Adam, Enough Said (This Can't be Happening) (13 page)

"Calm down. She’s not worth it
," I grunted in her ear, because as tiny as she was, she was wiggling in my hold so frantically, I nearly dropped her little ass down the stairs. Luckily, I hit the sidewalk, put her feet on the ground, kept my arm curled vise tight around her waist, and ushered her - not so gently - toward my truck before that happened.

"I hate her," she shouted. "Let me go so I can whoop her
ass
!"

The situation was far from funny, but I bit my tongue to keep from
laughing at her use of the word "whoop".

Fuckin' cute.

"Adam, I'm serious! Let. Me. Go!" she shouted again.

I ignored her until we made it to my truck. I fumbled with the handle, threw the passenger door open, hefted her up and set her ass on the se
at despite her protests. Her head swung around and thick, wavy, fiery red hair whipped around in the wind. She was breathing hard and her chest heaved as she glared at me through narrowed, yet sad eyes. The only good that look did was seal her fate.

A fate
that meant she was going to be stuck with me for a good, long while.

She was gorgeous, naturally. Anger and all...even though she sort of looked like one of those flying squirrels ready to take a leap right onto someone's face. That face being mine. 

"Babe -" I started, but she cut me off.

"
Stop
calling me babe. I am
not
your babe and never will be," she snapped in my face, hair-flying wild in the wind and I couldn't resist. I lowered my head, inches from her face and I thought she would back up, but she held herself still, chin held high, clearly refusing to back down.

Good.

I smiled.

"All right,
Freckles." I wasn't backing down either, but her eyes narrowed to slits and begged for a fight that I refused to give her because she was angry at someone else. "Here's the deal...your embarrassment of a cousin will call the cops if you lay a finger on her. Don't think for a second that she'd let you touch her without making your life even more miserable than she probably already has." I paused and cupped her cheek in the palm of my hand.

M
y eyes held hers and when I saw her stop breathing, I crushed my lips to hers. She let out a cry of surprise, which gave my tongue the perfect opportunity to search and find hers. Mia's hands grabbed on to my arms to hold on and I kissed her hard and fast before coming up for air.

Her eyes opened lazily and they were filled with
desire, and apprehension. She was breathing hard and her lips were swollen, the edges pinker than usual. I traced her bottom lip with my thumb, before I promised, "I'll take care of it."

I
gave her a swift kiss, turned and then jogged back to where Missy was still standing, now with Johnny.

Mia
Dayes

Oh my God!

I
touched a hand to my lips and pressed; the feeling of Adam’s lips still lingered on mine. Why did he just kiss me? Was it because he actually wanted to or just to take my mind off kicking Missy’s ass? Could what Adam did to my mouth even be considered a kiss?

I have
never been kissed like that…well, I’ve only been kissed once and it was by my gay best friend, so I didn’t actually know what a real kiss was supposed to feel like.

I was so confused.

This was exactly why I kept telling Eric I needed more experience with guys, but he refused to help me out. Gay or not, my best friend could still show me how it worked since he’d been in more relationships than I could count on two hands, but me? Not even one.

“Nobody needs to touch you, Mia. You’re too precious,”
Eric always said and it drove me crazy.

I slapped my hand on my thigh in frustration. Guys were
exasperating! And what did Adam mean when he’d said, “I’ll take care of it”?

I jumped
when something hit the back of the truck.

I craned my neck
around just in time to see Adam throw my second suitcase in the bed of the truck. He walked around the driver’s side, got in, closed the door, put the key in the ignition and started the truck without saying a word. I took his cue, reached for my door and slammed it shut.

“What did you tell Missy?”

“Nothing.”

“What do you mean ‘nothing’?” I
knew damn well he was lying.

“Nothing
, really. I just told her to stay the hell away from you,” he muttered as he pulled out of the parking lot and, for some reason, I was really disappointed.

“Oh,”
I whispered.

He started talking the moment I looked away.
“I also told her that I have never wanted to put my hands on a female more than I wanted to put mine around her neck. Then I told her that she’d do well to keep her mouth full of dick like she's used to, so that her filthy tongue doesn’t get her into trouble with the wrong person…because next time, another man might not be as generous as me.”

My mouth hung agape in astonishment
.

“And I might have threa
tened to make her life hell when I become a cop if I find out she’s so much as looked at you the wrong way. But, if anyone asks, I never said that.” He paused before asking, “Where am I taking you?”

Oh shit.

How did I answer that? This was exactly why I didn’t want him bringing me here.

“Ummm…It’s on Louisiana Street. I’ll show you the building when we get closer,” I answered, and t
hen for some reason, I continued lying. “I’m going to stay with a friend for a couple weeks until I can get an apartment. He’ll probably room with me too.”

However, I wasn’t sure if Eric would be moving in with me
. He was still staying with his foster family. They were sweet and helped Eric in every way they could, even with school. If I were him, I would never leave.

I peeked at Adam and he g
lanced at me out of the corner of his eye, but he didn’t say anything, and he didn’t look happy. His knuckles on the steering wheel turned white.

“What happened to your parents
?” he asked and I closed my eyes, not out of embarrassment but because it wasn’t something I liked to talk about.

