Chapter 30
Beth is straddling the line between asleep and awake when she hears her phone ringing. In a state of half-sleep, she reaches toward the bedside table where she’d left it before settling down on Adrian’s bed. She cracks one eye open to slide the phone on before she answers, her voice drugged with sleep. “Hello?”
“Where the hell have you been?” Iris screams at her through the phone. “I’ve called you like a hundred times!”
Her eyes open all the way and she rolls to the side toward the nightstand alarm clock.
11:00 p.m.
She pushes up on one elbow “Hello, sunshine.”
“Don’t you dare ‘hello sunshine’ me. I’ve been so worried. Where are you?”
“Adrian’s,” Beth croaks in reply.
“His house?” she asks in disbelief. “Why didn’t you just text to tell me you would be spending the night?”
“It wasn’t exactly planned. It’s a long story.”
There’s a long pause. “Well?”
“‘Well’ what?” Beth replies, still trying to clear the fog of sleep from her eyes.
“What’s the long story? Duhh.”
“Oh my god, Iris. It’s the middle of the night. I can barely form coherent sentences. I promise I’ll tell you the whole thing tomorrow when we meet for lunch.”
“Elizabeth Par—” she starts to respond, clearly upset.
“I promise I’m okay, Iris. I’m sorry for making you worry. I should have called. ”
Iris sighs. “You should. I thought you’d been kidnapped or something. You’re such a pain in the ass.”
“I love you,” Beth says, half smiling.
“Whatever,” Iris says and Beth can sense that she just rolled her eyes. There’s a shuffling sound like Iris is climbing out of bed, probably to pour herself a cup of warm milk, her go-to midnight snack. “So you’ve been a busy little bee with your new boyfriend?” Iris asks in an insinuating tone.
Boyfriend. It feels strange to hear Adrian being called that. There’s no denying that they’re together, but in a way, boyfriend doesn’t feel like the right word for what Adrian is to her.
“Mm hmm,” Beth says, remembering how Adrian got in the shower with her, kissing her breathless, then washing her, taking his time, running his soapy hands over every inch of her body. How he fucked with her back pressed against the tile wall and her hands tangled in his hair. It was fast and intense, but no less satisfying and they both came hard.
“Wow. I’d say someone’s got it bad. You can’t even use your words,” Iris says with a touch of humour in her voice.
Beth sighs and collapses into the bed. “You have no idea, Iris.”
“So, you’re telling me that he’s better than you could have ever imagined? Your big-dicked boss can bring it good.”
Beth bites back a laugh. “Good doesn’t even come close to describing it. More like phenomenal, intense, mind-blowing.”
“I knew it!” Iris squeals, and Beth has to pull the phone away from her ear.
She rubs her face with her free hand. “Shh. You just screamed into my ear.”
“Tell your big-dicked boss I said ‘hi’,” Iris shouts into the phone.
“He isn’t here now, but I’ll be sure to deliver your greetings.” Beth yawns. “I’m hanging up now. And you should get some sleep. I'm safe and sound.” Iris's laugh is the last thing she hears as she ends the call.
Beth returns her phone to the bedside table and stretches widely on Adrian’s king sized bed, enjoying the glorious feeling of rolling around naked under a soft sheet. Her face meets the pillow, and she can’t help sniffing the delicious Adrian Dane aroma embedded in the material.
Despite the clean scent, remnants of his cologne managed to linger on the freshly laundered material. God, he smells good. Like clean laundry and male soap. He just might have been my very own aphrodisiac.
Lying in Adrian’s bed, inhaling his intoxicating scent, she’s unable to think of anything but him.
Her mind replays the events of the day. The things she learned about Adrian. Her image of him had been completely shaken. It was like the missing puzzle piece of Adrian Dane had finally clicked into place. Now, she understands the reason why he doesn’t want a family. She also understands now that everything she had assumed about him had been dead wrong. He isn’t cold, hard and emotionless. He’s a million layers of complexities that made her heart ache for him more. He knows grief and suffering all too well– he just keeps it always locked tightly inside of that ironclad exterior.
Until now. With her.
They had stayed on the terrace for a long time afterward, their bodies and hearts entwined, kissing and cuddling. Time was irrelevant in that moment they shared. Finally though, he carried her back inside the living room, kicking the door shut with his foot. One second, they’d been walking across his bedroom and then the next, they were tangled on his bed, their mouths never leaving one another.
After their escapade in the shower, Adrian next carried her to his bed where she dozed off to him stroking her hair, answering the many questions she still had. She liked how honest he’d become with her, and that she didn’t have to pry things out of him like at the beginning.
He left for a quick business trip a few hours later, around eight. She heard him murmur and laugh softly in her ear, probably over whatever sleepy gibberish was coming out of her mouth, and then felt him kiss her neck down to the tops of her breasts before his footsteps went out the door.
