Homewrecker (BOOK 1)

16

Adora

"Good morning."

I jumped, wrapping my robe around my body when I heard Zayn's voice booming from the kitchen. He shot an eyebrow up at me and chuckled, taking another drink of his coffee.

"Fancy seeing you here," I said, smiling as I wrapped my arms around myself.

He let out another chuckle and stood up straight, pushing himself off of the counter. We stood in an awkward silence for a minute or so before he reached behind him to scratch his neck. "I crashed on the couch last night, sorry."

He shot me a kiddish smile and I shrugged, shaking my head. "That's totally fine. Crash on the couch anytime you want. But I am curious to know why you had to crash on the couch."

His eyebrows lifted and he smiled. "Let's say we all had a little bit too much fun last night. Except Landon. He was our DD."

"That's not typical Landon, being the responsible one."

"Yeah, you weren't in any condition to be the responsible one last night."

I giggled and walked into the kitchen, grabbing the orange juice out of the fridge.

"I don't really remember that much from last night," I giggled out, "I remember us going into the club, and then it just started blowing completely out of proportion."

I poured my glass of orange juice, my eyes glued to him.

"Yeah," he said, nodding, "you got wild, and that's an understatement."

"Was I acting really crazy?" I asked, shooting him a sympathetic look.

"That's also an understatement."

I laughed and shook my head. I leaned against the counter and hugged my robe tighter to me, taking a drink of my orange Juice.

"You're not terribly hungover?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm hungover. My head hurts, and I'm probably going to puke in a few minutes."

He laughed. "Then it's not an actual hangover. An actual hangover is when you wake up and your head is spinning and you puke the minute your eyes open."

"Mm hmm, and how do you know this?" I asked, shooting him an impressed smile.

He raised his eyebrows and chuckled, looking down. "Let's just say I've had my fair share of hangovers."

"Worst one?" I asked, poking at his arms, wanting a story.

"Eh," he began, shrugging, "probably when I was still living with my dad."

I leaned against the counter, wanting him to dive in deeper. I wanted to learn more about the mysterious rich son of the famous Mr. Maali.

"I was a party hardy, not going to lie. I was always worried about getting under my dad's skin. He never paid attention to me, so I'd always try my hardest to get his attention by being Seattle's bad boy. God, we hated each other for the longest time."

"But he's proud of you now," I said, eyebrows raised as I awaited his answer.

"I wouldn't say proud. He's disappointed because I don't have more to do with the company."

I pursed my lips together and shot him a weak smile. "Sorry."

He shrugged. "It doesn't bother me. But what about you and your dad?"

I just furrowed my brows together, swirling my pointer finger around my glass. "Uh, he's dead."

Zayn's eyebrows shot up and his lips parted, his head shaking. "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," I said, shaking my head, "he died before I was born, but I would've loved to know him. I bet he was pretty cool. My mom was obsessed with him, so I'm sure I would've been, too."

Zayn just shot me a sympathetic smile, his lips pulling up into a sideways grin. "Maybe we can finish life stories over dinner tonight?"

I smiled and nodded. "That sounds great."

~*~

Adora

Zayn's eyes were piercing into my own as I sat across from him, my arms folded on the table.

"So your mom?" He asked, but held out a hand, "you don't have to, if you don't want to."

"No, that's okay," I said, smiling.

He shot me a sympathetic smile, urging me on.

"Well," I began, furrowing my brows together, "uh, she died when I was eight. My dad died before I was born, and after I was born she started messing around with drugs. Alcohol, anything that she could get her hands on to possibly forget about my dad."

His eyes were full of care. I had his undivided attention.

"I'm so sorry, Addy," he said, reaching across the table to lightly brush his fingertips against my own, "I wouldn't have asked if I would've known."

"I promise, it's fine," I reassured, "it doesn't bother me talking about it."

He smiled and nodded. "So who did you live with for all those years?"

"My abuelitos." I took a sip of the water that was placed in front of me, and he shot me a confused look.

"Sorry, I forget not everyone speaks Spanish sometimes." I let out a quiet giggle and he smiled, folding his arms on the table. "I lived with my grandparents."

"How are they?"

I pursed my lips together and looked down. "They passed, too."

They were the only ones that were a really touchy subject. They'd done everything for me for over half of my life.

"Oh my God," he mumbled, "I wish I wouldn't have asked-"

"It's okay, Zayn, really." I reached across the table and he grabbed my hand, shooting me a charming smile.

"I don't know how you deal with it all."

I pursed my lips together. "As bad as it sounds, I'm used to it. It's always felt like everyone I love just dies, like I'm some sort of human repellent."

He hesitated for a long while, his eyes glued to my own. I pursed my lips together as I waited on an answer from him, lifting an eyebrow as he stayed completely frozen.

"I know the feeling."

He kept a straight face, and I couldn't see anything but hurt in his eyes. I hadn't ever really seen Zayn hurt.

"Let's get off of the me topic. Tell me something about your family."

He knitted his brows together. "I'm not that interesting."

"You're the mysterious son of the rich Mr. Maali. I know you're interesting."

He smiled, folding his elbows on the table. "Okay, what do you want to know?"

"Your parents. Your mom manages to stay out of the media to be so famous."

"Well, they've been married since they were nineteen. They're pretty in love when they have time to be. And she stays out of the media just like your boss's wife does. Speaking of, how's that job of yours going?"

Santiago King. Perfectly sculpted, and a great kisser. A great dad.

But I wanted to believe that I despised him.

I nodded. "It's going, I guess?"

He smiled and nodded. "That's good."

And now, I had a feeling that Santiago King would be the one thing on my mind for the rest of the night.