“I don’
t really know. Nobody knows,” I admitted softly. “They were both drug addicts and gave me up for adoption the moment I was born.”

“Then how is Missy your cousin? She your adopted family or somethin’?”

I sighed.

“No,
Adam, didn’t you hear what she said about no families wanting me? I was never adopted. Parents weren’t too keen on red hair and freckles when looking for a kid to take home and fit in with their perfect families --”

“
Oh come on, you don’t really believe that,” he cut me off.

I frowned. “Believe what?”

“That no family wanted you. You’re beautiful, Mia. I’m sure as a little girl, with all that wavy red hair and freckles, you were the cutest one in the room. If anything, they were probably already intimidated,” he said, and my belly fluttered, because that was such a nice thing to say at a time when I really needed to hear it.

“
Thank you for saying that, but yes, I believe what I said. How can I not? I’ve lived in three foster homes until the day I turned eighteen. It was then that I decided I wanted to find my real parents, but the only person my social worker could find was my dad’s brother - Missy’s dad.”

“
His name is Dave and had no idea his brother had me. He still says that he never would have let me be sent into the system had he known. And it’s only been five months, but he’s been trying real hard to make me feel like family. Hence, the reason I was staying with Missy. He’s paying for that apartment and I was pretty much guilt tripped into staying there too for college. Missy, on the other hand, hates me because I stepped into her territory,” I finished and Adam said nothing.

He looked angry
.

Other than me
giving quiet directions, the fifteen-minute ride to the women’s shelter was in silence. It wasn’t until he pulled up to the building next door to the one I needed to go to that I spoke.

“Thank you for saying what you said to Missy.”

He glanced at me and muttered, “You’re welcome.”

“Why did you kiss me
?” I asked softly, and that’s when Adam finally
looked
at me.

“Because I needed to.”

Okay. What kind of answer was that?

“The blonde
that’s hugging you in all your pictures…Is that who you’re gonna stay with until you find your own place?” he asked, ignoring my question. And no, I wasn’t going to stay with Eric, but I didn’t want to tell him I was staying at a shelter.

“Yeah, that’s
Eric --”

“
I thought you said you didn’t have a boyfriend,” he said in a tone filled with accusation.

I felt my eyebrows lift
, a little taken aback by his line of questioning and annoyed that he cut me off midsentence.

“Y
ou’re right, I don’t have a boyfriend.”

He looked frustrated
and, truthfully, so was I. I’d just told him a little about my past and he was questioning me about Eric?

“
I don’t like it. You shouldn’t be staying with him.”

I gasped.
“Well, you don’t have to like it. Eric’s my best friend and you don’t even know him.”

“I don’t have to know him. Best friends don’t touch the way he was touching you in those pictures.” Again, he was accusing me of something, practically calling me a liar with his eyes, but he wouldn’
t just come right out and say it.

“Well
Eric does. He can touch me how ever the hell he wants,” I snapped because one, Eric was gay so his touch was different. Two, we grew up in foster care together and he was practically my big brother. He took care of me and we had each other’s backs. Three, my relationship with Eric was none of Adam’s damn business.

Adam’s
eyes narrowed and a muscle ticked in his jaw.

”
Well then, I’m sorry I kissed you, Mia. If you tell him about it, give him my apologies and let him know it was a mistake.”

“
Excuse me --”

“I’ll help you with your bags,” he said
, again cutting me off, and then he jumped out of the truck.

My
head screamed “No” while my heart cried.

Chapter
Ten

Adam Bryant

Jealous. How the fuck was I jealous of someone I didn’t even know? I’d just met her last night. She said she didn’t have a boyfriend, but she was going to live with that guy? And he could touch her, but she hadn’t even slept in my bed last night?

Fuck!

Never…
never
have I wanted someone so much.

And she was only eighteen. I was twenty-three.
That couldn’t be right…but why didn’t it feel wrong? She didn’t talk like a teenager either. Shit, three foster homes? She’s probably been through more in her eighteen years than most people will ever go through in their entire lives. The last thing I wanted to do was make her life more difficult with all the fuckedupness that was me.

I really needed to calm down
, because she didn’t deserve my bullshit.

I
walked to the back of the truck, grabbed both of her suitcases, and lifted them out of the bed just as she made it to me. Her eyes were downcast and I felt even more like shit.

“Thank you, I’ll take them,” she mumbled and held out her hands for the suitcases
. I shook my head.

“I’ll carry them for you,” I said, instantly deciding that I was going to meet the guy she was staying with.

Just to make sure she’s going to be okay, that’s all
.

At least that was my plan
. Mia had other ideas.

“Don’
t do me any fucking favors,” she seethed.

She grabbed
on to the handles of the suitcases and yanked them out of my hand. I let them go easily. “I told you before, I don’t want or need your help.”

She turned, walk
ed to the cross walk and ran across the street. I just stood there like a jackass and watched the back of her red hair until she disappeared around the corner of the building; I was so out of sorts, it didn’t even register that she didn’t enter the building I was parked in front of.

I stood there wondering how I could have fucked up so bad
ly. Would I ever see her again? Would she even want to see me? Should I go after her?

Jesus, she’d just told me about her past, which had to
have been difficult, and I ran her off. I pinched the bridge of my nose thinking I was such a selfish asshole.