Page 70 of Slide

Chapter Eighteen

Lucy took her shoes off and tiptoed up the steps to the trailer door. Edna, her new neighbor, had ears like sonar. She was a hoot—the stuff that came out of her mouth was freaking hilarious—but she was not what you’d call a sweet old lady, and tonight, after a long shift at the bar, Lucy wasn’t in the mood for small talk.

She let herself in, turned on the light, shut the door, and leaned against it with a sigh of relief. Ever since her confrontation with Adam at the wedding yesterday, she’d felt off balance. She’d gone downstairs and he’d followed a short time later. He hadn’t approached or tried to talk to her again, but she’d felt his eyes on her. It had unnerved her, confused her, pissed her the hell off. He’d made it more than clear over the years he wasn’t interested in relationships, especially with her, despite the obvious sexual tension crackling between them. They’d agreed when they came home it would be over. Now they were home and he was making it goddamn hard to try and put it all behind her.

Did he even know he was doing it?

God, she needed to try and stop thinking about him, about the nights they’d spent together, and down by the lake.

She groaned. How was she going to do that with him staring at her like he had whenever they were in the same room?

She pushed away from the door and grabbed a Diet Coke from the fridge. After taking a sip, she headed to the bathroom, turned on the shower, and stripped off. Even when the guests had been standing out the front of Hugh and Shay’s house waving them off on their honeymoon, she’d felt Adam’s eyes burning into the side of her head, like he was trying to penetrate her damn skull. What was he playing at? What did he want from her? Did he even know himself?

Thankfully, no one seemed to notice. The last thing she needed was her brothers getting pissed with her for something else, or worse, falling out with Adam. At least with Hugh away for the next two weeks, she didn’t have to worry about him showing up all the time to give her another lecture. Her brother hadn’t been happy when Shay had offered Lucy her trailer. He had said no, that he was putting his foot down, and like hell was Lucy moving in, but somehow Shay had talked him around. She always could. Still, he’d made it very clear he didn’t like it.

The apartment above the garage had always been temporary, but Hugh saw her moving into the trailer as her taking another step farther from returning to school.

Her belly coiled tight. Disappointing her brother sucked, but what could she do? She quickly shoved those thoughts from her head. Leaving school, giving up on a career she’d desperately wanted, on top of everything else that had been happening, had been hard enough. Hugh and Joe’s disappointment, and now whatever was going on between her and Adam, made everything ten times worse.

Climbing under the hot spray, she washed off the night, more than ready to crawl into bed. She quickly washed her hair and got out, and had just finished drying off when someone banged at the door. Not softly, but with some strength and heat behind it.

She froze.

A wave of nausea hit before she could allow logic to kick in. She forced herself to breathe, to calm the hell down. Of course it wasn’t Daniel. He didn’t even know where she lived. The bang came again, this time more insistent.

Shay. What if the baby was coming early, or if something was wrong?

Lucy dashed from the bathroom out into the small living room and yanked the door open.

She jerked back in surprise.

Adam.

He stood there, staring at her, and he looked…pissed. No, he looked furious.

She was only wearing a towel and her nipples tightened purely from the sight of him, angry or not. All flaring nostrils and flexing biceps. Goddamn it. She quickly crossed her arms to cover up her lack of self-control. “What are you doing here?’’

He didn’t say a word, just shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled something out. Her phone. He held it up.

She blinked at it. “W-where did you get that?”

His jaw was tight, teeth gritted. “It was in the car when I got it back.”

She reached for it, but he shook his head, gripping it tight in his fist and holding it out of reach. “You have a lot of missed calls and texts.”

Oh God. Please, no.

“You went through my phone?” she whispered.

He didn’t even bother faking guilt, pretending he felt bad for snooping. “Honestly, I’d forgotten about it, had it buried among my stuff. I remembered last night, and decided I’d bring it to you.” He took a step forward, forcing her back. “I threw it on my bed while I did a few things. I must have accidentally turned it on when I got it out. It started blowing up right after.”

He kept moving closer, backing her toward the counter behind her.

“So you read them?”

He dipped his chin. “Yeah, I read them.”

She thought she might actually throw up. “You had no damn right.”