by Kelly Oram
She was still pissed at me, but the phone rang so she stomped off to answer it, and couldn’t argue with me anymore. I sat there, lost in my depressing, self-pitying thoughts, until Kate said, “Yeah, he’s here. Sure; come on over.”
I didn’t have visitors very often. Josiah came by sometimes and a couple of the guys from the skate park stopped by every now and then, but never this late on a Friday night. “Who was that?”
“Avery.” Kate’s voice held the same curiosity and concern I felt. “She’s on her way over. She said she needs your help with something.”
Adam
Avery had never come over before. She’d never even called me at home. I shot to my feet, panicking, as I tried to figure out what could have happened that would make her come to me for help when she had her mom, Grayson, and a dozen other people who loved her.
By the time her quiet knock came at the door, I was half convinced ninjas had kidnapped her family and killed her boyfriend. The last thing I expected to see was the tiny girl bouncing on her toes because she was bubbling over with excitement, and her best friend gaping at me, with her jaw hanging open.
“Hi!” Avery squeaked. “I’m sorry to bother you on your day off. I hope it’s not weird that we came over, but I have a project I think you can help me with.”
Avery pushed Libby forward, as if she were the project in question. My mind raced with endless possibilities, and at the same time, it was hung up on a single thought. Libby Garrett was in my apartment. Libby Garrett was standing in my living room.
“You brought me to Coffee Jerk’s house?”
So I’d progressed from Coffee Man to Coffee Jerk? Great.
“You think he’s going to help me? He’s a total jerk!”
I grabbed Kate by the arm before she could jump off her stool and start a fight. I almost wasn’t fast enough. She opened her mouth to say something that I’m sure would have been made up of mostly threats and four-letter words, but Avery spoke up first.
“Adam is not a jerk,” she said calmly. “He’s the nicest, most thoughtful, sincerest person I know. He just doesn’t sugarcoat things. He’s direct. You’re like that, too. He’s the right person for this job. I know he is.”
Libby glanced my way again and frowned. “You can’t seriously think he is the key to getting me over Owen.”
That’s what this was about? Libby finally dumped Owen, and Avery was trying to help her move on? Was Avery trying to replace Owen…with me?
I frowned. I agreed trying to replace Owen with me wouldn’t really solve Libby’s problem, but did Libby have to sound so repulsed by the thought?
Avery glanced back and forth between Libby and me, and then sighed. “He can help us.” She sounded sure of herself and desperate at the same time. “Please trust me on this. I promise he’s a great person. You guys just didn’t start off on the right foot.”
Libby wasn’t convinced yet, but Avery didn’t care. She pulled my front door closed and ordered Libby to sit. Libby huffed and shot me a very skeptical glare, but obediently plunked down on my futon.
I had another strange out-of-body moment as I watched Libby make herself comfortable on the piece of furniture I slept on every night. It was impossible to keep my mind from going places it shouldn’t. Especially not after I’d seen enough of Libby last weekend that I didn’t need my imagination to fill in the blanks for me. By the time anyone spoke, I was ready to kick Avery and Kate out the door and spend all night making sure Libby didn’t just get over Owen, but forgot him entirely.
A snicker snapped me out of my daydream. I shook my head in an attempt to clear it and figure out what was going on. I had taken a seat on a barstool—our apartment was too small to have an actual dining table—and Kate had settled herself in the stool next to me. “Play it cool, you dork,” she whispered. “Right now, you reek of pathetic-sap-in-love.”
My stomach heaved and I elbowed Kate. “Shut up,” I hissed.
“Quit staring at her,” she whispered back, getting in an elbow jab of her own.
When I managed to pull my glare away from my sister, both Avery and Libby were looking at me as if I’d lost my mind. I tried to do as Kate suggested, and played it cool. “What’s up?”
Kate snickered again, so I kicked her leg for good measure—she was going to kill me one of these days.
