AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I understand, guv.”
Without another word, Adam opens the car door and steps out into the night. He walks ten steps, maybe twenty, away from the crime scene. Far enough to be out of sight. And when he’s sure he is, he falls apart.
CHAPTER
53
ROMILLY DIDN’T EXPECT to see Adam on her doorstep, especially not with that look on his face. He looks like the first day she met him, alone in that hospital corridor. Mouth turned down, face downcast, shoulders hunched. She knows that something is very wrong.
“Adam?” Romilly says.
He stops, his jaw tightens. “There’s another victim,” he murmurs. “Someone from my team. I’m off the case.”
“Oh God. I’m so sorry,” she says as she reaches for him.
She doesn’t hesitate, just grabs him and holds him close. She feels him tense for a moment, then collapse into her arms, his face buried in her shoulder, his body shaking. They stand there, the front door still open. Romilly doesn’t dare move.
After a while, she feels him stopping. His body resists and he pulls away. She guides him into the living room. They sit on the sofa, side by side.
“What happened, Adam?” Romilly says.
He wipes his eyes, clears his throat. “I don’t know. But he got her. I was just there. Blood everywhere.”
“But why have you been removed as SIO?”
He shrugs, but the gesture seems strained. There’s more he’s not telling her, but she doesn’t push it now.
“Are you okay?” she asks softly.
He shakes his head. “All the death. All these people.” He looks up and meets her gaze for a fraction of a second. “I’m sorry. For everything that happened between us. I’m sorry I don’t have you in my life anymore.”
“You still have me,” Romilly replies.
“I don’t. You and I … I ruined that, long ago.” He twists his hands together in his lap, still staring at the floor. “I know our breakup was my fault.”
“It wasn’t, Adam. I—”
“No, Milly,” he says, his voice catching. “You sleeping with that guy—that was my fault. I was awful to you, for so long. I pushed you away. Our marriage was dead even before … that. It was a convenient excuse. To blame you.” He stands up quickly, shaking his head. “I shouldn’t have come. I’m sorry.”
He walks to the door, but she grabs his arm, and he turns. “No, Adam. You should have. I’m always going to be here for you. Always. I meant what I said before.”
He meets her gaze. They stop, frozen, her hand still on his arm. And then he takes a step toward her, takes her face in his hands and kisses her.
She remembers his smell, his taste. Nothing has changed. She doesn’t even try to resist. Being with Adam feels so completely natural, so right, she gives in, her legs almost too weak to support her. Her hands are on his back, his fingers in her hair and on her neck. Everything is heightened: the feeling of his stubble on her mouth, his lips, his tongue touching hers.
She leads him back into the living room. He pulls her down onto the sofa. Every now and again, as they kiss, she opens her eyes: sometimes his are shut, but then they are open and looking at her. He smiles, their lips still together, and she smiles back.
He pulls away from her for a moment. “Are you sure this is what you want?” he asks, his voice hoarse.
She nods. “Yes.”
Yes, she wants this more than anything else. She wants him. She wants him naked. She wants him inside her. And her hands pull his shirt over his head.
* * *
Romilly remembers the exact time she met Adam, the memory as clear as if it were yesterday. She was a junior doctor, exhausted at the end of ward rounds, dressed in a pair of worn light blue scrubs and trainers that were once white and now gray. She was paused at a vending machine, coins in her hand, debating a Twirl or a Kit Kat, when she spotted a man sitting on one of the plastic chairs in the corridor. His posture was the same as any number of people in the hospital: shoulders slumped forward, elbows resting on his knees, head in his hands. But then he sat back, rubbed his eyes, and looked at her.
It was only a fraction of a second, but enough to catch Romilly’s attention. He had the bluest eyes, the most perfect nose. She smiled.
