Don't Go There (Awkward Love Book 5)

by Missy Johnson

  And now he’s here.

  The question I can’t answer is why.

  His lopsided grin sends shivers down my spine, as does the intensity in his stare. I feel naked, the way he’s looking at me, to the point where I look down to make sure I’m wearing clothes.

  I shift my gaze off him, feeling exposed and vulnerable. There’s no doubt about it. He’s definitely still the same arrogant asshole who made my childhood hell. The only positive I have to cling to right now is that she sent that video to me and not Julian. If Adam had seen it…God, I would die. I stiffen when a thought hits me.

  What if he saw the live version?

  No. He must have seen us when we were checking in, or when we were walking around. We haven’t exactly been discreet. Julian must have sent him to get rid of Lily. I take a deep breath. Yes. That has to be it.

  He clears his throat, jolting me out of my thoughts, his electric eyes burning through mine. I can’t stop leering at those muscles, and the way his tattoos curl around his biceps …

  I thought for sure the beer gut and receding hairline would’ve come with age, but no such luck.

  “Can I help you with something?” I finally say.

  God knows how long I’ve been standing there, gaping at him, like a tool. I stare at him coolly, trying to hide how unnerved I am at seeing him.

  “You can start by explaining what you’re doing here,” he says.

  “Not that it’s any of your business, but we’re having a girl’s weekend,” I retort.

  “Ah, so it’s just a coincidence that you turn up at the same hotel in Las Vegas, on the same weekend as Julian’s wedding?”

  I think about lying, but then decide to own it, so I cross my arms over my chest and shrug, looking him straight in the eye, keeping my expression hard.

  “No.” I shrug and raise an eyebrow. “We knew. So, what?”

  “And you still thought her being here was a good idea?” he says, shaking his head. “Darcy, I can understand, but I thought you were supposed to be the smart one.”

  “Hey,” Darcy growls, appearing behind me in the doorway. Her expression changes when she sees him. “Hey there, Adam. Long time no see,” she murmurs, twirling a lock of hair around her finger.

  I stifle a laugh and push her out of the way. If only she had a mirror, because she looks like raccoon roadkill a week after it was struck.

  “Lily would have come, whether I did or not,” I retort. “I thought I could stop her from doing something stupid if I were here.”

  “Get your things together,” he sighs. “All three of you. We’re leaving now. I’ll drive you home.”

  “Excuse me?” I laugh. “Besides the fact that I’m not going anywhere with you, it’s a seventeen-hour car trip back to Seattle. Why the hell wouldn’t we fly?”

  “I’ll come,” Darcy says, nearly falling over herself. She smiles at him. “You can drive me wherever the hell you—”

  “Darcy,” I snap.

  “Sorry,” she mutters.

  She makes a face and backs off, sitting her ass down on the bed. I sigh and turn back to Adam, who is leaning casually against the doorframe, that smirk still poised on his lips.

  “You want a better reason to leave? Fine. I’ll give you one,” he says. “Lola, Julian’s fiancée? Her father is concerned Lily is going to ruin the wedding. He’ll do anything to stop that from happening.”

  “Well you can tell him he has nothing to worry about, because Lily has promised to be on her best behavior. I speak for all three of us when I say”—I put my hand up when Darcy opens her mouth—“we’re not going with you,” I say sweetly. “And you can’t make us.”

  “Can’t I?” he says, the edges of his lips lifting into a tiny smirk.

  I shiver at the thought of him making me do anything, which quickly fills my mind with dirty, sexy thoughts I should definitely not be thinking. My entire body shakes, but I keep looking him in the eye.

  “Maybe I didn’t make myself clear enough for you to understand.” He presses his lips together as he smiles at me. “Does the name Alberto Domenicov mean anything to you?”

  “Sure, he’s one of the biggest crime lords in the …” I swallow. Oh shit. “That’s Lola’s father,” I mumble.

  “Yeah.” Adam chuckles and rubs his jaw. “That’s him. So, do you want to help me get Lily away from here or wait until he does things his way?”

  “I knew it!” Lily gasps.

  “You knew what?” I say, irritability creeping into my voice.