Avery watched Kate and me for a moment with a look in her eyes that scared me. She could probably see right through me. Thanks to Kate, she’d probably just figured out that I had a thing for her best friend. I couldn’t tell if she thought that was good or bad.
“Libby asked me to fix her using science the way I cured my broken heart last year,” she finally said.
I perked up, but said nothing. I had no clue where she was going with this, or why it would bring her to my door.
“But Libby isn’t suffering from a broken heart,” Avery continued. “She’s not in love with Owen; she’s addicted to him.”
I waited patiently for the punch line.
“You were on to something with the intervention.”
Libby scoffed. “That was his idea? I should have known.”
I cringed, but Avery ignored her best friend entirely and kept her gaze focused on me. “Libby doesn’t need a science project, Adam; she needs a twelve-step program. She needs a sponsor.”
Libby’s face pulled into a frown, but everything suddenly made perfect sense to me. I knew exactly what Avery was thinking, and why she’d come to me. I wanted to help her, but I wasn’t sure if I could do it.
Kate stiffened on her stool next to me. “Avery,” she said hesitantly, “it’s a good idea, but—”
I spared her having to come up with an excuse. “It won’t work.” The plan was a great idea. To treat Libby as an addict and take her through the process of finding sobriety sounded like exactly what she needed, but there was one problem. “Those programs only work if the person is ready. Step one is admitting that she’s got a problem—that her demons are real, and that she’s powerless to them.”
“She did that,” Avery pleaded. “She admitted that she’d never be able to give Owen up without help. She asked for help. She came to me all by herself tonight.”
That was a good start, but it wasn’t enough. “But does she actually want to give him up?” I eyed Libby with obvious skepticism, earning another nasty glare before I turned my gaze back to Avery. “Is she willing to surrender herself to the cause?”
Avery hesitated, and that was enough to make me certain. Avery was a great girl. She meant well. I knew she would take this seriously and dedicate herself to helping Libby through it, but I didn’t believe Libby was capable of that. I really wished she were. Avery had stumbled onto something that could do Libby so much good. But one look at the anger and defiance in Libby’s eyes, and I knew that no matter what I did, it wouldn’t be enough. “She’s not ready, Avery. You can’t help someone who doesn’t really want the help. Trust me on this.”
Her pride stung, Libby jumped off the couch to yell at me. “How do you know I’m not ready and willing?”
My thoughts took an immediate turn back to perv ville. Libby realized what she had said and looked embarrassed for a brief instant, but she quickly found her hostility again. I couldn’t resist getting at least one taunt in. “If only.” With a wistful shake of my head, I let my eyes rove over her body just long enough to make her feel it. Then I stubbornly brought the conversation back on topic. “But you’re not.”
Libby stood, too flustered to speak for a moment, then squared her shoulders as she marched across the small room to me. I rose from my stool and met her in the middle. There was a spark in her eyes, a fire I hadn’t seen in months. I was grateful to see that hint of the old Libby present, even if it was only there because she was pissed off at me.
“Trust me on this, Coffee Man,” she spat as she glared up into my eyes. “You want to play Owen Anonymous? I can handle any steps your skinny little derrière can dish out.”
She poked me
in the chest with her finger, and my thoughts drifted again. She was standing too close. I could smell her perfume. I could feel the heat rising off her body, and it was causing my own temperature to spike.
“I think it’s you who’s scared to take on the Libbmeister.”
I blinked. What did she say? Did she just ask me to take her? Her mouth was right there. Those lips…and those hips…I could just…
Shit!
I seized on my moment of clarity and quickly took a step back. I’d almost kissed her. The girl had been here for five minutes, and I’d already almost lost control several times. This was never going to work.
Libby’s face was no longer an angry red. Her brow was now pulled low over wide, disbelieving eyes. I couldn’t meet her gaze so I turned my attention to Avery, but my eyes wouldn’t look much higher than her feet, either. I cleared my throat and mumbled, “I don’t think I’m the right person for this.”
