Adam, Enough Said (This Can't be Happening) (14 page)

I would give her time. I messed up and I needed to apologize, but
I knew I needed to give her time.

Tomorrow.

After training at the academy, I’d come back and find her. I’d sit outside the building and wait for her to come out if I had to. If she doesn’t come out tomorrow then I’d come back the next day…and the day after that until I saw her again.

With that decided, I
turned, got back in the truck and drove home.

“Hello,” I answered groggily when I saw “Mom” flash across the window of my cell.

“Hey,
Honey, were you asleep?” she asked and I glanced at the wall. Four o’clock. Shit, I slept three hours. I wondered if Mia fell asleep too… with the blonde.

I groaned at the thought.

“Yeah, but I need to get up and get things ready for tomorrow. How are you feeling?” A routine question to my mom, especially since her sugar levels had been acting up again.

“I’m fine,
Son, please stop worrying,” she begged softly.

“That’s kinda hard,
Ma. The last time you called and said you were fine, I got a call from Renee an hour later letting me know she was taking you to the hospital.”

She
released a loud and drawn out sigh. “I was fine then and didn’t need to go to the hospital either. I just needed some insulin…that woman makes such a big deal out of everything,” Mom muttered, and I smiled immediately. Yeah, all Mom’s friends made a big deal out of everything, but to me, that was a good thing. It kept Mom’s time occupied and it kept her mind on better things than her Diabetes.

Plus,
I liked Renee. She had taken over driving Mom to the dialysis center the day I’d left for college. Without her, I never would have been able to drive all the way back to Clear Lake and study at U of H downtown.

“Speaking of Renee, that’s why I’
m calling,” Mom said.

Ah hell…

“So, I just got off the phone with Gloria, and she told me she was out shopping with Renee, who told her that she was with Jennifer this morning, and that Jennifer told Renee she saw you.”

I had to replay that over in my head a few times to make heads or tails out of who said what.
“Okay, and?”

“Well, Gloria told me that Renee said that Jennifer told her that she saw you downtown?”
she answered with something that sounded a lot like a question and it was filled with suspicion. I figured I was missing something here.

“Yeah, I was downtown, Ma. What are you trying to ask me?”

“Jennifer said you were with a girl.”

Jesus those women are nosey.

And what are the odds that out of all the women I’ve been with, the one they saw me with was Mia?

“Yeah, Ma, I was with a girl. I was dropping her off.”

“Oh,” she said and then she got quiet for a minute to let that process. I heard the phone shift before she started again. “Ummm…Honey, why were you dropping her off at the women’s shelter?”

The what?

“I was dropping her off at a friend’s apart…” My sentence trailed off and heat filled my veins when I remembered watching Mia run across the street.

I jerked upright on the couch
.

No
.

She
’d lied? Why would she have lied?

Shit!

Had she only said she was staying with a friend because she was embarrassed? My heart started pounding harder and harder in my chest as the truth was sinking in. Son of a bitch, I was an idiot! And I’d been such an asshole to her.

“Adam?” Mom said in my ear and I jumped off the couch.

“Ma, you’re my heart, you know that, but I gotta go. I think I just did something really fucked up.”

“Language!” she snapped.

I groaned. “Sorry. I’ll call you when I get back, all right?” I asked as I snatched my keys off the counter and headed for the door.

“Okay, but I want to meet her.”

I sighed, closed the door behind me and jogged down the steps.
“If I can convince her I’m not a total asshole, then you’ll meet her.”

“Adam, you really need to watch your language. She’s going to think you’re an asshole if you talk to her with such foul language.”

Yeah right. Ma was only saying that because she hadn’t heard Mia’s equally foul mouth.

I snorted. “Ma,
you
just said ‘asshole’.”

“I know, but I’m a mother, I can say whatever the hell I want.”

I laughed as I made it to my truck, jumped inside, started it and reversed. “Ma, I’m driving now. I’ll call you later.”

“Okay,
Honey, be careful. I love you.”

“You’re my heart, Ma.”

“Bye, bye, Honey.”

“Bye, Ma.”

I flipped my phone shut.

It took twenty agonizing minutes to get to the shelter
, and by the time I walked in the front door, I was shaking with frustration.

“Can I help you?” a lady, maybe early sixties, asked when she caught sight of me.

“Yes, I’m looking for a girl that came in about three hours ago. Her name is Mia.
Red hair, about this tall.” I held my hand up to my chest to describe Mia’s height. The lady’s eyebrows rose as a small smile played on her lips.

“I’m pretty sure Mia isn’t a child,” she said through a chuckle as her eyes glanced at my hand. I dropped it.

“Well, she’s little,” I muttered. “Do you know her?”

The lady nodded
and said, "I know her, but I'm sorry, I can't tell you if she's here or not. We're not allowed to give out information on any of the women staying here,
if
they're staying here."

I closed my eyes and rubbed a hand over my head and down my face.
I had to see her and I knew she was here.

"Please don't make me wait here until she comes out
, because I will. I know she's here, I dropped her off earlier. I just need to talk to her," I practically begged.

The lady
stared at me for what felt like an eternity, until, finally, she sighed, walked around the counter she'd been standing behind, and walked away without a word.

I followed.

