Trashy

by Cambria Hebert

  “Harlow said he threatened you.”

  Gee, thanks, Harlow, I thought. But I guess I understood because if I were worried about her, I’d go straight to Cam.

  “He owes money to some people. It’s how he paid for that car and who knows what else?” I explained. “He wants me to help him repay his debt.”

  “You’re not a fucking ATM!” Adam roared and punched the air.

  Without thinking about it, I shrank back against the glass. I hated myself for doing that. I knew, knew Adam wouldn’t hurt me. But I couldn’t stop the almost reflex of reacting that way when a man started yelling and throwing his arm around.

  Unfortunately, even in his anger, Adam noted my reaction.

  It made me feel ashamed.

  “Aww, Rox.” All the anger drained away and his voice quieted to almost a whisper. “I didn’t mean to yell, sweetheart.”

  “I know,” I said, still watching him through wary eyes.

  “I swear to God I would cut off my arm before I ever hurt you.”

  “I know,” I said again.

  He cursed beneath his breath.

  He took a tentative step toward me. When I didn’t try to stop him, he took another. “I’m sorry,” he murmured, reaching out. I put my hand in his.

  Gently, he tugged me away from the window and into the solid wall of his chest. His palm came up to cup the back of my head, and I closed my eyes.

  “I hate that guy,” he said, making my chest tighten. “I can’t stand the things he’s done to you.”

  That made two of us.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.

  “What good would it have done?” I replied. “I thought he would get tired of following me around and stop.”

  “But he hasn’t.”

  “No,” I said, my voice cracking. “And now I’ve dragged you into this mess. My mess.”

  “You can’t drag a man who was already running in your direction,” he drawled.

  I squeezed my eyes closed. “That man wasn’t after me today, Adam. I was in your car. Once he saw it was me behind the wheel, he left.”

  “Some lowlife with a gun doesn’t scare me.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know you were bulletproof,” I said, pulling back to look at him. This wasn’t a joke. I needed to make him understand that.

  “Nothing is going to happen to me,” he vowed.

  Emotion rose up within me, causing tears to form in my eyes. “If I had stayed with him, you wouldn’t be in danger.”

  Adam gripped me by the shoulders. “Don’t ever say that again. I’d take ten bullets. Hell, I’d die before I let you go back to him.”

  “I don’t want you to die,” I whispered.

  “I’m not going anywhere. I have too much to live for.” He stroked my cheek.

  “Make love to me.” I was tired of talking. Tired of being scared. I wanted to feel something more. I wanted to feel him.

  Adam swept me up into his arms and carried me into the dark bedroom. He didn’t bother with the lights, but it was okay because we didn’t need to see. Everything we did was done by touch.

  And for a little while, I forgot everything outside of this room.

  But I knew, deep down, when the sun came up, there would be no forgetting.

  30

  Adam

  The higher the sun rose in the sky, the more I began to realize we should have spent more time talking last night and less in bed.

  But when she looked up at me with tear-filled violet eyes and asked me to make love to her, I was fucking lost. There was no way in hell I could deny her anything.

  Watching her flinch away with my outburst was probably one of the worst feelings I’d ever had. And that’s saying a lot considering the number of wives I’ve had. I never wanted to be someone she ever had to think twice about. I never wanted her to wonder about her safety or my intentions toward her.

  Of course, she had yet to actually tell me she was mine. She’d yet to tell me she loved me, even though I whispered it to her all night long.

  We were still lying in bed, the sheets tangled around our legs as I lightly drew my fingers up and down her back. She wasn’t a morning person; I’d known this about her for a long time. But I knew she was awake. I knew her brain was working overtime, and I felt the tension in her limbs.

  “There’s a present in the kitchen for you,” I said.

  Her head popped up and she gazed down at me in surprise. “What kind of present?”

  “You’ll have to go look and see.” The excitement in her eyes and the way they twinkled made me wish I’d bought her something more.

  For not being a morning person, she sure bounded out of the bed awfully fast. One of my T-shirts was draped across the dresser and she snagged it on her way out the door and pulled it over her head.

  Amused, I followed her into the kitchen where her present was sitting with a big red bow on the top. Roxie saw it and squealed, running over to the box like it was a bag of money.

  “I’ve always wanted one of these!” she exclaimed, literally hugging the box to her chest. She pulled the bow off the top and stuck it to the counter and began ripping open the box.

  I laughed and stepped forward to help her. “You’re torturing the box.”

  “Nothing stands between a girl and her coffee,” she quipped.

  I shook my head, loving the fact that whatever seemed to be weighing on her in bed wasn’t as important as this Keurig.

  “Do you know how to work this thing?” I asked as I slid the large black machine out and onto the counter.

  She looked at me like I had four heads and began pulling off all the wrapping and prepping it to make coffee. She sure worked like she knew what she was doing, so I stood back and enjoyed the show.

  In no time, she commandeered a spot on the counter, plugged it in, and had the water reservoir filled with filtered water from the fridge. She was so happy with this simple gift that it made me love her more.

  Christmas this year was going to be fucking epic.