“Oh, yes, you are,” Kate blurted. She jumped off her stool and pushed me toward Avery. “He’ll do it.”
I knew what she was doing, and as much as I loved her for the effort, I was still going to kill her. “You know Avery can’t be her sponsor,” she argued when she saw the look on my face. “Avery knows she can’t do it. That’s why she’s here. This kind of thing takes a tough love approach. Avery’s too soft. You’re not. You’re exactly the right guy for this, and you know why.”
Kate gave me a look that promised a slow, painful death if I refused, and Avery’s face was already full of so much hope. “Wait,” I said, feeling my panic rise. “What you’re talking about doing is…it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to take time and a serious commitment.”
Avery’s face fell a little. She chewed on her bottom lip as she looked at her best friend one more time. “I know it’s a lot,” she said quietly. “I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t so important. And if there were ever any way I could return the favor.”
“Actually, there is,” Kate said. “I’m having trouble in math, and we can’t afford a tutor.”
Avery’s face brightened. “Done,” she promised. “Libby’s the real math genius, but she’s going to be busy, and I know my way around equations well enough. I’d be happy to tutor you.”
“Perfect.”
My head was spinning, telling me to run. It was shouting at me that this was a huge mistake. You can’t help someone who doesn’t really want to be helped. Libby’s heart wasn’t all the way in. I knew it wasn’t, and she didn’t even like me. This wasn’t going to work. It was going to be a disaster.
I’d made a promise to myself years ago that I wouldn’t do this again. I wasn’t sure I could survive another failure, especially not if it was Libby I ended up failing. I was too close to this for too many reasons, but there was absolutely no way I could say no to them. Not when Avery was offering to tutor Kate for me, and definitely not when both of them were staring up at me with big, hopeful eyes. They may as well have been a couple of pound puppies shouting, “Please take me home and love me!”
When I looked at Libby, she shrugged as though she was as helpless in this situation as I was. “Help me, Coffee-Wan Kenobi. You’re my only hope.”
It was so Libby.
“Okay. I’ll be her sponsor.” I prayed I wasn’t making a huge mistake.
Kate and Avery both squealed and pounced on me, giving me hugs. I was still wary, but their energy was contagious, causing me to crack a smile.
“Thank you, Adam,” Avery said. “You really, really are the best. Is there any chance you could get started tomorrow? Libby managed to say no to Owen tonight, but if we don’t help keep her distracted, she’s going to end up in his very expensive hotel suite tomorrow night.”
And just like that, all my reservations about this disappeared. I was all in, and failure was not an option. Libby was never going to end up in that jerk’s bed ever again, if I could help it. “Tomorrow’s as good a day as any. I’m off work at two.”
Libby was already at the door trying to escape, but she stopped before turning the knob. “Actually, I need you ready to go at seven thirty in the morning. Avery already cleared it with your boss. He was more than happy to take your shift. He said he’s been trying to get you to take a vacation day for months.”
My head reared back. “You cleared my schedule tomorrow?”
Libby looked me right in the eyes and grinned wickedly. The smile did something to my insides. “You’re mine tomorrow, Coffee Man,” she purred jokingly.
I stopped breathing. Hers. Yes. Yes, I was. Heaven help me, but I was hers. This was so bad. If I wasn’t careful, Libby Garrett was going to break me. I had to take control of this situation fast. I don’t know what kind of look I had on my face when I stalked across the room toward her, but her eyes widened and she backed up until she bumped into the door. “You’ve got that all wrong,” I said, placing my hand on the door beside her head, trapping her in front of me.
I’d meant to intimidate her a little, but when she sucked in a breath and shivered, I lost control again. Leaning in a little too close, my next words accidentally came out in a possessive growl. “Starting tomorrow, Cider Chick, you are mine.”
