Chapter
One
Tatum
That…isdefinitely a pussy.
In the early morning silence, my breath swept in and out. An audible roll, loud as the waves washing onto the beach in Hawaii, where I would have been lying if Adam hadn’t had to cancel for work. Or ‘work’, as the case seemed to be.
The cell was cool in my hand, its screen long since gone black. The darkness didn’t matter. The text that had woken me was burned into my brain.
Adam was cheating on me.
I’d spent twenty minutes conjuring and rejecting scenarios that could explain what I had read, but none of the excuses held water. I certainly couldn’t ask the cold sheets beside me for an answer.
Raking my fingers through a serious case of bed hair, I weighed my options: continue to drive myself insane or find Adam and demand the truth.
“Option B for the win,” I muttered, throwing back the covers and padding out into the living room of our one-bedroom apartment.
I had fastidiously picked out every piece of furniture when we first moved in together, making sure each piece represented both of us—nothing too feminine, so Adam would feel comfortable in the space. Modern industrial was the theme, highlighted by bare brick walls, black fixtures, and a bias toward minimalism. There were times when I felt cold in my own home, but I had thought we were happy enough to make up for it. Apparently, I’d been wrong.
Seated on our distressed gray leather sofa, face lit by the soft glow from my laptop, Adam hunched over our glass-and-steel custom-built coffee table.
“Adam?”
He jolted as though struck with a cattle prod and slammed the computer closed, plunging us into darkness.
A moment later, a click preceded a small light blooming from one of the many standing lamps that littered the room. I hated those lamps. Stupid, weak little things that couldn’t light the entire space. Adam had always said they lentambianceto the space. I thought they were just a waste of energy.
“What are you doing up, baby?” he asked, crossing the room and cupping my face in his hands. His brown eyes sparkled in the low light, like an anglerfish trying to draw in its prey.
Adam had never been a morning person. Our routine had always been me tiptoeing around getting ready for work and leaving a steaming mug of coffee on the bedside table to entice him out from under the covers.
It was only recently that this had changed.
What else hadn’t I noticed?
“Why were you on my computer?”
He glanced over his shoulder. “I was just looking something up. Didn’t want to wake you.”
The memory of what had woken me flashed through my mind, and I took a step back, escaping his grip so I could think clearly.
“Who is Ellie?”
His eyes flicked to the bedroom door. It was fleeting, but obvious. Tension rippled through his shoulders.
“I don’t know an Ellie,” he said, brow creasing. The look of confusion, tinged with just the right amount of hurt, appeared so genuine that if I hadn’t seen the text myself, I’d have believed him in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, the time for ignorance was over.
“Well, she sure knows you. She wanted you to know she had an amazing night last week, but her pussy is still sore. She asked if you’d come kiss it better. Sent a picture to prove it and everything.”
Adam’s face darkened. The open, vulnerable facade I thought I knew morphed into something nasty. A demon ready for battle.
“I can’t believe you went through my phone. How fucking dare you? What is wrong with you? You can’t be happy, just haveto find drama. I can’t believe you did that!” His voice grew progressively louder until his words echoed through the small space.
“You’ve been cheating on me!” I yelled, breaking in on his self-righteous rant.
“There’s no trust in this relationship. I can’t believe you’d violate my privacy like that. I hope you’re happy with yourself, Tatum. You’ve destroyedus. You’ve ruined the best thing you ever had.”
