“I’m going to kill you, you son of a bitch.”
Hugh grabbed him by the throat and shoved him against the trailer wall. “Why’d you do it?” he said. “You fucking prick. You put your filthy fucking hands on my baby sister!”
Joe came up beside Hugh, looking equally pissed. “What were you thinking? Did you think you could hide this from us? That you could use her and walk away and we’d never find out?”
Adam didn’t try to fight back or push Hugh away. He shook his head. “It’s not like that,” he choked past Hugh’s death grip. “I care about her.”
“If you cared about her,” Hugh said, “you would have left her the fuck alone.”
“You stay the hell away from her,” Joe added. “It’s over, do you hear me? Lucy may not have thought about the consequences of you two hooking up, so I’ll do it for her. You go near her again, things will get uglier than they already are between us.”
Their reaction was about what he expected. He’d made no secret of the fact he never planned to settle down, that he was all about having fun and living for the moment. They had no way of knowing the last few weeks with Lucy had made him question his resolve. That being with her had made living with the weight of his crushing guilt damn near bearable.
The door opened and banged shut, and Lucy strode out looking beautiful and pissed as hell.
She planted her hands on her hips. “How dare you come here and act like this?” She pointed at Joe. “You don’t speak for me and you sure as hell don’t decide who I do or do not spend time with.”
“Get back inside, Lucy,” Hugh barked.
She ignored her brother and came forward, shoving Hugh’s massive chest. “Let him go and leave, or I’m calling Shay.”
Hugh’s eyebrows shot up. “You wouldn’t.”
“I would.” She turned to Joe. “What do you think Darcey would think about you coming here and acting this way?”
Adam stood there stunned as Lucy flew into a rant of epic proportions. Hugh had actually loosened his grip on Adam’s throat and the black dots were fading.
“I’m not a child.” She shoved her sexily rumpled hair back. “What the hell do you think you’re doing coming here and threatening Adam—your friend—when he’s done nothing wrong? Nothing. We’re both consenting adults. I’ll be with whoever the hell I like, do you hear me?”
Adam couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was pissed off and beautiful…and—
“Lucy?”
Everyone turned at the sound of that hesitant voice. A man in a pair of jeans and a button-down shirt stood behind them, watching the scene with eyes wide, body tense.
Lucy froze and spun to face the guy as well, and Adam knew who he was instantly.
“What are you doing here, Daniel?” she rasped. “I told you to stay away.”
Hugh let go of Adam instantly and turned fully to the guy behind him. Adam shoved Hugh out of his away and walked to Lucy’s side, his arm going around her shoulders before he knew what he was doing—shit, staking some kind of claim on her?
Joe scowled at him, but Adam ignored him and stared her ex down.
“You heard her. She told you to stay the hell away,” Adam said.
Daniel’s gaze moved over her in a way that made Adam want to tear the bastard apart. Hugh and Joe had noticed as well going by the way they tensed beside him.
“It’s true, then,” the guy said, completely ignoring his audience. “You’re not pregnant?”
Lucy turned to stone in his arms. “Of course it’s true,” she said in a voice that sounded husky and broken. “Do I look pregnant to you?”
“Lucy—” He stepped forward but stopped when Adam shook his head.
“Go home to your family,” she said.
“Please, sweetheart. Don’t do this. I need you. I don’t want to be with her. I want you. We can try again. I’ll give you a baby…” The guy started to shake, rubbing his hands over his face. “Please don’t let this be the end. I miss you. I can’t be without you.”
Lucy lifted her hands, cutting him off. “Not once in that speech did you ask what I wanted, how I felt. You ignored my wishes. You refused to leave me alone when I asked you to. All you care about is yourself. You need me, you want me. What about what I want, what I need?”
The guy opened his mouth to speak, but Lucy got there first. “I never wanted to be your dirty little secret. You made me that. You’re a liar and a cheat. I want nothing more to do with you. Leave, Daniel.”
