Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
M el felt like she had the words “wanton woman” stamped across her forehead as she sat at her parents’ dining room table that Sunday, sans Adam. He’d left her house earlier in the day, telling her it was probably best for them to not be seen together so soon after doing the deed. Given how her skin felt imprinted with his every touch and kiss, that was probably true.
Besides, today was weird enough as it was. Sunday dinners at the Bryant house were never this… quiet .
Something was definitely up.
Finally, her mother broke the tension. “We have a surprise. James is coming home a day early! August thirteenth. So he’ll be here for your birthday.”
It took Mel’s sex-drugged brain a second to process that. Then she frowned. Keeping what she and Adam were doing a secret would be harder with her brother around. This wasn’t exactly wonderful news. Still, she forced a smile. “Great. ”
“He’s looking forward to getting home and settling in here again,” her dad added. “Be great to have him around again, huh?”
“Yeah.” Mel slumped back in her seat. She was happy James would be home again, safe and sound, but things had just taken an interesting turn between her and Adam. She wasn’t ready for that to end yet. She rubbed her forehead, feeling the weight of her mother’s stare watching her curiously. “What time is he arriving?”
“You can ask him yourself,” her mother said, pointing to her cell phone on the table. “He’s due to call any minute.”
She really didn’t want to talk to her brother without going over it with Adam first, so Mel stood and picked up her half-finished plate, heading for the kitchen.
“Aren’t you going to eat more, honey?” her mother called after her.
“I’m not very hungry,” Mel called back.
The phone rang as she was rinsing off her plate to put it in the dishwasher. Through the open doorway, her parents’ cheerful voices echoed. Mel cringed. She had to talk to Adam, sooner rather than later, even though part of her wished they could stay in their blissful bubble of solitude from the hotel and not deal with the outside world or their agreement just yet.
She’d just finished drying her hands when her mother walked into the kitchen and handed the phone to Mel. “James wants to say hi.”
Mel took it reluctantly, ducking out the back door into the yard where she could have a little privacy, heading to a stone bench set amongst the flowering hedges. Forcing a cheerfulness she didn’t feel, Mel greeted her brother. “Hey, James. Congratulations on coming home early.”
“Thanks,” he said. “Can’t wait to see everyone again. Is everything okay there?”
“Sure,” she said, too fast, then winced. “Things are great here.”
Or they had been, yesterday, in bed with Adam.
Not that she’d ever tell her brother about that.
A beat or two passed before James asked, “What’s wrong?”
Uh-oh. He’d always been far too good at reading people, a skill he’d said came from being queer and needing to know who was safe and who wasn’t.
“Nothing’s wrong. I’m just tired,” she said, hoping the lie sounded more convincing than it felt. “How are things with you?”
“They’ll be better once I get out of this desert. Have you seen Adam?”
“Uh…” Her throat dried and her heart tumbled to her toes. She hated lying to her brother, but then what she expected when she made that deal with his best friend? “No. Why?”
“No reason,” James said, his tone regular and even. “I talked to the guys from Victory Vets earlier and one of them said they thought they saw you two hanging out together recently.”
“Oh, um…” She scrambled for a plausible reason for her to spend time with Adam that wouldn’t send up all sorts of red flags. “I had some issues with my car, and he was taking a look at it for me.”
Part of her wanted to tell James to just mind his own business, along with all his buddies at the garage, but in a town the size of Point Beacon that wasn’t really feasible. Gossip was basically the town’s number one export.
“I mean, I don’t care what you two do,” James said, and the swell of love inside her for him brought tears to her eyes. If anyone knew the meaning of discretion, it was a gay man. “But it would be nice to know, sis. I mean, I’ve told you all my secrets.”
True. Which only made her feel more guilty. But she wasn’t the only one in the equation here and she really needed to talk to Adam first before she said anything to anyone. With everything that had happened that weekend, her emotions were still in a jumble.
“Okay, well if you’re not going to spill the tea, then I’m going to go. I’ve been trying to call Adam, but just get his voicemail. Do you know where he is?”
“Nope.” The truth, for once. Honestly, she’d tried calling him earlier too, but had ended up leaving a message.
“Right.” James said something to someone offline, then to Mel. “Okay, well I’m going then. Stay safe, sis. Since your new makeover I hear you’re a hot ticket around town. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I’m fine, don’t worry,” she said, glancing over at the house to see her parents watching her through the window over the kitchen sink. “See you soon, James. Love you.”
“Love you too, sis,” he said before ending the call.
Mel went back inside, handing the phone to her father before kissing both her parents on the cheek and heading home. It was a nice day out, so she’d walked there and hoped the exercise would do her good; clear her head a bit.
She shouldn’t feel guilty about not telling James about her and Adam because it wasn’t really a relationship anyway. In fact, they’d gone out of their way to make sure they both knew it wasn’t a relationship. Their arrangement was temporary and would be over anyway in a few weeks when her birthday hit. So she’d done nothing wrong on that phone call.
Still, she thought she should feel better about it than she did.
Sunshine prickled her skin with warmth as a steady breeze cooled her heated cheeks. The smell of freshly mown grass filled the air and the sounds of kids playing basketball drifted from the park nearby.
Her parents were throwing a party for Mel, as they did every year for each kid’s birthday, and this year they’d probably add in a hearty welcome for James too. That was good.
But how would she deal with Adam being there, with this deal between them finally coming to an end. Being with him had been…amazing. Beyond amazing. And if she was honest with herself, she’d love to keep that going, at least for a little longer.
Originally, she’d been terrified of dying a dried-up old spinster. But now that she’d been with Adam, experienced how wonderful intimacy could be with the right person, she feared never having that again after him. Chemistry like theirs had to be rare, right?
