Believing Lies (24 page)

Chapter Nineteen

“I’m going to kick his ass,” Trenton snarled.

I pulled out of his arms and put a couple of steps between us. For the first time since the day at the beach, I was looking face-to-face with my ex-fiancé.

I let out a small huff. “No need. I took care of it.”

Trenton smiled proudly. “I saw. How’s your hand?”

My mouth dropped into a frown. “Now that you mention it, it really hurts.” It was absolutely throbbing.
Damn
.

“I’m sure. That was one hell of a slap.”

“Yeah, I suppose it was.” For some unexplainable reason, I wasn’t surprised or upset to see him at The Turning Point tonight. In a small way, I was glad. “You don’t normally come here,” I observed.

“No.” He paused. “I’m going to be honest. I came here hoping to run into you. I knew Conner worked here. I took a leap and hoped that if Conner was here, then Sophie would be here, and just maybe you’d be with her.” He gave me a warm smile. “I guess I was right.”

I scrunched my brow. “I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

Trenton rubbed the back of his neck for a moment. “Look, Baby, I’m ready to change. No, I have changed. I messed up, and I miss you. Please tell me you miss me too.”

He looked so sincere. It would be easy to just tell him I missed him and take him back. Maybe it was what I should do, but my heart disagreed. I hadn’t been missing him because I wasn’t in love with him anymore. Seeing Trenton only cemented what I’d been trying to push past. I loved the arrogant asshole who I had just slapped. In retrospect, it was a little funny that I slapped Adam for saying something that was the complete truth. But it was so crude and unexpected that the slap was warranted, and I would do it again.

Trenton was waiting for my answer. “I’m sorry. It just won’t work, but I do want us to be friends someday. Just not yet,” I said as gently as I could over the loud background noise.

The hurt I inflicted with my reply flashed across his features. “I’ll be your friend when you’re ready, but I’ll never be satisfied with only that.” He moved slightly closer to me. “I’ll wait for you to forgive me. I’ll wait for you to be mine again.”

“That’s NEVER going to happen,” Adam growled. I whipped around and saw Adam had approached us from the side.

Trying to diffuse whatever this was, I sternly said, “First of all, I can talk for myself. Secondly,—”

They ignored me, Trenton cutting me off, “That’s for her to decide. This is none of your business, so back the hell off.”

Adam’s chest was heaving. “That’s where you’re wrong. If it involves her, it’s my business. I’m not going anywhere. She’s with me now.”

Trenton looked at me accusatorily. “Tell me the truth, Sienna. Are you actually dating this asshole?”

I closed my eyes and exhaled before reopening them. “It’s complicated.”

Trenton looked as if I’d just hit him. “How is it complicated? It’s either yes or no.”

“No,” I clipped out.

“Yes,” Adam replied with finality. His response caused each conflicting emotion in me to crash together. Adam still hadn’t looked at me, not even once.

“Why’d she slap you then?” Trenton prodded, his voice turned to acid. “According to her, she’s not with you. So are you delusional or just a douchebag? My guess is both,” he said with a hint of triumph.

“I don’t need to explain anything to a fuck-face like you.” I could hear in Adam’s voice that his anger was surging. “But for the sake of getting it through your thick skull that she’s done with you, I will. She slapped me because I made a comment that she didn’t like,” he said pointedly. The tension and anger that had covered his face abruptly vanished and was replaced by a smartass smirk. “You obviously saw the slap, but did you catch the preshow?” he asked smugly, taking a step toward Trenton. “You know, the part with my tongue down her throat. That, I’m positive she did like.” He cocked his brow. “A lot.”

Trenton looked as if he was close to murder. Adam was walking a thin line as it was, but he took another step closer, until he was almost directly in Trenton’s face.

“Better back it up before I kick the shit out of you right here,” Trenton threatened.

“I’d like to see you try,” Adam taunted, poking Trenton once hard in his shoulder.

Trenton responded by pushing Adam’s chest. I could feel the testosterone flying in the air around them.

Adam shoved him back and said through clenched teeth, “She’s NOT yours anymore. She’ll NEVER be yours again. She’s MINE.”

“Oh my God!” I screamed, completely at my wits end. “This is just fucking great!” I managed to shove my hands between them. “Are you two done with your pissing contest yet?” I couldn’t believe this was happening. I’d stepped into an alternate universe—one where two drop-dead sexy guys were going all caveman, fighting over me.