A sick, unsettling feeling started to grow and expand in the pit of Adam’s gut.
The other man stood there for several seconds, then finally getting that it was finally over, turned to leave.
Adam still wanted to be sure. “If you ever call her again, or come within one hundred yards of her, you’ll be in for a world of hurt. Do you understand?” he said past the boulder in his throat.
Everyone stayed quiet as they watched the guy nod and walk away.
The sick feeling grew stronger. Adam was no better than that asshole, that fucker who had just stood there and begged for Lucy, who had kept her a secret to get from her what he wanted. Adam had allowed his own wants and desires to come before what was right. What was right for her.
He knew without doubt he sure as hell wasn’t it.
He was no good for anyone. Shit, he couldn’t even sleep on his own, and had fucked more women than he could remember purely so he could forget the hell he’d grown up in, the image of his mother lying in that bed, the sheets soaked in her blood.
Lucy deserved better, so much better than him.
Chapter Twenty-One
Lucy was leaning against the counter in her trailer when Hugh walked up to her, and his giant hand went to the back of her neck, tugging her forward. She collided with his massive chest and he wrapped his arms around her, giving her one of his famous bear hugs. Hugh might be a grumpy bastard at times, but he’d always given the best hugs.
His breathing was rough, ruffling the hair at the top of her head. “I’m sorry, squirt,” he rumbled.
She could feel his big body shaking. “I’m okay, Hugh.”
“You should never have had to go through that on your own. Fuck, and the way I laid into you when you came home.” He shook his head. “The shit I’ve been giving you…”
She gave him a squeeze, shutting him up. “It’s okay. You were worried. I get it.” She pulled back and he loosened his hold enough that she could look up at him. “But I need you to get it through that thick skull of yours that I’m grown. I don’t need you to protect me anymore. You can’t. I have to make my own choices, my own mistakes, and that’s okay.”
“I don’t like seeing you get hurt, Luce. Been protecting you your whole life. I’m not sure I can just step back like that.”
“You have to,” she whispered, throat getting tight. “I survived. It hurt, it still does. But I survived. If I need you, I’ll tell you. You can count on that.”
Joe stepped up, eyes suspiciously damp, and tugged her out of Hugh’s arms, engulfing her in a bone-crushing hug. “Can’t…breathe,” she choked.
Joe loosened his hold but didn’t let go. “Stop complaining and let me cuddle you for a second, would you, squirt?” He rocked her from side to side. “It’s taking everything in me not to go after that fucker, tear off his dick, and feed it to him.”
She patted Joe’s back. “Okay. We’ll cuddle as long as you need.”
“That’s all I’m asking.”
Lucy glanced over at Adam. He was propped against the wall, momentarily forgotten by her brothers. He’d stayed quiet while she’d told them the real reason she left school, what had been going on the last few months, and about the pregnancy. His eyes were locked on her, more intense than she’d ever seen them. She offered him a small smile, but he didn’t return it. Adam looked troubled and the sight kicked off another round of butterflies in her belly. Not the good kind either.
She finally got Joe to let her go and herded them toward the
door, hoping to have a moment with Adam alone, but he was right behind them. He was leaving?
Curling her fingers around his forearm, she pulled him to a stop. “Stay. We need to talk.”
“I…” He cleared his throat. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Hugh had turned to watch them and was scowling again, but he kept his mouth shut, so she was counting that as a win. She got it. Adam didn’t want to rub their relationship in her brothers’ faces. And after their morning, emotions were volatile to say the least. She nodded and let him go, trying to communicate to him that she understood the way he was feeling. Still, she hated watching him walk away on his own, the three of them not talking as they got into their trucks and drove away.
Hugh and Joe would come around to the idea of her and Adam together soon, wouldn’t they?
God, she hoped so. For all their sakes.
