Chapter 15
ADAM
I was finishing tying my shoes when I saw I had two missed calls from Genesis. I thought about calling her back then and there, but I didn’t think the changing room at Bliss Bridal was really the place to have that conversation. I’d call her after I got home and got the girls from Carly.
Having a babysitter next door was like hitting the jackpot. Not to mention another set of twins. It was built in playmates. They seemed to get along, from what I could tell when I wasn’t distracted by how fucking insanely gorgeous Billie looked, and how oddly real the day felt.
I’d been in weddings that were less romantic, less charged, less authentic than what had just transpired between the two of us. And I knew I wasn’t the only one who sensed it. I’d seen Birdie and Bailey exchanging looks.
And even if Billie hadn’t wanted me here today, the hives on her chest, which she’d covered with makeup, were gone within an hour of us shooting together.
Clarissa, the makeup artist, pointed it out.
She was surprised they’d gone down so fast and asked Billie if she’d taken an antihistamine.
Billie told her no and looked at me with an expression that tried to tell me it had nothing to do with me, but we both knew better.
She could tell herself she didn’t want me around, her nervous system calmed down when I was around.
She could deny it all she wanted, but her body told a different story.
When I stepped out of the dressing room, I heard raised voices in the back parking lot and asked Zion, “What’s going on?”
He looked up from packing up his equipment. “Someone slashed Billie’s tires.”
“What?”
“I went out to help, but she told me to go back inside,” Zion called after me.
Yeah, that sounded like Billie. Well, I was not a child or someone she just met today, so good luck with her trying to boss me around. I rushed out back and came to a stop just outside the circle. Birdie and Bailey were huddled around their sister protectively.
“What’s happening?!” Bailey demanded.
“Nothing. It’s fine,” Billie lied.
I knew she was lying because she still had a tell. Every time Billie Bliss lied her nostrils flared.
“Then why did you have a detective’s card, and why couldn’t we call nine one one?” Birdie asked in a much calmer tone than Bailey. “And why did you say there was another incident when you were on the phone speaking to, I assume, that detective?”
It was taking every ounce of self-control not to demand Billie tell me what was going on. I could see she was not happy with my presence. She hadn’t looked directly at me, but I knew, for a fact, she was aware that I was there.
Billie inhaled through her nose slowly, then finally her eyes lifted to meet mine. As soon as she did, it felt like someone punched me in the gut. I could see fear in her eyes. Actual fear.
My hands automatically fisted at my sides. I wanted to pick her up, put her in my car, and drive her away from here. I wanted her to tell me everything that was going on because Billie Bliss did not scare easily.
“You can go,” she said pointedly to me. “Everything’s fine.”
To anyone who didn’t know her, her voice sounded strong and calm. I heard the panic in it.
“That’s not happening,” I stated firmly. If she wanted me to leave, she was going to have to forcibly remove me.
“What is happening?!” Bailey demanded.
Billie blinked. It was just a half a beat slower than her normal blink, but I knew what that meant. It was the blink she blinked when she was about to do something she didn’t want to do. Her slow blink meant she was going to tell us everything.
“On Friday night, I got home from my date, and there was a note in my apartment on my kitchen counter.”
I didn’t love hearing the word date, but that was a problem for another time.
“From who?” Bailey asked. “What did it say?”.
“It said, ‘Did you really think I would go away?’ But that’s not the point. The point is, someone had been in my apartment.”
“Did you call the police?” Birdie stepped closer to her.
“Yes, of course.”
“What about your alarm?” Bailey questioned.
“It was set when I got home. My doors were locked.”
Birdie and Bailey both looked at each other, and I could feel the sisters were terrified, they weren’t the only ones.
“What did the police say?” I asked.
“Nothing really. I think they thought I had probably given someone access to my place and forgot about it.”
My phone rang, and I pulled it out and saw that it was Genesis calling again. I knew that I needed to speak to her, but there was no way I was going to step away and take the call now. I silenced the call.
“You can take that,” Billie encouraged.
I stared at her. She stared right back. She wasn’t going to win. I was not going to take the call. I put it on silent and put it back in my pocket.
“So they didn’t take you seriously?” Birdie prompted.
“I don’t think so. He checked the place out, made sure no one was inside, and told me to come down to the station to make a complaint. Then yesterday, when I went down to leave for Carly’s birthday, there was another note on the passenger seat of my car.”
“What?!” Bailey shrieked.
“Your car?” Birdie repeated in horror.
“What did it say?” I asked.
“It said, ‘How does it feel?’”
“Why didn’t you say anything yesterday?!” Bailey demanded.
“I didn’t want to ruin Carly’s birthday party.”
“Why didn’t you say anything last night?” I asked.
“Really. Hi, I haven’t seen you in twenty years, oh, I might have a stalker.”
“Yeah.” I nodded.
She rolled her eyes.
“Who is doing this?” Birdie asked, calmly. Much more calmly than the rest of us seemed to be.
“I have no idea.”
Lights shone on all three sisters’ faces as a black SUV pulled up and parked illegally.
A man stepped out who looked to be in his early forties with dark hair that definitely had some salt coming through on his temples and in his beard.
He looked like he had just walked off the set of one of those SVU shows, not as a background actor, as the lead.
He was in plain clothes, close to my height at six foot four, with a square jaw covered in stubble and an athletic build.
The sisters all stared at the man approaching as he removed his aviator sunglasses. Sunglasses at dusk was a choice.
“Miss Bliss.”
“Billie, please. Detective Ramos, these are my sisters Bailey and Birdie and my, um, childhood neighbor Adam Knight.”
