Read Online Three Little Words by Lauren Hawkeye - Free Book Online

because it had been a surprise attack.
                “You’ve never bored me, Mal.” As if she’d made up her mind, Adele nodded slightly, her face set with determination... and maybe with curiosity, though that might have been wishful thinking.
                “All right. I’ll come up. Just for a bit,” she warned, twining her fingers into the strap of her purse.
                “I have someplace to be soon.”
                I didn’t care if she only gave me five minutes, it was more than I’d had when I’d woken up this morning. As I followed her into the ramshackle old building I felt elation building up in my chest, a feeling stronger than I probably should have had at running into an ex.
                But then, Adele had never been just another girl to me. It shouldn’t have been a surprise that she wasn’t just another ex, either.
                “Where are you living now?” I pushed open the door to my place, watched as Adele looked down the hall towards where the door to her old apartment was. I looked too, reminded of that night I’d shown up bearing roses and finding only emptiness.
                I wondered if the bald meathead was still the building manager. I hadn’t seen him yet. He would have been hard to miss.
                “I inherited a condo from my uncle last year. It’s a couple of blocks away.” She said absently, scanning her surroundings as soon as she walked through the door. I looked along with her, seeing it through her eyes, and wincing.
                There was an ancient couch and armchair already in place from the roomie I still hadn’t seen today, as well as a television that was way nicer than the couch and chair would suggest. Add my pile of moving boxes and the lack of any kind of decoration, and it was obvious that this place belonged to a couple of dudes.
                “Not much to look at yet.” Bending, I lined up a couple of boxes in front of the couch, a makeshift coffee table. When I turned back around Adele’s gaze was lowered, and she flushed when she realized that I was watching.
                Giddiness surged through me when I realized that I’d caught her checking out my butt.
                I smirked; I couldn’t help it. Realizing that she was caught, she smiled back wryly, though I was puzzled by the surprise that I saw in her expression as well.
                “I have water, beer. Or vodka,” I added, thinking of the lonely bottle in the freezer. I knew Dorian wouldn’t mind. “Oh, and Kool-Aide. I could make you a stellar cocktail with orange Kool-Aide and vodka.” I remembered tossing a few packets on top of the meager pile of things that I’d packed into the box marked kitchen .
                “How about just the Kool-Aide? No vodka.” Adele looked down at her hands, which were twined together so tightly that her knuckles were white.
                I cocked my head slightly with confusion; the Adele I had known had never turned down a drink.
                She’d liked to party. I swallowed the question though—what had happened in the last two years was none of my business, no matter how much I was dying to know.
                “I don’t drink anymore.” She had caught my inquisitive expression, but the guarded tone of her voice told me that was all she was going to share with me.
                There was more to it—it was written all over her face that there was a reason she no longer drank.
                If I pushed it, she’d be right out the door.
                “One orange Kool-Aide, coming up.” Across the room was the tiny, galley style kitchen, barely big enough for the meagre contents of the one small moving box that held cookware. I tore open the cardboard in haste, needing something to do to fill the silence, and extracted a