  “I knew that bitch was no good for him.”

  “Actually, Lola’s not so bad.” He grins. “It’s her family you need to worry about.”

  “How do you know so much about this, anyway?” I demand.

  “I know because I’m Alberto’s right-hand man.” His dark eyes sparkle as he leans closer, lowering his voice to a whisper. “Who do you think hides the bodies for him?”

  Of course.

  I laugh, because after being expelled from high school and shipped off to boot camp, where else could he go but into organized crime? I exchange a look with Darcy, who shrugs, then I turn back to Adam.

  “This criminal thing you’ve got going on doesn’t shock me at all.” I smile at him and narrow my eyes. “I guess when you’ve got talent, you roll with it, huh?”

  “It’s more of an art, than a talent, but thanks for acknowledging it,” he says. He glances at his phone. “Ten minutes and I’ll be back. Got it?”

  His story has instilled enough doubt in me that I’m not brave enough to keep arguing with him. Besides, he’s right; Lily can’t be here. As much as I want to believe Darcy and I can handle her, after last night, I’m not so sure.

  “Fine,” I say, gritting my teeth.

  “Good.”

  He gives me a satisfied nod as he walks away, the swagger in his step drawing my gaze directly to his ass. I’m still admiring it when he glances back over his shoulder, catching me in the act. He grins as my eyes dart to his face. I flush when they lock on his.

  “Katie?”

  “What?” I snap.

  “I almost forgot. Can you thank Lily for the video for me? She’s right. I’ve definitely been missing …” He pauses rub his jaw, then he smirks at me. “Something.”

  Oh, God, no. Please, no.

  I press my back against the door, frozen to the spot, as he turns around and saunters off down the hallway, chuckling to himself. I can’t breathe. Or move. Or do anything other than will myself not to cry. My hands shake as I force myself to walk back inside the room and slam the door shut. My heart pumps wildly in my chest, like it’s about to explode. Darcy puts her hand on my shoulder, but I’m too busy glaring at Lily to acknowledge her.

  “Hey, are you okay? I know it was a shock seeing him—”

  “He saw it.” I interrupt Darcy.

  Her eyes widen. “He was there?” she hisses.

  “No. He told me to thank Lily for the video.” I snap my head up and narrow my eyes at Lily. “Want to explain what the fuck he meant by that?” I hiss.

  Lily lets out a strangled sob.

  “You sent it to him?” I gasp, glaring at her accusingly. “How do you even have his number?”

  My heart stops again as another realization hits me.

  If Adam and I both got that text … who else did?

  “I don’t have his number,” Lily whispers. “He must’ve had Julian’s phone.” She pauses. “Or Craig’s. Or maybe Andrew’s …”

  “Jesus, how many people did you send this to?” I screech.

  She looks down at her fumbling hands.

  “Lily?” I demand, my body shaking with anger.

  “My entire contact list,” she croaks, her voice so low I can barely hear her. “I know this looks bad, Katie, but I swear I didn’t send it to him on purpose.”

  “Your entire …” I gasp, ignoring Darcy’s snort. The magnitude of what Lily is saying hit me. “So, your brother … God, your parents?”

  “Every
one, Katie. Even our grandma,” Lily wails. She covers her face with her hands again. “God, even the pediatrician who delivered me. I’m so embarrassed.”

  I laugh. She’s embarrassed? What about how I’m feeling?

  “Shit.” Darcy chuckles gleefully. “Didn’t I tell you she was a shithead? God, I’d be mortified. Everyone else I could handle, but the fact that Adam saw it? I’d kill myself—”

  “Not helping, Darcy,” I snap.

  I sit down on the bed. I feel numb, until I remember he’ll be back soon.

  I have to get out of here.

  Even if it’s only for a minute, I need to get out of this room and clear my head.

  “Stay here and keep an eye on Lily.” I snap at Darcy as I walk over to the door. “I’ll get our things from our room.”

  I stalk down the hallway, alternating between intense surges of anger and spontaneous fits of laughter. To anyone passing, I must look crazy, but I don’t care. Not only did he see that video, I have to sit in his car for seventeen fucking hours and pretend I’m fine? I laugh, because this is ridiculous. There’s no going lower than this.

