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He opened his door, and I assumed he was planning on something chivalrous, yet again. I beat him to it and pushed my door open before he could walk around and open it for me. I stepped out of the car, which was too low to the ground. Why were expensive cars so hard to get out of?
He stood outside of the car and placed his arms on top of it, his eyes on me. “Why do I feel like we just had a fight, and I’m in trouble?” He perked a brow and a smile teased his lips.
I couldn’t be mad at him if I wanted to. Damn him. I copied his eye-rolling move from earlier and shook my head. “Goodnight.” I dragged out the word, clutching my bag. When I turned away, the heat of his stare was on my back as I moved.
CHAPTER TEN
ADAM
“Ma?” My palms were sweaty at my sides as I entered the house. It was near noon so she would be in the sunroom reading.
Ma was sitting on the couch with a cup of tea in one hand and a book the size of a brick in her other hand. Her blue eyes widened at the sight of me, and she dropped the book on the couch and jumped to her feet, her lips spreading into a smile. She set her cup down and flung her arms around my neck as if she hadn’t just seen me last week.
She released her hold on me, and I caught sight of what she’d been reading—the Russian novel Anna Karenina. Anna. Would the woman never escape my thoughts? She had green eyes that I worried would be able to see the blackest part of my ugly soul. Ma joked that she’d named me after Adam. You know, the original Adam. The one who screwed humanity by eating the forbidden fruit? Yup, that’s me. Well, close enough.
“Adam, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work?”
I sank onto the couch and picked up the book. “How many times you gonna read this?” I cracked a smile at her as she sat next to me and patted my knee.
She grabbed the book from me and set it on the end table next to her. “Stop stalling. Why are ya here?”
She knew me too well. Her dark lashes blinked a few times as she focused her light blue eyes on me, squinting like she could read my mind. I almost wondered if she could. “You’re killing me, boy. What’s going on?”
I didn’t think I could stay seated for what I had to say. I pushed up off my jeaned thighs and stood.
“Adam?” Her voice was a warning to my ears, and I took notice.
I shoved my hands in my pockets, tilted my head back, and shut my eyes. “I have to break a promise to you. I have to do something I promised you I’d never do again.”
She was behind me almost immediately. Her hand was on my arm, and she was tugging at me. “No, Adam.” Her voice was like a ghost of a whisper, as if she knew in her heart she wouldn’t be able to change my mind.
I slowly turned toward her, my eyes flashing open, my hands coming down over her arms. “I don’t have a choice. I need you to—”
Her eyes opened wider. “Give you permission?” She balked. “No.” An emphatic shake of the head followed. “No. No. No.” She looked away from me, rubbing her arms as if a chill rocked through her body, even though it was hotter than hell in the room.
“I have to do this with or without your blessing, but I’d prefer that you be okay with it.”
“Why? Why are you going to fight again?” Ma’s brows pinched together, and she pressed her fingers over her eyes as if it was too painful for her to look at me. I didn’t blame her.
“Les is in trouble.”
She dropped her hands to her sides. Her face was paler now, her lips drawn in a straight line.
“To help him, I have to fight again.”
“There has to be another way.”
My own pain, fear, and sadness were a reflection in her eyes.
“Money and threats can’t get me out of this.”
I walked over to the expansive window that looked out onto the rolling green hills behind the home.
“You can’t go down that path again. I almost lost you before—I can’t lose you again.” Her voice rattled with emotion.
“You won’t lose me—I’ll be okay. It’ll be over in November.”
“Once Donovan gets his grip on you, it won’t end. Not this time. We may not be able to save you again.”