~ * ~
Lucy hitched her bag higher, and walked out of the elevator on Adam’s floor. It was late and she should probably have called to let him know she was coming over after work, but she was worried if she told him she was coming he might not be there when she arrived. She silently scolded herself. Adam wouldn’t do that. She was just being paranoid. They’d spent their first night apart last night and she was trying not to read too much into it, but it was getting damn hard, especially when he hadn’t returned her call last night either. Oh, he’d texted her back, saying something had come up and he couldn’t come over, but even the tone of the text felt off.
Ignoring the nervous flutter in her belly, she knocked on the door. Nothing. She tried again. She was starting to think he wasn’t there, but then she heard footsteps coming toward the door. The flutters got worse.
The door opened and Adam filled the space. He was wearing a pair of sweatpants, no shirt, and his hair was sticking up at odd angles. This apartment was dark behind him.
“I woke you,” she said.
He shook his head. “I couldn’t sleep.” He didn’t seem surprised to see her, and she struggled to stay where she was and not launch herself into his arm when his gaze moved over her in that familiar way.
He rubbed his hands over his face, giving his head a little shake. “Come in, Luce.”
And then he said it, the dreaded words.
“We need to talk.”
She knew what those four words meant, of course she did. But, God, how she didn’t want to believe that this was the end for them. She’d known it was coming. She’d known since their first night together. He’d told her himself that he didn’t want more, that a relationship, a commitment, wasn’t for him. Somehow she’d momentarily forgotten that, had stupidly allowed false hope to grow and bloom.
She knew better.
They stood in the middle of his living room, staring at each other. His gaze moved over her face, lingering on her lips before lifting back to lock with her eyes.
“Luce…”
She forced a small smile, even as emotions raged through her. “I knew what this was when it started. You don’t have to explain.” Her heart fractured when he didn’t try and deny it, when he didn’t say she was wrong, that he loved her as much as she loved him.
Shit, did that hurt.
Jamming his fingers through his hair, muscles dancing and shifting under his tanned skin, he took a step closer. “I’m sorry. I just…I can’t be what you need, I can’t—”
“Bullshit.” The word exploded out of her mouth before she knew she was going to say it. She’d planned to bow out gracefully, but screw that. Not when he was going with that tired old line. “Don’t.” She held up her hands to stop him from coming any closer when it looked like he might. “Don’t do that. Don’t make excuses. Don’t try and tell me you’re doing this for my own good. That’s a cop-out and a weak one at that. I think you know how I feel about you, and I think ending it like this—you playing the martyr—keeps me where you want me, hanging on a string, trailing behind you in case you decide to man up and accept what’s between us. So, until that day, if it ever goddamn comes, you can carry on with your pointless existence, screwing around…nothing too hard or messy. Nothing real.” She backed away. “So don’t you do that. I deserve better than some overused line, and as it turns out, I deserve better than you.”
His throat worked several times, like he was trying to keep it together as well. She inwardly locked down the sympathy trying to surface. No. She wouldn’t feel sorry for him. He chose this, to end it, rather than take a chance on them.
“Why don’t you just say it?” she snapped at him. “Tell the damn truth for once.”
His jaw worked, but he kept his lips firmly closed.
“You’re a lot of things, Adam Grady, but I never thought a coward was one of them.”
His entire body had gone still, every muscle in his arms and chest bulging and jumping.
Backing away, she pulled the door open. “And just so we’re clear, I’m not your friend. We weren’t that before all of this, not really, and I don’t want that now. Don’t call, don’t text, don’t come to the trailer.” Then she walked out the door, pulling it shut behind her.
~ * ~
Adam stared at the closed door, clenching his teeth so damn hard they ached. Every muscle in his body throbbed from holding himself back.
He shoved his hands through his hair and fisted it. It was for the best, letting her think he was a coward, that he was a selfish prick, that he wanted to go back to his old ways, that he had no damn feelings. It was easier than the truth. “Fuck.” Maybe he was a coward.
