“That’s so selfish of you, Adelaide.”
I sucked in a sharp breath. It felt like someone had suckerpunched me, right in the fucking sternum. I may be many things, but selfish wasn’t one of them.
Great. Another thing I’d be anxious about disappointing people over.
“I’m sorry to hear that’s the way you feel. I’m not trying to be selfish. I just can’t afford to fly for nine hours and see Mom.”
“Bullshit!” Nathan scoffed.
“It was nice talking to you.” I tried to keep my voice steady, but I could feel it wavering slightly, and I resented that. “I’ve got to get going. Bye, Savvy.”
Then I hung up.
Foolishly, I clung to the hope that calling her by the childhood nickname I’d given her would remind her things hadn’t always been this way. The truth was, she used to be different.
My sister had always had a dominant personality, but she used to be kind and understanding … until she met Nathan. I missed the way things used to be between us, but sometimes people changed.
Princess tugged me along without ever looking back and we finally ended up where she had apparently wanted to go: a path leading down to a beach I’d never walked on before. I turned my head from left to right, taking in the scenery. Sometimes I forgot how close the ocean was.
A cool breeze blew my hair wildly around my face and I closed my eyes for a moment, trusting Princess not to drag me to my death. Breathing in deeply, I savored the salty air.
When I opened my eyes again, I let out a shriek and jumped back. A stocky figure, slightly taller than me, had appeared at my side.
“What the fuck!” I cast a wild look around, trying to make sure no one else had snuck up on me.
Any sane person would have offered me some kind of reassurance or some sort of reaction. But the man stood stock-still with his face impassive, his hands buried in the pockets of his leather jacket and his cold, piercing eyes fixed on me.
Interesting choice of clothing in eighty-degree weather, but I digress.
I took a tentative step backward, glancing at Princess, who was completely uninterested in my dilemma, sniffing the ground as though there weren’t a random stranger accosting her leash holder.
“Ummm … can I help you?”
Maybe he was lost? The man continued to stare at me and I felt a twinge of unease now.
“Riiight. I guess I’m just gonna—”
Suddenly, his hand shot out and I squealed, jumping out of his reach and almost tripping over the leash in the process. I waited for him to grab me, my muscles tense and ready to fight him off. But it never came.
“You always this … jumpy?” he asked, his voice betraying a slight Russian accent.
In his hand — the one I thought he was trying to grab me with — he was holding a piece of paper. He quirked a brow in an entirely unimpressed fashion.
“I mean, when a strange man materializes out of thin air next to me on a deserted path, uh, yeah?!”
Was he for fucking real?Only a man could fail to see how alarming this situation might be.
He scoffed. “If you had survival instinct, you would not have asked me all these questions.”
“Excuse me? I so have survival instincts.” I propped my hands on my hips and glared at him.
“Da. Survival instincts of dodo.”
I gaped at him. “Ofwhat?”
“Dodo bird.”
“Aren’t those extinct?” My brows furrowed. I was talking to a crazy person, wasn’t I?