Tangled (41 page)

Cameron almost looked guilty. “I wasn’t in the country.”

Adonis stared at him. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say
for not being there when I needed you the most?”

“I sent condolences. And stop pretending I even factor into
this equation anymore. You couldn’t have been that upset seeing as how you
didn’t break down my door and demand an explanation.”

“Yes, because in the end everyone ends up running back to
Cameron for cover,” Adonis said sardonically. “And because I don’t need you
anymore you thought you’d undermine my health.”

“Don’t be so dramatic.” Cameron ripped the baggie open, dug
a finger inside, and popped it in his mouth. “It’s powdered milk dumbass.” He
flung it at him.

Adonis took an experimental sniffed, his jaw tightening. “So
this was all some joke to you? See Adonis jump. See Adonis tweak out over fake
heroin. You’re fucking deranged.”

“You should be happy. You passed with semi-flying colors.
Congratulations.” Cameron barged past him, collected his abandoned drink, and chugged
it in one go.

“No, this wasn’t about testing me. You just can’t stand to
finally see me happy. Something finally goes my way and you can’t stand it.”

“She wasn’t yours to have in the first place!” he snapped, crumpling
the plastic cup in his fist.

“It wasn’t like I planned it. Neither of us did!” Adonis
belted back with heat. “But she’s the best fucking thing that’s ever happened
to me.”

Although she’d presumed as much, hearing the verbalization
his feelings left her breathless. Her head swam with heady warmth.

Cameron studied him. “You’re serious.”

“Yes,” Adonis admitted gruffly.

“Then I wish you two the best of luck.” He walked out of the
parlor.

The atmosphere lightened enough that she could breathe
again. Their animosity had been its own chemical compound, its dense volatility
poisoning the air.

“Are you ok?”

He raked a rough hand through his hair. “I’ll be fine.”

“You don’t…feel a need to use?” she asked, unsure.

Irritation marred his face. “No, Tess. I don’t want to
fucking use.”

Pain pinged through her as he pulled away and left out. She
skipped after him and threaded her arm through his. “I didn’t mean to doubt
you. It’s just,” she struggled to find a politically correct way to phrase her
words, “I worry about you.”

 
Blank-faced, he
drew her closer. “I know. But you don’t have anything to worry about. I’m
good.”

Was he?

 
Adonis must’ve
sensed her skepticism because he stopped and spun around. “Have a little
faith,” he said, cupping her face gently. “I’ve found something worth more to
me.”

Her heart fluttered, pattering behind her ribcage like a
bird yearning for freedom. “Adonis-”

Adonis crushed his mouth to hers, eating the rest of her
words. The breath shuddered out of her. Her lips burned, his flavor a
complicated mélange of something hot and sweet and decadent. His mouth was
eager, accepting, seeking to purge the exchange’s lingering miasma.

This was what had been missing from the kiss with Cameron.

There was no room for comparison.

He broke apart and bumped his forehead against hers. “Let’s
go home.”

The word ‘home’ made something pleasant shimmy in her belly.
“Gladly.”

The thinning crowd made it easier to escape. They made it to
the front door before Tess realized something was amiss. “Shit. I left my
purse.”

“Stay here. I’ll get it.”

“Thanks.” She watched him disappear down the hallway

Sighing, Tess looked around, but came up empty of familiar
faces.

Where was everyone? She considered going up and checking on
Jade and Lance, but struck it. Not only did she have a vague idea of his room’s
whereabouts, walking in on them bumping
uglies
was a
sight she could do without.

A flash of disheveled blond hair flagged her attention. He
ducked out of the front door before she could call his name.

Sensing an opportunity, she glanced back to ensure Adonis
hadn’t reappeared then made her move. She’d be back before he noticed she was
gone.
  
 

Outside, snow fluttered from the bruised sky. Thankfully the
ground hadn’t grown cold enough for the thick flakes to stick. Much. At least
she wouldn’t have to add a twisted ankle to her repertoire of slights incurred
tonight.