Shit. Had he been trying to keep her hanging on a string like she said? Because, yeah, he knew how she felt about him. How could he not? He started pacing his apartment. Jesus, he felt wrong in his own skin. His entire being was rebelling against what had happened, that he’d let her walk away—that he’d ended it.
God, her parting shot not to call or text—she knew he’d never do that after what she’d been through with Daniel. That ignoring her wishes would lump him in the same category as that fucking asshole—the very thing he’d been trying to avoid. Selfishly keeping her for himself, trying to hold onto her when he was no damn good for anybody. He’d been trying to put her first and instead he’d alienated her forever.
He stared out the window, fist coming up, meeting the wall beside it with force when he saw her getting into a cab. He wanted to bang like fuck on the window and scream for her to come back, to beg her to forgive him, to promise to never leave him again. But he couldn’t, wouldn’t do that to her. She deserved so much more than him. Lucy deserved the world, someone who could give that world to her through glittering, rose-tinted glasses. He resided in dark pain and self-loathing, and that wasn’t the place for Lucy, not when she was light and happiness—laughter.
He’d done the right thing. He’d saved her from him, a messed-up, emotionally scarred insomniac. She’d dodged a bullet, and didn’t have the first clue how close she’d come to being dragged down with him.
The cab drove off with Lucy inside and he watched its taillights until they were swallowed up in traffic.
~ * ~
Two weeks had passed since Lucy walked out of his place. Hugh was barely talking to him, and Joe, well, he’d grunted at Adam several times, and though not technically words, he’d take it. He deserved their rancor. That and a whole lot more.
He should be thinking about how the hell to patch things up between to them. How they’d get past this—if they could. Jesus, if he should be looking for another job.
But instead of trying to repair his friendship with men he considered brothers, all he could think about was their sister.
Guilt was a tight fist in his gut, and at the same time, he missed her so fucking much the pain was like a wound that wouldn’t heal. Every mention, every reminder was like someone tearing at that wound, making it deeper and wider.
To top it off, today was the day he dreaded every damn year. A day that had his head swimming with unwanted memories, with pain and regre
t. Shame.
After wiping his hands, he stood and closed the hood of the Toyota he’d been working on. He was putting tools away when Lucy drove in. He hadn’t expected to see her, not yet. Thought she’d avoid this place and him. Obviously he was wrong. He couldn’t take his eyes off her as she climbed out of her car and headed for the garage, but Hugh was out the door meeting her before she’d taken more than a few steps.
Yeah, he knew he’d done wrong, going behind his friends’ backs with their little sister, but seeing just how strongly they didn’t want her with him was a serious fucking blow.
He ate up the sight of her as she stopped in front of her eldest brother. There was this amazing smile on her face, a smile that socked him so hard in the chest he struggled to breathe. She was talking animatedly, hands waving about like she tended to do when she was excited. Something had lit up Lucy’s world, and he hated that he couldn’t share it with her, that it wasn’t him she came running to, cheeks flushed with happiness.
Hugh tugged her forward, wrapping her in a hug. Joe had gone out to join them and he didn’t waste time pulling her into his arms as well. She left a short time later and though he knew he should keep his mouth shut, when Hugh and Joe walked back in, he couldn’t have stopped the question from leaving his mouth if his life depended on it.
Adam cleared his throat. “Good news?”
Hugh’s mouth slammed down into a grim line, brows low, scowling like hell.
Joe, on the other hand, fucking smirked like a motherfucker. “She met a guy. They’ve been on a few dates. She thinks he might be the one.”
Adam actually stumbled back several steps, like Joe had reached out and shoved the fuck out of him. His lower back slammed into the workbench and he was thankful he had something to prop him up because he was dangerously close to falling to his fucking knees and crying like a baby.
No. Anything but that. Shit, two weeks. Two weeks and she had already moved on? He was in her rear-view mirror. Forgotten. A fucking bad memory?
Slide (Boosted Hearts Book 3) Page 20
