Sue Ann pulled back a fluffy ivory duvet cover. Decorator pillows got tossed to the floor, and I gently laid Julia on to her emerald satin sheets and goose feather pillow. I pulled the covers up over her and tucked them around her slight body, wishing I could crawl in beside her and wrap my arms around her. Hold her. I brushed her hair from her eyes and gazed down at her. Julia was so beautiful. And fragile.
Sue Ann came in with a bottle of water and set it on the nightstand beside Julia, who hadn’t stirred. I rose from the side of the bed, and we left the bedroom to stand in the foyer. I leaned against the front door with my muscular arms crossed and told Sue Ann I’d found Carter with his hand down Julia’s skirt.
“That greasy, slimy son of a bitch,” snapped Sue Ann. “You know, I’d heard the rumors too. Hell, everyone has.”
“I don’t know for sure,” I said. “But I don’t think she’d had that much to drink. Hell, only slamming a bunch of shots could get a girl that plastered in that short of a time. I feel pretty damn sure, she didn’t want to leave with him. She was barely upright. I should have taken her to the hospital, but she’d been so…”
Sue Ann shook her head, shaking with fury. She pulled two beers from the fridge and handed one to me. “So much for a fun night out on my birthday,” she commented as she took a swig from hers.
I held the brown bottle in a death grip, imagining it was Carter’s neck. “It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have left her alone for so long. But the fans, they’re everywhere and they always want a piece of me.”
“Adam, this is not your fault, so don’t even go there.”
My lips twisted in a smirk. A half-smile that spoke volumes about how I felt about my lack of ability to stop what happened. I’d failed. My career. My life. Now, with Julia. And it felt like my failure to protect her was the worst punch to my gut out of all of it.
“Listen, you’ll stay with her right? All night? I don’t think she should be alone. What if there are adverse effects from the drug he gave her?”
Sue Ann walked over to me and took my hand. “Adam, when she wakes up, I’m going to tell her you’re a hero. Don’t you worry your gorgeous rink-hunk head over this. I’d go home and put some ice on that right hand, Rocky.” She winked at me as I held my swollen fingers up for a closer inspection.
She grinned and gave my hand a squeeze. Sue Ann was a good friend to Julia, and I liked her. That’s what I needed in my life. Especially now. Good people. Friends who were genuine and looked out for each other. I gave Sue Ann a quick hug and left. My heart ached to go back in and check on Julia, but I’d have to settle for a phone call in the morning.
A short while later, I pulled onto the gravel drive of my house and wound my way up to the front. From the street, I’d immediately noticed the lights were on and a new flood of rage ignited within me when I saw Mark’s Jeep parked out front. This night just couldn’t get any worse.
I got out and slammed the door with every intention of killing my ignorant brother. I hadn’t been able to finish Carter off, but there weren’t any good Samaritans on the farm to stop me from beating the shit out of that Benedict Arnold. Mark’s audacity in thinking he’d be welcome here surprised me more than anything.
Mounting the front steps two at a time, I stormed through the front door, taking no pleasure in the sound of it banging behind me. Mark sat on the couch in front of the television, a beer in his right hand and his boot-clad feet propped up on the coffee table.
“Whoa! Holy shit, you scared me,” he said as he jumped up and put his hands out in front of him, ready to defend himself.
“What the hell are you doing in my house?” I snarled. I clenched my fists into tight balls of fury to keep from wrapping them around my brother’s neck and choking his happy expression into a death mask.
“Technically, this is my house too, you know.”
Wrong fucking answer.
“Like hell it is. I’m pretty sure I paid you off back when our parents died. When all you wanted was a quick payday. Get the fuck out of my house. I don’t even know you.” My voice remained quiet. Deadly. A thin veil of uncontained rage.
“Listen, Adam. I know you’re pissed. But we’re brothers. Blood.”
“Blood, huh? Tell me, brother, were you thinking about how much I meant to you when you were fucking Heather on a dresser like a two-bit whore?”