Shivering, she hugged herself and searched the yard. A lithe
shadow darted over the bushes barricading the lawn from the parking lot. The
Audi’s headlamps flashed blue with a receptive chirp as he unlocked the doors.

This idiot could not be thinking about driving right now.

The engine rumbled to a start, the taillights awakening in a
sleepy, red glare.

Tess kicked off her heels and sprinted across the yard. She
flung open the passenger side door and clambered inside.

His surprise quickly swung into outrage as she buckled in. “Get
out of my car, Tess.”

“No.”
 

“Suit yourself.” The tires squealed in their search for
traction before barreling out of the lot. Gentle flurries became a thrashing
vortex of snowfall as they sped off campus.

The roads on the hill were perilous on a good day. On a moonless,
snow-ridden night, they were downright treacherous. White screened the ghostly
landscape. Landmarks became indistinguishable, alien protrusions, jutting from
the darkened earth like marauders waiting to ambush them.

Her stomach pitched as he hooked a sharp turn, wheels
screaming their protest. Snow swirled and writhed across the blacktop,
obscuring the dash marks separating lanes. “Pull over.”

“No.”

“I’m going to call the police.”

“You wouldn’t.”

She would have if she hadn’t left her phone in the damned
briefcase. Her eyes fell to the
cupholder
. A slave to
habit, his cell idled innocently.

Tess dove for it and crammed the device between her seat and
the door when he clawed to reclaim it.

“Try me.” She held his furious gaze unflinchingly. “If you
think throwing fake heroin at a recovering addict is funny, you’re going to
love this next act.”

His knuckles tautened on the wheel. The car gradually decelerated
and coasted onto the rutted shoulder. They slowed to a jarring halt next to the
guardrail. The dented scrap of metal was the only thing that separated them
from what looked like a twenty-foot
deathfall
.

“Keys.”

Glowering at her, he cut the engine and slung them at her. They
bounced off her chest and landed somewhere on the floor mat.

“What’s your deal, Cam? Do you have a death wish? Or is this
how you act when you don’t get your way?”

He fell against the headrest and closed his eyes. “Why are
you here? Haven’t I suffered enough humiliation for one night?”

“Cut the woe-is-me crap. You don’t deserve it. Especially
after pulling that stupid stunt earlier.” She glared at his profile when he
remained unresponsive. “You would really do that to him? After all he’s been
through?”

“Well he didn’t,” he issued flatly. “You should be proud of
him, mama bear.”

She punched his shoulder. “You’re a fucking douche, you know
that? What kind of friend are you?”

“The same kind that leads on one while fucking another,” he
said, his words acid drops that chewed through her defenses.

“That has nothing to with this. You could’ve ruined his
life. Pissed all of that work down the drain.”

“What is this, an intervention? Are you intervening on
behalf of him, or yourself?” His eyes glimmered in the darkness. “Are you
afraid of what might happen if he falls off the wagon? You won’t like it, Tess.
I can’t blame you. It won’t be a pretty sight.”

“If it comes to that, which I doubt it will, we’re going to
work together to get through it because that’s what real friends do.”

“Still doesn’t explain why you felt the need to track me
down and accost me in my own vehicle.”

“Are you really that dense? I’m here because I’m worried
about your dumb ass. And once I get the chance, I’m going to beat the shit out
of you. And since when does Cameron Reynolds do stupid, reckless shit?
Because your pride is hurt?
Because you deserve to always
win? Get the fuck over it.”
 

Cameron slammed his fists against the steering wheel. “What
do you want from me? Absolution? My blessing?”

“He loves you, Cam. It hurt him bad when you didn’t show at
the funeral.”

 
His jaw flexed.

“I know you miss him too.
The old him, the
one before all of the drugs.
Before you became his caretaker. And he’s
getting back there. I only wish you were there to see.”

