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DREAM
The rain pattered down gently as I hurried along the main street of town. The plan was to have a quick breakfast, after which I could do my onboarding for remote work on my laptop. Once that was done, I’d head back home and start my first real workday out of Clarissa’s living room.
The day wasn’t getting off to a good start, however when I slept through my alarm. I wanted to text Clarissa, but I knew she was likely right in the middle of the morning rush. Nothing to do but hurry my butt along and get there ASAP.
It didn’t help matters that working my regular job was the last thing I wanted to do. The weekend had been so fun. I’d gotten to spend time with Clarissa and the Wolf brothers, making art, enjoying the sun, and earning a little money. Spending the next eight to nine hours plopped in front of my laptop with Photoshop opened seemed like total hell in comparison.
For now, though, it was what I had to do.
I glanced up at the sky as I hurried down the sidewalk, noticing that it was growing darker by the second. I needed to hurry up and get there unless I wanted to get stuck in the downpour. It was looking like I’d need to borrow Clarissa’s car to drive home.
“Hey! Deedee!”
A familiar male voice called out to me. I stopped in my tracks, my blood running cold.
There was only one person on earth who called me “Deedee.” And it was the lastperson I wanted to see.
“Deedee! Hold up!”
I looked around, trying to spot the source of the sound. Then I laid eyes on him, getting out of a nearby parked car.
Adam had found me.
“There you are!” He was in the process of climbing out of some luxury car that was likely a rental, a plastic bag in his hands as he shut the door and started over in my direction. I glanced around, as if someone nearby might be able to pull me away from the last conversation that I wanted to get stuck in.
No such luck. He was coming over, and there was nothing I could do.
Adam Myles wasn’t a bad looking guy, really. He was tall and slim, his brown hair close-cropped and his overall look on the preppy side. He wasn’t big and beefy like the Wolf brothers, his body more like a swimmer’s, long and lean. He was dressed in light brown chinos with black dress shoes and a white button-up. His face was trim and clean-shaven, his dark eyes flashing with his typical high level of enthusiasm.
Everything about him on the surface seemed friendly and normal, like any other white-collar guy who’d never spent a day of his life worrying about money. But I’d known him long enough to understand just how quickly that friendly face could turn hard, those eyes narrowing into hateful little slits. There was a dark side to Adam, one that he did a damn good job at hiding from everyone but me. That two-faced nature of his made it hard to get anyone to believe me when I told them what he could be like behind closed doors.
Adam closed the distance between us, a big smile on his face. Being so close to him for the first time after our breakup made me sick with fright. I did my best to keep calm, to not let it show how scared I was.
“Deedee,” he said, looking me up and down, shaking his head. “God, I can’t tell you how good it is to see you.”
“Wish I could say the same for you.” I knew I was playing a dangerous game as soon as I’d said the words. But I didn’t care. What would be the point of not letting him know exactly how I felt?
His smile faded for a moment before quickly returning.
“Been looking all over for you,” he said. “Where are you staying?”
“A friend’s.”
His eyes narrowed. “Who? A guy?”
There it was – the jealousy, the anger.
“No. Not a guy. Even if it was, it would be none of your business.”
The anger faded, the smile once again returning. “Well, it doesn’t matter, I guess. Just so you’ve got somewhere to crash, right?” He brought in a big lungful of air, let it out, then lifted the bag. “Anyway, I was planning on swinging by Clarissa’s again. Figured there was a chance you might be there. And if you were, I got your favorite breakfast – some strawberry pancakes with whipped cream from the Red Kettle.”
“Thanks, but I’m not hungry. And I need to get going.”
He pursed his lips together, letting the bag drop to his side. “I figured it might be hard to get you to talk with me.”
“Can you blame me?” I asked. “After the way we left things?”
He raised an eyebrow. “You mean with you sneaking out without so much as a word? That hurt, Dream. It really hurt. We were supposed to get married.”
