you think was behind some of those scholarships?” she snarled, looking at me like I was a moron.
“You wouldn’t—” My throat dried up. “You couldn’t.” Thea needed this. She needed Rosemore and the Almanac Team to make something of herself. She had promise, more talent than even Cain, but skill meant nothing when you didn’t have the right people at your back.
When no one could shine a light on those abilities.
But I didn’t even need to hear her answer to know she’d wreck all that in a flash.
“I would and I fucking will. You come with me right now, Adam Ramsden, and you clear up the mess you made.”
And that was how my life went down the shitter.
One second, I was at my woman’s side. The next, I had a ring on my finger that belonged to a harpy from hell.
All for Thea.
To protect her, and to make sure she got what she deserved, just like I promised her.
Everything.
ADAM
It surprised me how long we slept. I hadn’t realized I was exhausted, not when I was riding the high from getting to come on vacation with Thea. A part of me hadn’t been sure if she’d agree to let me come at all, so when she had, I’d been more exhilarated then than when I’d flipped my first property and had made a cool three hundred grand profit.
Her strength, her fortitude, and her determination never ceased to be bewildering. Especially when it came to me.
She never failed to push me away, to keep me at arm’s length, and that she’d done so because of a fucking curse was just crazy to me.
As much as it drove me insane, as much as she did, I could see her stubbornness coming to the fore. She was raised believing in that shit, whereas I was just pissed that I’d been fucking other women for three years, trying to get her out of my system and always failing, because of some stupid shit her mother had told her.
But she was here now.
In my arms.
In bed with me.
And she was going to stay here.
I didn’t give a fuck what I had to do. Didn’t give a shit if I had to stalk her to stay by her side. There was no way I was doing without her.
Not anymore.
Now that Cain was free and she’d won those medals, there was nothing to stop me. I’d wanted her to achieve those goals, to reach the dizzying heights I knew she’d been destined to soar to. I hadn’t wanted to distract her, had wanted to give her time and space, the freedom to attain what she deserved.
And now?
That was gone.
Over.
Done with.
She was mine, I was hers, and we were about to fucking live.
She could carry on swimming professionally, she could do whatever the hell she wanted. Fuck, if she wanted a job at Target, I’d support her. But she’d do it at my side.
That was the only condition.
She wasn’t the only one who was determined, and now that I knew the stupid reason behind her enforced distance, I was going to hammer at all her walls until she couldn’t think about living without me. Couldn’t even consider it without it tearing at her.
Mean?
Maybe.
But so was having to exist in this half-life.
If we were cursed, then I’d felt that without her at my side. Every day, waking up without her, wondering what she was doing, knowing she’d ignore my message if I tried to contact her, knowing she’d cut any call I tried to connect—it had worn on me.
Ripped at my soul.
I’d tried to move on, but how could you move on from a connection like this?
There was no freedom when you were tied to someone with invisible bonds.
If we were cursed, then it was a curse that existed when we were apart. Because my level of misery had urged me to work like a motherfucker.
I’d worked a hundred hours a week, minimum, busting my ass to get through the days. Sure, it had made me rich. But fuck, what was money if you were unhappy at a soul level?
She wriggled in my arms, resettling swiftly with a little snore that made me smile, that cut through that soul deep unhappiness I’d been feeling ever since she’d left for Stanford without a goddamn goodbye.
This was where she should have always been.
And I needed to show that to her.
I knew, from the light outside the curtains, that we’d slept through the night, and some of the morning. It was too bright