Cameron squeezed his sinuses. “Why are you doing all this?
Why do you care?”

“Because contrary to what you think it’s actually possible
for me to care about both of you.”

“You’re like a dog with bone,” he groaned.

“Woof
woof
bitch.”

He tried to subdue them, but his laughter wouldn’t be
repressed. Genuine and robust, it flooded the cavity of her chest, sending her
back to a time when things were simpler.
 

 
“You’re
retarded.”

“So, we square?”

“We’re fucking square,” he said, hints of laughter
inflecting his voice and opened his door. “Come on. We aren’t too far from
campus.”

Walking on the side of the road in dark clothes seemed like
an equally dangerous idea. Luckily traffic was practically nonexistent. “You
have to carry me.”

“Why would I do that?”

She wriggled her bare toes. “Because I left my shoes to
chase after you, obviously.”

“You have to be part man. No real woman would behind leave a
pair of shoes for anything.”

She punched his bicep. “Shut up.”

“Whatever. Give me the keys so I can lock up.”

Tess searched the darkness to no avail. “If I can’t find
them.”

“Hold on.” Sighing, he got out and shut the door behind him.

She stuck her hand under the seat and felt around.

A distant roar, like a train, drowned the sound of her name
being yelled.

And then bright, blinding light.

Chapter 25

Briefcase nestled soundly under his armpit, Adonis scowled
when he found not a trace of his girlfriend.

Why couldn’t she listen to him just once? Would it be that
much of an insult to her feminist ancestors?

He dialed her number.

The bag vibrated under his arm.

“Seriously Tess?” he growled, punching the end key.

“Everything ok?”

He turned and found himself face-to-face with his faux drug
dealer. “Yeah. Just peachy, no thanks to you,” he said, unable to look at her.
She’d caught him at his weakest and it wasn’t something he would soon forgot.
After tonight he hoped never to lay eyes on her again.

She had the grace to look shamefaced. “Look, I just wanted
to apologize again for earlier. I owed Cam a favor for taking care of something
for me.”

“And in return, make me look like a fucking idiot.”

She winced. “Yeah, that too. How’d you now it was a setup?”

He slanted her a cynical look. “For one, it was too much of
a coincidence. Only two people here know I used and one of them is out for
blood. Secondly, smack addicts aren’t looking for friends and sure as hell
don’t go around offering it to strangers.”

“Makes sense.” Lindsay glanced around. “Where’s your
girlfriend?”

“That’s a good fucking question. Have you seen a girl in a
pinstripe suit around here?”

She shook her long, sable hair, her features sympathetic.
“But if I do you’ll be the first to know.”

“Adonis!” His heart picked up and then plummeted when he saw
Lance and
Jade
descending the staircase.
 

“Who was that?” Jade asked, not bothering to hide her
suspicion at Lindsey’s retreating back.

He did not have time for this shit. “Long story. You seen
Tess?”

“I was just about to ask you the same question. When’d you
last see her?”

“Here. We’d just had a run in with Cam.” He grimaced. That’s
probably where she’d gone off.
 

Lance looked around. “
Yo
, Joey!
You seen Cam?”

The bleary-eyed guy in a tattered Pink Floyd shirt dragged
his head from his bag of salt and vinegar chips. “You just missed him. Saw him
in the yard with some banging ass chick running after him.
All
tits and legs.
You tell him he’s done Joey proud.”

Dread clamped his organs in a vice.

Adonis flew out of the front door. A thin layer of snow
dusted the ground. It covered the spindly, barren branches, the patchwork of
brown grass, and a pair of red bottom high heels.

Heart jamming his throat, he retrieved them. Fresh snow had
filled in most of the footprints pocking the lawn. But only two sets wound to
the parking lot.

Fucking dumbasses.
Both of them.

He vaguely heard his name being called, but their voices
were drowned by the buzz in his head.

He scanned the cars. The Audi was missing.

