Well, fuck.
SEVEN
adam
“I thought you said you didn’t have much shit, and that we’d just be sitting around, drinking beer and eating pizza.” Jase grunts as he lifts his end of the overly heavy, pullout couch.
Yeah, I’m kind of an ass to make him and Cade carry it while I lug just a TV, but having them around to help me move is pretty much the only reason I put up with their asses over the years.
“Jesus, you’re a whiny shit, aren’t you?” Cade guides his end of it down the stairs and to my opened door. “Just haul the damn thing and stop bitching. Then we’ll get beer.”
I trail behind, awkwardly carrying the tube TV. I can’t remember the last time I had to lift one of these monstrosities, but I can’t exactly be picky considering I’m filling this place with my parents’ castoffs. Nearly all of what I own is still at my place in Denver, which I’m subletting while I’m gone, and Dad certainly wasn’t going to give up his 46-inch flat screen in the living room. “I knew the only way I’d get you here was to lie to you, so…”
“You’re both assholes,” Jase says. “And I want you to bring me a fucking Heineken as soon as we set this ugly-ass couch in your new digs.”
“I’ll throw the bottle at your head and hope you don’t catch it,” I say.
Cade snorts as he backs through the threshold into my apartment. It’s small—one open room containing the living space and kitchen, plus a bathroom—but it’ll work for the summer. It’s a lot different than my place in Colorado, but at this point, after another week at my parents’—another week where I couldn’t jack off after waking up from an inevitable dream of Paige, pick out my own damn clothes, or prepare a freakin’ sandwich—it looks like heaven. We pass the kitchen—and I use that term loosely—on the right and bathroom on the left before they move the couch against the far wall opposite the battered wood TV stand that was, thankfully, left behind from the last tenants. Or meth heads, according to Paige.
“I can’t believe your mom made you take the granny panty couch.” Jase sets his end down and looks at the godawful floral pattern adorning my new piece of furniture.
I snort at the nickname we came up with for the couch when we were in middle school. With pink, purple, and blue flowers brushed all over the fabric, it definitely looks more like something a grandma would wear than something a dude should have in his place, but I’ll take what I can get. “I’m lucky she gave me anything. She’s damn upset I’m not staying there while I’m home for the summer. Pretty sure I hurt her feelings when I told her I needed to move out.”
“What does she expect you to do? Your dick’s gonna fall off if you don’t spank it once in a while.” Jason falls back on the couch and sprawls out. “Although I’m not sure you’re much better off here. You gonna sleep on this thing every night? Forget falling off—your dick is gonna shrivel up and retreat inside you until you have a vagina.”
“My dick’s pretty big. It’ll take a while.”
“Not as big as mine.”
“You wish, Montgomery.” I set the TV down on the stand.
“You guys want me to grab you a tape measure?” Cade asks as he comes in from the kitchen, carrying three bottles in his hand. He tosses one to both of us, then twists the top off his and takes a sip as he looks around. “I think this place might even be smaller than Winter’s old apartment, and that’s saying something.”
I sit on the opposite end of the couch from Jase and take in the room. He’s probably right. It’s barely big enough for the couch, the TV stand, and the pitiful excuse for a table my parents let me use. “Don’t care. After only a few weeks at home, I was ready to move into one of your bathrooms and sleep in the tub, so I think I can handle a tiny-ass apartment and an ugly-ass couch. It’s only temporary. I don’t plan on being here a lot, anyway. I’ll be spending most of my time at the shop.”
Cade grabs a chair from my fancy dining set consisting of a card table and two battered folding chairs. He sits on it backward, his arms folded across the back. “How’s that going, anyway? You finding anything?”
I groan and drop my head back to the couch, beer bottle resting on my knee. The past three weeks have been enlightening to say the least. “Yeah. They’ve been in trouble for longer than they let on, so it’s gonna take a hell of a lot more work to get everything back on track. They have a stack of IOUs I plan on getting settled ASAP.”
“Jesus, they were doing business with IOUs? What is this, 1952?” Jase asks.
