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Maybe not at first, but I think even back then I always knew I was in love with Kellan and wanted him to be mine. “It was purely innocent flirting until a few weeks ago, if it makes you feel better.”
He’s not yelling, not giving me that disappointed look, not doing any of the things I feared. He’s hearing me out; we’re having an actual conversation and no one’s insulting anyone.
There’s a pang in my heart. I wish we could’ve done this earlier and more often.
“Are you . . .” I gather my confidence. “Are you going to tell me to stop seeing him?” I wouldn’t. I love Kellan too much to stop seeing him, but having Adam accept it would mean a lot to me, more than I think he’d even know.
He contemplates it for a moment. “No. I can’t tell you who to date, especially since you hated Jenna and I dated her anyway.”
“Good riddance to that total c—” I cut the word off when Adam shoots me a look. Right. He was in love with her “—cankerous bitch.” His eyebrow raises. “What? It was better than what I wasgoingto say.”
He huffs out an amused breath and shakes his head. We fall into a comfortable silence again, both lost in our own thoughts.
“I’ll try harder to be a better brother to you. Less inconsiderate.”
His words take me by surprise. There’s not a drop of sarcasm in his tone. I try not to let him see how excited I am by his promise.
“Thanks, Adam. I’ll try to be less selfish and more considerate too.”
Even though my head is pounding and I’m slightly dizzy and I’m soaking wet, and I probably bruised my entire back, I’ve never been better. I’m on top of the world. My brother doesn’t hate me; we’re going to work on our relationship. If I wasn’t sore all over, I’d be jumping up and down.
“So,” he starts, “does this mean I’m supposed to be all over Kellan, threatening him pain if he hurts my little sister?”
A laugh escapes me. “I don’t think we need to getthatextreme.
Maybe we can hang out sometimes, and you can like . . . not act like you’re being held at gunpoint to endure my presence?”
“I do not act like that.”
I tilt my head and give him my bestreally?face.
“Okay fine,” he relents. “I’ll be nicer. But in my defense, that’s kind of my default.”
I smile, knocking my shoulder against his again. He has a point, but it makes me feel special that he’ll try for me.
It’s kind of silly that it took me smashing my head and being unconscious for a few moments for us to finally have this conversation—and in the rain at that—but I’m glad it happened.
And if we fall into our old ways again, which hopefully we don’t, I’m not going to be shy about talking with Adam about it.
“Hey, Faye?” Adam asks.
“Yeah?”
I wonder if he’s going to order me to stop staring at him with the creepy little grin that’s plastered on my face. But he doesn’t.
Instead he says, “Can we get out of this fucking rain now?”
A giggle bursts out of me, my happy mood indestructible.
There’sthe Adam I know and love.
TWENTY-TWO
Day Five of Cuba
Lori
After I strut away with my head held high, I run into Naomi, and we have lunch together inside as it rains. When we finish and head to the lobby, I see Alessio, who tells me Faye was just looked at by the hotel doctor because she fell and banged her head. She doesn’t need stitches or a hospital visit but is resting in our room. I apologize to Naomi for abandoning our plans to hang out and instead rush to my room.