  Suddenly, she gasped and spun around. “I need K-cups!” she went back to the box and started sifting through the packaging.

  I laughed and opened up a nearby cupboard. She didn’t even pay attention. I cleared my throat and she glanced up. A smile broke out over her face as she studied the several boxes of K-cups I’d stocked up on. “I didn’t know what kind so I just got a bunch.”

  She leapt at me, throwing herself into my arms and planting kisses over my face. Before I could turn it into a steamy make-out session, she was gone again, and the rich scent of coffee filled the kitchen.

  She filled two mugs expertly and reached for the fridge. “Please tell me you have milk.”

  I snagged the coffee closest to me off the counter and sipped the black brew while hiding a smile. She gasped again when she saw the neat row of creamer filling the top shelf.

  “I didn’t know what kind you liked…” I began, but she finished for me.

  “So you just got a bunch.”

  I nodded, but she wasn’t paying attention to me. She went for the mocha creamer, and I made a note in my brain that was probably her favorite. After she added a generous amount to the cup, she leaned against the counter, cupped the steaming mug in both hands, and took a sip.

  Her eyes slid closed and she moaned in her throat. My cock stirred in my boxers.

  “Your coffee maker is better than mine,” she said, taking another sip.

  “Guess you’ll just have to stay here lots.”

  That didn’t elicit the desired effect. In fact, it seemed to drop a dark, rainy cloud over her previously sunny disposition.

  “Thank you,” she said, ignoring my comment and closing the space between us to lean up and kiss me fully on the lips. When she pulled back, she glanced at the clock.

  “Wanna go down on the beach?” I asked her.

  I saw the desire in her eyes, but after a second, she shook her head. “Can we stay inside?”

  “Coffee in bed?�
�� I asked, arching an eyebrow.

  In the bedroom, we opened the curtains so we could stare at the view.

  But Roxie didn’t seem to notice. She was growing more agitated by the second it seemed.

  Antsy.

  Yeah, that’s how she was behaving. And her eyes kept sliding to the clock.

  “Do you need to be somewhere?” I asked, draining what was left of my coffee and setting the mug on the nearby table.

  “No,” she answered but didn’t offer any kind of explanation for her behavior.

  A few more minutes of her growing even more distant and I’d had enough. “Rox, what’s going on? Is there something you haven’t told me?”

  “I don’t want to tell you,” she said.

  I knew then it was bad. I tried to steel myself for whatever it was, but how did you prepare for the unknown?

  “That probably means you need to tell me right now.”

  She gave me a look like she had a bad taste in her mouth. A few beats of silence followed, but then she sighed. “Remember how I told you Craig wanted me to help him pay back the money he owes?”

  I nodded.

  “Well, he kind of had a specific idea on how to make it.” Her fingers were turning white around the mug because she gripped it so hard.

  “I’m assuming it’s a large chunk of money he owes if he’s driving that car around,” I muttered and scrubbed a hand over my face.

  “I’m sure,” she replied.

  “Sweetheart, you do know you are not responsible for him or the money he owes, right?” It occurred to me while this was blindingly clear to me, maybe she still felt some kind of responsibility toward him.

  “I know,” she whispered.

  “So you told him no?”

  She nodded. “Of course I did.”

  “And that’s when he threatened you,” I surmised, hating this guy more and more by the second.

  Her eyes filled with tears and she set her coffee aside to twist her hands in her lap. When she lifted her jewel-like eyes at me, they were filled with despair. “He threatened you, Adam. He sent someone after you with a gun. He knows I would never do what he wants if it was only my life he was threatening.”

  A really bad feeling crawled over me. It simmered just below my skin, and my jaw clenched. This guy owed a lot of money, and he wanted Roxie to do something to help repay it.

  “What does he want you to do, Roxie?” I asked quietly.

  “He wants me to be in an adult film.” She spoke hesitantly and softly.

  She might well have been screaming because just the fucking idea of her screwing some guy on camera for money echoed so loudly through my body that I lost my hearing for several seconds.

  I saw her staring at me, saw her lips form my name.

  But I didn’t hear.

  I’d never in my entire life had the urge to kill someone like I did right then. Sure, I threatened to kill him in my head several times, but this… this time I had to physically stop myself from leaving the house and hunting him down.

  I felt Roxie’s hand on my forearm and I glanced down. Reality came rushing back, and I realized I wasn’t on the bed anymore. I wasn’t even in the bedroom. I was standing in the living room with my car keys in my palm.

  “Adam,” she pleaded, “where are you going?”

  “Nowhere,” I said, forcing the words past my lips. After a moment, I tossed the keys on the couch and sat down on the coffee table.

  Not only was that motherfucker trying to pimp Roxie out, but he was using me to do it. Part of me realized it said a lot about how Roxie felt about me if even her ex realized a threat to me would make her do what he wanted. But I couldn’t think about that now.

  “You aren’t considering this,” I said, hoarse.

  “I told you I said no.” She sat on the couch across from me. “I’m supposed to meet him today, this morning, at some address he gave me.”

  “Give me the address,” I said hard.

  “No.”

  I glanced up. “I’m not kidding.”

