Deal Takers (Dealing with Love 2)

He places the keys in my hand. I yank my arm back when he tries wrapping his hand around mine and then I fling the door open.

“Can we sit?” Adam closes the door behind him and gestures to the couch.

I cross my arms over my chest. “No. Say what you need to say and leave.”

I jump back when he reaches for me. “Baby, don’t be like this.”

Okay, that deserves a massive glare, so I give him one. “I already told you not to call me that. And you sure as hell better not touch me. The clock’s ticking. You’d better start talking. And don’t even think about lying to me again!”

“Rainey, I love you, not her. I knew marrying Norah was a mistake right away, but I was stupid and didn’t get a prenup. I just need time to figure out how to divorce her without losing half of everything.”

I laugh mockingly. “And how long ago, exactly, did you make this ‘mistake’? She said you were celebrating your anniversary. Which one, Adam?”

He sighs. “Our third.”

“Three years,” I repeat, surprisingly calm. “Just so I’m clear, that means you married her a few months after we started dating?”

“Yes.” He hangs his head.

I quickly replay the early days of our relationship in my head. I think I may actually vomit when I piece together when he would’ve had time to get married.

“Your week-long retreat in the Bahamas,” I say. “It wasn’t really for work, was it?”

Adam puts his hands in his pockets and rocks back on his heels. “No. We had a destination wedding.”

“How fucking nice for you,” I scoff.

“Rainey, please you have to believe me. I don’t want to be with her. I want to be with you!”

I’m quickly losing my composure. “Adam, you’ve been with another woman throughout our entire relationship! You married her while we were together! If you really wanted to be with me, it would’ve never gone that far. You would’ve broken up with her when we first started dating! Better yet, before you asked me out!”

“It’s not that easy,” he argues. “She was pregnant when I married her. It’s the only reason I married her.”

“You have even more kids that I don’t know about?” I shriek.

“We have a two-year-old daughter,” he confesses. “And another on the way.”

“Yeah, I got that much.” My fists are clenched so tightly my nails are about to break through my skin. “I don’t even feel like I know you! Was any part of our relationship real?”

“Every part of our relationship was real!” he insists.

“Adam, you’ve made me a fucking mistress!” I scream. “Every part of our relationship was a lie!” He tries grabbing my hands, but I push him off. “Does she know about me? Does your wife know you’ve been cheating on her with me for the past three years? How the fuck did you explain last night to her?”

“Does that even matter?” he asks. “This isn’t about her, Rainey. This is about us.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if there was literally steam coming out of my ears right now. I count to ten in my head before I ask the one thing that’s been nagging me the most. “How did you pull it off? There are traces of me all over your house, for God’s sake! How did you explain every night that we’ve spent together?”

His silence gives me the opportunity to puzzle it out on my own. He could easily explain a night away here and there, considering the hours he keeps at the hospital. But the apartment? I don’t understand. Unless... “That’s your fuck pad, isn’t it? It’s not your real house?”

“It is my condo, Rainey. It’s been mine for over ten years.”

“But not your primary residence,” I infer. “It’s your bachelor pad, right? You have another place where you live with your wife and child?”

Adam actually has the nerve to look contrite. “Yes. We have a house just outside the city.”

I feel like I’m having an out-of-body experience as I digest everything he’s said. I’m almost positive he’s being tru

thful, considering it’s all been incriminating. I suppose he figured being honest was the only hope he had of continuing our farce of a relationship. In fact, I’d bet money on it. I close my eyes, steeling my nerves for what comes next.