Tangled (35 page)

“I got to a point where I didn’t even
recognize myself. I couldn’t stop. I forgot how
to
. I
was wandering around downtown one day, high as fuck, when I saw her. It’d been
weeks, months, I don’t know since I last saw her. She had a new guy, another
charity case I guess,” he said bitterly. “Something about seeing her again made
me snap. I got in the guy’s face and talked shit to him, talked shit about her.
I don’t know who landed the first punch but I knew who was going to get the
last. I’ve never wanted hurt someone so badly in my life.”

“Was it because you loved her?”

“Far from it. I mean it may have started
out as a cock fight, but it didn’t end that way.” He blew out a tremulous
breath. “I kept going, even when he stopped. I could feel people trying to pull
me off, but I kept hitting him. Somehow, in my fucked up head, he’d become
everything I hated about my life, about myself and I just wanted to beat it to
death.”

Her stomach roiled. “You didn’t, did
you?”

“No. The police showed up. Arrested me
and sent my ass to lock up.” Adonis averted his gaze. “Found out later that the
guy suffered from a broken nose, dislocated jaw, a concussion, a few cracked
ribs…it was a miracle I didn’t kill him.” He rubbed his mouth. “They tried to charge
me with assault and battery.”

No wonder. “But your dad got the charges
dropped.”

“The one good thing he ever did for me,”
he said sourly. “That and send me to rehab. All he had to do was grease a few
palms and everything went away happy.”

“Do know what happened to the girl?”

“Alive and well. She’s living with him
still.” He finally turned to her. “So, do you think you can live with an almost
convict?” He meant it as a joke but Tess picked up on the cautious note in his
tone.
  

She smoothed his wrinkled brow. “As long
as he stays clean and plays nice with other children, we won’t have a problem.”

“Do I now?” His thumb brushed her nipple,
his eyes becoming a velvety, lustrous gold. “Don’t you know, Tess? I always get
what I want.”

Grinning, she edged away from him. “Not
with me, you won’t. You have to work for it.”

His mouth curled with intrigue. “That so?”

Her heart pounded as he rose. The sheet billowed
from his tapered hips and puddled next to them. “Yes, you do,” she whispered as
he settled over her.

His hand skimmed her inner thigh. “I
should get started then.”

_______________

Tess
spent the next few weeks adrift in a haze of bliss.

When
Adonis learned of her nonexistent swimming skills, he made it his mission to
teach her. Lucky for them his palatial home possessed a heated, indoor swimming
pool.

The
lessons had been slow going at first.

The
sight of him breaking the water’s surface had made it well nigh impossible to process
his instructions. The sinful cling of his board shorts dragged lower as he
lifted himself out of the pool. Eyes gilded a lustrous gold liquefied her synapses.

So
instead of mopping up her saliva and dialing back the estrogen, Tess had shoved
him back into the pool for a replay.

She
laughed when he emerged again, only this time looking like a disgruntled beaver
with hair spiked and a scowl on his face. Annoyance didn’t take long to be
supplanted by roguish mischief. Tess didn’t catch on to his malicious intentions
until it was too late. Arms striking out, he nabbed her and vaulted them both
into the water.

Upon
her panic-filled, sputtering scramble to the surface, she discovered he’d never
let go. He treaded with her to the wall, pinned her pelvis against warm, wet
tile, and proceeded to make it up to her.

They
didn’t crawl out of bed for another two days.

By
then New Year’s Eve bored down upon them. Tired of wearing the same rewashed
clothes, Tess suggested she go home to pick up more. Adonis wouldn’t hear of it
and instead phoned reinforcements. When Lydia showed up with a bag full of
essentials and some completely off the wall items, including edible lingerie, Tess
feigned obliviousness at her smug, I-told-you-so expression.

When
she promised to pay back every cent, his sister waved her off. “Consider it a belated
Christmas gift,” Lydia said slyly.

“At
least let me get you something,” Tess pushed, unwilling to forgive the debt.

“Trust
me, you and my brother being together is the best gift I’ve gotten in a while.”

Probably not more than her condo.

She
and Adonis spent New Year’s Eve lying on the deck of his boat, their naked
limbs entwined under thick covers as the sky exploded in choreographed pyrotechnics.

That
night he’d worshipped her body in a way that left her in tears. He paid homage
with reverent fingers, purged old hurt with a repentant mouth, anointed her
with champagne, and imbibed from her body with a passionate tongue. After he
spread her apart and took as much as he gave, Adonis bestowed her with a tender
kiss, his mouth flavored with her and promise and the smooth, dulcet tang of bubbly.

It
was more than sex.

It
was more than anything she’d experienced in her life.

He
didn’t have to tell her how he felt. Tess could see it in his smile, his laugh,
his
gaze. This wasn’t to say he was completely
reformed of
jackassery
. They still fought like cats
and dogs over the littlest of things.

