Adam leaned forward. “What? What were you going to say?”
“I was going to say I wouldn’t have played our game if I’d been seeing someone.”
Slowly, he fell back, rubbing his chin. “So, you weren’t playing the game with anyone else.” Not a question, an understanding.
“No. Absolutely not.”
The few dates I’d gone on, I hadn’t let the guys touch me. Not even close. Just being out with other men had felt like cheating. I couldn’t imagine letting one of them kiss me or hold me.
His eyes narrowed. “Are you going to ask me?”
“No.”
I didn’t want the answer…if he’d even answer honestly. I mean, hell, I’d just picked Adam up from a sex club a few nights ago. He was no monk. But Ireallydidn’t want to know the details of just how many women he was giving it up to who weren’t me.
I crossed my legs and uncrossed them, then I took a long swallow of my wine. It was rich and bold and went straight to my head. Adam watched all this with a fist clenched on the table.
“You’re really mad at me, aren’t you?” he asked after long moments of silence and discomfort.
“I don’t like how you’ve invaded my life. The bodyguard, the locks…it’s too much.”
“That wasn’t what I was asking about and you know it.”
“That’s what I’m willing to talk about.”
His mouth opened, but the waiter appeared with our food, cutting him off. He glared at me while our dishes were set in front of us and piles of grated cheese were added to my pasta. When we were alone again, I stuffed a forkful of pasta into my mouth to avoid speaking.
Ignoring his food, he continued to stare at me. “What happened between you and your father?”
“I got tired of being his roadkill.” I threw his words at him, the words that had rendered me in two. All I got was a blank wall. Absolutely no recognition.
“What does that mean exactly?”
I set down my fork and wiped my mouth with my napkin. This was easy for me to answer, it was so cut and dry.
“He’s engaged to Natalie. Remember her? Of course you do. She’s your bestie.” Adam flinched like he’d been slapped, but I barreled on. “Well, they’re getting hitched. Natalie’s going to be my new mom, wee!”
“What the fuck?” he groused.
“That’s what I said. I figured out she was sleeping with him at your party. You know, the one you invited her to after I told you what a terrible person she is. I saw her shoes. They were the same ones on my father’s floor when I went to give him his Christmas present.”
Both of his hands were clenched into fists. “You didn’t tell me.”
“I guess I thought you would have heard from Natalie.”
“I get that I fucked up by inviting her to the party. I’m hearing that loud and clear. But why would I have heardanythingfrom her? I haven’t spoken to or even seen her since that night. To be honest, I haven’t thought of her until right now.”
I speared my meatball with my fork even though I had lost my appetite. The very thought of Natalie made me sick. The memory of that celebratory phone call from my dad with her simpering in the background brought a flood of emotion I didn’t want to feel right now. Or ever would be okay too.
I held on to my anger instead, and boy was it righteous.
I’m not a masochist, and I’d have to be to go for her.
“I heard you that night.”
He frowned. “What does that mean?”
My hands flattened on the table. “When we spilled our drinks all over ourselves, I went back to my place to clean up. To my bathroom. You went to yours—with Natalie.”