Jacked (Trent Brothers #1)(99)

“Were you sleeping?” Nikki asked, straining to hide her annoyance.

He sighed. “No.”

“Then why did it take you so long to answer?”

I could hear him draw in an impatient breath through his nose. “I was busy.”

“Oh. Is someone here?”

“What do you want? Why are you here?”

“Whose car is in the driveway?”

Adam didn’t answer.

“What, did you get another new car or something? It’s okay. You can tell me.” She chuckled. “Looks expensive. Must be nice. I mean, things must be going really good for you.”

What a…! Could you be any more condescending?

“It belongs to a friend. You’ve got one minute.”

“Jeez, Adam. Chill.”

“Nikki, I got shit to do. Get to the f*cking point.”

“Wow. Can’t you even be civil to me anymore? It would be nice to be able to talk to you without you biting my head off.”

I heard him groan.

“How have you been? You look really good. I mean, you look great.”

I craned my neck, trying to hear them better.

“Time is ticking,” he said flatly. “You gonna get to the point of this visit anytime soon?”

She let out a long sigh. “Can’t we just talk, you know, like we used to?”

“Why? I’ve said everything I needed to say to you a long time ago. There’s nothing left to talk about.”

“I thought maybe we could try again. Come on. Please? I miss you so much.”

“Don’t start.”

“Four years, baby.”

“I’m warning you, Nikl, do not start this shit with me.”

“I made a mistake. A terrible mistake. Please! I was scared and confused and I didn’t know what to do. Half the time I tried to talk to you, you were either too drunk or too tired to be bothered. What did you expect me to do?”

“Jesus. I expected you to f*cking talk to me instead of lying to my face. That’s what I expected.”

“I know and I’m sorry. Please, please don’t throw away everything we had. I know in your heart you still love me. I know you do.”

We both waited for an answer that didn’t come. I felt my heart sink and twist.

“God, how many times do I have to tell you I’m sorry before you forgive me?”

“I don’t have time for this. We’ve been through this shit already.”

“I know, but—”

“But nothing. How many times do we have to keep rehashing this shit? Huh? You need to get it in your head. I’m done! It’s over!”

I shifted, becoming uncomfortable hearing them argue.

“Don’t say that. Please. I thought if I gave you some time… I thought you said we could try again?”

“When the hell did I say that?”

“On the phone last week. You said that you’d talk to me later, or was that just bullshit?”

I could hear him getting frustrated.

“Nikki, I’m… you need to get this straight, okay? What you and I had is done. It’s gone. You killed that, not me. I’ve put it behind me. I suggest you do the same. You need to move on, all right?”

“Is that what you’ve done? I’m sorry, but I’m having a hard time doing that. I can’t erase all the years we were together as if they meant nothing. I thought since you’re sober now we could try again. I promise I’ll be different. I swear. Don’t you remember all of the promises we made to each other? All the fun we used to have? Making love to each other?”

“That was before you went and made decisions without me,” he growled.

“You telling me you don’t miss anything? That after everything we’ve been through, you don’t love me anymore? You think you’re going to find another woman who will put up with you drowning your sorrows in beer and whiskey while sitting here night after night all alone?”

“Do not throw that in my face. I’ve apologized too many times. And I worked nights before we met. You knew what you were getting into.”

“Yeah, that’s right. I did. But maybe if you’d just try to get on day shift a few times. For me. Is that too much to ask?”

“Why are we even having this conversation again?”

I heard her footsteps crossing his hardwood floor. “I miss you, Adam. So much.”

“No, Nikki. No. This is not gonna happen. You’re wasting your time so just stop.”

“You think you’ll find another woman who will stand by you like I did? Brush your ego like I did?”

“Brush my ego?”

“Yeah, you know,” she kidded, placating him, “playing your stupid kinky games with your rope and shit?”

“You’re unbelievable. You call what you did to me standing by me? You f*cked me over in every possible way every chance you had. I came home from work and found my entire f*cking house emptied out!”

“You told me you wanted me out, so I left,” Nikki retorted like an insolent child.

“You, not all my stuff. You. Took. Everything. Even the food out of the f*cking refrigerator!”

“You knew I had no money when you kicked me out.”