Page 98 of Reclaiming Adelaide

Jake wrapped his fingers around my hand, resting in my lap. “What are you thinking about?”

I snorted. “Nothing.”

If I thought about anything, I’d only cry. Most of my thoughts returned to my parents, and I thanked God I spoke to my mother before the hospital.

“Why don’t you get some sleep?”

I shook my head, keeping my gaze out the window. “I don’twantto sleep.”

“Sleep deprivation will only make things worse, you know.”

My swollen lids partially blurred my vision. I pulled my hand from his. “I. Don’t. Want. To. Sleep.”

Didn’t he understand the nightmares that came to me? The blood, the screams, the horrific visions of my parents’ blood burning into the kitchen table? How was I supposed to walk back into my home and not see the stains, the terror on my father’s face, the tears on my mother’s?

I couldn’t do anything to stop it. He wouldn’t allow me.Theywouldn’t allow me, and now I was stuck in a perpetual game of horrors.

Jake jerked the car down the exit, crossing the suicide lane and nearly clipping the sand barrels.

Charity squealed.

Max’s hand came down on the back of my seat as he pulled himself forward. “What the fuck, Jake?”

Jake brought the Bentley to a skidding halt on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and got out of the car. He rounded the front with a limp and a look of pure ire clenching his jaw.

What have I done now?Jake ripped open my door and disconnected my seat belt before pulling me out of the car by my elbow.

“Stop. What are you doing?”

Jake moved me towards an abandoned gas station with a Route 66 vibe, my feet scuffing up dust from the sand-covered earth as we rounded the corner.

The blue and red paint peeled from the cylinder walls with weeds waist high and rustling that gave me pause, whether it was a snake or reeds rubbing together.

He pushed me against the wall, glanced around the corner from where we’d come, and then back to me.

“I understand you are going through some tough shit—”

“Tough shit? I wouldn’t call my parents being mur…” my voice shattered.

“Adelaide. I’ve been there. Trust me, I get it. But you have someone else that’s relying on you now. Neglecting your health because of your grief doesn’t just affect you, but also our baby.” His hand cupped the side of my face, his fingers dipping into my hair. “I won’t allow you to disintegrate before my eyes. Do I make myself clear?”

My eyes burned as I chewed on my lip and rocked my foot from side to side, bending it at an angle as he stared at me with an intensity that rivaled the southern sun.

“Don’t act like this pregnancy makes you happy. Don’t act like you care. You wanted to destroy me for what I did to you. Congratulations. You got what you wanted.”

“I’d never wish this on you, Adelaide. Never.” He stepped in closer, his heat overtaking the chill that settled into my soul. “I’d take this pain from you if I could.” His thumb brushed away the slipping tears. “I love you, sweets, and there’s nothing you can do that would change that.”

He didn’t just confess his love for me now. Not in the height of my grief, when I can’t tell reality from dreams, or night and day. This was just part of my nightmarish Hell. I’d wake up from this for it to all be a lie—a figment of my warped imagination.

“That’s not true,” I whispered through panicked breaths.

“It is. And you can choose not to believe it, but I’ll be there every time battling your doubts for you.”

“Why? Why are you doing this? You hate me. I lied to you and tried to steal from your company. I stalked you and your friend.” I swallowed the softball-sized lump in my throat.

“Those are lies, my sweet angel. I couldn’t hate you. I tried. I really did. But I can’t.”

My mind swirled like a tornado, destroying everything around me.

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