Adam's Thorn (4 page)

“Seeing as there’s been an
official complaint, even though no charges, maybe you should get Ms Declan’s
point of view.” Brandon grinned.  “Or maybe I will.  I’d like to meet this
debauched woman myself.”

“I’m sure you’ve seen her
already.”  Adam drained his cup of coffee and stood up.

“Sure, but she’s always looked so
nice.  Guess one can never tell.”  Brandon leered.  “Maybe she can teach me a
thing or two.”

Adam had no doubt that Barbie
could, but no way was he going to let Brandon near her.  Adam had been through
trouble with her before, and no way in hell was she going to start in his town.

“Going somewhere?”  Brandon looked
at the car keys Adam took down from the keyboard.

“To visit Ms Declan.”

“Want company?”

“I can handle it.”  He almost
growled the answer, catching himself when Brandon blinked, groaning inwardly
when a small smile suddenly played around the other cop’s mouth.

“I always knew you had a thing for
the more full-bodied ladies, but the naughty ones?”  Brandon wiggled his
eyebrows.  “Man, I’d never have guessed.”

“Shut up.”  Adam strode form the
building, Brandon’s laugh ringing in his ears.

Pulling out of the cop station, he
turned north and headed out of town.  It was only a ten minute drive to Penny Declan’s
old house and normally he’d have enjoyed it, the peace and quiet, the
countryside, but not today.

  “Damn it, Barbie,” he muttered. 
“Why did you have to come here?”  The woman had been trouble as a teenager, and
it looked like she was still trouble.

When the house came into view, he
could see several ladders and equipment sitting beside the house, sure signs of
work being done at some time.  A car he recognized as belonging to the playboy
of town was pulled up not far from the house.

Larry Kingsley, young, brash, and
full of himself.  What was he doing here?  Pulling the patrol car to a stop
beside Larry’s sleek car, Adam turned off the engine and got out, crossing to
the house and going up the steps onto the veranda, lifting one hand to knock on
the door.

He froze before his knuckles
touched the screen.

A low moan came through the
security screen, and it was one of pleasure.

“Oh God,” Larry almost slurred the
words.  “That’s so good.”

“Trust me,” Barbie’s soft voice sounded. 
“It’ll feel a lot better in a minute.”

“How can it possibly - ohhhhhh
man. Oh sweet mercy.  God, Barbie, you have hands a man dreams of.”

Her laughter followed, light and
pleased.

Teeth clenching, a tic starting at
the corner of his mouth, Adam swung around and stalked down the steps. 
Interrupting a sex session wasn’t on his list of things to do.  Listening to
those moans was bad enough, imagining what was happening even worse, but to
have to see her face in the middle of doing - whatever the hell she was doing,
something
debauched
, no doubt - that was right off his list.

He’d come back and see her later,
when she wasn’t
busy
.

Pulling away, his hands wrapped
tight around the steering wheel, he gritted his teeth.  Goddamn it!  Why should
he care anyway?  It was not his business if she was having sex with Larry.  Not
his business at all.  Even if Larry was a lot younger than her.

Goddamn it!

In a totally foul mood now, Adam
turned onto the highway and headed back into town.

When he walked back into the
station, Brandon glanced up.  “That was quick.  How’d the chat with - whoa. 
You all right?”

“Fine.”  Adam slapped the keys
onto the hook.

“Did you talk to her?” Brandon
watched curiously as Adam sat down before the computer.

“She had company.”

“Oh.”  Brandon tapped the
desktop.  “Maybe I’ll have a chat to her afterwards.”

“No.”  Eyes narrowing, Adam looked
up sharply.  “I’ll talk to her.”

“Look, it’s no bother, I-”

“I
said
, I’ll do it.”

Brandon’s mouth fell open in
surprise.

Sucking in a deep breath, Adam
reined in his anger.  “Sorry.  Something on my mind.”  He managed a tight
smile.  “I’ll take care of it, especially seeing as it involves my cousin.  You
know, family business.”

“Yeah, sure,” Brandon replied
slowly, his gaze thoughtful.

Damn.  His friend knew him well,
no doubt he was trying to put two and two together.  He just hoped he wouldn’t
come up with -

“Do you know Barbie Declan from
somewhere else?” Brandon queried.

Shit.  He’d come up with four.

“Kind of.”

“Old friend?”

