Delta_Ricochet

by Cristin Harber

  He glanced up at the front of the church like he hadn’t noticed where he was. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  “You’re hurting?”

  Colin tilted his head toward her. “Yeah, I am.”

  Adelia turned to face the front of the church. She didn’t know what denomination it was and knew it didn’t matter. If he needed that to heal his hurt, she’d pray alongside him. If he didn’t or couldn’t believe, she’d still sit, still hope, still whatever it was he was doing. “Was there a problem at work?”

  He laughed quietly, tipping back his head and rubbing his eyes. “Yeah, maybe.”

  She sat down, leaving a few persons-worth of space between them. “What happened?”

  Colin inhaled deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose. “My dad died.”

  She didn’t see that coming. “He worked where you did?”

  “He lived for my job.” Colin shrugged. “And maybe I…”

  He didn’t finish.

  “God.” He shook his head. “I feel like an asshole.”

  “Why?”

  “Because.” He gestured toward her.

  “Oh.” Adelia half-laughed. “Because my biological father was awful.”

  “From what I’ve heard, awful is being kind.”

  Adelia lifted a shoulder. “Doesn’t mean I can’t empathize.”

  He nodded but went back to silent mode. She rubbed her hand over the coarse upholstery of the pew. “But I’ll let you have your time alone.”

  His hand covered hers, catching her off guard. “Could you just sit?”

  “Ah, sure. Let me put out the last of these.” She quietly slipped her hand from his and left the pew, finishing what she needed to and double-checking her list before returning to sit in Colin’s row.

  “I talked to my mom,” he said. “I offered to come home, but they’re not home, can’t even tell me where they really are.”

  “Oh.” Adelia wasn’t sure what to make of that.

  “But she said Dad loved to talk to me about work because I loved to talk to him about it.”

  She watched his eyes brim, biting her lip.

  “And fuckin’ hell, I hated to talk about work.” He paused. “I only talked about it because he wanted to. It aggravated the hell out of me.” He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened again them, staring ahead. “Always pushing me. Asking. Questioning. Knowing and advising. But the screwed-up thing? He only talked it because that’s what he thought I needed from him.”

  The tears he wouldn’t cry spilled down her cheeks. “You did talk to him, and he passed away wanting to be close to his son.”

  Colin turned. “But think about if we’d just been real.” He looked away. “Could’ve been closer.”

  Adelia wrapped her arms around him. She didn’t know him, not really, but this was one of the most real moments she’d ever had in her life. His hands wrapped around her forearm across his strong chest and held on until she loosened her grip and sat back.

  “You know what I learned a long time ago about acceptance?” She patted his hand on the bench.

  “No.”

  “It fucking sucks.”

  He burst out laughing, crossed his arms over his chest, and doubled over, still quietly chuckling. The reaction was too much, which proved that he was in a deep, dark hole. When he sat up, smiling, he thanked her.

  “Now, really,” she continued. “You have to accept what’s reality. Let go of what you can’t control and believe the future has better in store for you.”

  He leaned back in the pew as he thought over what she’d said, breathing deeply. He gave her an easy smile. “How’d you get so smart?”

  “That beauty?”

  Colin nodded.

  “I picked it up from a fortune cookie. May’ve ad-libbed a little. The exact phrasing is escaping me.”

  He laughed, and it bellowed through the church, bouncing off the walls and setting her laughter free. Finally, they stopped, and again, he said thanks.

  “Really, you can stop thanking me.”

  He shrugged. “I appreciate it.”

  “It’s rare to find someone who appreciates my fast-food wisdom.”

  “Hello?” someone called from the back of the church. Adelia turned and recognized the woman who would play the piano.

  “Coming! One second.” She held up a finger. “Duty calls.”

  “I noticed you had a special-looking dress.”

  “Bridesmaid duty.” She saluted him. “And I’ll check on you later and at the reception, at least until I have a glass of wine. Then I might fall asleep. Apologies ahead of time.”

