Three Little Words (18 page)

            “Hi.” Sitting on the edge of the coffee table that lay in front of them, I looked up with irritation when Marti sidled over, an obnoxious smirk on her face.

            “Everything’s cleaned up,” she said to Adele, like she’d been put out by doing the work, never mind that Adele’s shift had been over hours ago. “Time to close up. Let’s go. In fact, why don’t we all go out somewhere together?”

            The girl laid her hand with those purple talons on my arm uninvited, the second time in two days. I really tried my best to be patient with fans, even when they got pushier than I’d like, but I’d reached my limit with her.

            “We’ve got plans, thanks.” Shrugging away her hand, I didn’t even look her way as I spoke.

            Adele was watching Marti with apparent calmness, but I was pretty sure I saw a hint of apprehension in her eyes. I didn’t care for it.

            Marti huffed out an irritable breath, gesturing at Adele.

            “Well, you have to go. We’re closing.” She stuck her nose in the air. I watched Adele, fascinated at the range of emotions playing over her face. No, I hadn’t imagined the apprehension, but she hid it well, settling her features into a poker face.

            “Make sure to flip the sign around and lock the door behind you.” Adele’s expression was unreadable as Marti sneered, trying to stare her down.

            “You can’t do that. You can’t stay here after we’re closed.” Marti fisted her hands on her hips, the expression on her face nasty. I wondered what her deal was—I truly couldn’t see how anyone could dislike Adele.

            “You can’t, actually, but I can.” Adele was still outwardly calm, but as I looked back and forth between the two women, I sensed a darker undercurrent, could see Adele’s fingers rubbing nervously back and forth over the thigh of her shorts.

           
What the fuck was going on?

            “I’m going to tell Charlie. You’re going to be out on your ass.” A speckle of spit flew from Marti’s mouth as she spoke smugly. It landed on my arm, and I grimaced with distaste.

            “You go right ahead and tell him. Charlie’s our boss,” she added in an aside to Mal and I. There was a slight tremble in her voice, but she raised her chin proudly and continued. “He gives some leeway to the employees that he really
trusts
. But if Marti tries to make trouble, I might just have to mention the customer that she blew in the bathroom last weekend. I don’t think he’d like that at all.”

            “How did you—” Marti gasped, outraged, her cheeks slowly turning a mottled shade of purple. If this had been any other two girls, I’d have been cheering them on towards a catfight. But the more I saw of Marti, the less I liked her.

            I just wanted her to go away so I could be alone with Adele and Mal. I wasn’t going to give her what she thought she wanted. Ever.

            I didn’t fuck bitches.

            Seething, Marti turned on her heel and started to stalk away. A wave of relief rolled over me.

           
Finally
, she was getting the hint.

            But just when I thought she was really going to go, she whirled back around, her fingers grasping for the strap of her purse, pulling it tight.

            Her eyes narrowed to dark, glittery beads, locking in on Adele in a way that set my nerves humming, and not in a good way.

            “You’re a slut, Adele.” Marti hissed, her eyes shooting daggers. “This whole town knows it. The only reason these two are here with you is because they know you’ll spread your legs for anyone with a cock.”

            I was out of my seat before the bitch had even finished speaking, my fists clenched, my body tensed. Mal was the same way beside me.

            I’d never in my life hit a girl, never wanted to, but there was a first time for everything.

            Frozen on the couch, Adele made a strangled sound. When I looked down, I saw pain flashing over her features, a pain that she seemed to be struggling to repress.

            Marti saw it too, and smirked.

            “Have you told your...
men
... here what you did two years ago, Adele?” The girl’s nature went far beyond that of bitch, I saw then. She was fucking vicious.

            “Don’t go talking about things you have no clue about, Marti.” Adele’s voice was deadly calm, but I was close enough to see the wildness in her eyes.

            What had happened two years ago? Was that Adele’s big secret?

