Chapter 23

I was drunk, tired and passed out on the sofa by the time I looked up and realized it was daytime. Fuck, how long had I been like this? I looked at my phone only to notice a whole day had passed. I couldn’t believe a day had passed and I’d done nothing.

I got up and headed to my room. I hadn’t done something like this in a few weeks, I’d stopped the moment I got up close and personal with Adrianna. As I walked up the stairs, waited at the top.

“Buenas, como está tu marido?”

“Bien señora, Adrianna is in the garden.”

I could tell by the disappointed look on her face she’d caught me in the library one too many times. She probably thought I was up to no good, once again.

“I cleaned the glass in the library,” she said as she passed me walking down the stairs. I stopped and then I continued walking, feeling embarrassed not only had she seen me in such a state, but she’d seen the results too many times, I was hoping to be better. How the fuck could she respect me, when I was struggling to respect myself? Everything was a mess, everything and I didn’t know how to make it better, but I felt things were better whenever Adrianna was around. It was as if she was my muse. The one who stopped me from getting into trouble. She had even managed to stop me from killing Gold.

“Hey, sleepyhead.” Adrianna smiled as I reached the top of the stairs. Had the stairs gotten longer or was I completely out of it?

“I thought you were in the garden?”

“I was, but then I wanted to see if you made it into bed. I didn’t think you would be downstairs all this time. Is it even comfortable on the sofa?”

I ignored her question wondering who else had seen me downstairs.

Fuck!

“What do you say I take you out tonight? Somewhere special?”

She started to twist her hair, as she’d done whenever I managed to charm her in some way, something all girls craved, being spoiled and being taken care of and most of all being appreciated.

“It depends what you have in mind…” she purred as she got closer to me.

“A surprise, and I need a shower, so no matter what you’re doing today, make sure you’re ready at five.”

She laughed. “In about an hour.”

I looked at the time She was right, and not only had the whole morning passed, but most of the afternoon had done so, too.

“What should I wear?”

I smiled at her. “Don’t worry about that. You could wear whatever you like and you would still be beautiful.”

“Keep it coming, Mr. Ruiz, and I may end up staying.”

I smiled. “I hope so.”

I turned to walk to my room. I would take her to the Chicago Symphony and show her the time of her life. I should have told her to dress up in something fancy, but I didn’t want to spoil the surprise, not after last time.

Moments later she came back and said, “Do you mind if we stay in?”

I shook my head. I minded because I didn’t want to stay indoors. Indoors meant not resisting temptation and wanting to overindulge. I had to get out.

“Can we go for a walk or something?”

“Sure.”

This was the one thing I hated about women, they would say one thing and the next it had double-meaning. Yes, we could walk outside, but I didn’t fucking want to. I needed to get away from these walls as much as possible. The photos of Pa on the wall, the remainder of the things I’d done were all fucking screaming in my face and I needed to get out.

“Sorry, you’re right. Let’s go out. We can get something to eat. Nothing fancy right?”

I nodded. “Sure.”

She saw things my way; whatever she had going on, she had to bottle up and deal with it later on. My feelings were the important ones right now and they were ready to explode, and one thing for sure was she didn’t want to get caught up in the explosion.