Libby
I was a little nervous as I drove to Jo’s, where I was meeting Adam. I wasn’t sure exactly what I’d gotten myself into with him. I couldn’t figure him out at all. I could have sworn he was the most uptight, self-righteous jerk in Spanish Fork, but Avery loved him. And Avery—despite her unwavering fondness for Aiden Kennedy, which, considering their moms, I deem to be wholly not her fault—is the greatest judge of character of anyone I’ve ever met. Not to mention, the guy got sexier every time I saw him. There were several moments in his apartment last night where I thought the sizzling tension between us was going to fry me.
When I pulled up outside the shop, he was leaning against the front of the building with a to-go cup in his hand. I almost didn’t recognize him, because his coat covered up his tattooed arms, and he wore a beanie over his dark hair. If not for the small metal hoop through his eyebrow, I would have thought he was some sexy stranger that had mistaken me for someone else when he peeled himself away from the wall, kicked a skateboard up into his hand, and walked over to my car.
I rolled down my window, and he passed the cup through it. “For you,” he said as the smell of hot cider filled my nose. I could smell the hint of both cinnamon and nutmeg, and decided I didn’t hate the guy after all.
I gave him a smile and sipped the drink. Perfect, as always. “You ready to go? I got a late start this morning, so we’re going to have to book it a little if we want to get there on time.”
Adam nodded and climbed into the car. I watched curiously as he dropped his skateboard into the backseat, wondering how often he used it and if he had any skill with it. I happen to love skateboarding. I’m not very good, but I still like to mess around at the skate park every now and then, and I love watching people skate.
Adam buckled his seat belt like a good boy and gave a low whistle as he admired my dad’s tricked-out Escalade. “Nice ride.”
I petted the steering wheel with longing as I pulled out of the parking lot onto the main road. “Yes. Suzie is truly a beautiful machine. If only she belonged to me. She’s my dad’s, and I don’t get to drive her nearly often enough.”
“What do you normally drive?”
I snorted. “Avery. I drive her absolutely crazy asking for rides all the time.”
Adam laughed, but the subject reminded me of my dad’s offer the night before, and I groaned. “I am never going to have a car. I was hoping my parents would take pity on me and get me one for graduation, but do you know what they did when I asked?”
Adam smiled again. “Said no?”
“Worse! They said yes.”
“Uh…”
“It wasn’t a real yes. My dad said he’d let me choose between a car or a season lift ticket for every winter that I’m still a full-time college student.”
The smile was bac
k in Adam’s voice when he asked, “You like to ski?”
“Snowboard,” I corrected, “and no. I like cats. I like caramel apple cider. There are no words profound enough to express how much I love to hit the slopes. My father knows that. He just made the offer because he loves to torment me.”
Adam chuckled again.
“You laugh, Coffee Man, but I’m telling you it was a cruel joke. My father is sick.”
Adam shook his head. “You would seriously give up a free car just so you can go snowboarding a few times a winter?”
“For the next four to eight years.” I couldn’t make my voice sound grave enough. “My parents are big on responsibility and paying my own way—which is cool. I can respect that—but I’m going to be a dirt-poor minimum wage college student for years. I’ll never be able to afford my snowboarding habit on my own, and there’s no way I could survive that long without hitting the mountain.”
Taking a sharp right, I headed toward the mountains. Seeing them in front of me, so majestic and snowcapped, my whole body itched to get there faster. The mountains called to me. I would definitely give up a free car for all that snowboarding.
Adam glanced between me and the mountains ahead of us. “You know you sound crazy, right?”
I rolled my eyes. Some people just didn’t get it. “Have you ever been snowboarding?”
“No.”
“Well, there’s your problem. You pay attention today and tell me you can’t see the appeal.”
“Pay attention to what?” Adam asked. “Where are we going?”
“Park City. My dad’s a pro snowboarder. He has a competition today. We’re going to be his cheer section.”
“For real?” The excitement in Adam’s voice was adorable, and it softened me to him a little bit more.