Page 16 of Let Me
He owns his own business. He’s a millionaire in his own right. Sure, he had the privilege of his dad’s money and his dad’s name, but he’s doing just fine on his own, doing something in tech and climate change initiatives that I don’t understand.
He knows I don’t stay here anymore. He knows I live with Mom in a different country, even. And even still, he felt he needed to tell me toleave.He hates me that much.
I close my eyes, swallowing the grief that’s threatened to engulf me for the past three years. I settle the phone on my chest, and wanting to forget all of this, I drift off to sleep.
IAWAKENto someone pounding on the condo door.
Pushing myself to my feet, my phone drops to the floor.
“Shit,” I mutter, reaching down to pick it up. I have six missed calls, and it’s nearly noon.
I wipe the sleep from my eyes, the pounding on my door growing louder.
“Who is it?” I call out as I stagger to the door, still disoriented.
“It’s me, Riley, open the damn door.”
My heart sinks.
It’s Adam.
He’s half of the missed calls. Rolland is the other half.
I open the door, the scene from the night before of Adam enjoying himself with those women flashing in my head.
Adam looks awful. His brown hair is disheveled, his suit jacket rumpled, and I wonder where he slept the night before. I find I don’t give a fuck.
“Oh my God, Riley.” He comes in, pulls me into a tight hug, and I stiffen beneath his hands. He smells like cigarettes and beer. He notices that I don’t hug him back, and he drops his arms and pulls back, putting his knuckles to his mouth, shaking his head. “Oh my God,” he says again. “I am so sorry, Ry. I cannot believe…I am so sorry.”
I cross my arms and see him take in the dress I’m wearing. The one I didn’t bother to change out of. His pale green eyes widen in surprise and he glances behind me, as if he expects to see someone there.
“Get out, Adam. I don’t want to talk to you.”
I wonder how he found out that I knew. Did Benji tell him that, too?
“Riley,” he manages to say, stepping into the door. I don’t move back, and he must take that as a sign that I want him to reach for me, because he does.
But I pull my arms out of his grip. “Get. Out.”
“It was fucking Benji, wasn’t it?” Suddenly, his eyes narrow and he runs a hand through his hair. “AndCaden.They sent me the photo, told me…”He shakes his head and groans.
It’s almost amusing, that he doesn’t know. I keep staring at him, impassive, unblinking. Of course, itwasBenji, and I kind of hate him for it, but I also don’t care. Benji may be an asshole, but he wasn’t doing anything wrong last night. That would be Adam.
Adam slams his fist against the doorway. “Fucking Caden,” he says, looking down at the floor. Then he looks back at me. “Did you fuck him? Is that why you’re doing this? Did you—”
I take a step forward, and he’s surprised, so he backs up.
“Get out. We’re done.” I slam the door in his face, click the lock closed.
He starts pounding on the door, beating against it with what I assume is his fist. Good. I hope it breaks his hand.
“I know you fucked him, Riley!” he screams at me.
I pick up the phone on the wall by the door, and call security downstairs, tell them Adam needs to be forcefully removed. They don’t ask questions and tell me someone will be up at once. In the meantime, I head for the bathroom, close the door behind me, and lock that, too.
Just in case. It shuts out Adam’s screams. I’m so over man tantrums.
I pull out my phone and ignore the voicemails that are surely from Rolland, or Adam. I hate speaking on the phone, and I never listen to voicemails.