  “I’m okay. I don’t want to think about it this weekend. The best thing I can do would be to…”

  The piano lady walked by, ignoring them, and Adelia guessed that she knew what she was doing and would check on her in a few minutes. “Sleep? No one would blame you.”

  “Follow the fortune cookie wisdom. Think of the future.”

  For a moment, Adelia wondered what that looked like for a man like Colin. It was positively inappropriate to check out a person in church. Wasn’t it? Good thing she’d done her looking before. Not that it mattered, but Colin was heaven on the eyes and a treat for the imagination.

  His light-brown hair lightened in the summer, and his blue eyes were bright and bold. Magnetic. He filled out his suit jacket in a way that was hard to ignore, but she did her best. She looked toward the altar and promised to save her dirty thoughts about his perfect backside for a place that didn’t literally have holy words surrounding her.

  “Have an enjoyable time tonight.” She pulled herself up, only slightly wobbling in her heels. She waved her fingers goodbye as she filed out.

  “Adelia?”

  She’d never heard him say her name before. She paused at the mouth of the aisle. “Hm?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “In all my years—prep schools, military school, war college—no one’s ever given me advice that worked like that.”

  She put her hands on the wood caps of the pews on either side of her and leaned on her toes. “That wasn’t how it worked—just a description of why.”

  The corners of his lips curled as she pulled herself back. “You put my head in a good space. That’s a hell of a thing to do after the day I’ve had.”

  “Glad I could help.” She waved again and turning, felt Colin’s gaze as she walked away.

  He didn’t unnerve her. Adelia warmed on the inside, not with lust, but because he made her grin.

  “One more,” she whispered to herself. Another person who didn’t make her feel lonely. These were the people she collected: the ones who should earn her time.

  The woman at the piano played warm-up music and paused as Adelia came up. “I found what I needed.” The beautiful notes continued. “If you want to go back to your boyfriend...”

  “Oh, he’s not. Only…” She turned toward Colin, unsure what to call the guy. His serene face had calmed, and the misery from earlier was gone, making her heart swell more than she knew it could. “A friend.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  As weddings went, Adelia decided that Seven and Jax’s wedding was beautiful. But beyond that, it had been meaningful. Before it had started, the afternoon moved slowly with her mind on Colin. Then everything happened at once. Guests arrived quickly. She, Victoria, and Seven ducked into the side room. Then they were thrown out to the sound of a piano. Adelia didn’t trip walking down the aisle.

  What was beautiful became amazing—and fun—because, of course, they had thought of party games, and there had been so many kids running around that it made the adults do the same and kick the gathering into a party.

  Adelia spun her puzzle piece around her finger. A heart. She’d checked every person she could find, at one point going table to table and coming up empty. Maybe it turned out she was destined to be by herself tonight after all, even as it seemed everyone else had paired up. She didn’t even want to pair up! Hooking up wasn’t
in the cards.

  Actually, she’d wanted to find Colin, but she hadn’t seen him much after the wedding ceremony. Sophia and Javier weren’t anywhere to be seen either, and if Tex dropped dead, Adelia probably wouldn’t want to party either.

  Where was everybody, anyway? Victoria and Ryder had wandered off, and Adelia needed table mates because Seven and Jax were making her gag.

  “We’re on a mission,” Victoria said.

  Behind her, Ryder stepped close with Colin, and Adelia felt as though she’d had one too many glasses of wine. She almost fell out of her chair trying not to react as Colin and Victoria tried in vain to connect their puzzle pieces.

  “We can’t make these work.”

  “These games were your idea,” Ryder said to Seven.

  “Absolutely!” She beamed, looking perfect in her princess dress. “I wanted to make sure everyone talked to each other.”

  “She’s going to sulk all night long that I didn’t unlock her heart.” Ryder pretended to give Seven an evil eye but cracked up.

  “My key is heartless.” Colin held his key on the tip of his finger, and Adelia’s heart skipped a beat. The broken man from earlier was gone, and Adelia was glad that however he’d been able to forget, he’d done so.