I wedged myself between them further, and Adam finally looked at me. I mean
really
looked at me. Of course he’d known I was there the whole time, but he was looking at me as if I’d just shown up. His forehead creased as if he was worried. Before I could analyze any further, Conner was taking my place, breaking them apart. The bouncer was right behind him.

“That’s enough,” Conner stated with a strong, authoritative tone. “I’ll kick both of your asses out, and then you can beat each other on the sidewalk to your heart’s content. No more of this shit inside the bar.”

“It’s fine, Conner. I’m not going to do anything to him. He’s not worth my fucking time.” Adam seemed strangely calm. I was anything but. My heartbeat was racing so fast, I was sure to have a heart attack at any moment. I looked around the bar, trying to center myself. I froze when I saw that Sophie, Courtney, Cassie, and Zach were all standing there off to the side. Close by were Paul and Trenton’s other friend, Parker.
Had they all seen and heard everything?

Sometimes the right words aren’t there. Sometimes they are. I walked to Sophie and simply said, “Banana Hammock.”

She giggled. “One step ahead of you. We girls are going to wait outside. Conner’s going to make sure those two idiots don’t kill each other, and then he’s going to bring his truck around.”

I nodded. Sophie grabbed my hand and led me out of the bar. The humidity of the night air was as suffocating as inside. I took in my new surroundings and saw drunken people staggering around and smokers getting their nicotine fix.

I sat on the curb in a state of shock, the adrenaline slowly leaving my system. Sophie sat down and wrapped her arm around me. Courtney and Cassie stepped out of the front door a moment later and joined us.

“I’m sorry, Sienna,” Cassie squeaked out. “I don’t hit on guys that my friends are, like, interested in . . . I didn’t know.” Her apology was another thing to add to my long list of unexpected turns of events tonight.

“It’s fine. Like you said, you didn’t know.”

She gave me a feeble smile.

Courtney was leaning back, using her arms and hands to brace herself. “He loves you,” she said quietly, looking straight ahead at the cars passing by.

“Which one?” Cassie questioned.

“Both,” Courtney answered, “but I was talking about Adam.”

I shook my head. “Adam doesn’t love me. He doesn’t even know what love is,” I commented bitterly.

Sophie let out a long breath and said, “Adam does love you. I just don’t think he knows that’s what it is yet.”

I rested my head on Sophie’s shoulder, and let her words swirl around in my mind as the four of us waited for Conner’s truck to appear.

“Hey,” I heard from behind me. Just the one tiny word, but said so carefully that I knew it held much more depth.

I stood up and turned to face Adam. The girls all turned their heads but remained seated. I took the few steps necessary to stand in front of him.

“I’m exhausted. Can we please not do this?” I said softly, tucking a lock of hair behind my ear.

“I’m sorry,” he breathed out. His voice was ragged with feeling.

I let out a long frustrated sigh. “For what exactly? What are you sorry for, Adam? I could name a few things, but I’d like to hear your reasons.”

“Can we talk about this somewhere else?” He nodded his head toward our little audience.

I let the question hang in the air for a moment. “Not tonight. I’m going to go home, crawl into my bed, be the little spoon to Courtney’s big spoon . . . ” Courtney let out a very short giggle behind me. “ . . . and try to block this night out long enough to fall asleep.” I shifted on my foot and stared at an old cigarette butt on the sidewalk.

“This can’t wait until tomorrow. I need to say this, and I need you to listen.” His words were confident, but his voice was not. I glanced up, my eyes finding his. The emotion I saw there caught my breath. “Mostly, I’m sorry I left that morning.” I had no idea what expression he saw on my face because there were so many emotions coursing through me all at once. He ran his hand through his dark black hair. “I’m sorry I tried to make you jealous tonight. I’m sorry I offended you . . . Fuck . . . I’m even sorry I got into it with your ex in front of you.” He shook his head. “But I’m not sorry for what I said . . . I wish I’d said it to you first, instead of like that, but I meant all of it.” He used his fingers to gently tip my chin until I had nowhere to look but in his eyes. “You. Are. Mine.”

The sheer impact of those words made me stumble slightly as I took a step back. My mind was whirling in every direction.