No.

Throwing her things to the floor, he jammed the key into the
ignition. Seconds later the Rover tore out of the lot. They could be anywhere.

And then he heard them in the distance.

The plaintive wail of sirens.

Fear noosed his neck, severing the air to his lungs, bleeding
sensation from his body.

Over the next hill, the lurid splash of red and blue painted
the night.
 

He slowed as his car crested the hill’s rise. Below,
chemical flares blockaded the road.

No.

Having enough presence of mind to put the Rover in park, he
left it running as he got out. The world swam in and out of focus.

A fire engine, a handful of state troopers, and several
ambulances were on the scene.

Déjà vu slammed into him.

He
was eight years old again, face plastered to the window, waiting for his mom
and brother to get out of the policeman’s car. Even as his father told him they
were never coming home.

No.

Tire treads blackened the slush, hewing a devastating arc of
destruction that ended over the bluff. The twisted metal of what remained of
the guardrail bent outward, arms that hadn’t been able to hold fast to the ones
they were made to protect.
 
 

His knees buckled as paramedics helped carry a black body
bag up from the ravine.

It couldn’t be her.
 

Fate wouldn’t be so cruel to do this to him a second time.
Not so soon after stealing his mother.

His chest caved when Cameron came into view. He spoke with
an officer, his head down.
 

No.

“Excuse me, son. You can’t go any further.”

He channeled rage, allowed it to asphyxiate the agony
running hot through his blood.

It became a visceral thing.

Adonis pushed past the cop and ran toward him. He fisted his
shirt and jacked him up. “What’d you do you son of a bitch!” Dormant as a
statue, Cameron’s vacant gaze stared through him. He shook him again. “Is this
how you hurt me? Is this how you get me back?” His voice cracked as pressure
built behind his eyeballs.
 

He felt hands tugging at him. He fought them off. Someone threatened
to lock him up.

Been there.

Done fucking that.

“Adonis?”

He could still her voice. Was he losing it already?

His head swiveled around to locate the source.

Swaddled in a blanket barefoot and clothes askew, she sat on
the back of the ambulance, her face colorless but intact. Save for minor
abrasions, everything seemed to be in working order.

His sanity wobbled on fractured stilts.

He was afraid to touch her, scared that if his hand went
through her body, he would lose it and then he would really have to live out
the rest of his days in a psych ward.

“You’re alive,” his voice was weak, broken.

He didn’t care.

He would sacrifice every last drop of pride for her.

Trembling, she reached for him.

He made it to her in less than three seconds. Adonis bound
her tight against him. “Didn’t I tell you to stay to put?” he whispered into
her hair.

She gave a watery laugh. “You know me. Always have to do
things the hard way.”

Tess explained what happened as the paramedic finished disinfecting
her cuts. They had pulled off on the shoulder when the eighteen-wheeler at the
top of the hill lost traction.

Already out of the car, Cameron yanked her free from the car
and they’d ran, narrowly missing the careening, 40-ton trailer as it crashed
into the Audi and swept both vehicles over the edge.

Tragically, the driver hadn’t made it.

The paramedics told them if he’d been
wearing a seatbelt he would’ve stood a chance.

After giving their statements to the police and declining a
trip to the ER, they were allowed to leave.
 

Nobody spoke on the way back to campus. Adonis dropped off
Cameron at the frat house before driving home.

“I need a shower,” Tess said absently.

Adonis piloted her to the bathroom.

She shivered as he helped her strip. Her skin was cold,
clammy, the mark of death’s brush.

A hellish bruise the size of his palm was forming near the upper
quadrant of her shoulder, likely where she’d thrown herself to the ground.

He shed his own clothes and twisted the knob until scalding
water sheeted from the showerhead. She clutched him as he assisted her under
the fall of water. One by one, he freed her slumped bun from pins until her
hair fell loose.
  

Below them the water swirled pink.

