Harkham's Choice (Harkham's Series Book 2) (24 page)

It was a grueling three days emptying out Will’s house, but they succeeded.

There were nothing but smiles and sweat coating everybody’s face. Well, grime and dust, too, but nobody complained. She even felt like maybe she was on good terms again with the town.

Victor packed his stuff and gave a brief but vague reason to his dad about where he was going and why.

His dad was exceedingly irate, screaming louder than Mari had ever heard from him before. He went off about how his only son, that lived with him and did nothing for himself because his dad did practically everything for him, would fail right away, as soon as he left. Poor Vic was moving out with nothing but a big duffel bag filled with his clothes and shoes.

Somehow, Vic was bubbly and really talkative with both Zach and Dustin while they waited in the terminal to leave.

The only reason she could come up with was that he was so relieved to leave this place that he simply couldn’t think about how upset his dad was at this point.

“I don’t like him,” Adam whispered in her ear as Vic sat on an opposing bench.

“Why?” Mari asked.

“He likes to tell people what they want to hear. He’s trying to be funny. I don’t think he’s funny. He annoys me,” Adam answered.

Mari tapped her toe on the ground, trying to figure out how to make this easier for him.

He reached down and slipped two fingers into the dog kennel. They were still waiting for the airport to check the dog in and put her wherever the heck she needed to be on the flight. Mari could see how the anxiety of the impending separation with Choppy was dissolving his patience.

“You’ll get used to him. He’s not being fake—he’s just the life of the party. You’ll probably find him funny someday,” she said, encouraging him to give himself some time.

“He’s not coming to my party when I have one. I’m going to be the life of my
own
party,” he replied.

She patted Adam’s knee. “Easy, sweetie. He’s not out to make you look bad. He’s stressed, too. He just walked away from his entire life and the only home he’s ever known. That’s a big deal.”

“I know . . . But when he’s around, he takes a lot of your attention. Zach makes sure to include me now when he’s around. He”—he motioned with his chin to Victor—“doesn’t. I don’t want him around you. He touches you a lot.”

She gave him an understanding look. “We already discussed how he’s not interested in women. If nothing else, you should probably worry he’s flirting with your brother.”

Adam’s face paled, and his eyes slowly rose higher and higher like blinds being lifted. “He . . . You mean, he . . . Zach won’t want that. He’s got Lo—”

“I was just teasing. He’s not his type. Too pasty white,” Mari said, laughing low in her belly. “He likes ‘em tall, dark and handsome like himself. Besides, Zach’s too much like me.”

Adam’s body twisted so he was staring straight at her, worry filling his features. “What do you mean?”

“Breathe, blink, and let your hand relax on my leg, and then I’ll tell you.” She gently peeled his fingers off her leg.

“Oh, sorry . . .” He took his hand and ran it down his face like he was trying to wake from a nightmare.

“It’s fine.” She was still kind of laughing a little. She couldn’t help it. He was so damn cute when he got this way—all uptight and jealous over inconsequential things and people. “I only meant Zach wants to talk about music all the time.”

“Not all the time. Sometimes he talks about sports and boobs. He likes boobs a lot, like me.” Adam’s cheeks flushed. “I mean, just yours, but you know that.”

She nodded and laughed hard. “So adorable—you know that?” She kissed his cheek, then stroked that spot dry with the back of her knuckles.

“I like it when you say that.” He beamed and rocked a little in his chair.

“Good, ‘cause I’m never gonna stop saying it. It’s impossible with all this cuteness in front of me.” She grinned and bared her teeth like she was gonna bite him.

“Dad says when you do that, you’re being feisty with me. It’s fun.” He lifted her other hand and nipped at the knuckles while looking through his lashes at her. His mischievous grin was killer. “But I still say it’s your hungry plumpy piece of donut look—and I’m your Boston cream.”

“The best ever.” She grinned.

“I think you’ll like to lick my creamy goodness.” He smirked.

“Seriously? How am I supposed to make it through another flight without making out with you? This is the worst idea ever. Dry humping, hand jobs, oral—those should all be expected when I’m with you any length of time and you’re being this gorgeous.”

He bit her pinky knuckle, then sucked at it, observing her for a reaction.

“Someday I’ll join the mile-high club, and it’ll be better than any ground sex I’ve ever had because it’ll be with you,” she said, gripping his chin and then rubbing their noses together.

“Really? The best ever?”

“Yep.”

He glanced over at Victor, smirked and then broke away from her to relax into his seat. His arms crossed over his chest, he looked like he’d just pissed all over Vic’s shoes and knew there’d be no consequence to it.

Mari chuckled and continued to wish they could be home in bed together. Being in a hotel room sucked plumber’s crack. They were cramped and both so exhausted, they barely touched each other at all.

An airport employee approached them and checked in the dog. Adam buried his face in Mari’s shoulder as they took Choppy away.

She hugged him, kissed his hair and told him Choppy would be fine. She’d probably sleep from the vibrations of the plane.

Adam kissed her sleeve and told her in a fiercely loyal tone, “She’s family, like you. And I’ll die to protect my family. Always . . .”

She gulped, ignored her blurred vision from saltwater accumulating in her eyes and helped him calm back down by running her fingers down his inner arm like he’d done for her on the trip up here.

Family.

She was cemented to them now and had a real, caring one. Nothing would change that. 
Nothing
.

Because she’d die to protect what she’d gained as well.

* * *

Victor was gone—dropped off at his cousin’s. His dad and brother were in their rooms, and Adam’s eyes went from Choppy to Mari.

