Adam, Enough Said (This Can't be Happening) (19 page)

"They're doing it again," I whispered
, worried someone would hear. I just didn't know. "They know you're gone. I don't know what it was, but I think they were banging on the front door and it woke me up."

"Those motherfuckers," he growled.

The neighbors, our pot smoking, crack-head looking, loser neighbors were terrorizing me again. They moved in two months ago and were so nice and friendly at first. It was a daily occurrence to smell pot coming from their place, but hey, it didn't harm us in any way, so Adam never made a deal of it. But the moment they spotted Adam come home in his police uniform, all hell broke loose. They started torturing me - specifically on the nights Adam worked late, knowing I'd be alone.

They'd bang on the walls
and the front door at all hours of the night and into the morning. They'd shout "Pig whore, pig bitch, pig shit" at me if they caught me alone in the parking lot. They'd throw things at our bedroom window while I tried to sleep, which wasn't much anymore.

I was scared to death
, and Adam was out of his mind, because there wasn't much he could do. He'd already threatened them and they'd practically laughed in his face. He had his cop buddies driving by the apartment to keep an eye out at night, but they could only do it so often. His friends had already given them a number of parking tickets, and they were persistently waiting for the neighbors to really screw up so they could arrest them.

Our lease was up in two more months and we
’d been hoping to wait it out, but I wasn't sure I could take much more. I was considering staying with his mom on the nights he worked late until then, instead of paying to get out of the lease.

"You remember where the gun is?" Adam asked.

"Yes," I breathed, thinking I knew where it was, but I didn't want to touch it. I wasn't scared of guns because Adam made sure I knew how to use one, but I knew why he was asking and that terrified me.

I heard him take a deep breath before he spoke. "All right,
Freckles. I'm done with this shit. Can you look outside and see if their car is there?"

"Ummm...yeah, give me a sec." I climbed out of bed and walked through the living room to the window.

"Car's gone," I confirmed.

"Good. I'm gonna get Jacobson on it and see if we can't finish this tonight," he said with a hint of danger.

"What does that mean?"

"Don't worry about it,
Baby. You just try to go back to sleep. I'll be home around six. Anyone enters that apartment, you put a bullet in their head, you got me? Nothing better fuckin' happen to you, Mia."

I shuddered at the
horrific image and my skin chilled.

"I love you, Adam."

"With all my heart, Freckles," he said, and then disconnected.

Adam
Bryant

"It's done," Jacobson said in my ear as I pulled up to my apartment and I breathed a sigh of relief for the first time since Mia's call. Jacobson continued, "Mike and Sandy Douglas. DUI and two pounds of marijuana in the trunk of their car. A warrant's been issued for their apartment, and I'll make damn fuckin' sure the complex issues an eviction notice and changes the locks. I don't care what I gotta do. I don't know if they'll post bond, and it's possible they will, but I'll keep you posted if that happens. Just make sure Mia watches her back."

At that, we disconnected and
I hauled ass up the stairs to get to my woman.

I found her in bed,
curled up on her side, hair fanned out over her pillow, holding my pillow to her chest. My gut tightened at her beauty and the fact that she was all mine. A goddess. I'd been on edge all night, but the sight of her calmed me. The thought of something happening to her had me sick. Knots in my stomach. Nausea even. I didn't know what I'd do if she was hurt, physically or emotionally. Knowing she'd been alone and scared nearly killed me.

I quickly undressed.
I needed to feel her. I needed to know she was safe.

I
lifted the covers, put my knee to the bed at Mia's side and watched her eyes fluttered open. Dark green, sleepy eyes met mine and she gave me the lazy smile that I looked forward to seeing every single day.

"Missed you," she said, her voice huskier than normal and her hand lifted to my cheek.

I twisted and kissed her palm.

I missed her too, but telling her
how much wouldn't even begin to describe how deep missing her went. Working nights had been hard and it had taken its toll on both of us, but she was always here when I left and always here when I came home.

Somehow, in
the past year, she'd become my world.

And I needed to show her that.

"Baby, are you okay?" she asked and I closed my eyes to savor the endearment. She didn't say it often, but when she did, I loved it.

I looked down at her. I needed to tell her the shit with our neighbors was done, but it'd have to wait until the morning. I
rolled and her hand fell away from my face. My hands went to the waistband of my boxers, the ones Mia was currently wearing - her favorite - and I tugged them down her legs, brushing kisses on them as I went.

I climbed
back over her, removed her shirt as I went, until I covered her body with mine like a blanket. She licked her lips, but I wanted her to lick mine instead. So I kissed her, devoured her, our tongues tangled and caressed. I rubbed my hips against hers and she met me, moaning into my mouth.

I reached between us.

"Adam," she breathed when I touched her and I knew she was already ready for me. I didn't wait, I couldn't wait.

I lifted and dark
green met light green.

"
You belong to me, Baby?" I asked, desperate to hear her answer.

"Always," she whispered and in one long, deep thrust
, I was inside her...owning her...her owning me...us consuming each other... both desperate for one another. I took her to the edge, controlling her body, powering her hunger. I pushed deeper, harder and faster until she fell over the side, but not before she took me with her.

Five Weeks Later

Adam
Bryant

This can't be happening. It had to be wrong.

“Are you sure?” I
asked.

I couldn't even swallow past the tightness in my throat. My body wouldn't work. It was frozen solid, damned to stay that way for the rest of my life. My elbows were glued to the top of my thighs, my fingers were laced and fisted tightly underneath my chin, because without them, I'd collapse face first to the floor.

