Page 45 of Adam & Eve

her barely acknowledging me—only a word here another there— I needed to hear her speaking to me.

She looked away. Her thumb on her free hand went to her mouth and she bit at the skin on the

side of her nail. She was nervous. I’d seen her do that often. I always wondered how the skin stayed

so smooth and unscarred.

“As long as what takes?” Her voice trembled.

I thought about it. If I told her the truth, I knew she would only pretend to cooperate in order to

be set free. I’d fall for it because I was weak and starved for her attention.

I said, “There’s no specific agenda or time frame.”

She rolled her eyes. “That’s not vague at all, Adam.” She sat down then crossed her hands in

her lap. “How about an easier question? Where am I?”

“In a room in our home.”

Her brows knit together. Confusion blanketed her face. “Our home? As in yours and mine?”

“Yes. I had it built specifically for you and me.”

“But—” she started then stopped, violently shaking her head. “No, I’m not even about to

attempt to unpack that.”

I didn’t want her to shut down on me just because my answers hadn’t been satisfactory to her.

I asked, “Anything else you want to know?”

“How did you know?”

“How’d I know what?”

She bit down then chewed at her bottom lip with her eyes downcast. “About the dancing—

how’d you know I danced?”

I didn’t hesitate to tell her about that night, the first night I saw her and the many nights I

followed her after. I told her everything except of course about what happened to the guy and my note

to her. No need to rock the boat.

“Wow, I was really dense. I never thought to pay attention to my surroundings. I could have

been really hurt. Damn.” She lowered her head to the table.

I wanted to comfort her. Tell her that I wouldn’t have let anyone hurt her, but I knew she didn’t

want to hear that. I remained quiet. The silence was deafening. I wished she would say something,

even if all she did was curse at me. I thought about things to do to distract me. I ate then read over the

paper. When I was done she still hadn’t said anything or moved much at all. Thirty minutes of it was