Tess
considered those normal days, when Adonis was still Adonis. But there were days
where his moods were unpredictable. Though the meds kept him in check for the
most part, they weren’t a hundred percent effective. It served as a stark
reminder of his situation.

He
didn’t fly as high as before, but he still soared during his hypomanic cycles. Energy
and ideas shimmied around him like a phantom mantle, his euphoria infectious. He
would’ve dragged her halfway across the world if her lack of a passport hadn’t
forestalled his plans.

Tess
learned that calmness only came through sex. But with the way they were going
at it, her body couldn’t keep up. It was then that he turned to his projects.

It
was fascinating to watch him work.

Immersed
in focus, he never acknowledged her presence. Tess didn’t mind. His focus was all
consuming. It was during those moments that she thought of his mother, wondered
if he watched her for hours on end perfecting her craft.

When
he came down, it was like watching a balloon deflate of helium. Though his
depression wasn’t debilitating, melancholy saddled him. Cranky and tired, he
didn’t want to do anything. He either bitched or slept. Tess grew to appreciate
the latter.

Thankfully
those days were few and far in between.

It
wasn’t until Riley texted, asking when she’d be returning to campus, that she
realized how quickly winter break drew to an end. They’d ignored the outside
world as long as possible. There was only one reason why they both were
reluctant to return.

Cameron’s
presence shadowed them, a third presence neither of them wanted to address.
Adonis didn’t outright say it, but she knew he was crushed that his best friend
chose not to attend his mother’s funeral. Not only that, but Cameron hadn’t
bothered with a consolatory phone call or even a text.

Tess
didn’t know if she was more disgusted or disappointed by his behavior. Her
brain couldn’t accept this 180-degree divergence of his character. She wanted
to believe Cameron had a suitable excuse.

Because
if she didn’t find him lying in a hospital entombed in a body case, she would
put him in one.

“What
are you going to say to him?” she asked as they drove back to campus.

“Nothing,”
Adonis retorted blandly. “He wants to act like a fickle bitch, I’ll treat him
like one.”

Tess
massaged her forehead. “I’m sure he has a good excuse.”

“Don’t
fucking make excuses for him,” he snapped.

Swallowing
pride, she clamped her mouth shut, knowing it was touchy subject.

“I’m
sorry,” he said gruffly. “I just don’t want to think of him. It still pisses me
off.”

With good reason.
She picked up his free hand and cradled
it in her lap. “Don’t sweat it. Whatever happens, we’ll deal. Together.”

He
wrested his gaze from the road just long enough to pin her with a look ripe
with meaning. As used to it as she was, butterflies still funneled into the
walls of her stomach. He lifted her hand and pressed a kiss against the rise of
her knuckle.

Less
than half an hour later the Range Rover’s tires squealed outside of her dorm.

Tess
rolled her eyes at the green-eyed catty glares of the other girls as he helped
carry her things into the building.
 
“You might want to call off your harem.”

He
smirked. “Why? Scared of a little competition?”

She
merely hitched an incredulous brow.
 

His
chuckle was low and throaty. “Arrogant much?”

“My
constant proximity to your ego must be rubbing off.”

“Mm,
that isn’t the only thing,” he purred and bit the underside of her jaw.

Suppressing
the shiver that quaked beneath her skin, she playfully jostled him aside. “Is
sex all you think about?”

“Only
when it comes to you.”

 
She resisted the temptation to drop her
things and throw him against the nearest wall. After a
three
week
marathon of sex, the intensity of her need for him hadn’t abated.
It was a sickness, one she wasn’t willing to relinquish for anything.

Steadying
her breathing, Tess steeled herself as she halted outside her room. There was
no telling what
Jade
’s reaction would be when she
waltzed in with Adonis. She knew there was much explaining to be done, none of
which had been accomplished over break.

She
would understand.

The
door swung open to reveal an empty room. Most of Jade’s bulging suitcases slouched
untouched at the foot of her bed, which she found strange since Jade couldn’t
stand unpacked bags. She hadn’t even bothered to plug in her laptop.

Odd.

“Where
is she?”

“Your
guess is as good as mine.” She grinned as he set her things beside the dresser.
“Adonis the gentleman. Who knew?”

He
pulled her into his arms. “I just wanted to see where I’d be defiling you in
the near future.”

Her
fingers slid into his hair, testing its feathery silkiness. “Any more defiling
and my vagina
is
going to fall out.”

He
nosed the arch of her neck. “We can’t have that, can we?”

The
buzz of his phone waylaid her response. Adonis glanced at the screen and
silenced it with a scowl.

“Your
attorney?” He’d been dodging the poor man’s calls ever since the funeral. Tess
knew it undoubtedly had something to do with his mother’s will.

“I’ll
talk to him later.”

“You
can’t put this off forever.”

His
arms tightened fractionally around her. “I don’t want to hear it. Not now.”