one of the things I loved about him. His honesty, he didn’t hide from me. But now he was.
“Why are you treating me like I’m fragile?”
“Babe, I just told you your ex beat a man half to death.” Gently. Softly. Carefully.
“What’s with your face?”
“Come again?” He jerked back.
“Your face.” I leaned in. “Why is it so gentle? Why are you talking softly?”
“Adalynn—”
“Why are you hiding from me?” I asked the real question.
His eyes narrowed and all the softness fled. “Let me get this straight, you’re pissed at me because I’m breaking some shit news to you as gently as I can?”
“Yes.”
Okay. That made me sound crazy.
“I got nowhere to go with that.”
“A few days ago, we were in your bathroom having words about me going back to the VA. You took a step away from me. Actually, as I think on it, you moved so you weren’t blocking the door. Tell me what that was about?”
He changed again. Right before my very own eyes, I watched the transformation. Soft to hard. Hard to soft. Then soft to guarded.
What was that?
“A man has a woman cornered in a room while they’re exchanging—”
“Bullshit!” I shouted. “Maybe some men do that, but you don’t.”
“Not sure you can make that call, Addy, seeing as that was the first time we’d had a discussion in the bathroom, where I didn’t like the direction it was turning, so I knew it was going to get heated.”
“That’s crap and you know it. We’ve argued plenty. You’ve never stepped away from me.”
“Never been in a tight space with you when it happened. And just to point out, Addy, you’ve made it clear you don’t…”
I didn’t hear the rest. Humiliation ricocheted through my insides. Bitterness and shame and guilt. Old guilt and new guilt. I’d made Trey wary. And in my musing, thinking about everything Trey had told me about his upbringing, how his mother was, I’d judged her harshly. I compared her to my mother when I should’ve seen myself in Paige Durum. To a lesser degree, I’d been her. I’d cowered. I’d ignored things I shouldn’t have. I’d blamed myself. And I’d taken it.
“Adalynn.”
A whisper. Back to gentle.
That was why I’d kept my secret.
If they knew, they’d treat me worse than Trey was now. They already treated me like I was a baby. Naïve and stupid. If any of them knew, it would be horrible. I couldn’t live with the way they’d look at me.
“Please don’t do this to me.”
“You’re going to have to explain how I’m treating you. I’m totally lost, baby.”
“You know.”
“I don’t.”
I took in his confused stare, his beautiful soft eyes, and hated seeing both. Hated that I exposed too much. He’d seen it. And now everything was ruined.
“If you don’t, then you’re just as bad as the rest of them.”
With that, I left the kitchen, abandoning my breakfast.
Trey didn’t follow.
He didn’t get in my face and argue.
He didn’t demand me to explain myself.
He just let me go.
“You’re in a mood,” Bass said after class.
“I’ve been cooped up,” I huffed, and my fist connected with the heavy bag. “Pent-up energy.”
“Honey, I’ve met your man.” He laughed.
“So?” I snapped and threw another jab.
“Right. Not just a mood. A bad mood. We’ll talk after class. And dip your shoulder. You’re too stiff.”
“Whatever,” I grumbled.
I was in a bad mood. A very bad mood. After our argument in the kitchen, Trey left me alone to get ready in his room. And only went up to do the same when I came down.
He didn’t broach the subject, nor had I.
And he was silent on the drive to the gym. Only speaking after he’d walked me in and that was to demand I didn’t leave the premises without Bass or calling him for a ride. I agreed because I wasn’t stupid, contrary to my family’s—and now his—beliefs. I still thought everyone was making a big deal out of nothing, but I didn’t want to run into Jake knowing what I knew now. I never wanted to see him again and he had made it clear he wasn’t done.
I agreed. Trey left. And that was it.
No kiss. No goodbye. No have a good day.
Nada. Zilch. Zero.
Whatever.
So now I was working my frustrations out on a heavy bag, the same way I did anytime someone in my family irked me.
It was better than the alternative, which would be an altercation that I would undoubtedly lose because I always lost.
24
“Here’s your schedule.” I glanced up from the photographs I was studying and