“That’s pretty much what I told them. When I put everything in black and white for them, they realized how bad it is and that they can’t do that shit anymore. Besides settling those, I’m trying to come up with some events or something we can do to get in more traffic.”
“What about guided classes? Hiking, fishing, rock climbing, that kind of thing,” Jase suggests.
I nod. “I was thinking about that. And maybe offering rentals, too. Bikes, paddle boats, canoes… It’d take a chunk out of our inventory, but it’s the perfect season to try it. And with the lake and bike trails both being close, it makes sense. I don’t think it’d take much to see a return on investment and hopefully start making some money.”
“You gonna suggest it to your parents?” Cade asks.
“Yeah, I just hope my mom’s not too pissed at me for moving out, and she actually listens to what I’m saying.”
“She will,” Jase says. “Your dad will be behind you. He’ll back you up.”
I nod again, hoping he’s right. The shop has been my parents’ since…forever. As long as I can remember. They opened it when I was about three and my sister, Aubrey, was six. Despite the obligation it can be, it’s as much home to me as my parents’ house is, and the thought of it going under…of it getting sold to someone else—or worse, the thought of it getting run into the ground by the national chains that are overtaking every city—makes me sick.
“So…speaking of being behind people…I heard an interesting story.” Jase glances at Cade, then turns his focus to me. “Once upon a time, you fucked Paige. True or false.”
I freeze with the beer bottle pressed to my lips. The pause lasts less than a second before I tip my head back to take a drink, but they both see it, and I’m kicking myself for giving anything away. My poker face is better than that.
“Holy shit, it’s true.” Jase reaches out and punches me in the arm, then he looks at Cade. “Did you know about this?”
Cade shakes his head. “Nope.”
Jase pulls off his backward baseball cap, runs his hand through his hair, then replaces the hat and fixes me with a hard stare. “Five months? You got with Paige five months ago, and you never said a damn thing? What the fuck, dude?”
“Sorry to tell you this, man, but you don’t know every girl I’ve had my dick in.”
“Uh, yes, I do.” He starts counting off on his fingers. “Lost your virginity to Nikki in high school. Dated her from late sophomore year until graduation. Then it was Megan and Rachel in college—mid-freshman to junior year, and senior year, respectively. After you graduated, it was Katie until last summer. It’s not a hard list to keep track of.”
“Fuck off.”
“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing,” he says, holding his hands up.
I just stare at him.
“All right,” he concedes, “I’m not saying it’s a bad thing for you. But seriously…when did you start doing one-night stands?”
“Maybe I’ve done them all along, and I just never told you assholes.” They both snort at that. I look over to Cade, who’s been uncharacteristically tight-lipped. “You don’t have anything to add to this douchebag’s commentary?”
He shrugs. “It’s a little different than your usual M.O., but I’m not one to judge. And God knows Jase can’t judge.”
“Hey, I wasn’t judging! I was congratulating. Jesus, it’s like you two don’t even know me.”
“I don’t understand what Tess sees in you,” I say.
Jason takes another drink from his beer and stretches his arm out over the back of the couch. “You gonna try and hook up with her while you’re here for the summer?”
I shrug as I peel back the label from my bottle.
“Holy shit.” Jase sits forward, his gaze flitting between me and Cade, his brows rising higher on his forehead with every inch he gets closer to me. “You’ve already done it. I knew something happened at the pub! I can’t believe you—you”—he stabs a finger in my direction—“would fuck her in a bathroom.”
“I didn’t fuck her in the bathroom.” What I don’t say is that I totally would have, given the chance. I try not to remember what she felt like around my fingers. Her panting breaths on my neck and the thrust of her hips… Jesus. Paige isn’t shy or withdrawn when it comes to sex. She takes what she wants, without embarrassment. I want to see that again. While my list of partners isn’t nearly as long as Jason’s, I’ve had my share of sex—all while within the confines of a relationship, save one, but it was still frequent. And I’ve always thought it was good sex. I mean, really, what did I have to compare it to? But being with Paige, I realized all the girls who came before her were…timid. Quiet, docile women who didn’t ask for what they wanted. They weren’t all that interested in trying new things. They were perfectly content to do it missionary every single time.
