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I hurry toward the couch, snatching my dress and sweater off the cushions, my heart racing nearly as fast as my thoughts. But before I can dash into the bedroom or call Noelle or remember if I have mascara in my purse—I always feel more confident with a fresh coat of mascara—there’s a sharp thud on the door.
A beat later, Adrian calls out, “I’m coming in. In case the two of you want to put on some clothes.”
thirty
GIDEON
I hear Adrian’s voice and curse again, my upper lip breaking out in a sweat as I jerk my jeans up around my hips. I scan the closet floor for shoes, but I’ve left them all by the door. If Adrian wants to get physical, I guess I’ll be fighting my son in my socked feet.
Fuck! I don’t want to fight my son.
I don’t want to hurt Adrian in any way. That’s why I wanted to find the perfect moment, the perfect words to explain how I came to be dating his ex-girlfriend and why I can’t stop.
But Angela took that away from me. I’m not sure how, but she obviously got to our son, a fact that’s underlined in glaring red ink as I head out to the living room to see Adrian pick up the flower arrangement Angela sent and hurl it across the room.
Sydney cries out in surprise, her hands instinctively flying up to shield her face as the vase explodes against the thicker glass of the windows, sending shards of glass, flowers, and water flying into the air. Thankfully, the explosion happened far enough away from her that she’s in no danger, but the way her arms tremble as they drop to her sides makes my stomach roil.
“That’s enough,” I say in a firm voice, positioning myself between Syd and my red-faced son. “Go into the bedroom, Sydney, and lock the door.”
“Stop it, I’m not going to hurt her,” Adrian says, turning his puffy gaze my way. “Or you.”
He’s obviously been crying, a fact that intensifies the pain in my gut. But as much as I want to comfort him, Sydney’s well-being is my top priority. She did absolutely nothing wrong here. She’s innocent and doesn’t deserve to be caught in the middle of a situation that makes her feel unsafe.
“All right,” I say, casting a pointed glance toward the mess on the floor. “When I’m sure of that, Sydney can come out of the bedroom. If she wants to.”
“I’m fine,” she says, moving around my outstretched arm to stand beside me. “I don’t need protection from Adrian. Or…whatever’s going on. I didn’t get a chance to talk to Noelle, Adrian. We don’t know what happened with your mom and all that, but we’re sorry. We weren’t trying to be sneaky or cruel. We were just worried about you having too much on your plate. We planned to tell you we were dating as soon as the mess with Gigi was over.”
Adrian winces. “Yeah, well, that won’t be any time soon. She cancelled the DNA test and is engaged to Brett Lauder. Fucking Brett. She’d rather be with a guy named Brett, with a coke habit, a weak chin, and a bad bleach job, than with me.” He swallows, his throat visibly working before he adds, “And that’s after I told her I didn’t care about the results. Yes, I wanted the test, so we could know who the father is for sure, but I told her I didn’t care if the baby was mine. I still wanted to be with her, to try to be a family.”
“I’m so sorry, son,” I say, aching for him.
His chin snaps up, his eyes narrowing. “Don’t call me son, okay? Not right now. I’m not pissed at you—well, not as pissed as I am at Mom, anyway—but we’re not going to do any father-son bonding right now. It’s too weird.” He glances at Sydney, his voice softening, “But I get it. You two.” His mouth curves into a sad smile. “I told you that you’d like my dad, right?” He exhales, shaking his head. “You must have laughed your ass off.”
“That’s not who I am, Adrian,” Sydney says gently. “You know that. I didn’t laugh. I felt uncomfortable. You’re my friend. I don’t like lying to my friends. It just felt like too big a secret to blurt out in the heat of the moment without talking to Gideon first.”
“We didn’t know, Adrian,” I add. “When we first met and started to have feelings for each other, I had no idea the two of you used to date. Neither did Sydney. We didn’t find out until the night of your fundraising party.”
He nods, his gaze dropping to the floor with a sigh. “Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter, I guess. You two clearly like each other. I wish I’d never seen…anything I saw tonight, but it’s obvious it’s more than fucking with you guys. Or more than blow jobs or…whatever.”
I suck in a shocked breath and Sydney’s hand comes to hover in front of her mouth, her face going pale.
Adrian motions toward the flowers now scattered across the marble. “There’s a camera in one of the butterflies. Mom was coming to bug you about the apartment again one morning earlier this week and saw you and Sydney leaving your place together. She remembered Syd from my graduation party and put two and two together, but she didn’t think I’d believe you were dating my ex unless I saw it with my own eyes. That’s why she sent you flowers and sent me a link to the feed from the hidden camera.”
“That’s fucking insane,” I grit out through a clenched jaw, planning on calling my lawyer as soon as Adrian leaves. Angela truly is insane if she thinks she’s going to get away with spying on me in my own home.
Adrian nods. “I agree. Though, in her defense, I don’t think she ever expected me to see what I saw. When I called her on the way over, she seemed shocked and swore you’re not the kind to do anything provocative outside the bedroom.”
“Your mother doesn’t know me, not even close,” I say. “But she’s going to, once I file criminal charges.”
“Please, don’t,” Adrian says, his gaze softening. “She knows how pissed I am. At her, not at the two of you. This is backfiring on her harder than any scheme has backfired before. I’ll make sure she knows that if she so much as sends you a text message again, she won’t have a son anymore. That’ll scare Mom more than any criminal charge. I’m the only family she has left. Her parents haven’t spoken to her since she got pregnant, and the rest of the family is always trying to make her join their weird cult.” Glancing at Sydney, he adds, “They’re part of some fundamentalist church that thinks women should stay home raising kids and putting up canned goods for the apocalypse while men do firearms training to combat the incoming forces of demonic zombies or whatever. She never had a chance of turning out normal. And she seemed sorry. I think she realizes now that what she did was wrong.”
“Or she’s just sorry it didn’t work out the way she hoped it would,” Sydney says, as astute as ever. “But I’m okay with not pressing charges if Gideon is.” She points a firm finger at the remnants of the flower arrangement. “As long as any and all records of the footage are destroyed. If there’s a chance in hell it’s going to end up on the internet, then I’ll want justice for that, Adrian. Like Noelle said to me earlier, I’ve never even sent a sexy text. I’ve been so careful not to do anything that might damage my reputation or my ability to fill my father’s shoes. It isn’t right for that to be undone by someone illegally filming me without my knowledge.”
“I’ll make sure of it, I promise,” Adrian says. “I’ll get with Mom tonight and take care of it. I’ll destroy all the footage on the app, the cloud, check her devices, the whole nine yards. I’ll wipe it all. You have my word.”
Sydney glances up at me. “Is that okay with you?”
A part of me still wants to call the police and escalate this in a way that will make damned sure Angela doesn’t think about interfering in my life again, but…she’s the mother of my only child. And Adrian’s right, he’s the most important person in her life. It’s why she went to these lengths in the first place, and why I’m confident she’ll take his threats seriously and back off.
