TROUBLE, A New Adult Romance Novel (The Rebel Series) (15 page)

“Why do you think Colin is so freaked out about you doing that?” Teagan asks. “The adoption thing, I mean?”

I look over at her but then quickly avert my gaze again.
 
She’s staring holes in my head with her crazy laser-beam eyes.
 
I try to play off her question like its answer means nothing to me. “I don’t know.
 
That’s his issue, not mine.”

“Yeah, but isn’t it
funny
?”

“How so?”
 
I can’t help but look at her right now, because it
is
kind of weird how he latched onto that, and I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who’s noticed.

“How so?” Teagan says. “Well, starting with the fact that he was allergic to you for about a month and now suddenly he’s mister interested-in-your-life.
 
Interesting, right?”

I shrug.
 
“Not really.
 
He just feels sorry for me.
 
He’s a good person who worries about other people and their welfare.”
 
I go back to fiddling with the coffee pot.
 
When it’s perfectly straight, I move on to lining up all the mugs on the shelf, just so.

“I’m not sure too many people see Colin like you do.” Teagan snorts into her cup as she takes another sip.

I look over at her tone because she sounds like she’s testing me.

I chew on my lip as I consider how to respond.
 
She’s waiting me out, staring me down again.
 
I know she’s not going to let it just drop.

“Well, those people are wrong.
 
Colin is very sensitive and kind when he wants to be.
 
I think he just needs a little understanding from the people who love him.”
 
I feel my shoulders going back and my chin going out, but I can’t do anything to stop it.
 
It really irks me that they treat him like a criminal.

“He gets plenty of understanding and free passes from the people who love him, trust me.”
 
Teagan stands, and before I can jump to Colin’s defense, she continues.
 
“But I agree with you.
 
He needs peace in his life, just like Rebel said.
 
Maybe one of these days he’ll meet someone who can help him find that.”
 
She looks over her shoulder at me as she leaves the kitchen, then turns to walk backwards.

I ignore what sounds like an insinuation and change the subject.
 
“Can I come with you? To work today?”

“Sure.”
 
She disappears down the hallway. “I’m leaving in an hour!”

“I’m ready now!” I yell back.
 
“I’ll be in the living room reading!”
 
My face warms at the idea of meeting with Charity later today.
 
Now I just have to figure out what I’m going to do for six hours before our appointed time.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

THE DAY DRAGS.
 
COLIN IS just on the other side of the office wall, but I refuse to allow myself to go look at him.
 
Not only am I trying to convince myself that I don’t care about what he does, I’m also just a little worried that I might drool on myself if I see him bent over an engine with his greasy hands and muscular arms at work.
 
I’m better off just keeping this barrier of concrete between us.

I finish all of Teagan’s filing and then get on the extra computer she pulls out of a cabinet for me.
 
“Here, make yourself useful,” she says.
 
“I need a spreadsheet for all of the expenses on this project.”
 
She hands me a file that’s about an inch thick, filled with receipts.

I have the project done in half an hour.
 
I use the next hour to make the most tasteful adoption flier I can come up with using the free software that came with the computer.

“Can I print something here?” I ask.

“Just email me the expense file from your yahoo account or whatever,” Teagan says, not looking up from her work.

“Okay.
 
But that’s not what I want to print.”
 
I log-on to my internet email and send the spreadsheet to Teagan using the address on the business card she handed me earlier.

“What is it you want to print?” she asks, looking up at me.

I turn the computer around so she can see.
 
“Flier.”

She squints her eyes and then scoots her chair closer, reading out loud from my screen. “Desperately seeking woman wearing blue headband, driving a mini-van, with grocery cart full of baby food.”
 
She looks up at me, frowning.
 
“Are you insane?”

I turn the computer back around and try to ignore my first instinctual reaction, which is the desire to hit her over the head with the laptop. “No, I’m not insane, thank you very much.”
 
I gather my unruly hair into a ponytail and smooth the sides down until there are no more staticky fly-aways.

She puts down the pen that she’d been holding and leans back in her chair.
 
“What’s going on with this whole flier thing?”

“I told you.
 
Charity, my pregnant friend, wants to give her baby up for adoption.”

“What’s that got to do with headband lady?”

It galls me that I have to tell her, but I know she’ll give me crud and tell Rebel all my business and probably Quin too if I don’t satisfy her curiosity.
 
It’s like living with my mother all over again, only with frequent cuss words added as extra decoration.

I sigh long and loud so Teagan will know I find her constant interrogations irritating.
 
“If you must know, I met her at the grocery store, and I know she wants to adopt a baby, but I didn’t get her number.
 
So I’m just trying to find her again.”

“She’s a stranger you met in the grocery store?
 
How do you know she’s not a wack-a-dong nutball baby killer?”

I feel a little sick over that question.
 
Teagan does have a tiny point. “She didn’t strike me as nuts.
 
Her headband was really nice.”
 
I realize how lame my own words sound, but only after they’ve left my mouth.

Teagan crosses her arms over her chest.
 
“I’m about to say something you’re not going to like.”

“Again?” Gripping the arms of my chair hard enough to make my knuckles go white, I grind my teeth together.
 
I can’t say anything else because I’m too mad.
 
She’s going to blab about whatever it is that’s on her mind and short of running out the door, I’m about to hear it.

“I’m not sure you’re the best judge of character right now.”

I stand up all of a sudden.
 
“If you’re talking about Colin again, you can just
stop
.”