            Part of me wanted Marti to go on. The other part of me wanted to punch her in the face.

            “Should I tell them, Adele? They should probably know what a whore you are—”

            I didn’t get a chance to see whether I would or wouldn’t hit a girl, because Adele was out of her seat and across the room before either Mal or I could even move. The change in her was electric. I watched, slightly awed, as the sweet girl I’d gotten to know in the last few days turned into a scary as hell volcano goddess before our very eyes.

            I thought she might actually pull back and deck Marti right on the girl’s pointy little chin. Instead she grabbed two handfuls of her co-workers’ long, dark hair, and yanked until they were face to face, nose to nose.

            “You don’t ever call me a slut. Do you hear me?” Adele’s voice was calm, but the kind of deadly undercurrent that told me Marti’s name calling had released a torrent of hidden pain.

            “You can call me a bitch. You can call me a cunt. But you do not call me a slut.” Exercising what must have been extreme control, Adele released her grip on the other girl’s hair.

            Marti stared, her mouth hanging open. Adele tapped a finger underneath it, ever so helpfully closing it for her.

            “You also might want to think twice before perpetuating rumors that you know bullshit about. And I’m going to tell you this, though I don’t think you’ll hear it. Calling other woman sluts and whores does nothing but take away from the power of every woman, including you.” Adele stood straight, and I thought she looked like a queen. “Now get the fuck out of here, and I won’t tell Charlie about any of this. Though I’m sure he’ll find out who you truly are soon enough.”

            With wide eyes, Marti did as Adele told her to, scurrying to the front door. There was a blast of cold air as she slid outside.

            The yowl of a cat cut through the night before we heard the key turning in the lock, followed by a startled shriek. A strangled bark of laughter escaped from my throat as I imagined Humper the cat taking a liking to Marti’s pointy toed shoes.

            Casting a sidelong glance at Mal, my brittle amusement subsided. I saw everything I was feeling mirrored on his face. We stayed silent, waiting as Adele sucked in great lungfuls of air, then slowly turned around.

            “I suppose you’re going to ask what the fuck that was all about?” Rather than sounding angry, she seemed resigned, and the look on her face just about broke my heart. Mal and I moved as one, me at her back, Mal at her front, holding her close, cocooning her in a protective shell.

            The tangle of limbs felt right. It felt exciting. And when I looked into Mal’s eyes, I could tell that he felt that way, too.

            “You don’t have to tell us anything unless you want to.” Bending his neck, Mal pressed a kiss to Adele’s lips. I think it was meant to be short and sweet, to offer her support, but she latched on to him like she was drowning, kissing him back with pent up heat.

            As I watched, I felt fire licking along my veins. I’d had a few threesomes—I was in a band, after all—but they’d always been with two other girls.

            I’d never thought about being with one woman and a man. But this was
the
woman...

            And it was fucking hot.

            Adele broke away from the kiss, and as she did she groaned. I groaned, too, because as she moved her sweet ass pressed back into the cock that was suddenly paying a hell of a lot of attention.

            “You guys are killing me.” Reaching behind her, she wrapped her arm around my neck, brought me down for a kiss too. Her open mouth invited me to sink right in, to meet the thrusts of her velvety tongue with my own. I could taste Mal on her, his masculine flavor mingling with her sweetness, and it made me come undone.

            When Adele pulled away, all three of us were breathing heavily.

            “I haven’t even looked at a man in two years.” Her voice sounded thick, and she cleared her throat before continuing. “Haven’t wanted to. But then the two of you come around, and you both make me feel so safe. So
alive
.” She looked at Mal, then at me, and her eyes shone with emotion.

            “I should be thrilled that you both want me. But I can’t, because logically I know that one day I’m going to have to choose. And turning away from one of you is going to break my heart.”

            Inhaling deeply, she looked down at the floor.

            I looked at Mal.

            He looked at me.

            We were both thinking the exact same thing, I knew it. I nodded at him, indicating with my head that he be the one to say it.

