Chapter 10

A couple of days later, you were only doing a half day at work, so you finally decided to act on Ruby's advice, and visit Adam at work. He'd been texting you more since the night out at the club. And going by how he was acting, he either genuinely didn't remember what he said to you, or he did remember, was feeling guilty about it, and was trying to compensate.

Today, he'd already texted you three times, more than he did most of last week, saying he was working late yet again, but that he was going to make it up to you by taking you out to dinner one night this week.

You waited until 6.30pm before venturing over to his office building. Whenever he worked late, he would always claim to get home around 9 or 10, so if he was working, he would be here.

You spent a minute in the car thinking about how ludicrous you were being.

Then you spent a minute psyching yourself up, pointing out all the missteps, the things that didn't add up, the girl he'd never told you about.

You stepped out of the car, with the takeout bag in your hands, and walked into the reception with a perfectly nice smile as you approached the desk.

"Hi!" You said cheerily, placing the bag on the desk. "I'm here to see Adam Davis. Can you buzz me up or call him down please?"

"Adam Davis?" The receptionist clarified, and you nodded. She shook her head, and you could already feel the dread spreading through you. "Oh he's not here anymore. It's the end of day."

"I know it usually is, but he said he was working late again." You said casually. She frowned at you.

"Adam always leaves by 6pm, he's not one of the ones that tends to stay late."

"Al-always?"

"Yeah."

There it was. The stab in your heart. He was lying. You had proof. You slowly took the takeout bag off the desk.

"Oh," You chuckled, your laugh void of any actual amusement. "I must have heard him wrong then. My mistake."

"What did you say your name was? I can leave him a message for the morning?" She kindly offered.

"No, it's okay, I'll just give him a call. Thanks for the help!" You said, waving slightly as you spun on your heels, your eyes threatening to spill your tears as you marched towards the exit doors to your car.

As soon as you shut your car door behind you, the takeout placed gently on the passenger seat, you cried.

'He always leaves by 6.

He'd been lying to you. For months. Taking you for an absolute mug.

What he'd been doing with all of this time he wasn't at work, you still didn't know. But now you knew that he was lying straight to your face, and had been for a third of your relationship.

You peeled away from the curb, breathing out slowly to calm the adrenaline rushing through you, and drove away, leaving the tears on your face.

You drove for 15 minutes to a specific destination. You hadn't spoken to Peter since your awkward departure at the weekend, but you knew you had to tell him what you'd just learned. You knew he was the only one to help you figure out what to do next.

You parked chaotically by his building, not even caring if you got a ticket, and ran up to his apartment with the takeout in your hands. You slowed outside Adam's apartment, making your movements quieter, trying to hear if there was any indication that he was just casually sitting inside his own place while he lied to you.

There was nothing.

Fucking asshole.

So he was lying to you about working, and he was actively out doing something with this time?

You could have maybe understood saying that he was working just to have some time to himself. But clearly that wasn't the case.

You knocked on Peter's door, the anger reigniting inside you, and coming through your fists as they thundered on the wood. Peter swung the door open with a frown on his face, which disappeared once he saw your expression.

You slammed the takeout bag into his chest as you walked in.

"He's fucking lying." You spat as you marched in, and started pacing.

"I've gotta start looking through the peephole before I open this door." Peter muttered as he closed it. "You know none of my friends barge in here. What's happened now?"

"What? Who else has been barging in here?!"

"No one." He shook his head, not wanting to mention your friend coming over, and putting the takeout on his coffee table. When he looked back up at you, he saw you wringing your hands together and looking riled up. "Hey," He said softly, grabbing your hands in his, stilling your movements, and looking you in the eyes. "What's wrong?"

You swallowed as you looked back down at his hands on yours, and quickly pulled yours away.

"Adam." You said suddenly. Peter raised an eyebrow at you. "He was lying."

"We knew that."

"No, I caught him lying. Outright."

"You..." Peter ran his hand over his mouth. "What happened?"

"I went to his work. He said he was working late. I got takeout. Then I went to his work. With the takeout, and -"

"Hey, calm down." He said, putting his hands on your face. He pointedly breathed in and out, nodding his head to make you follow what he was doing. You did, after a few seconds of shock that once again his hands were on you and you were both incredibly close. You followed his breathing a couple of times, then gently pulled his hands off of you. "Better?"

You nodded stiffly.

"Okay, you took takeout to his work?" He asked softly.

"Yeah. He said he was working late again. And...the receptionist, she said..." You trailed off as your throat tightened with emotion again. "She said that he doesn't ever work past 6pm. That he'd already gone."

"He...he never works past 6?" He questioned, and you nodded. "Son of a ..." Peter turned away from you, taking a few steps forward before stopping. "Never?" He repeated as he turned back round to you, his hands on his hips.

"Never."

There was a long stretch of silence as you both had no clue what to say. The only thing that interrupted it was a buzz from Peter's pocket. He took his phone out, reading the notification, and squeezed his eyes shut as his head fell back.

"Fuck." He typed out a reply, then looked back at you. "I'm sorry, I'm supposed to be going to Aunt May's for dinner."

"Of course. That's fine. I'll just...text you tomorrow or something."

"No," He stepped forward, an idea forming in his head. "We need to talk about this, about what we're going to do next. Just come with me."

"What?"

"Come with me, to dinner."

"At your Aunt's?"

"Yeah, we can talk in the car, and we both need to eat something."

"I have takeout."

"So you can have that for lunch tomorrow." He said simply, grabbing his coat from the hook and pulling it on. He put a hand on your back and guided you to the door. "Come on, it might be good, and it'll give you half an hour of not thinking about it while May talks about how great her holiday with Happy was."

"Happy?"

"Her...they're kind of.." He tried to explain as he shut his door behind the two of you.

"Your Aunt is dating someone called Happy?"

"He's not even all that Happy."

"Is that his actual name? Like his birth name?" You queried as you walked down the steps, completely forgetting about resisting his invitation.

Your questions didn't stop until Peter admitted that he didn't know whether Happy was a nickname or his first name, but by that point, he'd manoeuvred you into the car, and you were already on your way to Aunt May's.

Peter used the distraction of the Happy interrogation to get you talking about something other than Adam. Your job, Ruby, the music on the radio, anything. He kept you talking until he reached his Aunt's house, and kept you from thinking about your asshole boyfriend and his asshole lies. He answered your questions about his Aunt, things to comment on, things to avoid, as though you were aiming to make a good impression. It made his heart thump happily with each new question you asked about his life.

As he led you up the steps and knocked on the door, he glanced at you and noticed you seemed nervous.

"It's gonna be fine." He said reassuringly.

"She doesn't even know I'm coming! What if she hates me?"

"I don't think May hates anyone." He laughed, just as the door opened.

"Peter!" She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him into a bear hug, and kissing his face all over. "I thought you'd forgotten about little old me!"

"How could I?" He smiled as she released him. "Something just came up, so I hope you don't mind..."

"Who is this?!" She squealed in delight as she finally spotted you standing next to her nephew. "You are gorgeous." She said as she also pulled you into a bear hug. You awkwardly patted her on the back. "Peter, did you get a girlfriend and not tell me?"

"No!" The two of you said loudly at the same time, before exchanging an awkward look with each other.

"We're not dating Ms Parker." You clarified in a panic.

"Oooookay." May said with a knowing look. "Well whatever this is, come on in. The lasagna is almost ready."

You glanced back at Peter with a heated face, and he gestured for you to walk in first.

Yeah, this was going to be totally fine, you thought.