Adam's Thorn (14 page)

“I’ll just get my car keys, Barbie.”
Ali stretched leisurely before getting off Ghost’s lap. 

“You didn’t bring your car?” Now
Adam realised that he hadn’t seen the Ford Laser in the driveway.

“I was driving past and picked her
up,” Ali explained before she could reply.

“I can drop you off home,” Ghost
offered.  “I need to fuel up the panel van.  I was going to do it tomorrow, but
I might as well do it now.  Makes no difference to me.”

No.  It was time, well beyond
time, that he was alone with her.  “I’ll take you home.” Adam stood.  When
everyone looked at him, he added, “I’m going home anyway, so I can drop Barbie
off at the same time.”

“Oh, really, I-” she began.

“Let’s go.”  He pulled the keys from
his pocket.  Then, because she didn’t make a move, he picked up the piece of
paper with his phone number on it and handed it to her.

He knew she wouldn’t object, not
with everyone in the room, not when it made sense not to put anyone out of
their way.  There was no way to object without making it uncomfortable, and
Barbie, he was fast realising, was no longer the kind of girl who enjoyed doing
that.

There were some major changes in
her life, real changes, and he wanted to know more.  Plus the conversation of
the afternoon had given an opening into the past, one he wanted - needed - to
discuss.  He’d never wanted to rake up old hurts, old pain, but now he was
going to do it, had to do it, even if it was for his own peace of mind.

It had bothered him all these
years, the memory having grown dim and buried in the far reaches of his mind
until Barbie turned up and brought everything to the forefront in glaring
clarity.  She was never far from his thoughts now, the scene played out so long
ago disturbing his sleep almost every night since she’d arrived in Peeron. 

The thought had him frowning
slightly, and when he looked down as Barbie crossed the room, she met his gaze,
her cheeks paling.

Yeah, she was uncomfortable and he
knew why.

Everyone bid them farewell, and
then it was just he and Barbie on the veranda.  Cupping her elbow, he ushered
her down the steps and across to the four wheel drive, unlocking the door and
holding it open while she got inside. 

Shutting her door, he got into the
driver’s seat, checked she had her seat belt on, started the car and reversed
into the road.

Silence filled the cab as they turned
out of the street onto the highway leading to her home on the other side of
town.

Slanting her a glance, Adam
studied her.  Her gaze was straight ahead, her hands clenched tight in her lap,
the piece of paper with his phone number on it crumpled in her grip.  The
jumper hugged her breasts, her slacks hugged her hips, and he could inhale her
scent all day.

Frowning, he returned his
attention to the road.  Part of him dreaded opening the conversation, but part
of him was eager, wanting to probe and prod, seek and discover.

Taking a deep breath, he calmed his
thoughts, getting them in order before he stated, “We need to talk.”

“No,” she replied hastily, “we
don’t.”

“Yeah, we do.” Before she could
say anything else, he added, “And we’re going to.”

“Adam, I refuse-”

“We’re doing it, Barbie.”

“I said-”

“Barbie.”  The thread of steel to
underlined his tone.

Her mouth snapped shut, her arms
folded beneath her breasts, pushing those generous mounds up, and she stared
out the side window.  “You’ll be talking to yourself,” she muttered.

He couldn’t help a small smile. 
“Always the last word.”

She didn’t answer.

The rest of the trip was short and
done in silence.

 When he pulled up at the house,
she quickly unsnapped the seat belt and opened the door, but he was prepared,
was quicker, the engine off, brake on, the seat belt unclipped, and he met her
at the front of the car.

Looking up at him, she scowled. 
“I’m not talking.”

His gaze wandered over her face,
taking in the bloom of womanhood, the maturity that had changed the face of a
sullen, pretty teenager to one of a pretty, feminine woman.  Pretty, sweet
smelling, and a world away from who she used to be, who he remembered, who
he’d…  “Barbie-”

“No.”  Turning, she walked away.

He watched her.  “How’s your
sister?”

Her steps faltered.

He had her now.  He kept his tone
low.  “How’s Melissa?”

Back stiff, she stopped.

Leaning back against the front of
the four wheel drive, Adam folded his arms across his chest and crossed his
ankles, stretching out his legs and waiting.

She took a step forward.

