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My gaze was slower to return to Rowdy, but when it did, I found him already watching me.
For long moments, it was all we did. We drank each other in until the silence was too heavy to stand. “Are you going to kill me now?”
I froze when he stormed toward me, driving me back until my spine pressed against the Honda Accord that Golden had been repairing earlier today.
Before I could say anything else, Rowdy’s mouth was on me in a kiss so searing it melted my brain completely and loosened my tense muscles until all I could do was return his brutal kiss with just as much hunger.
Rowdy wanted control—to lead me where he wanted me—but I wasn’t willing to submit just yet—not after everything he’d put me through.
I had no idea when I’d started crying, but I was vaguely aware of his hands on my tear-stained face.
Rowdy held me through it as our lips fought for dominance, tongues twisting and tangling, and teeth tearing at the skin of his lips and mine. Neither of us cared about that first taste of blood. We just kept biting at each other, wanting to make the other hurt for the pain we’d caused.
“You left me,” he accused hoarsely.
I whimpered. “You left me first.”
Maybe not physically, but mentally and emotionally? Rowdy had been the first to walk away. And it had hurt far worse than me packing my shit and walking.
As if my words had sparked some detail he’d forgotten, he tensed a moment before he slammed his fist on top of the Honda’s roof, making me jump just before he tore away from me.
“Fuck!” I blinked as he began pacing the small space in front of me like an angry lion. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” I stood there helpless and confused while Rowdy kicked the shit out of the Honda. His gaze flicked to me before moving away just as quickly. That same shame I’d witnessed that night three weeks ago reared its ugly head. “I shouldn’t have done that. I’m sorry.”
“Why? Why are you sorry? Why is it suddenly so wrong to kiss menowwhen you’ve been doing it for months?” I screamed back at him. Rather than answer, he shook his head, then ceased pacing to lean against the wall with his eyes closed instead. “You know what, Owen? Fine. Fuck you. I’m not going to beg you.”
I walked away for the second time, hoping this time would be the last time, and kept my gaze on the exit, refusing to look back. I knew it would only weaken my resolve if I did.
I couldn’t hear much over the pounding of my heart, which was likely how he’d managed to sneak up on me. He slammed his right hand on the door, the image of a snarling lion roaring his fury as much as the hand it was tattooed into, halting my exit.
Pinned underneath Rowdy’s palm was another goddamn photo. This one was a grainy polaroid of a baby that looked an awful lot like…me.
It…wasme—unless I had a twin I didn’t know about.
My parents had enough baby photos of me hanging around the house that it was impossible for me to mistake the newborn in the photo for anyone else.
It occurred to me then that the earliest photo my parents had of me was when I was maybe three or four months. I couldn’t have been more than a few weeks old here.
I felt the heat of Rowdy’s body pressing in as he rested his forehead on my hair. “I’ve been struggling with how to tell you—if I should even tell you—just how bad I fucked up.” His voice was hoarse with pain.
“Why do you have this, Owen? How did you even get it?”
“Jada.”
My blood went cold. “Why does Jada have a photo of me as a baby?”
“You know why, Atlas. I saw it on your face the moment you figured it out. At least half of it, anyway.”
I swallowed but said nothing. I didn’t have to.
Rowdy continued speaking, deciding it was time to get it all out in the open. “You found out you were adopted, and then this letter arrived telling you where to go to find out where you came from. It led you to me.”
Needing to see his face, I spun around. “What are you saying, Owen?”
“I’m saying…” He swiped a hand down his face, but the pain in his eyes remained as he stared at the ground. Whatever it was he needed to tell me, once he spoke the words, it would change everything forever. “I’m saying it’s possible that Jada is your birth mother.”
“What does that have to do with us, Owen? Why can’t you kiss me and be with me? Why can’t it be like before?”
It didn’t make any sense, and I wondered if Rowdy was using it as an excuse to break up with me.
