Free Adrian's Wrath by Jenika Snow Page A

touching her but desperately wanting to. “We’d bring our catch home and I’d watch my mom scale the fish and gut them. The house would smell so bad from the fish guts, but I always looked forward to those nights because everyone was smiling and laughing.” She brought her hands up and stared at them, as if remembering that particular memory. Her once happy smile turned sad and distant.
    Was this the past she kept so tightly guarded? He was afraid to touch her. Afraid she would close herself off.
    “I was eighteen when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. By the time they found it the cancer had metastasized and they gave her six months to live. She only made it three.” The sadness in her voice was evident, but he could see in her reflection that she wasn’t crying. He didn’t speak because he knew she needed to get this out. “My dad completely shut down after that. He wouldn’t get out of bed, wouldn’t eat, wouldn’t do anything. He had become this depressed shell of a man that couldn’t wake up and take care of himself.” Adrian wrapped his arms around her and he sighed when she leaned back into him. “He died of a heart attack a year later, but I believe it was from a broken heart. He loved my mother so much that when she died he couldn’t live without her, not even for his only daughter.” Tears started making their way down her cheeks and he gripped her tighter. What could he even say to make her tears stop?
    “I sold their house, moved out of the town I grew up in, and started going to college. I just wanted to start over, to forget my past, to forget that I didn’t have anyone in the world. That’s where I met Cameron. He was eight years older than me and working on his doctorate in psychology. He said all the right things, did all the right things.” Voice dropping lower, she practically whispered, “He made me feel not so alone. He loved me.”
    She turned around and gave him a sad smile. His hand now encased in her much smaller, softer one, Brea led them over to the bed and pulled him down next to her. Silence surrounded them and he used his finger under her chin to bring her face up.
    “You don’t have to do this, Brea. You don’t have to explain anything.” He wanted to know about her, wanted to let her get it all out, but he could tell how hard this was for her, and that ate at his heart.
    “No,” she said, shaking her head. “I want to tell you. I need to tell you so you understand exactly why I am the way I am.” They stayed silent for another moment before Brea continued. “The first few years were great. He was considerate of my situation, compassionate, and listened to me when I was going through a hard day. When he graduated with his PhD we moved in together. I had just graduated myself with a degree in early childhood education and wanted to continue on for my master’s, but Cameron convinced me take a year off. To this day I regret listening to him. That was the moment everything changed between us.” The unspoken words hung between them as she pulled her hands from his tight clasp and put them in her lap.
    “In the four years that we had been together he had never raised his voice to me. There were small warning signs that when I look back I see, but I was so blinded by having something happy. By being loved.” She rubbed her palms on her thighs and glanced down at the movement “That first time he—” She locked her lips and cleared her throat. “That first time he hit me the world came out from underneath my feet.”
    Blind fury encompassed Adrian. After a moment he realized she was watching him with wide, frightened eyes. He could only imagine what he looked like. Standing, he started pacing in front of her. An itch had started under his skin and he suddenly felt very volatile. Whoever this Cameron was better pray he never came across Adrian.
    “Adrian.” He stopped and looked at her. Taking a deep breath, he made himself calm down. “Please, sit