who wants to use me. I need food.” I start walking.
He straightens, catches the fingers of my hand—just the fingers—I think he feels that’s less of a bullying act, and it actually is. He steps around and into me, close, so close again, all those manly smells working me over again, his height towering over me. “We need to talk,” he says softly.
“You mean fight.”
“I don’t want to fight with you.”
“But we will fight. We’re very good at fighting. I need food, Adrian,” I say. “If we fight right now, while I’m this hungry, you will surely lose. So, you decide. Fight now, or after I eat my Chick-fil-A sandwich?”
He gives me a heavy-lidded stare and then says, “We’re not done.” And then he releases me, leaving me wondering if he’s talking about the topic of Logan, or us. But I don’t dare ask or push for answers. I do need food. And I need a few minutes to think about what that memory meant. Because it wasn’t about me being fucked in a bathroom while having a panic attack that my fiancé was too arrogant and self-absorbed to realize I was having. That night was a conglomeration of pieces of our relationship that were dysfunctional, and always leading to a split.
Or even the fact that had I been in that bathroom with Adrian, I wouldn’t have resisted. Not even a little. It wasn’t even about Logan’s call and the “devil” remark. It’s about the fact that Logan was upset because my father was upset. Whatever the “devil” said on that phone call made Logan happy. That means he felt it would make my father happy.
This case hits a lot closer to home than I could ever have imagined and now I have to decide what to do about it. I want to call my father and confront him, but I know that’s a bad idea. I have to make everyone in this house, Adrian included, all of whom are trying to protect me and my family, understand how dirty the foundation on which I stand is.Chapter EighteenADRIAN
I have questions for Pri and things I need to say to her, but I give her the space she’s demanded. It kills me, but I do it. I fall back. I fall into step with her on one flight up and bite back a million questions. Like what the fuck did Logan do to give her nightmares?
Fuck.
I can’t hold back.
“Pri,” I say softly, resisting the urge to capture her hand. “Wait.”
We’re between the first level and the second when she pauses and turns to face me. Her eyes are so damn blue, and she’s so damn beautiful.
I step closer to her and say what’s most important right now. “I’m sorry.”
She blinks. “What?”
“I’m sorry. I was an ass in the cave. I was an ass in the room back there, too.”
Surprise flickers across her face but she quickly says, “I’m sorry, too. And for the record, I’m not sure any man in my life has ever actually apologized. Apology appreciated and accepted.”
“I’ll try not to be an ass anymore.”
She smiles. “You’ll try?”
“I prefer to make promises I can keep. Monsters put me in a bad mood, which brings me to Logan.”
“Adrian—”
“Did he hurt you?” I ask.
“Why are you asking this now?”
“I just need to know if he’s on the list of people I need to kill before I die.”
Her lips quirk. “Isn’t that a little extreme?”
“I don’t know,” I answer honestly. “Is it?”
“Yes, but I’m, ah, I’ m glad to have someone who cares.”
“I do care, Pri.” I catch her hand and immediately let it go. “Fuck. Sorry.”
Her lips curve and she tangles her fingers with mine. Her hand is tiny and soft, and yet, holding it feels so damn big. “I like it when you touch me,” she says, “but we were fighting, and right after that particular nightmare, I needed just a minute to breathe.”
“You two coming?”
At the sound of Blake’s voice, I glance up to find him leaning over the railing. “Yeah, boss,” I say. “On our way.” He disappears and I stroke a lock of hair behind Pri’s ear. “He might have news. We better go up.”
She nods and I lean in, my mouth lingering over her mouth. She presses on my chest, just a tiny bit, enough to get my attention. “I thought we were bad?”
“I have things I’ll say about that later, and I suspect you do, too.”
“I do,” she says. “
“For now, how about I just say this? I’m bad. We are not.”
“If I’m bad, and you’re bad, can we just be bad together?”
I laugh despite myself. “What happened to dirty?”
“Dirty together?” she asks.
“Why, oh why, do you always tempt me so well, Pri?” I kiss her, a low press of tongue to tongue, and her arms wrap my neck, her body softening into mine. I drink her way too long, but not long enough, and then I whisper, “Let’s go upstairs before Savage eats all the Chick-fil-A.”