My eyes flared, but his remained unfocused, like he was looking back on his memories to figure out what I was talking about.
“What did you hear?”
“Everything.”
He unclenched a fist to scrub his scruff. “I was drunk and high off my ass. The time I spent in the bathroom with her was so fucking unimportant to me, I honestly don’t really remember it.”
And then, I really couldn’t stop the bubble of hurt that emerged from me in the form of a sob. Adam was out of his seat in an instant, crowding into my side of the booth with his arm around me. I shoved at him, but I was enough of my mother’s daughter—who’d been classy to her very last breath—not to make a scene.
“I hurt you.” He tucked his face beside mine. “I hurt you badly. Enough for you to never want to see me again. You must hate me for not remembering.”
“You’re careless,” I whispered, not because I was softening toward him, but because screaming was my only other choice. I wanted to yell, to hit, to upend this table and storm out of this restaurant.
“I know. I never meant to be with you. Fuck, I’m sorry, baby. Tell me what I said so I can make it right.”
“I don’t want to. There is no making it right.”
He pulled back, searching for something in my face. I was stone. He’d had my heart once and hadn’t noticed or wanted it. There was no way I’d give it to him again.
“I’m going to tell you the answer to the question you refused to ask.” He stroked the delicate skin under my chin with his knuckle. “Zero. Since we started our game, and honestly, months before that, there hasn’t been anyone else. Only you.”
My laugh was bitter. “I don’t believe that for a second.”
“I have no reason to lie to you.”
“You want me to forgive you. But I don’t trust you, Adam. I’m just as done being your roadkill as I was my dad’s.”
He jerked. “I said that, didn’t I? Those…those are my words.”
Spinning in his hold, I picked up my wineglass and downed every last drop. “I’d like you to move so I can go home. I’m done with this conversation. We can’t go back, and I really don’t want to repeat the things I heard you say. You trashed me to a woman who has never been anything but unkind to me, and you did it so flippantly, you can’t even remember.”
He shuddered and squeezed his eyes shut. “This can’t be the end. You have to let me earn your trust back. I’m not backing down. Not ever.”
“Why?”
His lids slid open. His blue eyes were glossy and filled with remorse. “You’re my best friend. The most important—”
I clutched at the table so hard, my arms trembled from the effort. “I’m not your best friend—and you certainly aren’tmine.”
Adam was undeterred. Cupping the back of my head, he rested his forehead against mine.
“I’m not walking away. I’ll camp in your hallway if I have to. You’re going to see my face daily. Tell me how I can start earning your trust. Tell me, Adelaide. Because this being the end is unacceptable. It won’t stand, not now, not ever. We don’t fade. That’s not what we do. We’re evergreen. No fading. No blooming. We don’t go away.”
Suddenly, I was more angry than hurt. My heart was stone, after all. He couldn’t get to it. But my pride…oh, my pride called for vengeance. For the way he took and took and kept coming back for more.
I’d take from him.
I’d give him a dose of what it was like to be helpless.
Before I could really think it through, the idea burst out of me. “Take me to the club.”
Adam reared away from me, his mouth open and stunned eyes wide. “Why?”
“You want to earn my trust, then take me there. We’ll play our game one more time, but it’ll be my way.” Someone over his shoulder caught my eye. Another diner had their phone up, pointed in our direction. “We’re being filmed right now.”
He went rigid but kept me in his arms. “I guess that’s good. We’re selling the whole engaged thing. Why don’t you flash your ring, give them a good show?”
Keeping the rest of The Seasons Change’s fate in mind, I looped my arms around his neck, making sure my ring was showing.
“Are you going to take me to the club?” I asked.
He chuckled, but it sounded almost nervous. “Pretty sure I’m banned after my last showing.”
“Don’t worry. Andrew and I are old friends. I’ll smooth it over.” I was all bluster at this point, but I was also resolved. This was happening no matter what.
“If this is what you want, if it’s a step to gaining your trust, then yes, I’m in.”
I nodded. “It’s what I want.”