“What the hell have you done, old man?”
His father waived his hand, dismissing the palpable loss in the room without Janae’s beautiful presence.
“You’re better off without her. Did you hear what she said to me?”
“And you deserved every bit of it and more.”
His father’s jaw dropped.
“You have gaslit me my entire life, and I’ve allowed you to do it. But I’ll be damned if I let you cost me the only thing I want.”
“You’d better—”
“No, Dad,” Adam interrupted. “You’d better listen for once or this may be the last thing you ever hear me say to you.”
His father’s body was rigid in that bed, his eyes glued on Adam.
“I never wanted to play basketball. But you wouldn’t let me quit and I let you rule my life well beyond the time that you should have because you were my father and I love you. But the only thing you did was teach me that I wasn’t enough. That my voice wasn’t enough. And I let that poison every facet of my life.
“My self-esteem, my view of myself as a man, my career, and my relationship, all of it was poisoned by the hidden belief that I would never measure up to your expectations of me. Well, you know what, Dad? I love me now. I love who I am, I love what I do, and I lovethat woman who used her professional connections to make sure your grouchy self was taken care of. I don’t care anymore if I’m not enough in your life. I’m enough for me. And if I’m lucky, and I can make things right with that brilliant woman who just left here, hopefully I’ll be enough for her too.”
He pulled his hands through his locs and looked over at his mother, whose eyes were shimmering with tears.
“I’m sorry, Mama.” He walked over to her and kissed her on her weathered cheek. “I gotta go.”
His mother’s trembling smile was like a fist around his heart. He didn’t think he could take her disappointment too.
“You go find that sweet girl and you tell her the next time she lays eyes on Grady, he will have an apology for her.”
He glanced over to see panic flash across his father’s face. Good, if anyone deserved his sweet mother’s wrath, it was Grady Henderson. And apparently, he was going to get it on full blast.
He left the room, running down to the main entrance and seeing the same security officer sitting at the front desk who was there when he’d brought Janae dinner.
“My man, did you happen to see Janae Sanders pass through here?”
“Yeah,” the man replied. “She didn’t even respond when I called out to her. She just tore outta here and headed toward the parking lot.”
“Thanks,” Adam said as he walked toward the parking lot, hoping he could catch her before she made it out. But as he stepped through the automatic main doors, he saw her car drive past him, and right through the front gates before he could step off the curb.
He was too late.
“What the fuck did you do?”
Adam didn’t bother to turn his head to see who was giving him shit. He knew from the growly voice and the particularly annoyingway his door was being slammed that it was none other than his bear of a friend, Michael.
“If you came here to give me crap, you can drop my keys on the coffee table and get out.”
Michael’s footsteps didn’t retreat in the slightest. Instead, they continued to travel across Adam’s floor until Michael plopped himself down at the opposite end of the couch.
“When I was acting the ass with the woman I loved, I seem to remember you berating me on the phone and then rolling up to my house, setting my younger and slightly spoiled sister straight.”
Michael’s memory was spot-on. Adam had done all those things. Still, that didn’t mean he was in the mood for Michael to be in his face right now.
“Yes, but you were at fault then.” Adam’s reply made Michael chuckle.
“Bullshit.” Although said in jest, it was clear Michael was serious. “If you weren’t at fault, you wouldn’t be sitting here in the quiet staring at the ceiling trying to figure out where it all went wrong. Also, your woman is at my house crying her eyes out with my woman and Cree.”
Adam groaned. The last thing he needed was Cree and Vanessa on his case. Cree, he could handle. Deep down with all her teasing, she was a softy at heart. But Vanessa, she was another matter. Elegant, poised, always appearing in control, she looked like she could plot your destruction in a matter of seconds. They’d been cool since she’d arrived in Monroe Hills a few months back, and he certainly didn’t want to change that.