Time for hard ball.  “How’s that
sore arse?”

That did it.  Cheeks blazing, she
swung around.  “Goddamn you!”

“Very possibly.”  He met her gaze
unflinchingly. 

“How dare you even bring that
up?”  Eyes bright with anger, small jaw clenched, she stormed back across the
small distance.

“I told you, we need to talk.”

“About the night you
spanked
me?” 

His gaze refused to relinquish
hers, refused to look away when she flung the accusation at him.  “Yeah.”

“You can look me in the eyes and
admit it?”

“I admit it.  I admit that I dragged
you across my knees and spanked you.”  He remembered it as clearly as if it
were yesterday.  “Hard.”

“You are something, Adam.” 
Furious, she poked him in the chest with one stiff forefinger.

He made no attempt to stop her. 
“And you were so blameless?”

Her breath caught.

“You set me and Melissa up.  You
broke us apart.  And you never once apologised.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“Your own sister, Barbie.  In one
act of revenge, you blackened my name with her and tore us apart.”  Calm,
controlled, he could still feel that fissure of fury that had gripped him that
night, the hopelessness, the frustration.

He half expected her to swear at
him, to yell, to curse him.  Maybe even slap him.  She had to be harbouring a
lot of resentment, a need to retaliate.  He’d felt her anger every time they’d
met since she’d arrived, the unspoken accusation and the animosity.

In silence they gazed at each
other, he waiting, she almost literally steaming with rage.

The silence grew, lengthened.  The
quiet of the country surrounded them, the birds in the trees, the rustle of the
breeze stirring the leaves, the long grass shushing on the ground, the late
afternoon sun dappling through the trees.

As he continued to watch her,
waiting for her next move, she did something that took him off guard. The anger
bled away, the flush on her cheeks paling, the brightness of her eyes fading. 
Barbie stood there looking up at him, her eyes searching his, drifting over his
face, studying him as he’d studied her so many times.  Looking at him as though
really seeing him for the first time.  It made him wonder what she saw, what
she thought.  What she was going to say.

And then she said the very words
that shocked him.  “I’m so sorry, Adam.”  Her action caught him off guard, the
simple act of her turning to lean back against the car beside him, her hands
loosely linked in front of her.

As he stared down at her, she
closed her eyes and tipped back her head, breathing in the country air.  Her
blonde hair shifted in the breeze, the faint scent of strawberry shampoo
tickling his senses.

Of everything she could have done,
this wasn’t what he’d expected.  Terseness at the very best, yeah, a brusque
discussion, tight, brief, hard.  But this?  For the first time in years, Adam’s
brain went completely blank.

“I was such a bitch.”  Her words
were so quiet he almost didn’t hear them.  “Such a horrible, nasty, vindictive
bitch.”

“Barbie…” He didn’t know what to
say.  To agree would have been crass, yet at the time she’d been exactly what
she’d claimed.

“Can’t deny it, Adam.”  Her gaze
was fixed on the house, but when he leaned forward just a little, he could see
the faraway expression in her eyes.  “Can’t deny the truth, so don’t try.”

Finally, here it came.  Tense, he waited.

“Twelve years ago,” she said. 
“Twelve years and it’s so clear.  So horribly clear.”  The breeze had a stray
tress that had escaped her ponytail dancing across her cheek, and she raised one
hand to push it back behind her ear.  “I was sixteen, you were twenty two, and
Melissa was twenty.”

A long time ago.  He followed her
gaze to the house, his memories spilling forth.

~*~

Melissa had been everything
parents could want, golden-haired, sweet-tempered, patient, good at school,
straight A student, happy and obedient.  Her boyfriend was a young cop, Adam
Moor, handsome, tall, muscular, with the enthusiasm and energy of youth.

On the flip side, Barbie had been
the rebellious little sister, restless, fiery-tempered, daring.  It hadn’t taken
much to fall in with the wrong crowd, to become a little wilder, staying out
late, breaking curfews, wagging school.

Breaking her parent’s heart.

Sighing, Barbie re-linked her
fingers.  It wasn’t easy to remember what she’d been like, how much of a trial
to her long-suffering parents.