Mark shook his head. “Look, just once can’t you take a backseat for me? Let me be happy?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Seriously?” Mark said. “The great Adam Spencer. Pro athlete. Rich. Good looking. Any hot girl he could ever want. You have everything.”
I don’t have Julia.
Where in the hell had that thought come from? Floating across my consciousness like it belonged there. “Spare me your self-deluded pity party. You’re pathetic. You wanted everything handed to you on a silver platter. Because you’re lazy. I worked for everything I ever had. I was up before the rooster crowed to do chores before practice and I didn’t come home until well after dark.”
“Whatever, Adam. You don’t get it. I don’t even exist because of you. I’m Adam Spencer’s brother. So for once, I have something that was yours and you fucked it up. And you can’t stand it.”
“I’m going to give you five seconds to get out of my house. Tomorrow morning, the locks will be changed. If I ever see you again, I’ll kill you. Get the fuck out of my perfect life.”
Mark glared at me, but must have decided I was serious as a heart attack. My brother stormed past me and I cringed as I heard the screen door slam.
Chapter 10
Julia
The smell of frying bacon and hot coffee wafted to my nostrils. Confused, I pried open my sticky eyelids. What the hell happened last night? I’d only had one drink and that wasn’t enough to make me this hung over. I hadn’t felt like this since college and a case of two-buck Chuck.
The sunlight streaming in between the shades blinded me, but I still recognized them. Thank God I was in my own bedroom. The silk of my favorite pink pajamas tickled my skin. I wracked my throbbing head for a solid minute, but still had no recollection of the time span between the club and home.
Snuggling deeper into the down pillow, I lifted my fingertips to massage my temples. Frowning, I remembered going to the bar. It was western night. Sue Ann had wanted to blow off some steam. Adam. He’d been there too. We’d been talking at the bar, and then he’d needed to use the restroom.
A sickening feeling took up residence in my roiling gut. There was another guy too. He’d leaned in too close, making me uncomfortable, and my intuition had told me he was bad news. But I couldn’t remember anything else. Had I slept with him? Was he in my kitchen? A flashback pierced my senses and I gave in to the unpleasant memory.
My head swims and I feel like I’m floating. High above the parking lot. Above the street lights. Into the dark, starry night like a shooting star brightening the sky.
Except, shooting stars don’t have their backs scraped raw by brick buildings. And they don’t have hands pulling their shirts down and exposing their bras to the frigid night air. I feel the sensitive skin puckering in protest at the temperature and vaguely realize that the tops of my breasts shouldn’t be uncovered in the middle of winter. But I also feel this delicious languorous feeling take over my limbs and I want something to fill me.
Something.
“My God, Julia,” a man whispers as he rubs my erect nipples through the lace of my bra. “So responsive. So hot. You’re going to be the best fuck I’ve had in ages. And the limpest.”
As his maniacal laughter rings through the air, the man holds me upright with one hand and uses the other to guide his hand down between my legs to simulate a rubbing motion as he bends his mouth to capture my lower lip between his teeth.
“Ouch!” I cry out as it takes a few seconds for the pain to register in my foggy brain.
Adam. Adam, you’re hurting me.
So unlike him. I
never thought Adam would hurt me when I dream of his full lips on mine. Kissing him. Only him.
Adam … but not Adam. I try to struggle but just can’t get my limbs to obey me.
“Help,” I cry, but in actuality, it’s nothing more than a ragged whimper.
“That’s it,” he croons. “Ask for help. Struggle. That just makes it even hotter. My cock is so hard right now, Julia. It’s like steel.”
I clench my eyelids and try to keep the tears at bay. Someone has his hands and mouth where they don’t belong. In the parking lot of Shooters.
Then all of a sudden, the man on top of me is ripped away and I hear the sound of gravel crunching. Or is that bone? A savior. A voice I know.
I shiver under the weight of the icy temperature.
So cold.
But safe.
My head spun violently at the horrifying images as I pushed off the covers and swung my legs off the bed. I’d never had a one-nighter in my entire life. Never had sex with a man I didn’t love. A man I’d just met. What must Adam think of me? Any hope of ever having a connection with the man I really want seemed futile after last night’s events.
