the life I had before Grant and Ari.
It’s dark by the time I return home to an empty house. As usual, Ari is nowhere to be found, but I know that doesn’t mean much. He can be anywhere, hiding in shadow, lurking under my bed, impersonating a hanger in my closet for all I know.
He’s reverted back to being a person who watches without taking an active role in my waking life, choosing instead to appear in the dead of night and leaving again before the sun rises the next morning.
I’m getting sick of it. Fucking angry, actually. That fury a scratchy blanket wrapping around the pain I feel in my chest.
But what else did I expect? That he would become a doting boyfriend? That he would give up his life to become a person that lives his life in the light instead of shadow?
Absolutely ridiculous, that thought.
Men don’t change, and I was stupid to think that Ari would be any different.
Still, the anger is there, frustration, the aggravation of not knowing a damn thing about him except his real name. If that even is his real name.
How much can I really trust about him? Certainly not that he’ll stick around. He’s done a damn good job of keeping his distance since I’ve returned home, and I can’t help but think he’s engineered this, can’t help but remember that in his own subtle way, he’d warned me this would happen.
He took what he wanted. Achieved what he’d set out to do, and now that Grant is no more a threat than the character assassination he’s committing against me in the media, there’s no reason for Ari to stick around.
And given the questions surrounding his false identity, there’s even more of a reason for him to stay away.
I get angrier just thinking about it, so I try to go through the motions of making something to eat, forcing it down and getting a bath after.
Wrapped in only a towel as I leave the bathroom, my mind is on the tasks I’ll need to complete to prepare for my next show.
I have nothing, all my equipment still at Grant’s, which means I’ll need to buy a new camera, a new computer, all the processing software and everything else.
Dropping my towel in a hamper, I pad barefoot to my dresser to grab a pair of underwear, my feet slipping out from beneath me as my body slams against a wall.
A wall of heat is at my back, the brush of a man’s shirt against my naked skin. My heart is in my throat as a deep voice whispers, the tip of his nose running along the line of my jaw.
“Do you think you’re allowed to be out wandering the city?”
Although my body reacts to Ari’s scent in a way that makes me melt, my anger at him bristles and snaps.
“It’s better than being home alone all the time,” I argue, my voice tight.
A soft laugh, the sound dark and without humor. “You should pay better attention to your surroundings, Adeline. How the hell is it possible for me to sneak up on you when you know there’s a man out there who wants you dead?”
He’s angry, too, apparently, his words razor edged.
Fuck him. I’m not playing these fucking games anymore. If he wants me to behave, he can do the same.
Jerking away from him, I’m able to slip free, my gaze snapping to his for only a split second before I storm to my closet to grab a shirt to pull on.
“He wants to ruin me,” I answer, “but I highly doubt he’s planning on coming here to do anything about it.”
Ari stands in the center of my bedroom, his arms crossed, his feet at shoulder width. He’s a dark presence in the black clothes he wears, a shadow that can take a fucking hike if he doesn’t start answering my questions. A girl can only take so much heartbreak and indecision before she snaps.
The tilt to his head is mocking. “Are you certain about that?”
It only pisses me off more.
“It’s been two months, Ari. Two fucking months that I’ve been trapped in this place by myself. Meanwhile, you’re free to run about and do whatever the hell it is you do.”
I’m marching toward him before realizing my body is moving, my rage coming out as I slam my hands against his chest, not that the hit budges him at all. He’s too big. Too strong. But I hit him again for the