  I’ve hit rock bottom and landed hard on my ass.

  Chapter Six

  Adam

  “Hold up, you’re driving back home now?”

  I stare at Julian as the words explode out of his mouth. You’d think I’d just told him I was riding a unicycle back home to visit my sick donkey. This is why I didn’t tell him about Lily. I can only imagine his reaction to that.

  “Yes.”

  Visiting Mom was the only thing I could think of that I knew he wouldn’t try to talk me out of. Because family always comes first. I feel bad about using Mom as an excuse, but I’ve spent three years building up my relationship with Alberto. I can’t risk Lily, Darcy or Katie messing everything up.

  “But why the fuck are you going to drive?” Julian rants. “You’re going to miss the wedding. Why not fly back?”

  “If I leave now,” I say. “I’ll have plenty of time. It’s only seventeen hours each way. At worst, I’ll be back Saturday night.”

  “Fucking great, you’ll have a few spare hours up your sleeve,” he mutters. “Why don’t you book in a winery tour or a cheese tasting—”

  “Julian, it’s my mom.”

  He sighs and glares at me. “Fine. Just make sure you’re back in time, or I’ll kill you.”

  “I will be,” I assure him.

  “And say hi to your mom for me,” he grumbles. “I’m sorry she’s not well.”

  “I better get going,” I tell him, ignoring the twinge of guilt his comment causes. “Hey, can I take your car? I don’t want Alberto to know I’m going.”

  “You haven’t told him?” he asks, surprised.

  “I figure I’ll be back before he notices I’m gone.” I shrug. “If I’m not, just tell him you sent me off to do wedding things.”

  “Wedding things?” he repeats.

  “Tell him I’m choosing your wedding night lingerie.” I grin at him. “Racy, lacy and revealing, right? What size are you again?”

  “You’re a fucking comedian,” he mutters.

  The moment he turns around to fetch his keys, I take his phone out of my pocket and slide it onto the table. Just as I’m moving my arm back into place, he turns around, so I awkwardly step forward and hug him.

  He stiffens, surprised by my sudden intimate gesture, but then hugs me back. I can think of only two or three occasions in the course of our entire friendship where we’ve hugged like this, but what the hell. The guy is getting married and there’s a chance I won’t be back in time to see it.

  “See you soon,” I say.

  I step into the elevator and look up, my lips lifting into a smirk when I see Katie. She frowns and stares down at the floor. Anything to avoid looking at me. An awkward silence fills the air as we both just stand there. Well, it’s awkward for her.

  “I wanted to ask you something…are there more?”

  “More what?” She asks, confused.

  “Songs,” I explain patiently. “I thought your songs could be on our playlist.”

  She glares at the numbers on the control panel, not acknowledging me at all.

  “If you’re trying to work out how to stop this thing, it’s that button right there.” I reach forward, but her hand shoots out and grabs my wrist. She swings me around, narrowing her eyes at me.

  “Don’t you dare.”

  I raise my eyebrows. “Aggressive. I like it.”

  “Let’s get something clear,” she says. “Just because I agree with you, doesn’t mean I have to enjoy it—”

  “You’d be shocked how many women have said that to me,” I cut in, winking at her.

  “Don’t talk to me,” she mutters, pushing past me as the doors open.

  “Come on, Katie,” I say, following her down the hallway. “I was trying to lighten things up.”

  “There you are.” Darcy runs up to Katie and takes her hand. “She’s gone.”

  “Who’s gone?” Katie frowns. “Lily?”

  “What?” I snap, joining them. “Gone where?”

  “I’m sorry,” Darcy whispers. “She snuck out. She was in the bathroom and I went outside to make a phone call …” Her voice trails off. “I came back and she was gone.”

  “You left her alone?” Katie frowns.

  “You left her alone with Darcy?” I growl at Katie.

  “Hey, you don’t have to make it sound like I’m incompetent,” Darcy snaps.

  “Really?” I laugh. “If you’re not incompetent, then where is she?”

