Page 167 of The Tempted

I heard her cry over the water causing me nearly to drop the bottle of whiskey. I gently placed it on the counter and walked to the bathroom following the sounds of her sobs, which grew louder as I approached the closed door. I slowly opened the door and stepped inside the bathroom, the steam from the shower smacked me in the face, but I ignored it. She was sitting on the floor of the shower her head in her hands and her knees to her chest. I pulled back the shower curtain and stepped into the shower, the water raining down on me as I knelt in front of her and gathered her into my arms. I sat there with her, on the floor of the shower in the clothes I had been in for the last eighteen hours clinging to my skin and cradled her against me. I leaned my head back against the tiles as she grabbed my shirt with her fists and cried against my chest. Her sobs caused my eyes to fill with water and I blinked back the tears that threatened. In that moment, I wished Rico had pulled the trigger before she had the chance to, sparing me from watching the woman I loved fall apart in my arms.

I have caused a lot of pain in Adrianna’s life, some of it I saw first-hand, some of which I heard about but never did I imagine I could cause this much damage to her. I didn’t know what was worse me dying in front of her physically, or her mentally and emotionally dying in front of me.

She pulled away, wiping her face with the back of her hand before reaching out and touching my face. I stared into her eyes and hoped she could see how much I loved her, how much I wanted to make this better for her.

“I love you, Adrianna,” I said softly.

“I know,” she replied tracing her thumb over my lower lip, her eyes bouncing between my lips and my eyes. “I thought he would kill you.” She whimpered while trying to regain her breathing, dropping her hand from my face and stared into my eyes. “Why was he holding a gun to you? Why was Rico going to kill you?”

“I don’t know baby but I will find out, I promise you,” I vowed.

“I listened to you, you know? I ran but I couldn’t leave you. I couldn’t walk out of that club knowing that there was a man holding a gun to you. I remembered the gun in my hand and turned around…Anthony I didn’t think. I didn’t even hesitate for one minute. I pulled the trigger like it was nothing.” She paused, swallowing and shrugging her shoulders. “I killed a man tonight and I’m not sitting here crying because I regret it. Sure, I feel awful that I killed someone, that, I took someone’s life, but I’d do it again.” She whispered, “What kind of person admits that out loud?” A tear fell from the corner of her eye and I reached to brush it away with my thumb.

“It’s only me baby,” I said. “Your words don’t go beyond these walls.”

“I shot Rico, Anthony. I killed Nikki’s boyfriend and I just admitted to you I would do it again. My sister will probably never speak to me again, and still I’d do it again because I have lived apart from you for too long. I survived without seeing you every day but I always knew you were somewhere and one day I could be with you again. I can’t live with the knowledge I’d never see you again,” Her voice cracked and the tears finally fell. “To live and never touch you again, to never stare into your eyes or hear you call me Reese’s again. I couldn’t do it.” She shook her head adamantly. “Somewhere throughout all these years you stopped being the guy I loved and instead you became the other half of me. I know there are so many reasons you and I should have given up already but as long as I’m breathing I won’t ever give up on you,” she wept, poking my chest with her finger. “And you know what else? I looked into your eyes tonight and realized that every time you pushed me away and tried to make me believe you were giving up on me, you weren’t. You were fighting just as hard as I was only difference is you were fighting for my safety and not my heart. You have always had my heart and you knew that. But you weren’t so sure you could keep me safe and that wrecked you.”

I took her face in my hands and silenced her as my mouth crashed down onto hers. I kissed her because she had rendered me speechless, her words burning a permanent imprint on my heart and soul. I wrapped her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck, all the while never breaking our kiss. Lifting us both off the floor, I stood up holding her against me and stepped out of the shower. We were drenched, but we were too wrapped up in one another to even notice. I set her down on the counter breaking the kiss, I pulled back to look at her.

“I love you Adrianna. I’m sorry I didn’t fight hard enough but I swear to you I will from this point forward and not just for your safety but for your heart too.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but I shook my head and continued. “I may already have your heart but I’ll fight with everything in me to keep it.”

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