Page 32 of Twisted Hearts

By the time I got there, I had one more text. Two words.

Two words that made me wish I was the guy who would push her a little harder, two words that made me hope she was the kind of woman who wouldn’t mind it.

You too.

That was all it said.

I still went to bed with a smile on my face. All from a woman I barely knew.

But I liked her.

A whole hell of a lot.

10

Addi

“Earth to Adrianna.”

“Hmm?” It was on the tip of my tongue to ask her to call me Addi. I was starting to become so used to it hearing my real name surprised me, but this was Jillian. I didn’t have anything to be worried about with her, so I let it go.

“What is with you? You’re either so tired you’re falling asleep or your thoughts are out in the Mediterranean Sea.”

This wasn’t the first time I’d drifted off on the phone with her. We talked almost every day, but I’d never been so distracted.

“I’m really sorry. I’m tired. The last couple of nights have been really long.” Made even longer by Shawn walking me home on Friday, telling me more about the kind of guy he was with what he said, not how much he said, and everything he said, I liked.

A lot.

So much, in fact, that it’d taken me a while to put my phone down after texting him and find sleep. I kept hearing his voice in my head, seeing his face when he’d told me about wanting a family. There’d been a softness in his eyes, a look of longing, almost like he thought he’d had it once and lost it, that made my heart squeeze.

This was a man whocared, and he wasn’t afraid of showing it, even to someone he barely knew. What would he show me if I actually got to know him?

Two days later, my mind was still consumed with thinking about him.

“You like it, though, right? Enough to stay?”

There was something in her words that made me grip my phone tighter. “Why?”

She sighed and then cursed beneath her breath. “He called.”

“Daniel.” My voice was raspy as I spoke his name. Based on how Jillian’s tone had changed, it could only have something to do with him. “What’d he do?”

“He called this morning, honey.” She lowered her voice. I could practically see her, curled up on her couch, biting her lower lip or playing with her hair while she worried. “I told him I haven’t heard from you, acted shocked like I couldn’t believe you’d take off on your wedding day, but I don’t think he believes me.”

“Shit.”I knew it.I’d known he would hunt me down, had figured he’d go to Jillian. He knew I talked to her. “Has he called before?”

She would have told me, but she hesitated, and my worry spiked.

“It’s the first I’ve talked to him, but I had some hang-ups earlier this week. I’m sorry, I should have told you sooner, but I guess I was hoping…”

“I get it.” God, my apartment was suddenly too small, my couch too constricting. I jumped off it and paced a track in the small living room. “What’d he say?”

“That he’s worried about you. Doesn’t know where you are—said no one does. He sounded like he cared. Played the part really well, too.”

“What’d you tell him?” He knew Jillian and I were friends. I had tried to keep it a secret how close we really were, how often we talked, but maybe he had read my texts? I’d tried to be careful with my phone, always deleting our conversations. Maybe the fact that it took him a week to call her meant he hadn’t seen them.

This constant back and forth was skyrocketing my stress levels.

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