Bad Girlfriend (First & Last #4) (6 page)

“You were right.  I don’t know what I’m doing, but whatever it is, it’s not working.  I actually thought things might be different with Chet.  He was going to take me out last night.  For a real date, not just a late night booty call.”

Poppy was watching me
carefully in the mirror.  “I’m guessing this story doesn’t have a happy ending?”

I shook my head. 
“He ditched me the second he got a call to sub in his buddy’s band.  He’s never going to change.  I see that now.  Just like every other guy I’ve dated.  I’m beginning to think the problem is me.”

Poppy opened her mouth to protest, but I cut her off.  “I’m the common denominator.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her what happened with Adam, but I couldn’t do it.  For one thing, I don’t remember what exactly did happen.  Though I could make an educated guess from the way we woke up.  But I just couldn’t admit to one more bad decision.

And that’s what it was. 
A bad decision.  No matter how much of a nice guy Adam Branigan seemed to be, the fact remained that I had no business jumping into bed with him two hours after meeting him.

“Maybe you should take a break from guys for a while,” Poppy suggested.

I frowned at her.  “I’m not really into women, Poppy.”

She nearly choked, she started laughing so hard.  “That’s not what I meant!”

I rolled my eyes.  “I know.  You’re so gullible.”

Poppy rode with me to the pub, so she could wait for Ford to finish his shift and go home with him.  When we got in my car, I noticed the time was only 5:38.

“Why are we going out so early?  I just ate lunch like two hours ago.”

Poppy shrugged.  “Leah told me to be there by 6:00, which means I have five hours to hang out until Ford gets off work.”

“I’ll keep you company,” I offered.  Anything to keep me away from my house and a possible run-in with Adam.  I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to avoid him for the rest of his one year lease, but right then I was only worried about taking it one day at a time.

It only took us a few minutes to drive to downtown Penn Yan, and Leah and Lindsay weren’t there yet.  So I grabbed a big table in the corner while Poppy went to say hi to Ford.  I’m sure it had only been a few hours since they’d last seen each other, but when she walked over, Ford grabbed her around the waist and hauled her up against him.  They kissed for what seemed like forever, until a couple of guys at the bar started banging their beer bottles and whistling.

Poppy walked over to the table looking a little dazed.  If she wasn’t one of my best friends and the sweetest girl on the planet, I would be jealous.  Okay, maybe I was a little jealous, but I was also happy for her.  She and Ford had been through some rough times, but in the end they were together.  In all of my past relationships, I had been the only one to go through rough times.

The bell on the door jingled as it was pushed open and a noisy crowd poured in.  I smiled when I saw it was our crowd - Leah and Josh, who was holding their almost one year old daughter,
Maddy, and Lindsay and Grady, who had their two month old daughter, Brie, strapped to his chest in a Baby Bjorn.  The green tinge of jealousy bubbled up again, but quickly vanished when they all came over to the table.  There were hugs all around between the girls, while the guys immediately went to the bar.

Leah dropped into her chair and blew a stray strand of hair out of her eyes.  “I’m exhausted.  Getting
Maddy out of the house is exhausting.”

Lindsay brushed her long blonde hair behind her shoulder and shrugged nonchalantly.  “I didn’t have any trouble with Brie. 
Now getting Grady to put her down long enough to strap her in the carseat…that’s another story.”

Leah shot her a look.  “Yeah, that’s because she doesn’t move yet.”

“Is Maddy walking?  When did that start?”  I asked.  As far as I knew she was still just crawling a week ago.

“She skipped walking and went straight to running,” Leah said sarcastically, though I could see the pride in her eyes.

From across the room, Josh yelled, “What are you ladies drinking tonight?”

“You know what I like,” Leah yelled right back.

Josh wiggled his eyebrows.  “Yeah, I know what you like, baby.”

Leah rolled her eyes and flipped him off.

