“Um.” I looked down at myself. “My dress.”
His glazed eyes went soft. “Your dress.”
He knew what my clothes meant to me. Because he knew me. Even though he’d been stupid inviting Natalie here tonight, he knew me. He was my best friend, and maybe I happened to be in love with him, but I’d never hold that against him.
“I think I’ll go change.”
He reached out for me but didn’t quite touch me. “Want me to come with you?”
“No. I’ll be back.”
Natalie tugged on his arm. “You need to change too.”
I swiveled around on wobbly feet to avoid seeing her hanging all over him. If I looked at her too long, I might have clawed her eyes out. I had no doubt those shoes were the ones I’d seen on my father’s floor. And maybe that dress was the same one that had been puddled on the ground too. She’d gone after my father, and now she was touchingmyAdam.
In my apartment, I rushed into my bathroom, stripping my dress off immediately. Then I froze when I heard voices coming from Adam’s bathroom.
Holding my breath, I climbed into the shower stall so I could hear what the voices were saying.
“Oh, you’re such a mess. Let me help.”
Natalie was in Adam’s bathroom with him. Why was she in his bathroom with him?
“I’m good. I’ve been dressing myself for a long, long time. You can go back to the party.”
Yesss. Get your skanky, old man sexing ass back to the party. Ho.
“Okay, if you’re sure.” There was a pause, and I thought maybe she’d left, but then she spoke again. “Can I ask you something first?”
“Go for it.”
“Well, I was wondering what’s up with you and Addie. You guys are always together, but are youtogether, together?”
Adam’s loud laugh pierced my heart. “No, not at all.”
“Oh. Good. I wanted to make sure. It’s just that she dates a lot, so I thought I should tell you, you know, about the other guys.”
Oh, this bitch. Her eyes were history.
Adam snickered. “Let me guess: they come around once to pick her up then she never sees them again?”
“How did you know?”
I’d had two dates meet me at work to grab drinks. Two. Of course, trifling ho Natalie took note and was making it seem like I was some femme fatale, luring hapless men in only to break their poor, unsuspecting hearts.
“Adelaide thinks she wants a relationship, but she’s not relationship material right now.”
Oh.Adam might as well have reached through the wall with his fist and punched me in the chest. The wind was knocked right out of me.
Natalie giggled. “Why not?”
“She’s a good girl, but she’s got impossible standards. A guy makes a mistake and he’s out of her life. Except her dad. He treats her like roadkill and she scoops herself up and asks to be run over again.”
My face burned as fat tears rolled down my cheeks.Thiswas the real betrayal. The things he was saying…did he even like me? This man I thought I loved was casually trashing me. I couldn’t breathe. Why was there no air in my apartment? My lungs felt deflated and useless.
“Daddy issues,” Natalie replied.
Adam made a noise that sounded like a grunt through the wall. “That’s how I know I’d never get with her. Even if I was into her like that, it’d never happen.”