The muscles in my neck strained against my skin and my jaw hurt from clamping down. But I couldn't figure out why I was so mad.

I
already knew. She didn't have to fuckin' tell me, I already knew. I think it might have even been what I wanted at the time... that split second in time.

Mia was sitting next to me on the old, ragged, torn leather sofa I'd picked up at a Salvation Army when I hadn't been able to afford much else. Mia didn’t belong on this sofa.
She didn’t belong in the apartment. None of it was worthy of her beauty.

I wasn’t worthy of her beauty.

I couldn't even look at her.

Pregnant. Fuck.

I've ruined her. She might almost be twenty,
but I was almost twenty-five and plenty old enough to know I just destroyed her future. She hadn't even gone back to school and she damn sure was screwed out of it now.

"I took four
tests. I'm sure," she answered softly at my side.

Fuck!

I was out of it. I couldn't think. I was fucked up in the head and knew it. What the hell kind of father would I be? Would I be jacked up like my own? Would I beat my kid?

The
thought made me throw up a little in my mouth. I wouldn't. I knew I wouldn't. Never. It was a stupid thought. But I was fucked up and this was all wrong. I wasn't even here most of the time and shifts wouldn't lighten until at least my third year on the force. And how was a baby supposed to live in this place? This shit hole. I didn’t even want Mia here.

And money. I didn't have much
of it. Mia's job was only part time, but even full time she made shit, and with a baby, she wouldn't be able to work.

My chest hurt.

A baby.

I was
gonna pass out.

The realization that I was going to have to
dip into the money my piece of shit father left me made sweat break out over my forehead. I had to get Mia in a house. I needed a good vehicle. There was going to be diapers and bottles and clothes and blankets and…a ton of other baby shit to buy.

I couldn'
t afford all that on my salary.

I could take an extra job every night, but then I
’d never see Mia.

Or my baby.

I wanted to cry.

"I'm so sorry, Adam," she
said like it was her fault when it wasn’t. It hurt to know she was crying, but I couldn't do anything about it, because I couldn't even speak.

This
wasn't her fault, but she was apologizing and I couldn't even open my goddamn mouth to tell her everything would be okay.

And I should have been shot for what I
said next.

"I'm gonna take a shower and g
et ready for work." I stood on shaky legs.

"Adam, please
talk to me. I don't know what to do and I need you," she cried softly and it was agony hearing the panic in her voice. Tears were sliding down her face and I rubbed my chest over my heart.

"There
’s nothing left to do, Mia," I said, pained. Not Baby, not Freckles...just Mia. I was fuckin' losing it. "We're getting married and I'll figure out what to do about a house next week. I'll tell Ma. She'll be thrilled," I finished and somehow her tears stopped...just...like...that.

"I'm not marrying you just because I'm pregnant
," she hissed.

"Yeah, Mia, you fuckin' are. You have my baby, you take my name. I don't want that baby to have any other piece of me except my fuckin' name, so you're damn well gonna marry me. And that reminds me, now I'll have to put you on my goddamn insurance 'cause yours is shit. There'll be doctors' visits, hospital visits...another fuckin' arm and leg!" I was talking crazy and I knew it. The look on her face said the same
.

She was
still marrying me goddamn it.

"You're upset, so I'm going to pretend you didn't mean any of that," she whispered, now on the verge of crying again.

"I don't know what I mean,” I muttered. “I'm going to take a shower and go to work. We'll talk about this shit later." I walked out of the room and it hit me, too late, that I'd just called this situation "shit"...that I just motherfuckin' called having a baby "shit" to Mia's face.

Why the fuck couldn't I ever say the right thing?

When I got out of the shower, Mia was gone. I called her cell three times, but she wouldn't answer and, when the voicemail came on, I whispered, "I'm sorry, Baby."

Two Weeks Later

Mia
Bryant

I was married now.

But why did it feel so wrong?

I looked down at the ivory skirt and pale pink top I'd worn to the Justice of the Peace and couldn't believe Adam and I had just said our "I dos". Pregnant and married at twenty years old...well, technically nineteen, but who was counting? I was happy. More than happy. This was something I'd dreamed of my entire nineteen years of life, a family. And having Adam as my husband was the cherry on top.

My knight in shi
ning armor with a foul mouth who never said the right thing.

But I loved him. I loved it all. And I knew I'd love him until the day I died.

I glanced at him sitting in the driver's seat and wondered how I’d snagged him. He was amazing. Way out of my league. Maybe that was one of the reasons he didn't feel the same as me.

He was miserable. He tried to hide it, but I could see through every one of his
emotional masks. I'd tried until I was blue in the face to talk him out of marrying me, but he’d been adamant. It got to the point where I couldn't even bring it up without him flipping out on me.

Since the day I told him I was pregnant, nothing
had been the same between us.

He worked constantly and I rarely saw him. When I did, he acted fine, but
, again, my sixth sense told me everything was far from fine. I was pretty sure getting married was a mistake, on his part, not mine, but I loved him so much that I'd try hard to make us work.

Though, in the back of my mind I knew, had
I not gotten pregnant, we never would have gotten married. Sure, he'd hinted that we would in the future, but now that future was pushed up, and it was clear he'd had a change of heart about marrying me. His resentment was permanently etched, clear as day, on his gorgeous face.