On Dublin Street (29 page)

I stared after him, even once he was gone. What had that been? The hand thing? I looked down at my hand, the skin still tingling from where he
’
d caressed it. That hadn
’
t felt very friends with benefitty.

“Just sex.”

“What?” I looked up at Ellie who was staring at me incredulously. “What?” I repeated.

“Just sex.” She shook her head and grabbed her jacket. “If you two want to believe that, then it
’
s none of my business.”

Ignoring her and the ominous churning in my gut, I shrugged into my own jacket and followed her out the door.

***

“What are you doing here?”

I
’
d collided into the back of Ellie in the doorway of her mother
’
s sitting room so I didn
’
t know who she was asking, accusingly, that question of.

“Your mum invited me.”

Ah, Adam. I peered around Ellie to see him sitting on Elodie and Clark
’
s couch with Declan beside him. They were watching soccer together. Clark was reading a newspaper. Clearly not a soccer fan.

“My mum invited you?” Ellie strode into the room, her arms crossed over her chest. “When?”

“Yesterday,” Elodie
’
s voice trilled behind us, and we turned to see her and Hannah walk in carrying glasses of soda. “What
’
s with the attitude?”

Ellie glowered at Adam who grinned back up at her, unrepentant. “Nothing.”

“Adam, you
’
re missing it.” Declan pulled on the sleeve of Adam
’
s light blue sweater that did great things for his body. No wonder he and Braden got laid so easily. Together the two of them were like a
GQ
ad.

“Sorry, bud.” He gave Ellie a teasingly solemn look. “Sorry, can
’
t talk. We
’
re watching the football.”

“Better watch you don
’
t get a football rammed up your arse,” Ellie muttered under her breath, but both Adam and I heard her. He laughed, shaking his head as he turned back to the screen.

“What
’
s funny?” Elodie smiled sweetly, completely unaware of the tension between her daughter and Adam as she handed everyone a glass of
Coke
.

“Ellie said a bad word,” Declan replied.

Okay, so Adam, me
and
Declan were the only ones to hear.

“Ellie, he hears everything,” Elodie complained.

Ellie scowled, throwing herself onto an armchair. I thought it was best to give her some support since Adam being here had clearly thrown her for a loop, so I perched beside her on the arm of the chair. Ellie sighed. “I
’
m sure he
’
s heard worse at school.”

Declan grinned at his mom. “I have.”

Clark sniggered into his paper.

Elodie shot her a husband a suspicious look before turning back to Ellie. “That
’
s no excuse to speak that way in front of him.”

“I just said
‘
arse
’
.”

Declan snorted.

“Ellie!”

She rolled her eyes. “Mum, it
’
s not a big deal.”

“It really isn
’
t,” Declan agreed. “I
’
ve heard
way
worse.”

“Why did you say arse?” Hannah asked serenely from the other couch.

Clark choked on a laugh as he turned a page of the paper, still refusing to look up.

“Hannah!” Elodie spun around to glare down at her. “Young ladies don
’
t use bad language.”

Hannah shrugged. “It
’
s just arse, mum.”

“I was calling Adam an arse,” Ellie explained to her little sister. “Because he is an arse.”

Elodie looked like she was about to explode. “Would everyone stop saying arse!”

“I know,” I blew out an exaggerated breath of exasperation. “It
’
s called an ass, people.
Ass
.”

Clark and Adam burst out laughing and I shrugged apologetically to Elodie, smiling sweetly at her. She rolled her eyes and threw up her hands. “I
’
m going to check the dinner.”

“Do you need help?” I asked politely.

“No, no. My
ass
can handle itself in the kitchen, thank you very much.”

Chuckling, I watched her leave and then looked down at Ellie with a wide grin. “Now I understand why you don
’
t curse a lot.”

“So why is Adam an arse?” Hannah persisted.

Ellie stood up, shooting the man in question a dirty look. “I think the question is: when isn
’
t he an arse?” And then she stormed off after her mother.

Adam
’
s gaze followed her out the room, his eyes no longer laughing. He turned back to me. “I messed up.”

Understatement of the year
. “I guess you did.”

I could feel Clark
’
s eyes on us as Adam sighed, and when I looked over at Ellie
’
s stepdad I could see he wasn
’
t amused anymore. His gaze was burning into Adam with a million questions, and I got the impression he was putting two and two together.

Time to divert his attention. “So Hannah, did you read the books I recommended?”

Her eyes lit up as she nodded. “They were amazing. I
’
ve been looking up more dystopian books since.”

“You
’
ve got Hannah reading dystopian novels?” Adam asked with surprise, smiling at me.

“Yes.”

“She
’
s fourteen.”

“Well, these are written for fourteen year olds. Anyway, I was taught
1984
when I was fourteen.”

