The Prince and the Bookworm

Chapter 45

"What?" I demanded incredulously. If I wasn't already shivering, the thought of being with Adam was enough to send a shiver up my spine. I didn't know whether my face was twisted in a look of disbelief, shock, or disgust. It was probably all three. "Dallas what the he-" I started to talk, but the words just fell off my tongue as I shook my head in complete astonishment. 

How on Earth could he think that I would date his idiot of a brother? Me? I didn't consider myself to be picky, but I definitely had some standards. My bar wasn't set very high as far as guys, but it was without a doubt miles higher than Adam. 

"I am not with Adam." I denied firmly, still shaking my head in disbelief. "Are you kidding me? I can't stand the guy. If he wasn't your brother, I would have quite a few choice words to call him."

"If you hate him so much what were you two doing in the backroom?" Dallas asked. It was impossible to ignore the suggestive tone to his voice. I was so disgusted at the moment, I couldn't think of anything to say. It should have been easy to talk Dallas out of such a ridiculous idea, but I felt like a fish out of water. I felt like my blubbering was only making matters worse, but I couldn't stop myself. 

"Because I-I, you know, we were.... doing things." As soon as the words left my mouth, my eyes widened and my stomach dropped. It's like I had a talent for making my life harder for myself by saying the worst things at the worst possible time. 

Dallas' eyes nearly popped out of his head. I didn't know if it was from anger or mere horror at the accidental implication of my words. 

"Oh my Go-" He couldn't even finish the sentence. He just threw his hands up in disbelief before adamantly shaking his head, as if he could actually shake off the memory of what I had just said.

"No!" I yelped, making a wild grab for his arm. "That came out wrong. We were just-" I forced myself to stop talking, to take a second and think about what to say before I blurted out something even worse. Dallas allowed me to maintain my hold on his arm, which was surprising. I tried not to feel happy about that. I had a long way to go before I would be able to completely convince him. Just because he wasn't pulling away doesn't mean I was making progress. 

And I only knew of one way to actually make progress. I had to tell him the truth. Even though I hated to betray Adam's trust, I cared a heck of a lot more about my relationship with Dallas. As I stood out there in the cold, probably freezing to death, I didn't exactly give much thought to the promises I had made to Adam. 

All I cared about was making sure that I didn't lose Dallas. 

"Okay." I said shakily, taking a deep breath. I forced myself to look up and lock onto his green eyes. "Do you promise you'll listen to me?" I asked, tightening my grip on his forearm. 

"Sadie-" 

"Promise me, Dallas. Just listen to what I have to say with an open mind. And then you can decide whether I'm a liar or not." 

Dallas sighed lightly. "Fine." He replied lowly, his gaze not leaving mine. 

After a couple moments of silence to collect my thoughts, I finally spoke. 

"You were right." I started, giving a slight nod of my head. "I have been hiding something from you since last week. And it does have to do with Adam." I paused to study Dallas' facial expression, but when it remained impassive, I continued. "But we are not together."

I expected Dallas to have some sort of interjection, but he was silent. 

"Adam has been-" I hesitated for a moment. "Struggling with something at school." I finished, an air of certainty to my voice. Maybe I could actually do this without telling Dallas everything Adam didn't want him to know. "And he came to me for help."