  She stared at Colin longer than she should. The trinket twirled on his index finger, and his eyes stayed on it like the toy was a treasure. The music shifted, breaking his concentration, and his chin tilted up. A deep ache hid in the shadows of his unguarded face—until Ryder’s laughter brought Colin’s attention back to the moment.

  Still, Colin dropped his gaze back to the mate-less puzzle. The silly game was ridiculous, yet give her a couple glasses of wine, and she suddenly had serious notions about grade-school party favors.

  Ryder gagged. “I gave my heart to Hawke and look at the guy making out in the corner with someone half his age. I’d like to think I had something to do with that.”

  “Did you just gag?” Victoria rolled her eyes. “He gagged.”

  “That maybe a little gag-worthy.” Adelia laughed, having seen that disaster of Hawke-and-more-than-half-his-age more times than she could count.

  The table bantered about who Hawke’s perfect woman might be until Victoria jumped up over a song and demanded Ryder dance with her—Jax and Seven too.

  “She doesn’t want us to dance,” Adelia joked to Colin. “Didn’t even ask if we’re doing good.” Adelia straightened, smiling at her best friends. “I’m not good.” She held up her partner-less heart-puzzle piece. “And I’ve looked everywhere.”

  Colin feigned heartbreaking disappointment, and Adelia wondered how much of his heart was still broken from the terrible news earlier. “Didn’t ask me, either, V.” He flipped his key in the air, acting a hundred percent calmer than a moment ago. Maybe he was faking all the heartache right now, and that was good. “The non-married crowd is feeling excluded.”

  Victoria huffed as though annoyed, but her joking made Ryder chuckle as he wrapped his arms around her, dancing. “Oh, for goodness sake, you two. Did you even try your puzzle pieces together?”

  That question had been in Adelia’s head. Why hadn’t she asked him? Because I never do those things first. There were consequences. It was one thing to always think someone was attractive. It was another to know something personal about him. For all the time they’d been acquainted, they’d never actually known anything about each other, but the time spent at the church earlier changed him from this handsome man to a real person.

  But mostly, every action had a consequence. That was Mayhem’s code, and it was also her Pops’. Tex had an odd idea of how a father figure should raise a daughter, and that led him to be over-protective. It stemmed from decades of life in a motorcycle club where there was less-than-savory behavior toward and from women.

  Colin met her eyes as if he hadn’t realized they’d missed the obvious and held out his key. “Sometimes, I need to open my eyes.”

  Adelia sucked in her lower lip as the music floated away into a swirling buzz of hope and adrenaline. This was a simple children’s game, but in her mind, she’d placed too much on it in the last few ticks of time.

  The lightweight plastic heart weighted her palm to her skirt. The edge of his thumb rubbed over the top of his key, and Colin leaned toward her. His calm smile didn’t part his lips. Only the corners of his mouth turned up, but a sea of blue in his eyes compelled her to stop holding back. Adelia lifted her key to his heart. The plastic touched plastic. The pieces didn’t connect, but their fingers did, and she would gladly take the consolation prize of his warmth, how he didn’t move away, and the way Colin’s eyes grew more brilliant.

  “Oh well, it’s okay,” she whispered, even as silly disappointment registered. A silly game, anyway... But she would keep these butterflies.

  His other hand clasped behind hers, holding her key in place and—click. Adelia straightened, surprised. Their eyes connected, and his mild smile changed into an effortless one.

  “Oh, my goodness!” Nearly jumping out of her seat, she shook their connected pieces. “Colin! You had the key to my heart the whole time!”

  He eased off her hand and rolled his lips together, watching her overreact. But she didn’t care. Sometimes, feeling this full of life was what it was all about.

  “You’re hard to look away from when you do that,” he finally said.

  Adelia stilled in her chair, though her heart pounded loud enough the beat pulsed in her ears. “Do what?”

  “Smile like you give life everything you’ve got.”

  Adelia inched back. “What’s that look like?”

  Colin tilted his head to the side, and his broad shoulders lifted. “Just you.”

  The sparkle and glitter inside settled, and she gripped the connected puzzle, content and maybe even a little pink in the cheeks.