Now fully awake, she rolls over and notices a sticky note beside her phone:
"Make yourself at home. Might be difficult since the entire home is run by automated controls, but I left you some instructions downstairs. I’ll see you tomorrow."
He signed it with a wobbly heart drawing. A smile creeps up her face and she closes her eyes as her own little Adrian and Beth movie plays behind her lids. She sees them dancing on their first date at the fundraiser, the way she couldn’t stop smiling when he’d kissed her outside the restaurant. She sees them on her bed, the way he looked when he was inside of her, moving and kissing and loving her. The way he looked the morning after, sleepy and handsome and hers.
She sees them walking around in the Hamptons, holding hands, and taking it all in together. She thinks about all the sneaky glances and secret smiles that they shared around the office.
The bedroom is silent, only the faint sounds of the city filtering past her, and in the stillness, she can hear it in the way her breath quickens. He makes her happy. Happier than she’s ever thought she deserves.
And she can feel it.
She’s in love.
She’s in love with Adrian.
****
Beth is in one of Adrian’s shirts, the sleeves folded up and the buttons half done and just black panties underneath. She walks out of the bedroom, wishing for something to tie back the hair that she knew was in a tangle of curls.
Her bare feet travel slowly downstairs. She breaks into a huge grin when she finds Post-It notes stuck to each fancy control system, from the automated blinds to the lighting to the steel and glass appliances in the beautifully sleek kitchen. She pours herself a cup of water and travels out to her favourite place in the house.
She doesn’t know how long she stands out on Adrian’s terrace, elbows resting on the banister, eyes staring off into the distance. She watches the clouds moving and filling the sky with an impending sense of doom. Lightning flashes in the distance.
When she’s back inside, she moves from room to room, admiring just how grand the whole thing is. She’s never really had the chance to soak in its beauty, being preoccupied with other things whenever she’s here. It’s so big she feels she’ll never be able to explore every room. She stops when she finds a room with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. There has to be a thousand books in the room. Maybe more. The shelves stretch even around the corners of the wall, with a polished wooden ladder attached.
Her hungry eyes scan over the spines of probably a hundred books before landing upon one that makes her smile, because it’s the only one with a bookmark sticking out of its pages. She can’t help grabbing it.
Padding over on bare feet, she heads for the couch in the corner of the room beside a window and sinks back into the luxurious pillows, a little grin on her lips. She flips open the first page of the book to find a few envelopes tucked in it, each stacked behind the other in no particular order. They are all addressed to Adrian, the only exception being the one at the top of the stack.
She notices the recipient’s address on that envelope—Snow Gardens Mental Institute—and she doesn’t have to open the letter to figure out who the letter is from.
His ex, Mia.
She stares down at the letter in disbelief, her heart roaring in her ears when she notices the date on the envelope. A week before their trip to the Hamptons. He didn’t mention this. He told her that he hadn’t been in contact with her for years.
Beth forces herself to read the letter in her hands, but after the first few sentences she stops reading, unable to continue and just stares down at the words in utter dismay. Her eyes close of their own accord, her mind in self-preservation mode. A shaky sigh escapes her lips as she tries to focus through the blurry mess of emotions.
Her mind is reeling with questions as she remembers what Adrian said to her barely eight hours ago. “I care about you more than I’ve ever cared about another woman.”
The pain builds in her chest, burning like she’s swallowed hot coals. She wants to believe that he means it but she can’t help but doubt that with this letter in her hands. She inhales long, slow breaths through her nose and exhales in an attempt to regain her composure. She haphazardly stuffs the letters back into the book, returns it to the shelf and leaves. Desperate for a way to silence the whirling storm in her head, she settles into bed and tries to fall asleep.
She’s starting to doze off when her phone jars her awake again. She picks it up and notices the call is from her mom. Her heart jumps to her throat. Her mom calling at this time cannot be a good thing.
“Mom? What’s wrong? Is it Alex?”
“He’s… We’re in the hospital. St. Mathews.”
Beth feels sick. “Is he okay?”
Her mom’s voice is tight. “We don’t know yet. God, we don’t know anything yet. He had another bleeding episode but the treatments aren’t working and the doctors are saying that there might be an inhibitor. They’re running tests now to find out.”
“I’m coming.” Beth takes a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. “Mom, I’ll be there soon. Alex is going to be okay.”
When her mom hangs up, Beth doesn’t give it a second thought before calling Adrian. Two short rings give way to his voicemail, and she hangs up without leaving a message, sending a quick text to Iris instead.
She hurriedly puts on her discarded work clothes and after spending almost ten minutes struggling with Adrian’s complicated security system in frustration, she leaves Adrian’s house after.
Could this day get any worse?
Her breathing is heavy as she hails a cab. The ache in her chest is too familiar from the countless days and nights she’s spent in hospital rooms, worrying about her brother. Just when things were starting to look positive. An inhibitor—that’s a complication they can’t afford.
This can’t happen.
She repeats the words to herself as some sort of mantra. She won’t be able to bear it if anything happens. Not to him.