Page 36 of To Hate Adam Connor

“That’s good. They are on Adeline more than me.”

“How did your talk with her go? You think you’ll be able to convince her without going to court?”

Sighing, I leaned into the fridge. “You want something to drink?” I asked, taking out a bottle of water.

“I’ll skip.”

“No, she isn’t taking me seriously. I don’t know what she’s playing at, but it’s not gonna be as easy as we thought. I’d thought she’d be all over it since he is the reason she asked for a divorce in the first place, but maybe that wasn’t it at all. I have no idea what’s going on in that mind of hers.”

“Maybe she needs time. Maybe she is worried about what the public will think of her if she doesn’t fight for the custody of her son,” Dan suggested, casually leaning against the doorway.

“Maybe,” I said. I took a few sips of water. “Maybe that’s it. Maybe she’ll come around.”

God knew what the public thought of her, what her friends said behind her back mattered very much for Adeline. She wouldn’t be able to explain Aiden’s sudden absence from her life.

“Don’t worry, she will. Besides, it would be hard on Aiden if he just saw her over the weekends.”

“I want him with me, Dan,” I said, meeting his eyes. Dan was one of the very few people who knew almost everything about the Connor family, all the good and the bad.

“I know you do, boss, but these things take time. Let her be for a while. Let’s see what she’ll do now that she is free from all that was holding her back.”

Adeline’s words, not his.

I nodded and stayed silent.

Dan straightened and looked over his shoulder into the living room. “If you have everything under control here, I’ll leave.”

“Sure. I’ll call you later, but you don’t have to pick up Aiden tomorrow morning. I promised him I’d drop him off at his school. Then I have the meeting with the new PR firm.” I glanced at the clock on the wall: 11:00 PM. “Take the morning off if you want to. I’ll be on set after my meeting anyway.”

“I thought you were wrapping things up this week. Still shooting?”

“Yeah, Matthew—who was the director—wants to try a different ending and extend it with a few added scenes.”

“Okay, we’ll talk before I pick Aiden up,” Dan said, then paused at the mouth of the living room. “Do you need help carrying one of them to bed?” He lifted an eyebrow and waited for an answer. I had a guess at which one he was referring to, and I didn’t like it.

I threw the water bottle into the trashcan and walked to his side. They were still sound asleep.

“No. She’d probably make a scene and accuse us of assaulting her in her sleep.”

Dan chuckled. “True. True.” Turning his back to the view, he put his hand on my shoulder and gave me a serious look. “Be careful with her, Adam. She might be good with Aiden, but that doesn’t mean she’d be good with you.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Just warning you.”

“About what?” I asked, my voice hardening.

He lifted his hands up, palms out, and headed out after saying, “I see how you watch her. Just take it as advice from a friend, nothing more.”

I couldn’t be sure if he was warning me off because he was interested in the spitfire himself, or for a completely different reason. I shook it off and gathered Aiden in my arms as gently as possible.

His eyes fluttered open as I was tucking him into bed.

“Daddy?”

“Shhh,” I murmured, combing his hair back with my fingers.

His eyes barely open, he asked, “You won’t die yet, will you?”

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