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I never knew that she liked me.
Not like that.
I’ve cared about Adalee for a long time, but part of me always thought she was too good for me, or that she viewed me as some sort of rich loser.
I don’t know why I never knew that she could care about me.
Even though we literally just made love, I’m still shocked. Part of me feels like I must be dreaming. There’s no way this can be real.
“I didn’t know you liked me, either,” she says.
“How long have you...when did you...”
“Forever,” she says. “Forever, Harrison.”
Chapter Nine
Adalee
WE TALK WAY TOO LONG, and then we return to our own bedrooms. Hopefully, it’s early enough that Frank won’t realize we sneaked out. I have no idea how long Harrison and I were in the attic for, but I’m just hoping against all hope that he doesn’t realize what we were doing up there.
And I made Harrison promise not to tell anyone.
Not his dad.
Not anybody.
It’s not that I’m ashamed of Harrison. I’m not. I’m not going to say that I love him even if I do. The problem is that Frank is a vicious shark and if he realizes just how much I actually care about Harrison, he’ll do everything in my power to tear us down. He’ll use my adoration of Harrison against me. He’ll use me to manipulate Harrison to do what he wants.
See, Frank might be rich, but his late wife?
She was even richer.
And she left every damn dime to Harrison. He doesn’t get it until his twenty-first birthday, of course. That’s how these things always work. But Frank wants that money, and he totally believes that he can use me to manipulate Harrison to do what he wants.
I can’t let him do that.
I can’t let him know that I care about Harrison.
And Harrison and I can never, ever end up together.
For us, making love in the attic was as good as it can ever get. We can never let things progress past what we just did. If we do, and Frank finds out, I know he’s going to blackmail me. I just know it, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to say no.
I don’t know what he’s going to throw at me, but I know that I’m not strong enough to handle it when he does.
Moving silently into my bathroom, I strip out of my clothes and get in the shower. I turn the water up as hot as I can stand it, and I just stay there. The water pours on me and I just take it. The heat washes away every scent of Harrison. It washes away the physical remnants of what we did. It washes away everything except the memory of us because that...
Well, that’s not something I’m willing to give up.
When I’m finally done, I go into my room, set the alarm for six, and climb under the blankets. It seems to take me an eternity to finally fall asleep, but eventually, everything just sort of fades away.
And then I’m dreaming.
He’s running away from me, and I’m doing everything I can to keep up.
“Wait!” I cry out. “Slow down!”
I can’t keep up with his long strides. Harrison looks over his shoulder and laughs. He gestures for me to hurry up, to come catch up with him, and I’m trying my very best. The woods are dark, though, and the forest is dense. It’s hard to make my way to him.
