Page 20 of Blindsided

“Hey, Adam!” Tilly calls out. Adam raises an eyebrow at me, and I swear my face begins to turn red. He comes over to my desk and snatches my phone out of my hand.

“Hey, Tilly. How are you?”

“Exhausted, but good. How are you?”

“As good as ever.” Adam continues to talk to Tilly, making sure she hasn’t heard anything more from her stalker. Something ugly curls up in my stomach as they talk. For a second, I don’t quite recognize it. Then I blanch. I’m fucking jealous. I hate that he’s talking to her. I want her to only be talking to me.

I’m in deep fucking shit.

This is not good.

Adam hands the phone back to me, and Tilly tells me she’s going to go to bed. I say goodbye in a daze, completely unsure of what’s happening to me.

“Soooo… You’re video chatting with Tilly?”

“She just needed someone to talk to.” I shrug.

“Mm-hmm. And she doesn’t have any other friends?”

“I wasn’t going to tell her to go find someone else, Adam.”

He holds up his hands in surrender. “I’m just asking.”

I purse my lip. “Sure.”

Adam looks at me for a moment before nodding, as if he’s agreeing with something. “I’m just going to say one more thing, and then I’ll leave it alone until you’re ready to talk. Don’t push your feelings away like I did.”

I open my mouth to deny it, but he holds up a hand. “No, let me finish. Being vulnerable sucks. But if you truly like her, then don’t be afraid to let your guard down a little. On the other hand, if you don’t have feelings for her, be very careful with how you talk to her. It’s a slippery slope between being friendly and leading someone on.”

I nod my head, not entirely sure what to say in response. Adam goes into the actual reason he came to talk to me, giving me an out.

But his words linger for the rest of the day.

Do I truly have feelings for Tilly, or is this a silly crush on someone I don’t normally get to talk to? And what happens if it’s the former?

CHAPTER9

Tilly

“Ican have someone else do this, you know.” Desmond holds the door to my building open for me.

“I do, but it’s only going to make me feel worse. One malicious stranger has already gone through my things. I don’t need to add to the list.” I push the button for my floor, and the elevator doors close.

“Okay, I get it.” Desmond affectionately rubs my shoulder blades.

Veronica and I got back from Paris a couple of days ago, and I’ve been staying with Des, since the renovation is finished. He helped me get the gumption to pack up my apartment and pick up Sergio from Mrs. Esposito today.

I knock on her door, needing to see my baby before I do anything else. It only takes her a second to open it, and I see him napping on her counter as soon as I walk in.

“Oh, you spoiled boy. I never let you hang out on the counters.” I walk right over to him, and he narrows his eyes at me. “I know, I’ve been gone for too long.”

Those words seem to soften him because he leans into me, ready for pets to make up for being away.

“Hi, Mrs. Esposito. It was so nice of you to watch my cat for a few weeks. Thank you very much.” Desmond’s voice is high-pitched in an effort to sound like me.

I glare over my shoulder at him.

“She does this every time. I’m used to it by now,” Mrs. Esposito teases.

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