44

Adrian and I walked back to the house. Unlike every other time, he did not hold my hand while walking. I swallowed the shiver of pain that ran through me but kept quiet. I did not want others to listen to our conversation during our walk. We were walking side by side but he kept his distance. And that small gap that he left between us, well, it sucked.

If someone had said to me before that I would turn into a sappy teenager who wants to hold her boyfriend’s hand all the time, I would have laughed my ass off. Right now I wanted to cry my ass off, and that was not pretty.

Adrian opened the doors to my house and went in first.

“Stay here.” he ordered and walked into the house first.

I watched his back as he opened all the rooms and checked behind the doors and in the closets to make sure that it was safe inside. The house was still the same as I had left it. No sign of any living being staying in the emptiness of the brick walls. Ever since mom had been kidnapped, I had not been abl