Silver Lining (Diamond #3) - Skye Warren Page 0,48

had a haircut and shaved, and that’s why I didn’t notice him before—he’s blending in. He stood in line at the coffee shop like all of those other guys. But he is different, as much as he tries to hide it. The slacks and shirt don’t hide anything from me, now that I’m looking. His overcoat looks expensive. Something he’d wear if he worked for one of the fancy law firms downtown.

Maybe he does. I don’t know anything about him now. Not that I knew much before, except—

“It was all for you,” he says. “It was always for you.”

The door opens and two teenage girls walk in, heads close together, giggling about something. They toss their backpacks into one of the booths along the side of the shop and slide in. It reminds me of me and Holly.

I don’t dare touch the diamonds.

“We—” My mouth has gone dry. “We only accept cash and credit for payment.”

Adam puts a palm over the diamonds, hiding them from view, and slides them across the counter to me. When he lifts his hand I half-expect the diamonds to be gone. A trick.

They’re not a trick.

“I wouldn’t leave them out, if I were you.”

If there’s anything I’ve learned since I flew to France, it’s that touching diamonds is dangerous.

Then again, so is leaving them out on a counter where anyone could walk up and snatch them.

This feels like the moment in the fairy tale just before the girl pricks her finger on the spindle. Before she bites into the poisoned apple. Before the fairy godmother brings her wand down and transforms her into a princess.

“You left,” I say. “And you didn’t come back. I waited up. For days, I waited up.” I take the diamonds in my hands. It’s easy enough to slip them into my pocket, out of sight.

Adam reaches into his own pocket and puts a few dollar bills on the counter. “I’m sorry. I was dealing with some shit.” He gives a small smile. “Family drama.”

I make his change. Family drama. That’s an understatement. The actions of Lieutenant Colonel Mark Jefferson have been all over the news. Adam’s popped up in a few of the articles. He enlisted, like his father and grandfather before him. And he was discharged dishonorably when he tried to bring his father’s crimes to light. That decision is being revisited, along with a lot of other shit that’s been swept under the carpet for so long.

The diamonds burn a hole in my pocket. I can feel them there, vibrating with possibility and fire, and that’s the thing—it feels good.

It feels right.

It feels dangerous and exhilarating and right.

When I look up from the cash register Adam is at the door. The sight of him on the threshold, about to disappear, turns me into a human scream. I’ve never unknotted the coffee shop apron so fast in my life.

“Are you leaving?” My coworker, a girl whose name I can never remember, looks at me with wide eyes. She’s been in the back doing inventory for the last hour, which is code for playing Animal Crossing on her phone. “It’s not the end of your shift yet.”

“Yeah, about that—I quit.” I lay the apron gently on the counter and sprint for the door.

Adam’s tall, with long legs and an even stride, and he’s halfway down the block already. I bite back the urge to shout his name. I don’t want people watching us right now. What I want—what I want—

I run instead of shouting. I run fast. He pauses at the corner and I put on a burst of speed. I swear to god, if I get there and he’s not real, if none of this is real...

My fingers sink into the wool of his coat. His muscles are tensed underneath from holding his coffee cup. He grabbed a lid on the way out.

He smiles and my heart stops.

I can’t let go of his sleeve.

“Where are you going?” I sound breathless and hopeful and slightly scared. “I quit my job.”

“Anywhere,” he says. “Everywhere. Want to come?”

21

Elijah

Holly is thinking.

She does this sometimes, after we’ve fucked—she just lays there in the bed next to me, her hair spread out on the pillow, looking up at the ceiling with a thoughtful expression.

I can’t keep my hands off her.

I trace a path over her collarbone and down her shoulder to the delicate skin of her wrist. “I should leave you alone.” Her eyes meet mine, a sharp reply on her lips. “But I won’t,