Lindsay and Poppy didn’t bother to give their drink orders, because, like Leah, their guys knew what they liked to drink.  I wished I had someone who knew what I liked to drink.

“Brooke?”

I shook my head.  “Just a Diet Coke for me, please,” I shouted.  All three pairs of female eyes swung to me.

“Why aren’t you drinking?”  Poppy asked, genuinely puzzled. 
“Oh my God!  You’re pregnant!  That’s why you’re so weepy.”

“What?  No!”  I exclaimed.  I might need to rethink my drinking habits if my friends thought the only way I wouldn’t drink was if I was pregnant.
  “I had way too much tequila last night.  I don’t need a repeat tonight.”

That seemed to appease their curiosity, and talk turned to how well Brie was sleeping at night and how much
Maddy weighed at her last check up.  I relaxed back in my seat and let my mind drift to last night.  My bare arms got goosebumps, and a shiver ran down my spine when the door bell jingled again.  It was the same feeling I had last night - my last memory before the tequila took over.

Chapter Six

Adam

After Brooke ran from my bed this morning
and my failed attempt to talk to her through her kitchen door, I left her panties on the doorknob and went back to bed.  Many hours and two trips to pray to the porcelain goddess later, I felt steady enough to get out of bed for the day.  At 5:30 in the evening.

My stomach growled
, reminding me it had been almost twenty-four hours since I had ingested anything that wasn’t alcohol.  A quick survey of my fridge turned up two pieces of leftover pizza, a half gallon of milk and a lime.  The sight of the lime started my head pounding again.

It had been a long time since I’d been that drunk, if ever.  And waking up with a beautiful girl on my chest and having no idea how she got there was definitely a first for me.  I wasn’t starting out my time in
this town well, that’s for sure.

A hot shower and some clean clothes went a long way toward making me feel human again.  Now all I needed was food.  Looking out the window, I saw
Eleanor getting into her little red convertible and speeding off.

I had to talk to
Brooke.  To say what, I didn’t know.  But I couldn’t just let it go.  So I grabbed my wallet and keys and walked to her back door.  After several minutes of knocking, there was still no answer.  I peered through the window on the side of the garage and saw her car was gone.

That problem would have to wait, but I could at least go in search of some good food.  I remembered the pub where I ate last week and decided to go there again.  The food was good, and I could catch some college football games on the TVs.  Maybe Brooke would be home by the time I got back.

It was prime dinner time when I got there, so I could see through the windows that it was crowded.  The bell on the door jingled when I opened it.  My eyes quickly scanned for an open table, but the only thing I was able to focus on was a bare shoulder and long waves of red hair.  There can’t be more than one person with hair that color.  When she turned around and fixed her bright green eyes on me, I had a flashback to the night before.  It wasn’t much, just a flash of her eyes on mine right before our lips met.

“Hey, Adam!”

I wrenched my gaze away from Brooke’s and looked toward the voice.  Ford was behind the bar and waved me over.  We shook hands, and I sat on an empty bar stool.

“Hey, Ford.”

Ford gestured to the two guys sitting next to me.  “This is Josh Jansen, his daughter, Maddy, and Grady Hawke and his daughter, Brie.  Guys, this is Adam Branigan.  He’s the new principal at the elementary school.”

I shook hands with both men.  Josh set his little girl down on the floor and pointed her in the direction of the table where Brooke was sitting.

“Go get Mommy,” he said, and she took off running on wobbly legs.  She tripped over air, but caught herself with her hands before she face planted into the floor.  Then she was up and running again, straight into the arms of a petite brunette sitting across from Brooke.

The other woman at the table had long blonde hair and big blue eyes.  I immediately matched her to the baby strapped to Grady’s chest.  They had the same eyes.

Ford set a beer in front of me, which I sipped out of politeness.  I really didn’t want to see alcohol for a good long while, let alone drink it.

