Page 60 of Adoring Fletcher
She looked down at her hands. “I see.”
I cursed under my breath and spun away, raking both hands through my hair. My nails snagged at tangles, but the little nip of pain did little to calm my raging thoughts. I didn’t know what to do. Everything was falling apart, right in front of me.
“Adam?”
I slowly turned back to her, guilt weighing heavy on my heart. I opened my mouth to apologize, but she spoke first.
“Do you love him?” Her words took my breath away, but apparently, my silence was answer enough. She nodded, her expression growing more serious.
“If you love him, then you need to make the right decision for you, even if that means abandoning your place as heir and moving on with your life. You’re unhappy. I can see it in your eyes. You deserve to marry who you want to marry.”
I swallowed around the lump growing in my throat, but I couldn’t seem to form words. She smiled, then, and reached out to touch my face. Her fingers were warm and gentle.
“You need to follow your heart, Adam. I promise, your secret is safe with me. I won’t breathe a word of this to anyone. We’ll carry on with the engagement as if nothing ever happened, until you make a decision otherwise, alright?”
“Aria…”
She smiled up at me. “Your boyfriend seemed so happy and relaxed when he first opened the door,” she said. “It’s obvious you’re doing something right. Take care of yourself, AdamSinclair.” Patting my arm, she turned and walked away, seeing herself out.
As the door closed behind her with a soft snick of sound, my legs threatened to dump me on my ass. I staggered over to the couch and sank down onto the cushions, dropping my head into my hands, my entire world still reeling.
What the hell just happened?
38
FLETCHER
I laidflat on my back, the sheets still smelling of us. My heart beat thumped unsteadily between my ears as I stared up at the ceiling. I keened my ears, trying to listen to the murmur of voices from downstairs, but it was no use. I couldn’t make out any words.
When the house finally fell silent, and it was quiet for a long while, I crept back out of the bedroom and down the stairs. I found Adam sitting on the couch with his head in his hands, looking utterly disheveled and out of place in his own home.
God, was this it? Had I ruined everything? My mind spun webs of what-ifs and worries. They pinged around my head like a pinball in an old arcade machine. I could barely think straight as I made my way over to the couch.
Slowly, I eased down on the edge of the cushion and placed a tentative hand on Adam’s leg. “Adam? I?—”
DING-DONG! The doorbell rang, zapping me like a shockwave. We both jumped. My hand flew to my chest, as if that might somehow stop my heart from flying out of its cage of bones.
“That would be our takeout,” Adam said quietly.
I stood and fetched it, being sure to tip the delivery driver. I set the brown paper bag down on the coffee table where it sat, taunting us. Not that I had an appetite anymore. Ugh.
I sat back down beside Adam, but neither of said a word. The silence spanned on forever, making me ache at the deepest parts of me, until I couldn’t take it any longer. I needed to know. I couldn’t bearnotknowing.
“What’s going to happen to us?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper, half-afraid of the answer.
Adam swallowed audibly. “The wedding is off. Aria knows.”
My gut plummeted. “Oh no… God, Adam, I’m so sorry. I’m such an idiot. I?—”
“Shh.” He turned to me, placing a fingertip to my lips to quiet me. “Stop, Fletcher, none of this was your fault. I’ve been needing to make a decision for weeks now, but… Maybe it’d already been made, months ago. When I met you.”
He smiled faintly. “Aria told me that she wouldn’t say anything about us.”
“Do you believe her?” I asked him.
“I do, weirdly enough,” he replied. “She was raised in a pack that’s completely different than mine, one where an Omega’s words still hold weight. She told me that if you made me happy, then I needed to do what was right for me, and she’s right. I just… I don’t know what steps to take, but I’ll figure it out. I have to.”
He reached out and pulled me against his side, kissing my temple. “I need to call my financial advisor first thing tomorrow morning. Have everything my parents might be able to touch locked down and secured. Protect my assets, like you said.” He growled softly. “I refuse to have everything I’ve worked so hard for stolen out from under me by my father.”
