Page 39 of Slow Burn
His comeback was swift. "Maybe I just wanna be nice toyou?" The way he said it made my skin tighten in the best way possible. Goosebumps chased up my arms and down my spine. My nerve endings felt like live wires feeding electricity into my veins.
This was dangerous.
He was dangerous.
Like a thunderstorm slowly rolling in, ready to cause havoc wherever it touched.
But instead of running and shielding myself, I wanted to step straight into the middle of it. Wanted to feel the full force of it wrapped around me.
"Think about it," he said. "The offer stands." With that, he pushed off the fence. I bit my lip as I watched that big body amble toward the house.
I was in so much trouble.
19
ADAM
I hardly recognized the man staring back at me from the mirror above my sink.
The dark patches that'd been beneath my eyes for the better part of three years were steadily fading away. Life had been breathed into the hollow stare I had come to expect to see every morning.
And those were just the changes on the outside. Inside of me, things had shifted. The deep-rooted hate that consumed me for so long was finally making room for something else. Or possibly someone else.
It wasn't lost on me that since Maddie had come into my life, the nightmares had stopped. No more razor-sharp claws slowly digging away at my sanity. No more sleepless nights filled with nothing but bad dreams of the woman I couldn't save.
The dreams were still there. They just verged on the edge of fantasies and featured an entirely different woman. One with whiskey eyes that I wanted to get lost in.
Still regarding my reflection, I pulled my brows together. Hand brushing over my chest, I realized that for the first time since the accident Angie could enter mythoughts without a bout of self-loathing following on her heels.
Over the past few days, I'd done a lot of thinking. Mostly about what Griffin had said and specifically what he thought Angie would want. And he was right. Wallowing in what was, was no way to live.
I didn't know where I was going to go from here. And certain wounds ran so deep, I wasn't sure they'd ever heal. But I wanted to try. Small steps. And I was going to start with Maddie.
I hadn't lied the previous night; I wanted to be nice to her. I wanted to be her friend. And, yeah, maybe I wanted to taste her lips and find out what sounds she made when her buttons were pushed just right.
But more than that, I just wanted some of the good in her to rub off on me.
Bending over, I splashed my face with cold water and felt my mouth stretch into a grin. When I'd decided to move to Clearwater Bay, my dad had taken me aside and told me that he believed I would find the peace I was craving here.
If he only knew how right he'd been.
The generic ringtone of my phone sounded from my bedside table. I chuckled when I saw an incoming video call from my mother. Flopping down on the bed, I swiped the green button. Mom's confused face immediately filled the screen.
"Adam…I wasn't expecting you to answer so quickly." Her brows pulled together, eyes blinking rapidly.
"I was close to the phone."
She leaned closer to the little camera, searching for who knew what before she pulled it away from her softly lined face. "You look different." From her tone, I couldn't tell whether she thought it was a good thing or not.
Nodding, I admitted, "I've been sleeping better."
She smiled then. It was big, bright, and beautiful. "That's good. Your father will be so happy to hear that." A little sigh escaped her lips. "He worries about you. We all do."
"I know, Mom. And I appreciate it."
My mother fell silent, eyes shining with unshed tears. My heart did that funny thing again. And for all the changes that'd taken place, seeing my mom cry still was something I didn't have the strength for. Because if I saw those thick tears roll down her cheeks, I'd wonder how many of them she'd shed over me.
I cleared my throat. "You doing good?"