I found a bottle of water on my nightstand and a note. “Hey, Jules. I’m crashed on your couch if you need me.” Signed with a little heart face and capital ‘S’. A wave of sweet relief washed over me. Praise the heavens. Sue Ann was in my kitchen right now. I lifted the plastic to my lips and took a long drink to moisten my parched throat.
Padding down the hallway, the smell of the bacon and coffee enticed me forward on wobbly legs. I didn’t think I had ever smelled anything so wonderful in my life.
“Jules!” exclaimed Sue Ann when she saw me appear around the corner peeking into the kitchen. “You’ve returned to the living. I won’t mention you’re a little bleary-eyed.”
I winced at the light and from the high-pitched voice I loved so much. “Quieter and darker, please. What time is it?”
Sue Ann looked at me funny. Like I’d sprouted another head. “Almost noon. How are you feeling?” she asked as she came over and wrapped me up in a comforting hug.
Noon? I hadn’t slept that late since a bout with the flu last year.
“Like I have a hangover on top of a hangover,” I said, hugging her back. Hanging on for dear life as if she were my bestie lifeline. I knew something was wrong just by Sue Ann’s mere presence in my kitchen.
“Yeah, we’ll talk about that.” Sue Ann pulled away and gave me a warm smile. “Over coffee, scrambled eggs and bacon. I’m so glad I found some good grub in your fridge. Since you just returned home from the hotel, I was worried my choices might be bleak.”
She turned and walked over to the coffee pot, topped off her own mug and poured one for me. I took a seat at one of the bar stools by the counter.
“Please tell me I didn’t do anything stupid.” I heard the desperation in my tone. “I don’t even remember getting home. I just don’t do this.” I put my head in my hands and closed my eyes. Man, I felt like crap. And embarrassed as hell.
My friend set the mug of hot cream and sugar filled coffee in front of me, just how I liked it. Sue Ann took my hands and held them in her warm ones, and I let the friendship flow over me. “No, Jules. Not by a long shot.”
Slowly, she began to tell me what happened. Tears pricked my eyes, and a chill washed over me as I considered how bad it could have been if Adam hadn’t rescued me. Fear permeated my every cell, over what could have happened and relief that I’d had a savior.
“Now don’t you start with the waterworks. I’ll start balling too and that will ruin breakfast,” Sue Ann said, her own eyes already glassy.
I let out a little laugh but then groaned from my splitting head. “So Adam? He really decked that guy, Carter?”
“I’m telling you, Jules, from what I heard, if those two other guys hadn’t jumped in, Carter would still be flat on that pavement beaten to a bloody pulp. Jill St. John happened to be waiting behind the velvet ropes and she called me this morning. It’s all over town how Adam was like some kind of Mixed Martial Arts bad-ass. Jill called it swoon worthy. His already lofty stock is going to skyrocket with the locals.”
I felt my heart flutter in my chest. I wished I could remember. But maybe it was a blessing that I couldn’t. I felt infuriated and indignant toward Carter and honestly wanted to take a few shots at him myself, but mostly I enjoyed the idea of Adam coming to my rescue. Like a real man, instead of a cowardly piece of shit.
I wanted to see him … to thank him. But first, I wanted Tylenol, food, and a nap. In that order. Somehow I knew that my actual knight in shining armor would be waiting for me when I felt more like myself.
***
I spent most of the day in bed. Later that afternoon, I must have stood in the shower for a good twenty minutes just letting the hot water bathe over me and rinse away the last of my aches and fatigue. And my anger. If I wasn’t so damn tired, I’d be shaking with it. How could I have let myself become so vulnerable, accepting a drink from a perfect stranger? I wasn’t the kind of woman who put myself in the position to need rescuing.
Just after six, I decided to microwave some leftover Chinese food when the ding of the doorbell snapped my head forward. I glanced at the screen of my iPhone and it was blank. Looking down at my white cotton robe and pink fuzzy slippers, I cringed. God, I hoped it wasn’t Adam.
