AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is everything okay?” Daniel asked after he swallowed. “You seem stressed now. Was it what Minty said? I’ll talk to him. He and Antonio can’t tease you like that. It’s not right.”
“They’re dicks, but lovable dicks,” I said.
“But something’s on your mind.” Daniel took another bite of s’more.
“Yeah. It’s, um, Adam,” I said.
Daniel choked and coughed up the hunk of s’more into the fire. When he next spoke, his voice sounded breathy with panic. “Adam? What about him?”
I stroked his arm to soothe him. “On my way here tonight, he followed me for part of the way.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened. “He’s stalking you now?”
“I don’t know. He followed me until I pulled over. I asked him what the hell he was doing, and he said he wanted to talk to me since I hadn’t taken his calls.”
He tossed the rest of his s’more into the fire. “He’s an asshole.”
“Yeah, he is.”
“So, what did he say?”
“The usual. He wants me back. He begged. He said he’d leave her.” I frowned.Hadhe said that? I tried to remember. He hadn’t. Just implied it. Typical Adam.
“So…”
“So, I told him it didn’t matter. I said I never wanted to see him again.” I gazed at Daniel in the firelight, the tension in his shoulders, the fear in his eyes, and I wanted to make it go away. I wanted that warm, happy, excited feeling that had been filling me up for days now to come back. And I wanted him tosmile, because it made my heart melt when he did, when he looked at me with eyes full of affection.
“I don’t want to talk about him anymore. I just want to be with you and feel happy.”
“Doyou feel happy when you’re with me?”
“Yeah.”
Daniel swallowed and took my face in his hands, his fingers cupping each cheek. “You…don’t look happy right now.”
A smile started at the left corner of my lips. “He’s a bad topic. Brings up bad feelings.”
Daniel searched my eyes and then leaned in, kissing me. I wound my hands around his neck, feeling the short hairs stick to the marshmallow residue on my fingers. I tangled my other hand into the back of his hair, deepening the kiss.
Daniel broke the kiss, but he wrapped his arms around me. He buried his face in my neck, taking deep breaths and letting them out. “I hate that guy,” he murmured. “I’ve never even met him, but I hate him.”
I didn’t say anything, a strong urge to defend Adam welling in me.He’s not a bad guy. Just messed up. I ran my hand through Daniel’s hair. “You don’t need to worry about him.”
I forced the defense down until it disappeared.
Heisa bad guy. Being messed up is no excuse.
Daniel snorted and whispered against my throat, “I’ve heard that kind of thing before.”
I made a soft noise of confusion, and he shrugged in my arms, explaining, “From my mom. ‘You don’t have to worry about me drinking, Danny.’ ‘It’s over, Danny.’ ‘Never again, Danny.’ I’ve heard every version of that you can imagine. Addictions are hard to break.”
I pulled out of his embrace and touched the underside of his chin, forcing his eyes up so that I could gaze into them. I said nothing, not sure what I could say.
I’m not sure what he saw in my eyes in the low light from the dying bonfire, but whatever it was, he ducked his head again. “I’m sorry. You’re not my mom. Adam’s not alcohol.”
“I told him I never wanted to see him again,” I repeated. “And I meant it.”
Because Adam had hurt me, he didn’t understand, and he wouldn’t ever change. It was too late even if he did. Because now I had feelings for someone else. For Daniel.