The soft tone of her voice takes me by surprise.
 
“I’m not talking about Colin.”

I frown at her, my body relaxing just a little.
 
“Oh. Well, who are you talking about, then?”

Her gaze drops to my belly and she says nothing.

It slowly comes together for me, and I instantly feel sick to my stomach.
 
“How
dare
you.” I lift a trembling hand and point a finger at her.
 
“You have
no
right.” My voice is barely above a whisper.
 
She is so lucky I don’t have any fingernails left.

Teagan just keeps on daring, though, because she is a mean, jerk-face, busybody, awful person.
 
“Whoever he is, he must be a serious asshole, for you to feel this way about not telling him he’s fathered a child.”

I leave the office before I can be arrested for committing murder.
 
My legs move quicker than they have in a long time, fueled by my rage and indignation.

How dare she judge me.
 
How
dare
she express disappointment in me.
 
Like she knows anything about me or my life or Charlie and what he did.
 
Ugh
.
 
I just need to get away and get some fresh air.

“Alissa!
 
Wait!”

Oh, God!
 
Not now!
 
I pick up the pace.

“Liss!
 
Wait!
 
Hey!
 
I need to ask you a question!”

“Leave me alone, Colin!
 
I need some fresh air!”
 
My breath comes in gasps and my fat legs churn up the miles.
 
Well, the feet anyway.
 
Possibly inches.
 
God, I’m so out of shape.

He’s at my side in seconds.
 
“What’s up?
 
Did Teagan piss you off?”

“Of course she did.
 
Isn’t that was she does best?”

“She is pretty good at it.”

I won’t smile at him.
 
Who cares if he’s charming.

“Where you going?” he asks.

“None of your beeswax.
 
Go back to work before you get fired.”

“It’s my lunch break.
 
How ‘bout I buy you a burger?”

“No. I’m not hungry.”
 
I’m halfway to the meeting place with Charity.
 
My stomach has a hole in it and I can feel the shakes coming on.
 
That burger is sounding better and better with every step.
 
I imagine I can smell the grease from here and I want to take a bath in it I’m so hungry.

“Bull puckie.
 
You’re eating for two and you haven’t even had breakfast.”

“Yes, I have.”

“What’d you eat?”

I roll my eyes.
 
“Food.” I think about it for a second and realize that I didn’t eat anything.
 
I was too excited about meeting with Charity to focus on breakfast.

“Liar. Come on.
 
There’s a double burger, a fish sandwich, and a chicken wrap with my name on it in there. You can get whatever you want, on me.”

“You eat enough for three people,” I say, impressed with the fact that he’s so perfectly in shape regardless of all those calories going into his system on a regular basis.

“Have to.
 
How do you think I’m able to keep up my fighting weight?”

I don’t bother answering.
 
Part of me wants to lecture him and tell him he needs to stop worrying about being good at fighting and start worrying more about being good at painting and relaxing … finding that peace Rebel talked about … but I don’t do it.
 
I don’t like being lectured so I’m sure not going to do it to him.
 
Especially when he’s offering to buy me a burger.
 
My stomach growls like an angry hyena.

“Okay, fine,” I say.
 
“Buy me a burger.
 
But don’t harass me.”

“Harass you?
 
When have I ever harassed you?”
 
He’s laughing at me.

“Every time you’ve ever opened your mouth in my vicinity,” I say petulantly.
 
I’m not being fair to him, but I can’t seem to be a good person right now.

“Yes, ma’am.
 
I promise not to harass you the whole time we are dining together.”

“We are not
dining
together,” I say as he opens the door to the restaurant for me and I precede him inside.
 
“We’re just having a burger.”

“Yes, ma’am. Whatever you say.”

I finally smile as we walk up to the cash registers.
 
I’m kinda liking the whole
ma’am
thing.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

COLIN IS SITTING ACROSS FROM me inhaling food.
 
He’s not picky about what’s going in that mouth of his.
 
Bit of burger, hunk of chicken, a pile of french fries, lint from the table; he’s like a giant food vacuum.
 
I hang onto my tiny kid burger with a tighter grip, just in case.

“What?” he asks after swallowing a lump of food that would have challenged a Great Dane.

“You eat like you’re starving to death.”

“I am.” He wipes some ketchup off his lips and smiles.
 
“I haven’t eaten in three hours.”

My heart flips over.
 
He looks like a little boy enjoying his meal. I want to smooth down his unruly hair and kiss him lovingly on the cheek.
 
Gah,
my mothering instincts have apparently kicked in.

He gestures towards my burger with the next pile of fries that he’s squeezed between his thumb and forefinger.
 
“That’s not enough food right there.
 
You’re starving yourself.”

“No, I’m not.
 
For your information, my stomach only has so much room in it when a baby is using it as a pillow.”

He winces.
 
“Ouch.”

I nod.
 
Finally
,
I’ve got some understanding from someone.

“What else is going on in there?”
 
He shoves the fries into his mouth and chews while he waits for my answer.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what other things are happening to your body that are different?”

I stare at him for a few seconds, trying to read his expression.
 
I see nothing but curiosity there.

“Hello?”
 
He smiles at me and snaps his fingers in the air between us. “Are you lost?”

I shake my head.
 
“No.
 
Just trying to decide if you’re mocking me or setting me up.”

He shakes his head and smiles a little.
 
His expression looks kind of sad, in way.
 
“I’m not doing either of those things. I’m just asking a simple question because I want to know the answer.”