We walked down a wide hallway, passed a few office doors and then a glass window. I looked inside and stopped dead in my tracks. There she was. Mia sitting in a room filled with other women, her arm was resting on the back of the chair next to her and her head was in her hand, eyes closed.

My
chest compressed painfully at the sight.

“What’s she doing in there?”
I demanded to know, and I couldn't hide the disgust in my tone. I was disgusted with myself for being such an immature asshole.

The lady gasped and I faced her just as she
spun around and breathed, "Oh my goodness you scared the bejesus out of me. You're not supposed to be back here."

"I'm sorry, but what's she doing in there?" I repeated
my question, this time in a mere whisper. I watched as the lady's expression grew soft and her body visibly calmed.

“
She’s waiting to see a social worker so she can get a room, but she probably won’t get one until tomorrow. She’ll have to sleep on one of the cots in the main room until then.”

I closed my eyes
, sickened by the image.

As far as I was concerned,
Mia wasn’t going to be seeing this place again, much less sleeping on a fuckin' cot.

Mia
Dayes

“Mia Dayes,” I heard my name called out and I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking four hours was the quickest I’d ever been called. I sat up and saw Mrs. Hutchins standing in the doorway, so I stood up, grabbed my suitcases and headed toward her.

I smiled
. “Well that was fast.”

She smiled back. “Sorry, Mia, it’s not for a room. There’s
actually someone here to see you.”

I frowned. I hadn’t
been able to get hold of Eric, so nobody knew where I was. I walked out of the doorway, turned the corner and saw him.

I froze.

I was tired, I was hungry, and the way he was looking at me made me want to cry.

He came back
.

He looked beautiful standing there
, tall and broad, handsome and masculine, his green eyes glowing with knowledge and curiosity…maybe even pity, but he still took my breath away. His stance owned the room, and his body radiated strength and control. I was positive he’d charmed Mrs. Hutchins off her feet.

However, he’d hurt me. He’d kissed me and then said it was a mistake. I’d already known I’d never had a chance with someone like him, but he’d jumped to conclusions about me, about
Eric, and he’d hurt me.

And I was so damn tired of being hurt.

I walked to him and sat my suitcases at my feet. You couldn’t let your possessions out of your sight in a place like this or else they’d disappear.

“What are you doing here, Adam?” I asked softly as I looked up at him.

“I want you to come home with me,” he said softly.

My brows met, I opened my mouth, closed it, opened it and closed it again before
whispering, “What?”

“
You heard me, Mia. Had I known I’d dropped you off at a shelter, I would've come sooner. In fact, I never would have let you out of the goddamn truck.”

I raised a brow at the bold statement
. “Well, I seem to remember you practically kicking me out of your truck.” I shrugged and his expression changed from frustration to fury.

“You told me you were staying with another guy. It pissed me off,” he admitted.

“No!” I said sarcastically. “I’m not stupid, Adam. If you would have let me speak while we were having this conversation earlier, I would have told you that Eric is my best friend… my
gay
best friend. We grew up together in the system and he’s like my big brother.”

“But you still lied about staying with him and I didn’t like it
...I was jealous,” he muttered the last part and my eyes widened. He was jealous?

“Why would you be jealous? You don’t even know me,” I whispered.

“I don’t know, Freckles.” He sighed. “I’ve been asking myself that same question.”

We both stood
there staring at each other, saying nothing.

Stalemate.

Then, Adam took a step toward me and I inhaled a sharp breath. He lifted his hands and framed my face, letting his thumbs caress my cheeks.

“What do you want from me?” I
asked on an exhale.

“Stay with me,
” he rumbled low and deep. “I won’t touch you unless you want me to --”

“You’re touching me now,” I pointed out and he grinned. I rolled my eyes and sighed. He was trouble with a capitol T, font size one hundred,
italicized, bolded and underlined.

“Okay, after this. If you stay with me, I won’t touch you unless you ask me to. I’m starting the academy tomorrow and won’t be home during most of the day. I’m not sure what you
r schedule at the university is, and I know you said you work, so you can stay at my place as long as you need to. I’ll give you a key so you can come and go as you please. If you find an apartment later and want to move out, that’s up to you, but at least stay with me in the meantime.”

“I don’t need pity, Adam. I manage well on my own,” I said, not feeling insulted, nor trying to insult him
, just stating a fact.

“It’s not fuckin’ pity, Mia. I like you and I’m asking you
to stay with me,” he growled.

It was pity and I knew it, but oddly, he made me feel wanted.
The offer sounded better than I could have imagined, but I also knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. Honestly, I couldn’t even believe I was considering it.

I didn’t know him, but I had nothing to lose…except my virginity, but
I wasn’t easy and he’d already been with Missy, which meant he liked his women easy. So, he’d be dating…would he bring women home with him? Would I be able to handle it if he did?

My heart sank at the thought.

“Me staying with you might mess up your playboy status,” I informed him. “Will you at least warn me before you bring a woman home with you?”

His eyes narrowed dangerously and he growled, “I wouldn’t do that to you
while you’re in my place.”

I didn’t let my flinch show. He wouldn’t do anything while I was there, but he would when I wasn’t?

I hoped not. I kinda liked him, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up.

“If I agree, will
you at least promise to warn me?”

It was his turn to roll his eyes. “I promise.”

“And I’ll give you some money for rent,” I added and his hands fell away to his sides.