Danger! It was all too easy to imagine the kind of trouble they could get into in a fitting room with her scantily clad in a bathing suit. “Uh, no, thanks. Aubry will help me.”
She might have imagined the disappointment that flickered over his face, but it was gone too fast to be sure. “In that case, I’ll pick you up at eleven tomorrow.”
“How do you know what time they’re going?”
“Because it’s a party at the swimming hole. They always start at noon.” He hesitated, almost like he thought he should kiss her good-bye or something, but then he seemed to think better of it, because he turned on his heel and marched back through the door to the kitchen.
It took Jules a few seconds to get control of her body enough to follow him. “Hey, hold up!” She caught him just inside the door out to the back parking lot. “Why’d you come in this way?” And what are you doing here in the first place?
“I’ve been working on my mama’s place, so I was picking up a few things at the hardware store across the street and saw that jackass walk in here. Figured it was a good time to remind him of our fake relationship.”
“Oh.” She had no business feeling the disappointment that made her stomach dip. He was doing her a favor. That was it. “That’s smart.”
“Hang in there. He might not believe yet, but he will after by the time we leave that party.” And then he was gone, disappearing through the door and leaving her to wonder if she should be looking forward to tomorrow or scared out of her godforsaken mind.Chapter Seven“I thought only high school kids did this shit.”
Adam unhooked the last black tube and tossed it into the back of his truck. “They do. But I get the feeling Grant is trying to recapture his glory days.” And maybe Jules, too.
Quinn snorted. “The more I hear about this guy, the more he sounds like a winner.” He looked around. “Where’s Daniel?”
“He’s busy.” Or, more likely, he didn’t want to see his cousin and Adam putting on a show for a guy he hated. Adam was sorry he felt that way, but he’d seen the look on Jules’s face when he walked into her shop today. Grant got under her skin in a bad way, and watching the light in her eyes dim had grated on Adam something fierce. There was enough bad shit in this world without that asshat making her feel like she was lacking.
Adam wasn’t exactly a white knight, though. He was taking advantage of her with these “lessons.”
Which made him no better than Grant, in the end.
Adam looked at his hands. He had calluses across his palms from rope burns, and there was the scar on his right ring finger where he’d broken it in a truly impressive way after being thrown from a bull with the name of Satan’s Revenge. He’d only managed four seconds that ride, but it had been more than worth it.
What he wouldn’t give to take it back and know he’d been by his mama’s side when she found out about the cancer instead.
“You okay?”
He blinked. “What?”
Quinn looked distinctly uncomfortable to be shucking aside the joking demeanor he preferred. “I don’t know, man. You just seem kind of lost since you got back into town. Is it your mom? I know she’s sick—”
“She’s fine.” He wasn’t ready to admit that she wouldn’t even talk about the cancer with him. Not now, not like this. There would come a time when he’d have to sit her down and force it out of her, but he sure as fuck wasn’t ready for it yet. Really, he should thank Jules. When they were together, he was able to forget his fear that one day he’d wake up and his mama would be gone for good.
He realized he’d spoken too sharply and sighed. “Look, it’s complicated and I’m not handling it well.”
“No shit.” Quinn hesitated. “If you need anything—anything at all—I’m here. You know that, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And Daniel is, too, even if he’s got his own shit he’s dealing with.” He held up a hand before Adam could ask. “It’s the same old, same old. He was never the same after John died and Hope left. The man has one foot in the grave, and it’s by choice.”
The car crash affected them all. Everything changed after that night, and little of it for the better. Adam wished there was something he could do for Daniel, but the truth was that he had more than enough shit to deal with on his own. Fuck. He swiped a beer from the cooler in the back of the truck and opened it. “What a trio we make.”
“Speak for yourself. I’m the normal one.”