Page 89 of The Game

Adam studies his hands again. “Although Fabian didn’t gather all the hard evidence, he speculated about the camps and what might happen there.” He shrugs. “He’s an extremely talented hacker. It’s rare that there’s no digital trail. Almost impossible nowadays, even just locations can give you away … It might be a lot of work to collect all the proof, but I suspect he could do it if you wanted.”

I nod. I’m not sure I’m brave enough, but … Adam leans in and pulls me into his side and I slump into him. He kisses my cheek. “I’m so sorry, Anna, so sorry that happened to you. I can’t believe you went through all that.”

We both jump as the buzzer to Adam’s apartment goes, and I press my hand to my chest with a laugh. I forgot about the food ages ago. Adam disappears downstairs to fetch it, and I’m exhausted from all the grand revelations about something I’ve held close to my chest for far too long. I hate admitting whathappened to me, and I feel numb, but undeniably lighter. I hope Adam feels better, too. To be lured into a deceptive relationship like that …

As we tuck into naan bread and tandoori chicken, he turns on the television and Jimmy Fallon is interviewing some actress neither of us have heard of. Pepper sits at our feet, sniffing the air, and I shake my head at her.

“I think she’s in some teen vampire thing,” Adam says, nodding at the screen. “Susie, my marketing lady, is a big vampire reader and watcher.” And the normality of all this—sitting in a warm apartment on the couch with him chatting and watching TV and talking about it—makes my eyes prickle.

“Does she need feeding?” He gestures at Pepper with his fork.

I grunt. “She ate tonight. She’s just being greedy.”

He puts his plate on the coffee table and heads over to the kitchen, opening a cupboard and coming back with …dog treats?

I laugh. “I don’t know who spoils her more, you or me.”

He laughs and says, “Pepper, turn,” and does a circular motion with his hand. To my amazement, she does a circle on his rug, and he holds a treat out for her.

“You taught her to do a turn?”

His ears go a bit red. “Is that okay? I’ve got plans to enter her in the next Kennel Club event. She’s way cuter than the dogs that were there.” He winks at me, and I burst out laughing.

“Lie down,” he says, and she goes straight down onto her tummy, wagging her tail as he holds out another reward.

“Roll.”

And she rolls onto her side.

“Still trying to persuade her to go all the way over on that one,” he adds as he gives her another treat.

“Whoa, Adam, that’s amazing! How long have you been training her?”

“Since I met you really. That first event we went to, she brought me her pink rabbit when I was waiting for you, and she was so eager to play fetch, I thought I’d see what else she could do. The Kennel Club just gave me more grandiose ideas.”

I laugh at this, but it turns into a yawn as I glance at my watch. “Oh dear, it’s midnight! My practice is going to be shot to pieces tomorrow.” Like it hasn’t been terrible for a while now.

“Do you want to stay over?”

The thought of going home … Ugh. Could I weather a night with Adam? He’s so genuinely good and … that woman, Celine … How could someone do that to him?

But has anything really changed? I’m still putting a target on his back, aren’t I? I can’t seem to keep away. Even coming here … Oh shit, I shouldn’t have come here and told him all that.

I’ve been silent too long because he says, “Just as friends, Anna.”

“Because that always goes so well for us.”

He laughs. “I swear. After talking about all that stuff, sex is the last thing on my mind.”

Okay, then.“You only have one bed, right?” I gesture up to the top floor above his kitchen.

“I could easily sleep on the couch.”

I sweep my eyes over it. “It looks way too short for you.”

The thought of sharing a bed with him, and how well I slept, with Pepper curled up either at my back or his, makes my heart ache for the time we spent at Janus’s. I want this ordinary life of couch chats and takeouts so badly—where the biggest problem of the evening is getting Pepper to do a full rollover—that my chest aches.

“We can share a bed, can’t we?” I say.

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