  “Hey, calm down,” Katie steps between us. She glares at me. “Leave Darcy alone. If you were that worried about losing Lily, then you should have taken her with you in the first place.”

  That would’ve been fun explaining to Julian.

  “Fine.” I sigh. “Any ideas on where she might’ve gone?”

  “No,” Katie says. “Other than to try and find Julian?”

  “He’d call me if she went there,” I say, not convinced.

  “You don’t think she’d do anything stupid, do you?” Katie asks anxiously.

  “You mean like fly halfway across the country to crash her ex boyfriend’s wedding?” Darcy quips. “No. Not Lily.”

  “There’s no need to be sarcastic,” Katie mutters. “Lily’s not spiteful, she’s just—”

  “Stupid?” Darcy supplies. Her eyes sparkle. “Why are you defending her after she sent …” Darcy freezes and stares at Katie, who looks like she wants to throttle her. “That thing to that other person …” she murmurs through her half-closed mouth.

  I chuckle, disguising it as a cough when Katie shifts her glare to me.

  “It’ll be fine, okay?” I soften my tone. “She couldn’t have gone very far.”

  Katie closes her eyes and leans against the wall, swaying forward, like she’s having trouble keeping her balance. That means she’s either still hungover, or she’s really fucking tired. Her eyes fly open and narrow when they catch me looking at her.

  “I never should’ve agreed to come,” she mutters.

  “Oh, come on. And I shouldn’t have suggested we go out, and you shouldn’t have written that song when you were fourteen and Lily shouldn’t have sent it to her entire contact list.” Darcy shrugs. “There are a thousand variables that could’ve stopped this from happening. But maybe the alternative is worse?”

  I grin at the mention of the song and glance at Katie, who has turned bright red.

  “She’s right,” I say to her. “Don’t beat yourself up over this. Shit happens. You can’t change it, so you deal with it and move on.”

  She looks at me, as if she’s waiting for the snide remark, but I don’t have one.

  “Is Lola’s family really that bad?” she asks quietly.

  “Yes,” I say simply. “They’re definitely people you don’t want to mess with.”

  It’s the most honest thing I’ve said in months.

  Lying has bec
ome second nature for me, to the point where it feels strange to tell the truth. I hate keeping things from the people close to me, but I find myself doing it more and more. I know it’ll be worth it in the end, but the end feels so far away. And is it worth it if the people I care about are going to hate me for lying to them?

  Not only that, it’s fucking hard work keeping up with all the lies. I’ve told so many different things to so many people, it’s a wonder it hasn’t backfired on me. I really shouldn’t jinx myself, because there’s still time for me to fuck things up. Especially with these three on my hands.

  “But Alberto … he wouldn’t hurt her, would he?” Darcy asks.

  “I don’t know,” I admit.

  Katie shakes her head. “I can’t imagine Julian getting mixed up in that kind of life.” She narrows her eyes at me. “You, on the other hand, this has Adam Jenkins written all over it.”

  “Harsh.” I smirk. “Wait, was that an insult or a compliment?”

  “Only you would have trouble discerning that.” Darcy chuckles, flashing him a smile. The she frowns. “Should we be, uh, looking for Lily or something? You know, just an idea.”

  “Darcy’s right. But where do we even start?” Katie frowns.

  “We start by thinking like Lily,” I say after a moment.

  “That sounds dangerous,” Darcy mutters. “Can’t I just do what anyone else would do and look through her phone?”

  Katie and I glare at Darcy when she holds up Lily’s phone.

  “Are you kidding me?” I growl angrily at her. “Why the fuck would you wait until now to mention you have her phone?”

  “Sorry, I was distracted,” she says defensively.

  Katie’s eyes meet mine. She shakes her head and turns around, pacing back and forth around us while Darcy goes through her phone. I’m just about to yell at Darcy to hurry up, when Katie’s head snaps up. She stares at me with wide eyes.

  “I think I know where she is,” Katie says excitedly.

  I control my expression, but inside, I’m relieved as fuck.

  I nod. “Then let’s go.”

  I’ve never been so happy to find someone completely trashing a chapel.