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“Well you have to admit, you don’t fit the image,” she said teasingly. Strangely enough, he liked being teased by her. “Who are your favorite authors?”
The conversation continued as Lexie assigned them the task of hanging the fabric on the doorways, which Adam was happy to accept. For one, it got him out of climbing up and down the ladders to hang stuff on the ceiling of the main floor, and for two, it meant more time alone with Angel without him having to arrange it. He manfully ignored the wink Andrew gave him as they headed upstairs.
Angel read more of the newer sci-fi/fantasy series while he had mostly read the older classics, although there was a fair amount of crossover between them. She’d never read any of his favorite newer authors, Robin Hobb, and he hadn’t read a lot of what she’d read, mostly because she’d read a great deal more than he had, period.
“I read kind of fast. Although not as fast as Leigh. She’s a speed-reader like you wouldn’t believe.”
“I read kind of slow and I don’t have a lot of time for it.”
“That’s too bad,” she said sympathetically, holding up a swatch of glimmering dusky pink fabric for him to nail into place. They were putting two pieces of fabric on either side of the doorways, so people could part them to walk through. “I read as much as possible. My parents didn’t encourage television when we were younger and they refused to buy us video game consoles, so it was either play with my brothers or read.”
“And you chose to read?”
“I chose both, but a lot of the time reading was preferable. Big brothers are mean.”
He chuckled, although a small pang hit him in his chest as he thought about his own big brother. “What’d they do?”
“What didn’t they do?” Angel rolled her eyes. “Whenever we played any kind of good guys vs. bad guys game, I was always the damsel in distress.”
Adam raised an eyebrow. “Think maybe that’s why you like being tied up?”
“Ew, no!” Angel said laughing, trying to shove him and then throwing up her hands in frustration when her tiny push barely moved him. He couldn’t help but grin at her obvious annoyance with the observation. “I hated it when they tied me up. Although...” She got the most wickedly mischievous expression on her face as she giggled. “There was one time when we were playing Pirates and my brother Captain—“
“Your brother’s name is Captain?”
“Yeah, my parents chose uncommon names for all of us. Anyway, Captain was the pirate and he kidnapped me and tied me to the ‘mast’ of his ship—which was this big tree in our front yard—and then he and Percy were running around sword fighting and doing all the fun stuff. While they were doing that, I managed to get myself free, make the rope he’d used into a lasso, and I ended up being the one to ‘get’ the pirate that time.” The triumphant smile on her face said her brothers hadn’t seen it coming.
“And was Percy thankful for the help?”
“Alas... no. So I tied him up along with Captain and left them there. I told them if I could get out of being tied up then they could too.”
Laughing with Angel made Adam feel as though tension was melting off of him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this relaxed. Or that he’d enjoyed himself this much. Even though they’d chatted and talked while she’d been at Stronghold, their conversations had always been somewhat constrained. Maybe it had been because there were other people around or because they hadn’t known each other well enough yet, but they’d never shared any personal stories like this. He’d liked talking to her but this... this was something more.
Wasn’t it?
Angel
“What about you?” Angel asked. “Any siblings?”
It was amazing how fast his eyes could change, from the warm blue of a clear sky in summer to the crystal ice of winter in moments. He forced a smile, but Angel could tell it was forced because it didn’t come anywhere near his eyes.
“An older brother. He’s dead.”
“Oh... I’m sorry.” She felt absolutely wretched for bringing it up and she didn’t know what to say to make it better. They’d been getting along so well. Dammit. She’d been surprised when he’d first offered to help and even more so when he’d been pleased they’d been paired together for work, but it had made her happy too.
Seeing another side of Master Adam had made her like him even more. Although he was dressed the same as always, in a white button-down shirt and a pair of dark jeans, he’d seemed more relaxed all around. They’d been having an actual conversation for once, instead of making small talk. And he hadn’t seemed angry or grouchy one bit, until now.
“It was a long time ago,” he said slowly, avoiding her eyes. “His name was Brian.”
Angel bit her lip and then decided to ask the question anyway. Better now than to wonder about it and end up bringing it up later, right? “How did he die?... You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”
“No, it’s okay.” But the way he was avoiding direct eye contact with her said otherwise. She wanted to hug him so hard, but everything about his body language said not to come any closer, not to touch. “It was a drug overdose when he was in high school.”
There was a long moment of silence between them. Any pretense of work had stopped and they stood in the quiet hallway, facing each other. Tension was in every line of his body and his eyes seemed to be looking inward at something she couldn’t see. Empathy surged.
“I had a friend who committed suicide in high school,” she said softly. “I think the worst part about it, for me, wasn’t her death. It was wondering why I hadn’t been able to prevent it. Why I hadn’t seen the road she was on and why I hadn’t been able to do anything to stop it.”
Finally, finally, he met her eyes again. The ice was still there, but it seemed like maybe it had thawed a bit. Angel looked back at him, her face calm even though the emotions roiling in her chest were not. She didn’t talk about Hannah often. Ever, really. It was too painful. But he’d shared an integral part of himself and she couldn’t not respond. Couldn’t not try to reach out.