“I’m not proud of what I did,” she
said quietly.  “Mum and Dad tried to help me, tried to stop me.  Melissa
tried.”  She sighed.  “You tried, Adam.”

Kind Adam, tying to talk to her,
trying to point out how she was throwing her life away.  Being at Melissa’s
flat one night with her sister holding back her hair while Barbie threw up in
the toilet, all the alcohol she’d drunk coming back up with a vengeance.  Adam
pointing out the dangers of what she was doing while handing her a towel and a
glass of mouth wash.

And still Barbie had scorned them,
intent on going her own way.  Wearing slutty clothes, torn fishnet stockings,
high heels, harsh make-up and cloying perfume.  The tattoo on her hip had horrified
her parents, but she’d simply laughed in their faces and walked right out the
door.

In desperation they’d tried to
halt her downward spiral, finally telling her she wasn’t to see her friends
again, especially her latest boyfriend, David.

Almost as though Adam could read
her thoughts, he murmured, “David.”

“David,” she echoed.  “Rough,
tough, trouble.  My hero.”  Her smile was self-derisive.  “I thought he could
almost walk on water.  That night he was going to introduce me to the drug scene,
and like an idiot I blindly followed him into that drug house, so eager to do
more, be more.  Not realising I was just an idiot.”  She sighed.  “A stupid,
brainless idiot.”

Beside her, Adam didn’t shift, his
presence quiet yet oddly compelling.  His masculine scent, all male, clean, a
hint of cologne, drifted through her senses.  His warmth seemed to reach out
and sink into her.

She’d done him so much wrong.

His deep voice filled the growing
silence between them.  “When you were nearly caught in that drug bust…I can
still feel the horror I felt then.  My girlfriend’s sister having to go to
court.”  He inhaled deeply.  “I pretended not to see you running, but I knew. 
My Sergeant did too, you know.”

Surprised, Barbie looked up at
him.  “What?”

“He saw you, but he knew you were
Melissa’s sister.  He also knew you were innocent in what was happening. “  Turning
his head, Adam looked down at her.  “Told me to straighten you out, one chance
only, because next time you were going down.”

“I didn’t know.”

“No, you didn’t.”

Unable to hold his condemning gaze
any longer, she glanced away.  “You told Melissa that I’d been with David, with
the group they’d banned.”

“She knew where you’d been.”

Barbie sighed.  “I always wondered
if she’d known more.”

The big, muscular body beside her
didn’t shift, the only thing moving the rise and fall of his brawny arms across
his equally brawny chest with every breath he took.

Barbie looked back at the house,
her gaze falling to where Barney sat in the window chasing a butterfly on the
other side of the glass.  “Mum and Dad were going to send me to my grandmother,
on your recommendation.  To get me away form the bad influences in my life.  Melissa
agreed. I was so furious.”  When he said nothing, she continued sadly, “So
bloody angry I wanted to destroy someone else’s life, make them hurt as badly
as I did.  I thought I loved David, I thought you and Melissa had destroyed my
life.”  Closing her eyes, she felt the rush of shame pouring through her. 
“God, I am so sorry, Adam.”  Now she’d started, she had to finish, had to get
it out of her system even though they both knew what had transpired.  “I set
you up, had a cousin of David’s come to your room, I sent a note to Melissa to
say you were cheating on her, and when and where to catch you out.”

Folding her arms across her chest,
she bowed her head, focussing her gaze on the watch on her wrist.  The silver band
blurred as tears of shame and self-loathing filled her eyes.

“I came into my flat to find this
girl lying on my bed naked. Melissa walked in, became hysterical.  She wouldn’t
listen to me, not when I was trying to explain and this woman kept calling me
by name, kept saying things that only I and Melissa knew, making it seem like I
cheated.”  Adam’s voice was devoid of emotion.  “It broke Melissa’s heart.  She
left me.”

“I know.”  Barbie’s throat burned,
the lump in it almost too huge to swallow past.  “I laughed so much, felt so
vindicated.”

The silence was heavy, she
couldn’t bring herself to look at him.

Again, he broke the silence.  “You
came to my flat that night, laughing.  Taunting.  I was so angry, so upset, and
you laughed and goaded.  I remember that.”

Shame, horrible, burning, searing
shame like claws that dug in and raked.  It filled her, rising up.