And I didn’t realize I didn’t want that until I had Paige bent over in front of me, begging me to fuck her harder.
Jase narrows his eyes at me. “You did something.”
When I don’t confirm or deny it, he takes that as the only answer he needs. Shaking his head, he says, “With Paige Bennett. Goddamn. You’re in the big leagues now.” Then in a falsetto, he says, “You’re growing up so fast.”
Finally cracking a smile, I grab my bottle cap and toss it at his head. Then I look over at Cade. “Nothing more to add?”
He shrugs, taking a drink before he lets his arm hang over the back of the chair again. “Unlike Jase, I don’t much care what you do with your dick.”
“You act like me being a supportive friend is a bad thing.” Jase laughs as we both snort. “Just so you know, she pretty much hates the idea of you moving in here. I know it’s been a while since you’ve done this whole thing, but that’s not a glowing endorsement to start something with her.”
I shrug, unconcerned. “I’m working on it.”
“Yeah? Has she brought you some freshly baked cherry pie to welcome you to the neighborhood?”
I give him the side-eye. “Seriously, why does Tessa put up with you?”
“Because I know how to—”
“If you want to live to get home to your girlfriend, you won’t finish that sentence,” Cade cuts in.
I haven’t been home much to see them navigate this new dynamic of their relationship, and I can’t say it isn’t damn fun to watch. “Please, Jase, go on…”
“You both ruin all my fun,” he says.
“You’re banging my sister.” Cade tips his bottle toward Jason. “It’s now my life-long right.”
“Speaking of…” Jase gets up and tosses his bottle in the garbage. “As fun as this has been, and as much as I’d like to stick around for pizza, I need to get home, if you know what I mean.” He waggles his eyebrows and dodges the fist Cade swings at him, laughing, then turns to me. “But, hey, if you wanna get a new website up for the shop, let me know. I can get something created pretty quick, depending on what you’re thinking.”
I walk behind him, then hold open the door as Jason walks into the main hallway. “Thanks, man, that’d be great. I’ll talk to them this week and let you know.”
“Beer and pool on Tuesday?”
“Works for me.”
“Sounds good. Later, ladies.” When he’s climbed a couple steps, he turns around and says, “Oh, and Cade? Don’t call your sister or me for a while. We’ll be otherwise occupied.”
Jase’s laughter is drowned out by Cade’s growl as he steps up behind me. “I hate that guy.”
I clap a hand on his back. “I know.”
He leans a shoulder against the doorjamb and crosses his arms. “So, Paige, huh?”
I glance around him to the door across the hall that she occupies. I’ve yet to run into her even once. Not when I met with the apartment manager or when I came to look at the place. Not the entire time we’ve been moving stuff in. “Guess so.”
“Look, man,” he says, his voice lowered. “Paige is an awesome girl. She’s great, but she has a lot of shit from her past that fucks with her outlook a little.”
“You warning me away from her or cautioning me to be careful moving forward?”
“Neither. You do what you want to do. Just giving you the info you didn’t have since you were already in Colorado when she moved here. And I would give you the whole, ‘don’t mess with her or I’ll mess with you’ speech, because she’s damn close to a sister to me, but considering her two scary-ass brothers, I don’t think I’ll have to.” He grins as he pushes off the threshold to leave. “See you Tuesday.”
“See ya. Thanks for the help.”
He gives a wave as he climbs the steps and disappears out the front door of the building. I take another glance at her silent door before closing mine.
I can handle her brothers. It’s her I’m not so sure about.
EIGHT
paige
I’ve managed to avoid Adam since he moved in over the weekend, but I know that can’t go on forever. We live on the same floor in a tiny eight-tenant apartment building. We park in the same small parking lot. Our mailboxes are right next to each other, for fuck’s sake. There’s no way in hell I’m going to go the three months, or however long he’s here, without bumping into him. But I’m damn well going to try. No matter how long I manage to avoid him, I can’t avoid the thought of him, and it’s messing with my head knowing he’s just across the hall.