“So you’re the guy taking over for
pervy Principal Edwards,” Josh said, tipping his beer in my direction.  “I’m glad that fat bastard finally got the boot.  I swear he was just as bad when we were in school.  Always ogling the high school cheerleaders.”

Grady placed his big hands over his daughter’s tiny ears.  “Watch you
r language, asshole,” he grumbled to Josh.

“I came from New York City, so I’m looking forward to small town life,” I said.

“Oh yeah?”  Grady asked.  “My wife, Lindsay, grew up in the city.  She’s the hot blonde over there next to Josh’s wife, Leah.”

I glanced back to the table and saw Leah talking animatedly while the other girls were cracking up at whatever she was saying.  Except for Brooke, who was watching
me right back.

Ford gestured toward the table.  “The gorgeous girl in the corner is my girlfriend, Poppy.  And the redhead is Brooke.”

I nodded.  “I know Brooke.  I…uh, rent the apartment over her grandma’s garage.”

Josh gave a low whist
le and Ford raised an eyebrow.

“Watch out for her, man.  She’s a
maneater,” Josh said.

“The first time I met Poppy was when Brooke was trying to order a drink for her when Poppy was
still underage.  Brooke is trouble with a capital T,” Ford added.

Grady nodded in agreement and opened his mouth, probably to add something about Brooke that I didn’t want to hear.  Granted, these guys knew her better than I did.  But I couldn’t reconcile the girl th
ey were describing with the sad, vulnerable girl who had drowned her sorrows in tequila last night.  I shouldn’t feel protective of her after knowing her for all of one day, but I did.

Despite not playing football anymore, Ford seemed to still be in top athletic shape.  Josh was tall and broad, and Grady, with his long hair and tattoos, looked like someone I definitely wouldn’t want to
meet in a dark alley.  But, I knew Brooke was so much more than they said.  I don’t how I knew, but I did.

I held up my hand.  “At the risk of alienating the only people I know in town or getting my ass kicked, I have to say…shut the hell up about Brooke.”

Grady closed his mouth, and they all looked at me for a few seconds.  Then, to my surprise, Ford nodded and Grady clapped me on the back.

“Sure thing, man.”

Huh.  That was easy.

“I feel you.  Leah may be a pain in my ass most of the time, but if someone was talking shit about her, I’d feel the same way,” Josh said, glancing back at his wife, who was still talking while making obscene gestures with her hands.  Josh rolled his eyes
and shook his head.

Wait.  Did he just compare my feelings for Brooke
to his feelings for his wife?

“I don’t know her well, but she seems like a nice girl.  That’s all,” I said trying to do some damage control.

Again, they all looked at me.  This time in disbelief.  Ford cracked a smile.  “Okay, whatever you say.  Take these drinks over, will you?  The girls look thirsty.”

Grady kissed the top of his daughter’s head before grabbing two beers off the bar.  Josh followed with his own beer and some yellow cocktail in a martini glass.  I took a cranberry and vodka
for Poppy and a Diet Coke for Brooke.  When I reached the table, the only seat left was between Lindsay and Brooke.  She eyed me warily as I set her drink down in front of her.

Josh introduced me to everyone.  “This is Adam
Branigan.  He’s the new principal at the elementary school.  He’s new in town, so be nice.”  This last instruction was directed at his wife.  She stuck her tongue out at him but gave me a friendly smile.

“You’re not drinking?  Please tell me you’re not a recovering alcoholic or a Mormon.  Because if you’re going to be friends with this group, that’s just not going to work,” Leah said.

I had purposely left my beer at the bar.  Laughing, I said, “No, I’m not against drinking.  In fact, I’m all for it.  I’m just detoxing from too much tequila last night.”

Josh and Grady didn’t react at all to what I said, but all the girls looked at Brooke when I said this.  Brooke
was avoiding eye contact with everyone and was concentrating on wiping the condensation from the outside of her glass.

Leah narrowed her brown eyes at me.  “Hmmm,” was all s
he said as she lifted her yellow martini concoction to her mouth.