“I’m not a possession,” I said forlornly. Then, with more conviction, I continued, “I’m not a toy that you and he can fight over, just to be tossed out the next day.”

Adam sputtered, but managed nothing coherent. He pressed his lips in a flat line and collected his thoughts. “It’s not like that. This isn’t about him. This is about you and me.” When I didn’t speak, he shoved his hands in his pockets. “Dammit. I’ve never done this before. I don’t know how to get through to you.” He looked up toward the night sky. I used the opportunity to glance at the girls. Like children who just got caught with their hands in the cookie jar, they quickly turned away.

When I faced him once more, he looked so conflicted, his eyes studying my face almost nervously. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I was happy until I met you,” he said bluntly. I tried to squelch the worry that immediately began to churn in my gut. “You complicated everything.” His brows knitted together, and the worry in me intensified. “Everything was simple before you came along and changed it all . . . You’re stubborn, and frustrating, and I never can figure out which way is up with you. You constantly piss me off, and most of the time I think you do it on purpose.”

I gaped at him, hurt and angry. “I’m done with this. You made your point. Go home,” I snapped. I spun away and took a step toward the girls.

His hand wrapped around my wrist and pulled me back to him, so close we were almost touching. “Do you see what I mean? Stubborn and frustrating.” He chuckled once to himself. “May I please finish now?” Without reply, I clenched my lips. “You’re beautiful, and smart, and funny. You intrigue me and challenge me.” My lips parted and my eyes widened. The butterflies that I thought had abandoned me days ago returned, fluttering everywhere at once. His whole demeanor softened, and so did his voice. “When I’m not around you, I think about you. When I’m around you, I don’t want to leave. When I look at you, I want to touch you. And when I touch you, I want to own you. All of you.” He lowered his head and pressed his forehead to mine. “That’s what I meant when I said that you are mine.’”

I was immediately overwhelmed with the realization that he was right. I was his, only his.

He brushed his lips against mine, only to stop and turn his head as Conner’s truck pulled to the curb.
Worst timing ever!

Sophie, Courtney, and Cassie stood up. Conner walked around the truck and pointed straight at Adam, looking furious.

“Dude, I told you to just go home. Why don’t you ever listen to me?” Conner demanded.

Sophie scurried to his side and took his hand to stop him. “It’s okay,” she assured him, then whispered something in his ear. She led him back to the truck, and they all got in. Sophie was in the front seat and left the door open, letting me know it was still an option to leave if I chose to.

I turned back to Adam and looked up at him from under my lashes. “I don’t know what you want from me.” My voice was wavering.

His fingers swept affectionately down my arm. “I thought I’d made it clear. I want you to stay. I want you to come home with me.” He kissed me, taking me off guard. It was soft and brief, but it melted my insides to goo. “I want to show you that when you wake up tomorrow, I’m going to be there this time. I know I don’t deserve another chance, but I’m asking for one anyway.”

I hesitated, weighing my feelings. Here he was, saying everything I wanted to hear, but could I trust him? I locked his gaze and could see the vulnerability in his eyes. Lost for words, and unsure if I was making the right choice, I nodded.

He looked toward the truck. “You can head out now, Conner. She’s staying. Why don’t you sleep at Sophie’s, and I’ll see you when you get home in the morning.”

Conner agreed, and Sophie closed the door. I watched the taillights as they drove off.

“You haven’t said anything, Princess. I wish you’d at least say
something
.”

All tension and doubts drifted away. I closed the distance and put my hand behind his neck, brought his face down to mine, and kissed him deeply. He used his arms to lift me up slightly, bringing my toes off the ground, our mouths fused. I broke the kiss and spoke against his lips. “If I’m yours, then you’re mine too. It has to go both ways.” I was internally hyperventilating, wondering how he’d reply to that.

He slowly lowered me to the ground and cupped my face in his hands. His thumbs trailed along my skin. “Are you sure? I need you to be certain this is what you want,” he said, drawing my eyes to his.

I looked at him from under my lashes. “I’m sure.” I wanted to add, “Because I love you,” but I didn’t. Even though I knew it to be true, I also knew he wasn’t ready to hear those words yet. The breathtakingly beautiful smile that broke across his face made me hopeful that someday he would be.