I walked over to the door and peeped through the tiny hole. Seriously? What in the hell could she possibly want? I opened the door and the woman smiled wide in greeting, but I stayed wary, a light film of perspiration breaking out on my palms. I really had no idea what to expect because this one had been a snotty loose cannon since high school.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” she stuck out her slender porcelain hand. She was dressed in an expensive black outfit that accentuated her perfect skin, to go with her perfect hair and make-up.
Heather McNeal. You’ve been a boil on my ass since you submitted my photo to Clinton Kelly to try to get me featured on What Not To Wear. Not everyone can afford designer labels in high school, you hoity-toity bitch.
As if on cue, her cerulean eyes scanned me from head to toe and halted on the fuzzy slippers. Then, her lips turned up in a smirk. If she said something to me while in my home, I’d be hard-pressed not to slap her impudent face.
“Um … yes, I know who you are,” I said, leaning back and putting more space between us.
“Listen, I know this might be a strange request, but I was wondering if we could have a little girl talk.” She smiled warmly at me, causing my heart to gallop. It seemed innocent on the surface, but something was off.
I wished Sue Ann had stayed the entire day. I could just refuse the request and tell her to leave. But if I were rude to miss fancy pants, that would make the rounds around town and could negatively affect my business. I glanced at Heather’s hand and noticed the absence of Adam’s engagement ring. Now, why did that information make me smile inside?
Making a snap decision, I swung the door wider and stood aside so she could enter. Heather bounced inside, her glorious blonde hair falling around her slim shoulders. A wave of expensive perfume wafted up to assault my nostrils.
“Ooh,” she cooed. “I love your place. So small and quaint. Almost … rustic. I know you renovate old barns. What a charming profession. Seems that decorating style has seeped into your home, too.”
Heather’s high-pitched lilt sounded like she’d be headed back to my old sorority house after this conversation. Like time had stood still and she hadn’t grown at all. What had Adam ever seen in this fake, plastic woman? After a few minutes in her presence, it just didn’t compute.
“Can I get you something to drink?” I asked as I walked into the living room and offered Heather a seat in the re-upholstered wingback.
“No, thank you,” she replied, probably wanting to loom over me with her height. Well, if she thought she could intimidate me, she had another thing coming. “I won’t be staying long.”
I sank down in the chair opposite her and waited.
“Listen,” Heather began as her dismissive gaze swept the eclectic collection of antiques in my living room that most considered charming. “I heard that you had quite the night last night. As a friend, Julia, you could do better than Carter.”
“Carter? What are you talking about?” My heart raced and I clenched my palms into fists.
“Oh, everyone’s talking about it. Everyone always talks about everything when it comes to Adam.”
“I really don’t know what you’re doing here, but—”
“He did the same thing with me,” Heather said as she stared me down. Her expression screamed what she thought about the situation. As if I’d done something wrong. As if I were stupid.
“What?”
“Adam.”
I stood, no longer wanting to be beneath her in any way. “Whatever you think you heard is wrong, Heather. Adam—”
“Saved you from a sexual assault,” finished Heather, interrupting me again. “An assault that no one really knows if you had coming. After all, you’ve been a tease since high school. Drawing men in with your curvy body and sassy personality. But none of them were ever good enough, were they?”
I snapped my mouth closed and stared. I shook my head at her blatant audacity in my house. “Heather. You’re a guest in my home. You came here. It’s my understanding that your affections have strayed in a different direction.”
“You don’t understand. But then, you attended one of those state schools and majored in design. Who knows what kind of education a person receives at a cheap college. You’re so silly, Julia. Don’t you get it? This is exactly how Adam got me to date him. He knew he was seriously out of my league as a poor farm kid. I don’t slum. But since he was probably going to get drafted into the NHL, I made an exception.”
My head hurt from trying to understand what Heather was getting at. “You’re going to have to give me more information. Everyone knows that you’re rich and Adam was poor. I don’t see what that has to do with any of this now.”
Benched Page 6