  “It looks like beautiful determination.” He scooted his chair closer. “Like energy and destruction, charisma and passion.”

  Her eyelashes fluttered. No one had ever spoken to her like that. She hadn’t known those words could be used to describe a person, yet he had her breathless and wanting to cry, desperate to hear more. She’d never felt prouder of herself.

  “It’s hard to turn away from you.” Colin licked his full bottom lip. “When you unleash that on the world...” That was it. Had she ever really had a crush? Her senses buzzed with hysteria. The slide of her hair against her neck prickled her skin, and the study of his gaze made her weak in the most delicious, explosive ways.

  The wedding reception faded away until she could almost convince her subconscious she was alone with Colin as he bent forward to tell her a secret. The twinkle lights on the walls had a soft focus. His hand covered hers, their heart and key safe in their covered palms, as she eased against his suit jacket.

  “I didn’t tell you something earlier.” His masculine scent teased her. She inhaled the clean smell of soap and crisp linens. Colin acted how he smelled: responsible, sharp, accomplished.

  The feather-soft touch of his careful fingers skirted up her wrist, and her eyelashes fluttered. “What?”

  “The most attractive thing about you...” The pad of his finger skimmed over goose bumps on her forearm. “It’s not how your dress curves.” He drew an invisible line, carefully curving and circling on her skin. “Or your smile.”

  She giggled self-consciously, wanting to swallow away this unfamiliar flirtation. Adelia knew how to banter and bullshit. There were times she felt sexy and beautiful and others when she was confident. But that came from her. Colin invited the intoxicating realization that she was unsure that anyone had treated her with a delicate touch. “Then what?”

  His fingers gripped her below the elbow, squeezing gently. “I thought it was the fast-food wisdom.”

  Her heart faltered as she remembered why he’d been so sad in the church.

  “But it’s all that you’ve done.” His palm slid to the top of her hand, and his thumb caressed her knuckles. “I like
strong people.”

  Apprehension pulled her in unusual ways, and the somersault of wonder that had just made her feel so alive made her question what he’d said. “I’m not sure I understand.” He didn’t like the way she looked? Or he did, but this was a way to explain why a spark had never fired between them before? Adelia inched back. “Most people say just say I overcame hurdles.”

  Colin scoffed, leaning back in his chair. “Hurdles, huh?”

  She wasn’t fond of the term either but wasn’t sure of his reasoning. Was he reacting to her reaction, or did he have opinions on her past?

  His jaw firmly set under the cool inspection of his blue gaze. “I’d go with survived.”

  “Survived is about as close to accurate as possible.” She didn’t want to think about what she and Javier went through as children. Half the time, she couldn’t. Her mind had done a blessed job of blocking out bad memories. “I’m confused.”

  A boyish grin she hadn’t expected colored his face, and Colin’s eyebrows bobbed. “Oh, yeah?” He angled closer, still smiling. “Tell me why, and I’ll see what I can do.”

  Well, hell. She had nothing but her big mouth and a couple glasses of wine to blame for having to answer him. Of course he’d ask!

  “What are you confused about, Adelia?”

  This was not how things were done or said in Mayhem. “Are you hitting on me?” She crossed her legs, suddenly aware how gangly her bare legs seemed in her skirt and heels. “Are you just one of the best compliment givers I’ve ever come across?”

  “That’s why you’re confused?”

  Adelia shrugged. “Don’t judge another’s confusion.”

  “Did you get that from a fortune cookie?” He winked.

  She laughed, giving him a side-eye. “No.”

  He curled his fingers, beckoning her closer. His eyes fell on her loose hair before coming back to her face. “Today… sucked.”

  “I’m so sorry—”

  He pressed his fingers against her lips then let them quickly fall. “If nothing else, I’m going to try to say things that should be said.”

  What did that mean? Was he flirting or simply being nice? Did she even know the difference? And did it matter? No… not really. If he was hitting on her, maybe he had assumptions, just like every other guy out there, that she was easy because she was Mayhem or because of her past.