Page 30 of Even if You Fall

Between Adam and Owen, I was becoming a little concerned over my taste in men.

“I saw you,” he began as he let his hand fall away from me and backed up until he was standing in the middle of the room, far from the door. As if he was silently letting me know he wouldn’t stop me from leaving, even though he wanted this conversation to happen. “I saw your reaction when you saw whatever was on your phone—the way you completely changed, and all your fake joy died out in an instant.”

“Fake?” I said, laughing over the choked-out word, even though he was so right. “What do you—is that what bothers you so much about me? That I’mhappy?”

“What was on your phone, Bubbles?” he asked instead of responding to me, understanding weaving into the words when he continued. “Because the look on your face was dangerously close to the look on your face when I asked about Owen Vance yesterday.”

I wanted to ask why he’d been watching me at all, even though my gaze had continuously pulled to him throughout the time we’d been Asher’s. But at that exact moment, my phone vibrated in my pocket, stopping anything I might’ve said and stilling me for a second too long.

And from the way Adam’s eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed, he noticed.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I finally managed to say, the words not nearly confident enough. Clearing my throat, I forced all thoughts of my phone from my mind and added, “And I have no idea what you think you saw, but maybe my ‘joy died out,’ as you say, because I was concentrating on something other than the people around me.”

He studied me for a long while before mumbling, “You really are good at lying.”

My head snapped back at the accusation.

It was the second time Adam had called me out for something no one else had ever caught onto. Then again, no one else had ever thought myjoy, as he referred to it, was anything less than genuine. And those lies and that joy had always been a way to keep the focus on others and off me.

But it was drawing Adam’s focus to me, and not for any of the reasons I might want.

“Adam—”

“You saw what the claims were against Owen Vance,” he said over me, his voice low and pleading. “You heard me say we have nothing to go on. If you know anything about him, I need you to tell me.”

My chest rose and dipped with my too-fast breaths as I watched him. “What makes you so sure whatever was on my phone had to do with Owen Vance?”

“Told you I saw you,” he said knowingly. “The only difference in your expression between yesterday and today was the lack of tears. Everything else was identical.”

Embarrassment flared, making my cheeks heat, but I just shook my head as I thought of denials and excuses to get out of this.

“Chloe,please,” he nearly begged as he took a step toward me, one of his hands outstretched before he lifted it to agitatedly scuff it over his face.

I simply stood there, trying to get my pulse to settle into a normal rhythm after he’d said my name. It was only the second time he’d said it instead of calling menew girlorBubbles, and just like yesterday, my heart had painfully skipped as wings had taken flight in my stomach.

Such an irrational reaction, I knew.

Once I got home, I was going on a high fantasy binge—anything to get me far away from romance and ridiculous thoughts of a man who couldn’t stand me.

“I heard what you said yesterday,” he went on. “You think what you know will only make you look like a bad person, but we needsomething, and you had an extremely telling reaction to Vance.” When my mouth parted to argue, he added, “What if what you know is the only way we can stop this guy from assaulting and harassing women?”

He’d said something similar yesterday, and it hadn’t been enough to break me then because I knew how women responded to Owen Vance. They practically fell at his feet as if he was a god. But Adam’s words had stayed with me all night because what if there were other women—women whodidn’t? Women who tried getting distance, and he wouldn’t let them?

Women like me.

Not that he’d assaulted or harassed me.

Still, I hadn’t been able to get space from him without leaving the career I loved, and he still wasn’t letting me go. His blocked messages, surprise visits, and that fake officer were proof.

Well, maybe not the latter. I had literally no proof that man was connected to Owen. It’d just been the only reason my brain had been willing to accept.

The indecisive silence between us stretched so long that Adam started pleading with me again just as I said, “I’m not sure how I can help you because I don’t think he sexually assaults or harasses women. He doesn’t have to. Women line up just forthe chance he’ll look at them. To be chosen by Owen Vance is to win some unspoken lottery.” A bitter-sounding laugh left me as shamed tears burned at my eyes and tightened my throat. “I would know.”

One of Adam’s eyebrows ticked up, the only movement betraying his stony expression. “You’re with Vance?”

I struggled to swallow around the knot in my throat as my head shook. “But I was for over a year, until...” A strangled sob escaped me before I managed to cover my mouth with trembling hands. “I didn’t know, I swear.”

“Know what?” he asked.

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