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She reached out and pushed some hair off my forehead. “You do. I’ve missed those smiles.”

I did too. I was so tired of this ache in my chest. “Everything still hurts, Mom.”

“I know.” She kept brushing my hair out of my face. “I promise that it won’t forever.”

I wanted some kind of timeframe on that. When would the pain stop? Days, weeks, months?

“Maybe we can have Adonis over for dinner one night?”

Absolutely not. Dad was going to accidentally kill him. “I don’t know what RJ and Dad told you, but Adonis is just a friend.” And barely that.

“Your friends come to dinner all the time.”

“I’m not ready.”

She nodded. “Well, it’s an open-ended invitation.”

“Okay.” But I wouldn’t be extending the invitation to Adonis. Not just because I was worried about him dying. The truth was, I’d fallen too hard and too fast for Mr. Halifax. I didn’t want to ever make that mistake again.

Besides, when I wasn’t with Adonis it was easy to just picture his handsome face and those piercing green eyes. When I was with him, though, that gorgeous face spoke. And I didn’t always like what he said. He acted like he knew me. And my situation. And he didn’t. He didn’t know how hard it was for me to get out of bed every day. Or that some nights I still cried myself to sleep. He didn’t know that I had a hard time sleeping at all unless RJ crawled onto my bed to comfort me.

I was a mess.

And I needed time. But I should have known I was about to run out of it. Atropos’ favorite thing was cutting threads.

Chapter 29 – You’re Fiery

Saturday – Two Weeks Later

Adonis was gorgeous. Even more so on the court. And I wasn’t the only one that noticed.

No one used to come to the games. But the bleachers got more packed every game. And now it was standing room only.

The cheerleaders had never cheered at these games before. They were focused on competitions or something in the winter. But they were here tonight. Making eyes at Adonis.

I was used to the Triple Gs focus being on tormenting Scarlett. Because she was prettier than all of them and had the quarterback’s sole attention. But now that Axel’s ring was on her finger, they needed a new target.

It wasn’t me. They knew better. And surprisingly, their focus wasn’t even on hating someone.

No, they were focused on trying to get Adonis’ attention. I stared down at Gigi, Gemma, and Georgia. Or George, as I liked to call her, much to her dismay. I thought they looked desperate, shimmying at him with their pompoms.

But I noticed Adonis’ gaze landing on them a few times. And to a few other girls in the crowd. I could tell he liked the attention.

But I’d grown used to him only looking at me. I sat in the bleachers after school every day doing homework as I waited for RJ’s practice to end so I could drive him and Liam home.

I didn’t need to. They could easily get a ride home with one of their older teammates.

But I liked sitting there. It gave me time to steal glances at Adonis.

He knew it.

I knew it.

But he never mentioned that he was the only reason I came to practice. He was probably worried that if he mentioned it, I’d stop. I wasn’t sure I knew how to though.

This was how I preferred it. Watching him from a distance. Where it was safe.

I’d never been like this. I’d always gone for what I wanted. But it had been a little over a month since I’d last done that. And I didn’t like the way I’d felt afterward. It was better to keep my distance.