            He had the history with her, and of the two of us he was steadier, more mature. It would sound more serious, more real coming from him.

            Tucking my fingers beneath Adele’s chin, I lifted her face, positioned her so that she had to look into Mal’s eyes, which looked nearly navy in the dim light of the closed coffee shop.

            Mal pushed his glasses up his nose, looked at me, then looked down at Adele. As he did I saw everything that I felt reflected in his gaze.

            “Adele.” His voice was serious, steady—the voice I knew he would one day use in a courtroom to make his point.

            “Adele. What if you didn’t have to choose?”

            I couldn’t believe that those words had actually come out of my mouth. But even as Adele looked up at me like I’d lost my ever-loving mind, the notion settled down in my chest, and I knew that it was right.

            “What do you mean?” Her brow furrowed with suspicion.

            I hated whatever had made her so wary.

            “He means, love, that instead of dating both of us separately...” From behind her Dorian stroked his fingers over the line of her jaw, down her throat, into the dip of her collarbone.

            “All three of us would date. Together.” It sounded so strange to say it, and the reality of my decision made my heart beat a little faster. I had no idea what I was agreeing to—didn’t know what the boundaries between Dorian and I were going to be.

            God, if I’d thought I was walking on the wild side when I’d first met Adele years ago...

           
Baby, look at me now.

            “This is insane.” Adele’s voice was a whisper, but I latched on the fact that she hadn’t said no.

            “Who does this?”

            Dorian opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything I grabbed Adele and kissed her like my life depended on it. When I pulled back, we were both a little bit breathless.

            “Who fucking cares what other people do? This is about us.”

            Adele raised her fingers to her lips, looked at Dorian, looked at me.

            “How?” She finally asked. “How do we—do you—know that... I mean... what if you don’t like it?”

            She spoke delicately, and I knew that she was skating around the big issue, the elephant in the room, so to speak.

           
How the hell does this work when it comes to sex?

            “If you’re there, we’ll like it.” Dorian ran his thumb over the soft pillows of Adele’s lips, and I watched as she trembled. “Mal and I—we’ll figure out the rest.”

            I held my breath, watching her as wonder lit up her face.

            “Okay.” She said finally, determination edging out uncertainty.

            “Okay?” I echoed, my heart beginning to hammer in my chest. I’d expected her to need time to think about it, not to dive in head first. “Are you sure?”

            “I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.” Marti’s nasty words had clearly stirred something up in Adele—there was a spark of stubbornness in her eyes that told me she was going to do this, come hell or high water. Sliding one hand into Dorian’s, and the other into mine, she nodded resolutely.

            “I want this. More than I can say. Come home with me.”

            ADELE

            The orange tabby cat followed us home.

            I didn’t notice its presence until it leapt ahead of us just as I opened my front door. I watched with bemusement as it stalked into my condo like it had every right to be there.

            “Brace yourself,” Dorian said as the cat—who I referred to as Humper in my head—wound her way through my legs.

            But she apparently wasn’t interested in me that way. Nuzzling my boot with her whiskers, she looked up at Dorian with what I could only describe as a wicked look went he followed me into the house.

            “Christ,” he muttered, fixing Humper with a warning stare. “Don’t even think about it, puss.”

            “What about me? Should I think about it?” I asked, turning to eye him up and down. God, but he was beautiful. Those worn jeans hung from lean hips that were so sexy they should have been illegal.

            His black T-shirt stretched tight over his lean, hard chest, and when he moved his solid biceps made his ink dance.

            The look he sent me was pure, smoldering sex. Cupping his hand behind my head, he pulled me to him, crushed his mouth to my own. He kissed me breathless, made my pulse kick up a notch.

            Dorian had barely released me when Mal shut the door with the heel of his boot, then pulled me from Dorian’s arms into his. He let me study him for a moment, the boy who was now six feet of hard, sexy man.