It shouldn’t be messing with my head knowing he’s there, and yet when I go to bed at night, I wonder if he’s lying in his, too. When I get out of the shower, I wonder if he is, as well. And then I picture him drying off, rivulets of water running down his chest, taking a bumpy ride over the ridges of his cut abs, and trailing all the way down to the freakin’ shrine Adam Reid has in his pants.
I’m not one to worship the cock, but if one were to be worshipped, it’d be his.
Shaking my head, I shove all thoughts of a naked Adam out of my mind before I have the chance to rewind my little fantasy and picture him in the shower, doing what we all know single guys do in there, his hand wrapped around his—
Nope.
“Get ahold of yourself, girl,” I say to my reflection as I fluff my hair. Dark shadow and bold liner to bring out my eyes? Check. Pink gloss to plump up my lips? Check. Plunging neckline to show off the girls? Check. Random date with a dude I’m not even really interested in to get my mind off the one I shouldn’t be interested in? Check, check, and check.
A knock at the door sounds, and I glance at the time on my phone, scowling when I see my date, Brent, is fifteen minutes early. Dudes should know better than to show up that early. He’s lucky I started getting ready sooner than usual as a way to take my mind off Adam—which obviously did a lot of good. I take one more glance in the mirror before I head to the door just as another round of knocks sounds.
“Jesus, needy much?” I mumble under my breath, then call out, “Coming!”
I pull open the door, only it’s not Brent who greets me, but my brother Tanner. And he’s got one hell of a scowl on his face.
“What the fuck, Paige? You just open your door to anyone? What would you have done if I was some stalker who shoved his way into your place?” he asks…as he shoves his way into my place.
“My knee would shove its way into his balls.” I shut the door behind me and follow him into the kitchen where he sets down a grease-stained paper bag, presumably
filled with take-out. “Uh, not that I don’t love you, but what are you doing here?”
“You. Me. Burgers. A few episodes of CSI. You still have that beer I like, right?” He doesn’t wait for me to answer before he goes to the fridge and peers inside. He scowls at me. “You don’t have any left.” That scowl turns into bewilderment as he looks at me, his brows pinching together as if he’s seeing me for the first time tonight. “You look like a girl. What’s up with that?”
I scoff and roll my eyes. “I am a girl, douchenozzle.”
“No, you’re not. You’re Paige. And she certainly doesn’t wear”—he straightens to his full height and gestures to everything from my tousled hair to my skintight dress to my heels that could kill someone—“all this. Seriously, what’s up?”
“I don’t know, idiot. What does it look like? Single girl, dressed up… You seriously can’t be this dumb.”
“You…you have a date?”
“Why do you say it like it’s the most preposterous thing in the world?” I grab his arm and tug him toward the front door, snatching up his bag o’ grease along the way.
He studies me with narrowed eyes. “This your first date, then?”
Snorting, I work harder to pull him toward the door. “Uh huh. First one. Twenty-three and never been kissed. You got it, now for the love of Ryan Gosling, will you leave? Holy crap, man. We can watch CSI tomorrow. I’ll even buy dinner, okay?”
“Fine, fine,” he grumbles and snatches the bag out of my hand. “I got you extra onion rings, I’ll have you know. And now I’m going to eat them. All of them.”
Shaking my head, I roll my eyes when he turns his back to me and opens the door…just as Brent’s fist is raised to knock. My date for the evening looks momentarily shell-shocked at seeing a dude come out of my apartment, but I paste on an overly bright smile and hope to distract him.
“Brent, hi! I’m all set, just need to grab my purse.” I shove my brother in the shoulder harder than absolutely necessary while he tries to intimidate Brent with his glare, and it appears to be working. I’m just lucky Tanner’s not wearing his gun, or Brent might actually pee himself. “He was just leaving.”
Paige in Progress (Reluctant Hearts #3) Page 5