  “I’m not either.” Her jaw was set and her eyes were stone. “I’m not going and neither are you.”

  “You want me to just let him get away with this?”

  “I want you to just get away with me,” she whispered. “You already won, Adam. You have what he doesn’t. Me.”

  “Ah, sweetheart, having you isn’t a contest. You aren’t some pawn I can use to stick it to him. I love you.”

  “And I’m with you now.”

  It was the first time she really confirmed it. My heart skipped a beat. “You making it official?” I asked, the corner of my lip tilting up.

  She nodded. “But promise me you’ll stay away from him.”

  I felt my lips thin. How the hell was I supposed to promise that?

  “I mean it, Adam. I’m tired of him. I just want out. I want away from it all. I just want to be with you and not look over my shoulder. Don’t let my past get in the way of our future.”

  “I’ll stay away from him,” I swore, taking her hand. “But if he comes at me, I’m not making any promises.”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to.” Roxie sank her teeth into her bottom lip, looking worried. “I won’t show up today, and he’ll realize he can’t control me anymore. He’ll leave us alone then.”

  I switched onto the couch and pulled her into my arms, resting my chin on top of her head.

  I wondered if she really believed he was just going to go away.

  I didn’t think it was going to be that easy.

  31

  Roxie

  It had been a week since I didn’t show up to the address Craig gave me, and I had yet to see or hear from him.

  Part of me was shocked he’d given up so easily, and another part of me was just so incredibly relieved. I hoped he would give up. I thought he might, but deep down I was still terribly afraid he wouldn’t.

  Adam hadn’t seen him either. There had been no suspicious cars following us, no gun-waving strangers… no threats of any kind. Still, we were both cautious and watchful on a daily basis. When we weren’t at work, we spent a lot of time at his place. The gated property made me feel safe.

  Honoring my wishes, Harlow was staying at Cam’s. I missed our time together, the time we just hung out in the living room for girl talk, but I knew we’d have it again. Right now, being safe was the thing to do.

  I will admit after a week of nothing, I was starting to relax and feel better about things. Adam and I settled into a routine of sorts, but it wasn’t the kind of routine that made a person wake up in the morning and think “just another day.” No, this was the kind of routine—a kind of life—I prayed would last the rest of my life.

  I woke up every morning in his arms and went for a run on the beach with him. Well, he ran and I gasped for breath and stumbled around. He said I’d get better with time. I really didn’t care. I liked the view from behind him.

  Then we would shower. Long, lazy showers that always involved more than soap. We’d have coffee together and I’d make breakfast (Adam was a complete disaster in the kitchen), and we’d eat it on the small balcony and watch the waves. Of course, the majority of our days were spent at work. Adam was over at the Mad Hatter II and I was at the original club. Turns out I liked being a manager. And I didn’t miss dancing at all.

  Sometimes we’d get away for dinner or lunch, and every single night I spent wrapped up in his arms.

  I could honestly say I’d never been happier in my entire life.

  He was everything I ever wanted, but over the years I thought that was only a dream. It blew my mind the stark differences being with him compared to being with my ex.

  Of course, I knew time would be the real test. My relationship with Adam was just getting started, and I’d learned from bitter experience that things were always good in the beginning. Keeping what we had was going to be the hard part.

  I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit Adam’s past marriages made me nervous. Holding on to a r
elationship seemed hard for him. Both of us had histories to leave behind, and more than anything, I wanted a future with him.

  I loved him.

  I truly wondered if I would ever again be able to let someone in enough to love them. Yes, I’ve always had a soft spot for Adam, and maybe it was our long-standing friendship and work relationship that made it easier to take the plunge. It made it easier to admit to myself.

  How could I not love him?

  I still hadn’t told him. He never pushed. He never held back his own declaration of love. He just simply accepted me, simply loved me.

  I’d never been loved like this before.

  A secret smile played on my lips as I walked through the parking lot toward my Mazda. The air-conditioning worked better than ever, and it had new tires to boot.

  There was a cool breeze pulling through my straight hair today, the kind that reminded me it actually was fall. I loved days like these, such a welcome break from the heat.

  I was going to have to swing by my place later and get my boots. It was great weather for them with a pair of jeans. I climbed into the car, adjusting the loose top I was wearing over my low-cut jeans. The sting of pain was constant, but I ignored it.

  Adam was at work, and he thought I was too, so I pointed the car in the direction of the Mad Hatter. I had some paperwork and an order for some liquor to put in before we opened tonight. Harlow and Cam were both working tonight, and I wondered what Harlow would say when I told her where I was this afternoon.

  The inside of the club was quiet and still, but it didn’t scare me. Adam told me about the restraining order and how Craig wasn’t allowed even in the parking lot. Of course, the restraining order I filed a week ago (at Adam’s insistence) to keep Craig away from me pretty much protected me everywhere I went.

  But here at the club, I felt double protected.

  I turned on the lights out in the bar and grabbed a water from the cooler before heading into the office. I laid my cell phone on the corner of the desk and started pulling out paperwork and the order form for the supplier.

  I considered turning on the radio but decided to enjoy the quiet before the club opened and the place was filled with noise.