Page 122 of Wicked Love

“What are you doing here?” My voice comes out rougher than I intended.

The last time we spoke was a lifetime ago. She left me without a backward glance, leaving me to raise Becca alone, leaving me to grieve the loss of what I thought we had.

She steps forward, hands spread as if to show she’s harmless. “When I heard you were playing here, I had to see you,” she says, as if she didn’t turn my world upside down.

Before I can back away, she’s hugging me. My arms stay at my sides, refusing to return the embrace. The scent of her perfume is cloying and I back away. She stumbles a little and looks up at me, looking slightly hurt.

“You look good,” she says, her voice low. “Really good.” Her hand tries to settle on my chest, but I step out of reach.She lost access to me a long time ago and I’m not giving her the satisfaction of pretending like everything’s okay. She doesn’t miss it, but I see desire in her eyes anyway…like old habits can just resume if she pushes hard enough.

My teeth grind. “What were you hoping to accomplish by coming tonight, Adriane?” I ask bluntly, cutting through the bullshit.

Her lips twist into a hurt expression. “Just time with you. I miss you, Bowie.” Her voice dips to something smoother, softer, and there was a time when I would’ve caved.

Those days are long gone.

“I’ve never found anything close to what we had. I follow you enough online to know you’ve never married anyone either…” She takes a step closer. “I’d love to catch up, spend a little time?—”

Her audacity shocks me. She has no right to speak as if she knows my heart or my life, and she certainly has no right to want access to any of it.

“I am far from single,” I tell her, each word precise. “I have found love, Adriane. True love. Beyond anything you and I ever experienced.”

There. I said it, and I mean it. Poppy and Becca’s faces smiling at me through the phone screen comes to mind and I feel another rush of love for the woman who has accepted my daughter with open arms.

Adriane’s eyes widen, and I’m stunned to see pain there. As if she can’t fathom that I’ve moved on. As if I should’ve been waiting around for the day she suddenly decided she missed me.

“Bowie—”

“I find it ironic that you haven’t said a single word about Becca. That you’d want to, what—go down memory lane with me? Have sex with me tonight to get another fix? Whenyou have a chance to ask me how our daughter’s doing, what she’s into these days.” I shake my head, hands falling to my hips. “Unbelievable.”

Her mouth parts.

“You don’t get to do this. You made your choices. And there is no part of me that wants anything to do with you.”

“Bowie?” Rhodes calls behind me. “There you are. We’re having a nightcap, man. Everyone’s—” He pauses when he sees who I’m talking to.

I glance back at Adriane. Her lips tremble and it doesn’t pull me in even a little bit.

“Don’t ever contact me again, Adriane.” I turn and walk toward Rhodes, leaving Adriane behind for good.

“You okay?” he asks.

“I could probably play another game right now, with all this adrenaline inside me,” I say. “She’s got some fucking nerve.”

“What did she want?”

“Me.”

“Fuck.You’re not…you’re not tempted by that, are you?” He sounds worried and I pause, turning toward him.

“Fuck, no. What I felt for Adriane, even during our best times…there’s no comparison to what I feel for Poppy. I am so in love with that woman,” I trail off.

He grips my shoulder and beams. “Thank fuck. That’s what I wanted to hear,” he says, shaking me slightly. “Put a ring on her finger, man.”

“I just might do that,” I say.

His eyes light up and he smirks. “See, when someone else says that, I’d think maybe…maybe not. But when you say that, I know that you’re thinking about it…a lot.”

Like every hour of every day.

---