Page 68 of Yearn

Listen to One Last Night

by Vaults

Ilooked around his place curiously, taking in the cramped space. It was basic but filled with music and books, making it feel more interesting than a bigger place with cold décor. The faint scent of Chinese food drifted in the air, along with the masculine scent that was all Adam.

Spice. Soap. Smoke.

My body lit to life as he shut the door behind him, then leaned against the wall. Boredom etched his features. “What do you want?”

Nerves sprung up in my belly, along with resentment. Really? He wanted to play it this way after everything that had happened? “I want to talk.”

He stared at me with cold detachment. An invisible wall shimmered around him, and I realized he really didn’t want me here. I swallowed past the lump in my throat, feeling horriblyvulnerable. Still in my work clothes, fresh from the disaster with Max, I’d come on instinct, sensing he was the only one who could help me. But watching him now, I teetered on the brink of running away. Had I made a horrible mistake?

“About what?”

“Max and I broke up.”

His expression never changed. “Gabby told me. Heard you had a rough night at work.”

“It was awful.”

“Sucks.”

I almost choked on the anger that whipped through me. This was old Adam—cold, sarcastic, detached. This wasn’t the man who’d stared at me with longing and lust; who’d kissed me like I was his world; who spoke to me about his crappy father to help with my own pain.

There was nothing for me here. Adam had moved on and he wanted nothing to do with me. As much as that ripped out my insides, I was driven to make him feel something; to admit there were real emotions between us and not this bullshit persona he was playing. I thought of him protecting Max, kissing me while he knew about the video and the cheating, and welcomed the building rage. It was so much better than the pain.

“You were away with Max in Long Beach. You knew about the video this whole time.”

His gaze narrowed. “Gonna try to blame this mess on me, princess?” he drawled.

“I want all the facts now that I got a front row seat to the porn movie. Someone wanted me to know about it in detail. I wonder why.”

A half shrug. “Don’t know. Couldn’t tell you.”

“Convenient.”

The air between us sizzled with unspoken tension. I’d come for protection from the storm of my emotion. To escape theugliness of betrayal. But there was no safety for me here with him. In fact, the opposite was true.

Adam would destroy whatever I had left. I just needed to decide if I’d let him.

I became desperate to make him feel the way I did right now. The accusation flew out of my mouth. “Did you send it?”

He regarded me for a long while. I stood still under his examination, my hands tucked under my arms in a form of protection.

I’d known the answer, but needed to get his confirmation; needed him to say the words aloud. “No.”

Another surge of fury rocketed through me. “But you never thought to tell me? Never felt guilty about keeping his secret?”

His face was impassive. Not even a flicker of emotion broke through. “No.”

I clenched my fists and trembled. It took all my willpower not to launch myself at him, punch and kick and hurt, like they’d both hurt me. It was like an awful darkness inside of me was drowning out the light, and I didn’t know how to fight it. “Was this some type of joke? Did you like humiliating me? Did you both laugh behind my back while I bought all of the bullshit?”

This time, I caught a flicker of regret in his dark eyes. His voice was soft yet firm. “No.”

His final no made me lose control. I went at him like a wild thing, launching myself across the room and hitting his chest; pushing at his rock solid body that wouldn’t budge. He only trapped me against him and held me tight while I writhed and raged. I didn’t even realize tears were streaming down my face until I tasted the salt on my lips. “I hate you. I hate you both.”

“It wasn’t my secret to tell, Landon. Did I think it was right? Fuck, no. But it’s your relationship, and I refused to get involved. If I had, you wouldn’t have listened anyway. Hell, you would’ve ended up blaming me!”

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