“And you’re finally done with your questionnaire,” she groans out satisfactorily, “thank God.”
“Actually …” I turn back to her and she already looks annoyed, “you never answered my other question yesterday either; about your brother.”
She's looking at me with an indescribable emotion scribbled on her face. I hold my breath, half expecting her not to answer. Why would she? Especially after how I've behaved, but mostly because when has she ever answered my serious questions?
“Why would I tell you?”Exactly. “And don’t say anything about maturity because I really don’t give a fuck.”
“You can ask me for something in return.” I offer seriously. “Come on, there has to be something you want from me.”
My palms start sweating the more she stares at me. I expect to see that usual devilish glint in her eyes, but all I can see is exhaustion. What is she going to ask for? Money? Ridiculing me? Physical humiliation?
“You can’t call me the ‘d’ word anymore,” she says with such seriousness that I almost topple over my chair.
That’s it? She’s so utterly serious right now, staring at me like she’s asking me to hang the moon for her.
“Fine,” I fake-grumble like I’m annoyed, but really I don’t care.You shouldn’t even be calling her that.
“Do you know who Ben Andrews is?” she asks me, inching forward in her seat and I find myself mirroring her actions.She’s finally going to tell me.
“Yes, he's that guy who got into that really bad accident a few years ago, right?”
Ben isn't a well-known guy by any means, he is just very wealthy, so I know of what happened to him. A few years ago, I think, he got into an accident and was paralysed from the waist down. Not long after, his family home was burned down to a crisp.
“My brother did that,” she says quietly, her eyes not budging, even an inch.
What?
I blink. “Why?”
Oh my God. Arson? Assault? That's why Adam went to prison? I bet he did it for an idiotic reason; maybe Ben disrespected him or tried to sleep with his girlfriend or something utterly ridiculous—
She clenches her jaw. “Because Ben is a psychopath who likes to rape women.”
Oh my God.
My breath hitches at her sentence, my mind racing at the news. Jesus Christ. My first instinct is to gawk in disbelief and anger. But I look deep into Adaline's eyes and instantly, my heart drops. My mind automatically assumes the worst. Did he…rape her?
The thought of him doing that to any woman is revolting and makes me want to kill him with zero remorse, but the thought of him doing it toher? That burns my chest in an unimaginable fury.
Please, God no. Please, don't let her have been through something that horrible.
I take a deep breath in. “Did he touch yo—”
“No, not me,” she answers quickly, shaking her head.
Oh shit. Thank God.I exhale in relief and my shoulders drop, not all the way though because he still did something heinous to someone.
She continues. “He tried to attack this girl outside a club that my brother was working at. He saw Ben and right before he was about to attack her, Adam did what any decent human would do and beat the shit out of him; he paralysed him.”
I have never known much about Adam Emery besides the fact that he had been in prison. I'd be lying if I said I didn't judge him or even spread rumours about why he went to prison just to spite Adaline.
Now, I feel disgusted that I even thought to do that. If I was in his position and I saw a girl getting attacked, I would do the same thing! Yet, I had the gall to judge him for being in prison?
Rape is the worst thing you could do on this planet. So, I'm glad Adam at least got close to that point and paralysed Ben. Evil bastard.
“What happened after that?”I ask with anger in my voice.
“His parents decided not to press charges after the assault because then they'd have to admit their son is a rapist.” She laughs a little under her breath before continuing. “Well, that was before Adam went and burned their house down and they had to press charges for arson.”
