Adam [BOOK ONE]

XXV

elena's mom is pictured above.

"Elena-"

"I'm fine."

He sighed, "as much as I enjoy seeing you naked, pacing across the floor in your underwear doesn't scream fine to me."

"This is big for me. I can't remember the last time we've all been together and now my mom tells me my dad and his new fiancé wants to join us for dinner. How the fuck am I suppose to handle all of this?"

"You worry too much."

"Sorry, am I boring you with my life?"

He put his hands up, "my bad."

I took a deep breath, "I'm sorry, I'm not mad at you and you shouldn't be the person I take it out on."

He stood up, placing his forehead against mine and breathing so gently it felt as if we were in sync.

"You've been worrying and stressed since we got here, Elena things are not how they once were but that doesn't mean they can't get better. No, you're father and mother aren't together any more and the odds of them getting back together is slim to none, but that doesn't mean you can't be happy for him and his new found happiness."

"It's hard," Adam pulled me close into his chest, "ever since I was young I wanted to be normal. I wanted a big, happy family where we could all sit at the table and eat and talk about our day. That never happened, not once. Jacoby was always sick, Jaquan hated being home, and mom and dad would argue so bad some nights I thought the neighbors would call the police."

"Elena-"

"It was awful. I remember my mom came to my school once smelling like alcohol, her hair was a mess and she had on a bra and a blazer in forty degree weather. She picked me and my brother up and we get in the car and she tells us that we're running away and that she can't take being with him anymore. We get halfway down the road, she pulls over for gas and my father comes blazing down the road. He hops up and they fight, right there in the gas station parking lot. Do you know how demoralizing that is for a child? To watch your only examples of what love should look like fight like cats and dogs?"

"I can't imagine how hard that must have been and was it fair to you guys, no, but the past is gone. There is nothing you can do to change it and holding in all this bottled up emotion is not good for you."

A single tear slipped down my cheek, "I hate when you're right."

He smiled, taking his finger and wiping the tear away, "I love you. If that means telling you what you don't want to hear, I'll do it a million times. Just please don't cry, that'll break my heart."

"Watch me lay on the water works from now on."

He kissed my forehead tenderly, wrapping my close to his body.

"I love you Adam."

"I know," he winked.

"Say it back asshole."

He intertwined his fingers with mine, "Elena, you have my heart."

We both smiling, kissing each other one last time before going to get dressed. Adam finished quickly, fixing his bow tie in the mirror while applying some cologne. Of course it took me a lot longer, laying out outfit after outfit nothing seeming to fit or look right.