Tess lifted her foot. Jagged gravel and debris clung to cuts
scoring her feet.
  

Throat tight, Adonis picked up the soap. He worked the bar
until the rich lather foamed over his hands and started with the soles of her
feet.

His hands quaked.

“Hey.” She lifted his chin and peered up at him. “I’m ok.”

“I almost lost you.” His voice shook.

“But you didn’t. I’m still here.”

Wooded, forest green eyes sought to soothe, assure. He could
have laughed. She narrowly evaded death and she was comforting him.

“I love you.” He choked on the words he almost never got the
chance to iterate.

Her throat bobbed. “I love you too.”

They crashed together, their mouths fusing in a maniacal
melee. Needing her so badly it hurt, Adonis hitched her up against the tiles and
in one smooth motion, thrust into her slippery wetness. Her pulsing walls clamped
around him so tight he had to fight for every inch.
 

He wanted to be tender, loving, show her how much she meant
to him.

Something primitive overtook his body. Made him plunge into
her with savage, mindless abandon.

Her body answered in kind.

Her legs clenched harder around his hips. Her nails gouged
his back. She cried for him. Wanting faster. Wanting harder.

It tore his heart.

He’d almost lost this.

Suddenly he couldn’t get close enough. He lifted her higher,
changed his angle, and set a relentless pace. He coated his body in her scent,
her taste,
her
smell.

The stinging spray of water at his back had turned to ice,
but they generated more than enough heat to compensate for the loss.

Tess met him thrust for rabid thrust, her mouth voracious
for everything she could reach.
His throat, his chin, his
cheeks.

Adonis reached between them.

She came with a backbreaking arch, her cry reverberating off
the tiles.

The intensity of her orgasm sent him off the edge.

Pain and pleasure lanced through his, whipping the cells
from the base of his tailbone to the apex of his brain stem into frenzy.

Despite his softening arousal, he maintained the connection.
Adonis pushed wet strands of hair away from her face and kissed her. “Don’t do
that to me again.”

She clutched him tighter, her smile quivering. “Ok.”

____________________

They slept until well past noon the next day.

Everything hurt.

Her head, her muscles, the cuts on her
face.

If she had her way, Tess wouldn’t have moved for days.
Adonis forced an
omelet
 
and
aspirin on her. Apparently
while she slept, he shopped. In addition to groceries, he bought a bigger, flatter
television than Cameron’s to outfit the den’s unoccupied wall, another for his
room for her to watch as she recouped, and a heating pad for her aches and
pains.

She loved this man who bitched and complained about doing
something as prosaic as grocery shopping just so that she could have creature
comforts. Who yelled at her when she tried to get out of
bed.
Who tenderly applied ointment to her feet with the same care and precision he
treated his artwork.

It’d been enough to make her cry.

And so she did.

Adonis had jolted upright, a panicked
What
did I do?
scrawled
across his features
making her bawl harder.

Shaking her head, she grabbed onto him and buried her face
in his chest.

In the last twenty-four hours, Adonis had proven that he
would do anything for her. This gruff, temperamental, arrogant, manic
depressive, beautiful man had completely redefined everything she thought she
knew about love.

It seemed as though everyone in the world had heard about
their near death experience. Riley checked in on her first since he did live
under the same roof, then Lance and Jade, and finally classmates and
acquaintances.

All wanted to hear the harrowing tale.

Tess just wanted to forget. Thinking of how close she came
to dying gave her both crushing relief and an overwhelming sense of guilt. Not
everyone had survived. And though Cameron’s drinking and driving hadn’t impacted
the events that followed, somehow Tess felt they didn’t deserve to walk away
unscathed.

Despite her anxiety, she put on a strong front for their
visitors, retelling the story while glossing over the salient, moderately
incriminating points.

It wasn’t until late in the afternoon when their flux of
visitors tapered. Just as Tess was beginning to think she could actually rest,
the doorbell chimed again.