She had two weeks left until James came home. Two weeks until reality returned and she needed to figure all this out. Two weeks to talk to Adam and find out how he wanted to handle things.
He didn’t do love, but maybe he did do “friends with benefits?”
The question was, could she?
On Monday Adam watched the clock. Which was weird because he’d never had a problem keeping his mind on the job before.
But now his thoughts were filled with Mel. Waking up next to her, talking to her, making love to her. Because yeah, regardless of his denials, what they’d done had gone far beyond just sex. At least for him.
He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. All he knew was that he’d struggled all morning to suppress the grin that kept wanting to show on his face.
He’d gone over to her place last night to hang out, lying around in her living room, reading that Cosmo sex book of hers together, then trying some of the “variations” in bed.
Being with her was different than anything he’d ever experienced before. She was so open and trusting with him, and her eagerness and playfulness and responsiveness during sex…. His Mel was a natural in the sack. Hell, she’d even taught a jaded player like him a few new tricks.
His mind stopped short.
My Mel?
He sobered and began tinkering with the engine he was rebuilding again. He wasn’t sure where that had come from, just that it needed to go away. Fast. He didn’t love Mel. He didn’t do love, period. They had a deal, an agreement. No way would he mess that up now.
It was just that he liked her, he told himself. A lot. More than he’d expected. They’d been friends in high school, sure, but now they were both grown up and had lived more life. And he liked her even better now because of it.
But love? Nope. He’d locked all those emotions away a long time ago, the day his mother had walked out on him and his dad, and they’d been buried so deep he doubted they were even alive anymore.
Adam frowned down at the Hemi V8. God, what was happening to him? A couple great nights between the sheets and he was losing it.
Besides, Mel wasn’t his type anyway. She was way too good for the likes of him. She needed a man who could provide her with the kind of life she deserved; a man who would take care of her and give her his whole heart. Adam didn’t know if the scarred remnants he had could even be called a heart. In the past, it hadn’t bothered him, knowing that he’d be alone for the rest of his life. But now, since being with Mel, for some reason he’d begun feeling this weird ache in his chest whenever he imagined his vast future by himself.
A more emotional man might have called it loneliness.
Good thing Adam didn’t put much stock in his feelings.
No, best to stick with things as they were. Mel had never mentioned changing their deal or taking things between them to the next level, and he wouldn’t either. He’d agreed to help her find a guy, someone she could date and possibly marry one day. That wasn’t him. Never would be. Not after the disaster he’d witnessed between his own parents.
But the Bryants were different. They supported each other, loved each other, enjoyed spending time with each other .
He rubbed the sore spot over his heart, then set his tools aside, his fingers coated in thick black grease.
There’d been several missed calls from his buddy James on his phone from yesterday too, and this morning, but he hadn’t called him back yet. Figured he’d do that later after he talked to Mel, in case there was something he needed to know first.
The phone at Victory Vets rang and Miguel answered, then began typing on the computer, probably setting up an appointment for a customer.
With a sigh, Adam looked at the clock again, counting down the minutes to lunch. Mel had left him with a kiss that morning, asking Adam to meet her at the new sushi place on the town square as he’d walked out her door. They’d yet to spend the night at his place, which was just what Adam wanted. His house was a pit compared to her place, and he didn’t want her to be uncomfortable there. That’s what he told himself anyway. The fact he’d be embarrassed for her to see it lurked beneath it all too though.
Finally, after another hour of work on the engine, Miguel walked over and slapped Adam on the back. “Time for a lunch, dude.”
Adam went to the restroom and scrubbed up as best he could in the sink, before staring at his reflection in the mirror. He’d drive himself nuts if he kept in his own head much longer. He needed to get out and get some fresh air and, most importantly, see Mel again.
After grabbing his wallet from the office safe, he walked down the block toward the restaurant where he was meeting Mel. She was waiting for him outside when he arrived, and without thinking, he leaned in for a kiss, only to have her pull away fast.
“Not here,” she whispered, looking around to make sure no one had seen them. “We’re still on the down-low, right?”
Gut tight, Adam grumbled as he opened the door for her, “Right.”
Every eye in Fukiyama’s seemed to turn in their direction as they entered. Or maybe that was just Adam’s imagination since he seemed hyperaware of everything when Mel was around. The place was decorated nicely enough, with white linen tablecloths and fake Asian artwork on the walls. Looked popular too, with about three-quarters of the seats filled. An assortment of Point Beacon’s elite were there—the mayor and his wife, the high school principal and her assistant, the bank manager.
Adam began sweating a little and resisted the urge to run his finger under the collar of his black shirt. He didn’t belong here, not really, but it was where Mel wanted to eat and it made her happy, so he’d do it. Several police officers sat at a booth in the corner. He recognized them from run-ins they’d had with his father at one time or another over the years.
You’re a respected business owner now.
Finally, a hostess led them to a table near the back. Adam kept his head down and his mouth shut as they took their seats. He’d learned a long time ago that keeping your mouth shut and your profile low saved you a lot of trouble in the end.
A server came and took their orders, then Adam sat back, allowing some of the tension in his shoulders to relax at last. He should enjoy this time together. They were getting near the end of their agreement, then he wouldn’t have lunches with Mel anymore.
The ache in his chest intensified.
To cover it, Adam flashed Mel his most charming smile, as the server returned with their drinks—iced tea for her and a soda for him.
Mel smiled back, and Adam’s whole world brightened.
He might not have any clue what he was really doing here and there might be hell to pay later for it later, but right now he couldn’t bring himself to care. All that mattered was the fact that she’d filled a hole in his life he hadn’t even known was there, and he’d sacrifice everything he had, everything he was, to have that for a little longer.