“George Orwell,” Clark muttered.

I grinned. “Not a fan?”

“Hannah
’
s reading
Animal Farm
for English,” he said, as if that explained it.

Hannah was smiling, a little twinkle of devilment in her eyes that reminded me of Ellie. “I
’
m reading it out loud to mum and dad so they can help me.”

In other words, she was torturing her mum and dad for fun. She and Ellie really were full of surprises. Angels with dirty faces, as they saying goes.

A few minutes later we were sitting around the table, Ellie and Elodie bickering unintelligibly.

“I just said you looked pale.” Elodie eventually sighed as she took her seat with the rest of us.

“Which translates into
‘
you look like crap
’
.”

“I never said that. I asked why you
’
re pale?”

“I have a headache.” She shrugged, her shoulders tense, her lips and brow pinched.

“Another one?” Adam asked, his eyes narrowed on her.

What did he mean another one? “You
’
ve had more than one?”

Adam looked angry now, his concern for Ellie bordering on majorly pissed off. “She
’
s had a few. I
’
ve told her to get it checked.”

Ellie glowered back at him. “I was at the doctors on Friday. The doctor thinks I need glasses.”

“You should have made an appointment weeks ago.”

“Well, I made it this week!”

“You don
’
t take care of yourself. You
’
re running yourself ragged at the university.”

“I do take care of myself. In fact, I was taking care of myself on Friday night but someone ruined my downtime.”

“He was an arse.”

Elodie cleared her throat meaningfully.

Adam held up an apologetic hand. “He was a butt.”

Declan and Hannah giggled. Maybe I did too.

“You don
’
t even know him. And thanks to you, I never will.”

“Stop changing the subject. I told you to make an appointment with the doctor
’
s office weeks ago.”

“You
’
re not my dad.”

“You
’
re being a child.”

“I
’
m being a child. Listen to you. He was a butt? What the hell, Adam? You
’
re making my headache worse.”

He frowned, and lowered his voice. “I
’
m just worried about you.”

Oh he was worried about her alright. I tilted my head to the side, watching him. God, he was looking at her like James looked at Rhian.

Was Adam in love with Ellie?

I stifled the urge to throw my fork at him and tell him to man up. If he cared about her, he should just
be
with her. What was so difficult about that?

***

“I would think you of all people would understand what was so difficult about that?” Dr. Pritchard frowned at me.

And I would know this… how?
“Um… what?”

“You cared about Kyle Ramsey.”

I felt the knot in my stomach appear as it always did when I thought about him. “He was just a boy.”

“Who you didn
’
t want to care about because of Dru.”

Shit
. She was right. I hung my head in my pain. “Then Adam
’
s doing the right thing, isn
’
t he? Braden would just get hurt. Like Dru did.”

“You didn
’
t kill Dru, Joss.”

I drew in a breath. “I wasn
’
t the bullet, no. But I was the trigger.” I looked the good doctor in the eye. “It
’
s still my fault.”

“One day, you
’
re going to realize that it wasn
’
t.”

***

After Sunday dinner at Elodie
’
s where Ellie and Adam acted as our entertainment, I was kind of exhausted watching them by the time we got home. A still not feeling well, and still pissed off, Ellie disappeared into her room and didn
’
t come out.

I, on the other hand, sat at my computer and started to write.

My phone beeped and I picked it up to find I had a text message from Braden.

I forgot how nice and big my office desk is at the club. I definitely need to fuck you on it.

I shook my head, my lips curled upwards as I text back.
Luckily for you, I can work with nice and big.

I got an instant text back.
I know ;)

For some reason, Braden texting me a winky face made me grin like an idiot. For someone who was seriously intimidating when he wanted to be, he was also incredibly playful.

So when do you want to schedule me in for office desk sex? Let me know so I can pencil you in. My sex diary is filling up pretty fast here.

When he didn
’
t reply after five minutes, I bit my lip, remembering how serious he
’
d been about the whole
‘
not sharing me
’
thing.

I text him again.
It was a joke, Braden. Lighten up.

I didn
’
t think he was going to reply, and was trying not to worry if I
’
d said the wrong thing
—
this whole fuck buddy thing wasn
’
t quite as stress-free as I
’
d been led to believe
—
when my phone beeped five minutes later.
Hard to tell with you sometimes. Speaking of hard…

I was caught between laughing and scowling. What did he mean it was hard to tell with me sometimes? Deciding it best to let it go, since he was joking again, I text back
… wood floor?

No…

… back book?

Think more anatomical…

… intestines?

OK, you just took the sexy out of it.

I laughed out loud, quickly texting him back.
Last text. I
’
m working on my novel. I
’
ll see you and your hard cock on your nice and big office desk for sex later.