“Hell, no.”

“Huh.”

Adam frowned at the computer
screen.  “Don’t you have something to do?”

“Besides fishing for information?”

“Yes.”

“No.”  Brandon leaned back in his
chair.  “Is she an old lover?”

“Let me repeat, hell no.”

“So where did you meet her?”

“Back in the city.  It was years
ago.”

“You kept in touch?”

“No.”  He tapped a few keys, not
really seeing the screen now.

“Come on, Adam, spill.  You’ve not
been yourself since this woman came to town.  What’s going on?”

“Nothing.”  Adam looked directly
at him.  “Nothing is going on, and I’m going to make sure nothing does go on.”

Puzzled and intrigued, Brandon
scratched his jaw.  “Old enemy?”

Adam looked back at the screen.

“Huh!”  Brandon slapped his hand
on the table.  “I knew it! You have history with her!”

“I already said I knew her.”

“So what happened?  Did you have
to arrest her or something?”

“No.”

The phone rang, and reluctantly,
Brandon answered it.  Adam made his escape while he could, more than aware of
the other cop watching him leave.  He didn’t want to discuss this further.

Talking about Barbie Declan was
enough to give him a headache.  His jaw was already a little achy from
clenching his teeth so much, but then, she’d always had that effect on him. 
She’d pushed and pushed and…and it had happened.

Because she was trouble, because
she’d done it, because she was Barbie freakin’ Declan, trouble with a capital
T.

If he ground his teeth anymore,
he’d soon be down to the gums.

Driving along the street, he
spotted Hallie coming out of the café and pulled up not far from her.  Winding
down his window, he waited as she said something to a spotty youth he
recognised as Frankie, Gus’s grandson.  When Hallie kissed Frankie full on the
lips, Adam’s eyebrows rose.  Hello, he didn’t know there was anything serious
going on between his cousin and Frankie.  When the kiss got a lot deeper,
definitely involving a bit of tongue, he shook his head.  His glance slid away
to see Mrs Swanson coming out of the café, her avid gaze on the teenagers. 
Disapproval creased her brow when she noted just how long the kiss was taking

No doubt Hallie’s mother, his
Aunty Betty, would have a full, detailed description of the less-than-innocent
kiss before the half hour was out.

Mrs Swanson spotted him, pointed
meaningfully at Hallie and Frankie, and when Adam gave her a small nod, she
nodded back and walked off to her car.

Looking back at the teenagers,
Adam pulled his glasses down his nose to gaze at them over the top.  Maybe
Frankie got hooked up on Hallie’s tongue piercing?   Wouldn’t that be fodder
for gossip if Adam had to take them to the local hospital with their tongues
hooked together?  Imagine getting them into the back seat?

He was still grinning when Frankie
and Hallie finally moved apart, Frankie waving cheerfully to her before turning
and walking away.

Swinging around, she crossed to the
cop car, leaning her forearms on the driver’s side window and peering in. 
“Hey, Adam.”

“Hey yourself.” He raised one eyebrow. 
“Finally had to come up for air, huh?”

“You’d be surprised what I can do
while holding my breath.”

“I’m hoping you mean diving.”

“Depends what I’m diving for.”

Amusement vanished, his protective
instinct for his young cousin surfacing.  “Hallie-”

“Easy, dude.”  She smiled widely, and
then stuck out her tongue.  “You like?”

Eyeing the silver stud in the
middle of her tongue, Adam winced inwardly.  “Seriously?”

“You mean, is this a serious stud,
like for real?  Or did I seriously do this?  Because if it’s the second, I
wasn’t laughing when my tongue was being pierced.  It was serious shit.”

“Watch your language,” he said
automatically.  “Christ, Hallie, that had to hurt.”

“How come I have to watch my
language, but you can blaspheme?”

“Because I’m older than you.”

“That’s bull-” She cut the word
short at his warning look.  “Crap.  Bull crap.  Happy?”

“Not really, but it’s acceptable.”

“Glad I have your approval.”

“A smart mouth will get you into
trouble.”

“Oh, I’m so scared.”  She grinned.

Shaking his head, Adam looked once
more at her mouth.  “Show me your tongue again.”

She obliged.

“I think it’s infected,” he said. 
“You might have to take it out.”

“Nice try.  I know it’s not
infected and I’m not taking it out.”

