The world around us disappears for a second.
And I know she remembers. Even if she hates every memory of us.
Chapter Ten
ADAM
The music in my earbuds can’t drown out the whipping rain, pelting against the kitchen’s wide windows. Outside, everything’s pitch black, the storm completely swallowing the bending trees and the churning lake.
I could blame the insomnia on the forest groaning in the wind around us, or the harsh hiss of the storm, but tonight I’m tired of pretending. Instead, I stand over the electric kettle, willing it to boil faster. Eliza’s crash course on tea blends is suddenly invaluable. I desperately need something, anything, to calm the static under my skin.
And it can’t be the usual remedy.
The little green light blinks bright in the dark room, and as I reach for the handle, movement flickers behind me. I spin sharply to see a disheveled Jackie scurrying in, clutching her robe securely around her body, a cloud of wild bed-tousled hair framing her face.
“Oh.” The sound rounds her lips the moment she sees me.
The sight coils something restless low in my stomach, but then I catch the shadows smudged under her wide eyes. Again, I break the promise I made to myself and pull out the earbuds with a sigh.
Jackie clears her throat. “Where is everybody?”
“Carter and Eliza are staying at her aunt’s overnight. Patrick and the new guys decided it was a good time to check the perimeter.” I reach for another cup from the shelf and fix her some tea, too. “I think they were bored out of their minds.”
She regards the cup as I slide it across the island toward her.
“Is it spiked?” The raised brow and cutting glare make her look more like herself.
But the comment still stings.
I raise my cup in a mock toast, forcing a smile.
Jackie hesitates for a beat until a loud thunderclap makes her jolt, and she gingerly takes a seat on the opposite side of the island. Looking into her cup, the tips of her fingers brush the rim of the green ceramic in silence.
“It’s Eliza’s.”
Her head snaps up, looking at me, confused.
“The tea,” I say evenly, though the hesitation grinds me the wrong way. “It’s safe to drink. I wouldn’t…” What?Prank you? Hurt you? Trick you into drinking something that could make you sick?God, this is unbearable.
How did we end up here?
Once, when she was around, the vortex inside my mind finally stilled. She calmed my jumbled thoughts in a way that not even the constant music in my earbuds can.
We used to talk for hours. She’d let me ramble on about everything that was so foreign to me in New York, laughing at my excitement. And now… awkward silence fills the space between us.
“Don’t you need to be home for that secret compliance meeting I’m not supposed to know about?”
I can’t help but chuckle. As usual, she doesn’t miss anything, even though she’s been benched. “I appreciate the concern. I’ll fly out on the day, then come back.”
She won’t get rid of me so easily.
A huff of poorly disguised frustration scatters the steam from the tea.
“Maybe there are other matters that require your attention. You know…the exciting nightlife.”
“You sound bitter. Aren’t you enjoying the perks of rural life?”
“I’d enjoy it more if the house weren’t so crowded.”