His father said the dog wasn’t allowed to sleep in the house, but how could he put her outside? It was cold out there.

They didn’t have a doghouse, food or a bed for her. All they had was a leash.

“Adam, ya comin’?” Mari motioned with her head to the stairs.

He opened the back door, squatted down and gave Choppy a good scratch behind the ears.

“I hope you like it here. I’ll find you first thing in the morning after I give Mari a kiss.” He kissed his new pet’s head, looked at her with longing, and then stepped back inside.

His hands shook as he shut the door.

His dad wasn’t a dog person. He wasn’t a pet person, for that matter. They never had animals in their home before. Adam really liked it a lot.

Warm hands ran down both his arms as Mari settled in behind him.

“It’s hard to let go and trust our friends to take care of themselves, isn’t it?” she asked.

He nodded and could feel his bottom lip protruding. “I want to be there for her. What if she gets scared? This is a new place to her. She’s not even used to being in the desert. What if she figures out a way to escape so she can go back to her old home?”

She turned him around. “Victor wouldn’t do that,” she teased.

“I’m talking about Choppy!”

“I know—bad joke. Sorry. I’m worried about Vic the way you’re worried about Choppy, but at least Choppy we can check on more often. She’s right outside our back door. And we can make sure she’s eating well, has plenty of clean water and a good place to sleep. She’ll be really happy here.” She rubbed his arms with her palms.

“If she cries, do you think I’ll be able to hear it?” he asked, his heart heavy.

“I don’t know, but I hope so.” She smiled.

He brushed a kiss slowly across her lips. Maybe if she loved him a whole lot tonight, it would hurt less to leave Choppy out in the cold.

“Come on. I missed snuggling with you and getting ahold of that skin of yours,” Mari said, her eyebrows dancing.

That caught his attention. He took her hand, and she strung him along behind her.

They closed the door and changed in front of each other—breaking rules.

As soon as they were under the covers, Mari’s hands were all over him, along with her mouth.

For a time, he was able to focus only on her soft, comforting warmth and how wonderful it was to be home again where everything made sense.

The numbers were his constant companion on that trip, and several times he thought he’d erupt in a fit with them, breaking things as he went.

If it hadn’t been for Mari and Choppy’s attentiveness to him, he probably would’ve failed in making it out of there without embarrassing her.

He came away victorious in more way than one—he found that picture Michelle wanted, and not even Mari knew he had it.

He was getting good at keeping sneaky, fun secrets.

Giggles rippled out of him.

Pop!

Her mouth opened. “Adam, if you tell me my mouth being on you is making you laugh, I may have to bite you.”

She sat up and pushed the covers aside.

“I wasn’t laughing at you. I was just thinking about something that happened on the trip,” he said, grinning.

She lay down next to him. “Sounds like you’re not in the mood. Maybe we should just go to slee—”

“No! No! I
want
to. Believe me, I do. I’ll concentrate and behave. You’ll see. Get back down there,” he said, shoving her shoulder where he wanted her to go.

“I’m not your dog you get to order around,” she teased, nipping at his side.

“Oh, sorry. I already have one bitch.”

“Ex-
cuse
 me?”

“Zach told me a female dog is a bitch. I never liked that word before, but if it’s the proper term, then I should probably use it,” he said.

She grabbed his face and pulled it to hers. Their noses almost touched. “Zach’s being a . . .” She rolled her eyes. “Never mind what he’s being—ignore him this time. You don’t want to call your dog that. It’s a derogatory term, and nobody actually uses it on their pet.”

“Oh. Okay,” he agreed. “I won’t do that, then.”

“Good boy.”

“Hey, I’m not your dog,” he teased.

“Then how come I can get you to 
heel
?”

“Oh, you’ve done it now! I get to show you who’s the master and who’s the pet!” He tickled her until she was giggling uncontrollably, then rolled her onto her back as he settled himself between her thighs. He rubbed himself all over her, sighing each time she bucked her hips up or tried to break her hands out of his hold.

“I’m paying attention now,” he growled.

“I can see that. It looks like I’m your prisoner. What do you intend to do with me?”

“Break lots and lots of rules,” he said, peeling her pajama pants off with one hand.

His fingertips whispered along her silky thigh, garnering a long, quiet moan from her.

He did it over and over until he could feel the bumps and ridges from her gooseflesh there.

His touch got firmer and firmer until he was almost digging into her flesh.

She told him repeatedly how sexy he was, how much she wanted him and how good it would be when they married.

It kept him from begging—her little reminders of what they were waiting for.

Eventually, they both got enough satisfaction to give in to sleep.

Only . . . He slept poorly, waking with every tiny sound.

If Mari’s mouth smacked together, he startled, thinking it was Choppy begging him to help her.

If the walls creaked and popped, his eyes flew open.

The tiny increments of sleep he got were worthless.

A few hours in, Mari sat up and got out of bed.

“What are you doing?” he whispered.

“You’re keeping me up with how alert you are. You’ve been tossing and turning all night.” She stepped toward the door with her pajama bottoms in hand, slipped them back on and she left.

Was she sick of sleeping with him? Did the couch seem a better option?

She wouldn’t possibly go back to her bed or Sam’s, would she?

He pulled the covers up to his chin, sniffing away the impending tears.

She left.

Go after her!

His tummy rumbled and shook as he got up and looked for his own missing pajama bottoms.

When he found them, he was fumbling and falling, losing his balance, his nerves so high.

Numbers floated in his mind, but then he heard footsteps on the stairs and an animal whimper.