“Whatever.” Grayson continued to the bottle warmer. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you. How was your date with Staci last night?”
My heart stopped as a deafening silence filled the room and plummeted when Adam didn’t deny it. How could I have been so naïve?
A deep sigh followed. “It was fine,” Adam said, admitting what I already knew. He was a manwhore.
“To be honest, I was surprised you agreed to it.”—Grayson sniggered— “Since you told me she was terrible in bed.”
Adam slammed his hand down on the lid of the ice cream tub before turning around, his erection now gone. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Since when don’t you brag about your conquests?”
“Since now,” he snapped, bending over to pick up the spoon I’d dropped moments before.
I turned away, refusing to look at the man who had fooled me into thinking I wasn’t one of many.
“What’s going on with you, man?” Grayson’s voice softened. “You’ve been acting weird since Harrison was born…maybe longer.”
“How would you know? I’ve barely seen you in the past year.”
“And whose fault is that?” When Adam didn’t say anything, Grayson continued, “Look, I know you’re upset about Gramps—”
“It has nothing to do with Gramps!”
“Fine…” Grayson sighed. “But whatever it is, sort it out quickly. Gramps doesn’t have a lot of time left, and he wants to see usbothhappy.” His footsteps retreated to the door but paused before leaving. “And don’t dick around with Cassidy. She’s had enough heartache to last her a lifetime.”
Tears burned my eyes because it was true. I’d had more than my fair share.
Once Grayson left, a shiver rolled over me as my blood ran cold.
“Cass…” Adam’s voice called through the fog, but I refused to answer. “Let me explain.”
“That won’t be necessary,” I muttered, keeping my eyes lowered. He reached out, but I recoiled from his touch. “Don’t.”
“Cassidy…please…”
Clenching my jaw to stall the impending tears, I wrapped my robe around my waist, like it was the only thing holding me together, and hurried out of the room.
16
Adam’s steps slowed at my door, but he didn’t knock. I held my breath, praying he’d listened to his brother, and exhaled when his bedroom door closed moments later. It was an epically bad idea to get close to Adam. He wasn’t sweet and caring like Dominic. He was hard and callous, yet had the face of an angel. Fallen. No wonder I fell for his tricks. He was the fucking devil.
After washing away his touch and the lingering chocolate-mint aroma, I threw on an old t-shirt and shorts and crawled into bed. Needing to ground myself, I reached into my nightstand drawer and pulled out the photo of my son. My reason. I traced the dark hair he’d inherited from his father and stared into his green eyes, so much like mine, and my heart filled with love. I held on, imagining him with me, until I finally fell asleep.
Early the next morning, a light tapping on my bedroom door stirred me awake.
“Cass,” Adam whispered through the crack. “Are you awake?”
Ignoring the hammering of my heart, my head sank back onto the pillow while the mortifying memory of the night prior coursed through my brain.
“Cass…”
My fist curled around the edge of the pillow, then threw it across the room. It smacked into the door, giving him my answer.
The door knob jiggled, and I launched out of bed, forgetting I’d locked it the night prior.
My cell vibrated across my nightstand, giving me another start.
Adam: Open the door.