“Does Aunt Betty know?”

“Yep.”

“How long were you grounded for?”

“Here’s the kicker.  I’m not
grounded.”

“What?”

“You’ll be so proud of me.”

Adam’s eyebrow shot up again.

“I spoke to her first and we had a
discussion, and finally she let me do it.”

Would wonders never cease?  His
straight-laced Aunt Betty allowing Hallie to pierce her tongue?  “How the hell
did you manage that?”

“I promised to only have my tongue
pierced and not my eyebrow and lip as well.”

Suspicions forming, Adam looked
hard at her.  “You wouldn’t go that far.”

Hallie smiled.

His eyes narrowed.  “But your
mother didn’t know that.”

Hallie’s smile widened.

“You conned your own mother?”

“I made a deal with her.  It’s not
conning.”

“What, exactly, did you say to
her?”

“Adam, I know you’ve been like the
father figure in my world since Dad died five years ago, but some things are
mother-daughter only, you know?”

“Not when you conned her.”

“I didn’t con her.”

“You did.”

“What are you going to do, lock me
up?”  When he whipped his sunglasses off, she held up one hand.  “Dude, chill. 
I just said to Mum that I was thinking of getting my tongue, eyebrow or lip
pierced, or maybe all three.  After she had a king-sized fit, we negotiated and
I had my tongue done only.”

“That’s not negotiation, Hallie,
that’s conning.”

“No, that’s discussing my
options.”

“You’re a con artist.”

“Going to arrest me?”

Adam studied her narrowly.  He
loved his little cousin, but sometimes he wanted to shake her.  Not that he
ever would, but he could dream about it.  Most times she had a good head on her
shoulders, but she knew how to get around her mother, no doubt about it.

Knowing there wasn’t a damn thing
he could do about it, Hallie laughed.  “Got you.”

“I could tell your mother,” he
informed her.  “Then you’d have to take it out.”

“Ah, but what would that gain
you?  Mum’s happy, I’m happy.”

This was where things went a
little grey.  Running off to his Aunt was going to cause problems between
mother and daughter, and as long as Hallie was being truthful with her mother
about her decisions, he had no real right to interfere.  He was there to help
keep an eye on her, to be a listening ear for either Hallie or his Aunt, but to
knowingly interfere when things had been decided between them was a no-go
pathway.  But still, he certainly didn’t approve of Hallie’s method of getting
her tongue pierced.

“Promise me not to con her
anymore.”  Adam pointed a finger at her.  “No more.  Understand?”

“Sure,” she answered, adding when
he again narrowed his eyes, “I promise.  Yes.”

“Good.”

“So what did you want?”

“Huh?”

“You don’t normally pull up and
wait for me unless it’s to talk about something.”  Hallie grinned.  “Or did you
want to talk about the tongue piercing?”

Shit, he’d forgotten his original
intent.  “Kind of.  It’s related.”

“Because, you know, I could have
gotten something much worse done, as Barbie said.”

Every nerve went on alert.  “And
what, exactly, did Barbie say?”

“That it could have been my clit
instead.”

“Your what?”  He couldn’t have
heard right.

“My clit.”  When Adam blinked,
Hallie added, “Clitoris.  My-”

“Jesus, I know what you meant!”

“Well, excuse me.  You’re sitting
there looking at me like a stunned mullet, so I assumed you didn’t know.”

Adam was appalled.  “Barbie told
you that you could have pierced your - you know?”

“My clit?”

“Yes.”  Anger replaced his
surprise.  “She actually said that?”

“Well, yeah.  It’s true.”

He glared at her.  “Don’t you even
dare think it, missy.”

She held up both hands, palm out. 
“Steady, dude.  I’m not doing any such thing.”

“Good.”  A little of his tension leaked
away.  “Christ.”

“Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever
heard you curse so much in such a short time as in this conversation.”  Cocking
her head to one side, Hallie studied him curiously.  “You all right?”

“Yes.”  Taking a deep breath, he
slid the sunglasses on, hiding his furious eyes from her searching gaze.  “Yes,
I am.  I’m fine.”  Turning the key in the ignition, he brought the engine to
life.  “I better keep moving.”

She nodded and stepped back.

“And Hallie?”

“Yeah, Adam?”

“No piercing below the navel.”

“No probs.  I already have my
belly button pierced.”

“You
what
?”