I shrug. “Jay isn’t going anywhere, and he understands that you’re not ready for people yet.”
She snorts dryly. “People-ing sounds exhausting. And speaking of exhausting tasks… I need to shower,” she admits, wrinkling her nose.
“You do stink,” I say, my grin widening when she shoots me a glare.
More often, I’ve been seeing her old self poke through. Sometimes it’s a jab at something I said, other times it’s a little smile, and then there are moments like now—where she looks like she wants to give me the one-two to my eyeballs.
I eat it all up.
“You’re supposed to say I smell like flowers.”
“Baby, there are flowers out there that smell like straight ass. So sure, you smell like those flowers.”
She stares at me for a beat, and then her face cracks, and a full-blown grin stretches her lips.
Fuck.
I’m so in love with her.
“Fine, I guess I can’t really argue with that anyway.” She glances at the door leading to her personal bathroom. “There are no cameras in there, right?”
I arch a brow, enjoying the way her lips part. “I haven’t taken them out.”
She glowers. “Why not?”
I hold her gaze, ensuring she can see how serious I am. “I’m not going to watch you, Addie. But the second you give me a reason to, I will.”
Her brow lowers, picking up on my meaning. “I’m not going to hurt myself.”
“Okay,” I say, taking her word for it. “I’ll change out the sheets, and they’ll be fresh by the time you’re done.”
Slowly, she drags herself out of bed, and the burst of pride is uncontainable. I’m pulling up the corner of the silk sheet when she pauses at the door leading to her bathroom, peeking over her shoulder at me.
“Hey, Zade?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“Thank you.”
“Your mom is coming here tomorrow, just to remind you.”
It’s only been a few days since Serena visited last, but she’s been trying hard to reconnect with her daughter. Something I’m actually glad for, despite how exhausting she can be.
Addie rolls over to face me, once more a little burrito in her bed. She’s intent on wasting away for now, but I plan on channeling her trauma into better, more healthy avenues when she’s ready.
Her sweet caramel pools peer up at me, a slight frown on her face. Shadows stain the underside of her eyes, so dark that some of her freckles are lost.
“Does she have to?”
I shrug a shoulder. “No. Say the word, and I’ll lock the doors.”
She drops her gaze, but not quick enough to hide the guilt. “That was rude of me to say,” she admits. “She’s still my mom.”
I settle in deeper next to her, slumping against the stone wall, careful not to touch her, though my body is vibrating with the need to.
We haven’t touched since I found her in the train, and each second feels like a stab in the chest. Fiending for Adeline Reilly is a feeling I’m old friends with, but this is the first time I refuse to act on it.
“Tell me about her,” I say. “Tell me everything about you.”
She raises an eyebrow, and I smile because it’s cute. “You mean you don’t know everything about me already?”
“Of course, I don’t, baby. Not the things that matter. I may know what high school you graduated from or where you went to college before you dropped out, but that doesn’t mean I know how happy you were. If you were lonely or sad. Or if a boy cornered you in a library and made you scared.” I pause, that particular scenario angering me. “If that happened, I just need a name, that’s all.”
She snorts, rolling her eyes.
Addie resisted pillow talk before she was abducted, intent on hating me. And when she stopped hating me, we only had a couple of nights together before she was taken.
She wiggles deeper into the sheets, glancing at me through thick lashes. My heart clenches painfully, and I have an uncontrollable urge to kiss every single freckle dotting her cheeks and nose.
“My mom hates me,” she starts. “Or maybe she doesn’t hate me, but she’s never liked me. I think it’s because she never understood me. My mom is all about being prim, proper, and classy. Enter beauty pageants, marry a rich man, and live lavishly. I think she just wanted me to have the life she couldn’t have, and when I did the opposite, she resented me for it.”
“At least you’ll end up marrying a rich man,” I comment. She pins me with a dry look.