Childhood neighbor? I didn’t even make the cut as a childhood friend. Fuck, talk about brutal. But then again, what did I expect for nearly taking her virginity and then disappearing from her life for twenty years?
I stood out of the way as Detective Ramos spoke to Billie and her sisters. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Detective Dreamy Shades wrapped things up.
“Do you have somewhere you can stay for a little bit?”
“Yes,” Bailey, Birdie, and I all replied simultaneously.
Billie remained silent.
Detective Ramos reached out and touched Billie’s forearm. “Call me, anytime.”
A very unfamiliar sensation burned in my chest and gut. It was the same feeling I’d had when Billie mentioned coming home from her date. Which was ridiculous.
I had no right to be jealous.
Before Detective Ramos had even pulled out of the parking lot, Birdie and Bailey were both offering their places for her to stay, each pleading their case. Bailey said she could have her own room, and Birdie saying it would be fun, like sleepovers since she had a loft space.
“I’ll be fine at my place,” Billie argued.
“You are not staying at your place,” Bailey insisted.
I could see that Billie was battling with whether or not to give in to her sisters’ demands. I could also see she knew they were right. I also knew she needed time to make the right decision.
After several seconds of silent deliberation, she exhaled an exasperated sigh. “I have to go back to my apartment and pack.”
“I’ll take you,” I offered, and all three women’s head spun my direction. “We’re both done, and you guys aren’t.” And I’m not gonna let any of you go to that apartment by yourselves.
“Are you sure?” Bailey asked.
I nodded.
She threw her arms around my neck. “I’m so happy you’re back.”
I patted her with one arm. “Me too.”
Birdie and Bailey both pulled their sister into a hug that lasted quite a bit longer than normal before releasing her.
“I have to get my laptop,” Billie told me, making it clear she did not want me to follow her back into the shop.
I stayed in the back parking lot and pulled out my phone to see that Gen had left me a message.
I pressed play and held it to my ear. “I’ve tried you twice now.
I did not want to do this over voicemail, but this is not what signed up for.
I thought I was going to come back to my flat and you’d be here.
I didn’t expect to come back to this news.
You know how I feel about kids. I don’t see how this is going to work. Good luck with…everything.”
The line went dead, and I pulled the phone from my ear and looked at it. I always knew that Gen wasn’t the most sentimental person, but to end our three-year relationship with a fifteen-second voicemail seemed cold, even for her. I replayed it, just to make sure that’s what was happening.
“I don’t see how this is going to work. Good luck with everything.”
Yeah, I wasn’t sure how else to interpret that. Still, I found myself wanting more clarity, or maybe just closure, so despite this being a very inopportune time, I called her back. The call wasn’t going through. I tried again. It took me three times to realize that she’d blocked me.
In fairness to her, she made it very clear to me that when she broke up with people, she blocked them. I just hadn’t realized I’d be one of those people and it would happen so fast, that we wouldn’t even have a conversation.
“Is everything okay?” Billie’s voice cut the inner dialog in my head.
I looked up at her and blinked as I put my phone back in my back pocket. “Yeah.”
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” I started walking towards the street where I’d parked and realized she wasn’t following.
When I turned around, I saw the stubborn set of her expression. She wasn’t going to go anywhere until I told her what was going on with me.
I sighed. “I’ll tell you in the car.”
Her eyes narrowed for a beat, as if maybe she thought I would lie to her or something. I stared back so she could see that I was going to tell her. She searched my eyes and then began to walk towards me.
As she fell in step beside me, I had the strongest urge to place my hand around her waist and pull her into me.
I positioned myself close enough to her that I could quickly pull her to my side if anyone unexpectedly approached.
I scanned the street, the windows, and the other cars, looking for any sign of trouble—anything out of place.
Once we got to my SUV, I opened the passenger door and held out my hand to help her in. We’d held hands all day, but as she rose up to get into the car and our faces were mere inches apart in the cocoon of my vehicle, it felt much more private…and intimate.
I wasn’t the only one who felt it because when she settled into the seat, I noticed a flush on her cheeks as she cleared her throat and took in a shaky breath. After closing and locking the door, I made my way around to the driver’s side and unlocked the fob once again.
When I climbed in, her head was tilted to the side giving me a “seriously?” expression. “I think locking the doors while you walked around the car was overkill.”
“Okay.”
I wasn’t going to argue with her. She could have that opinion all she wanted.
It absolutely was not overkill. Some sicko had broken into her apartment and her car, and now slashed her tires.
I had no clue what was going to happen next.
And until I did, I was going to do everything in my power to protect her.
I started the engine. “Where am I going?”
“I live at the Windsor Arms.”
A grin pulled at my lips. We used to play at the park across the street from those apartments, and Billie used to say she wanted to live there. It made me happy that she did. It also pissed me off that some asshole was breaking in and making her unsafe while she was living her dream life.
As I pulled away from the curb she turned towards me. “So?”
My eyes shot to her, then back to the road. “What?”
“What was so upsetting on the phone?”
Damn, I had forgotten about it that quickly. Apparently, a three year relationship didn’t need more than a fifteen second voice recording.
“Genesis broke up with me.”
Billie was quiet. I looked over and found her staring at me in shock.
She looked more shocked than I was, of course she didn’t know Gen.
At least not like I did. She might be familiar with the brand Genesis Milan, but she didn’t know the person named Gen.
It was slightly surprising that she’d ended things the way she had but not really.
She reached out and covered my hand and squeezed. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine. I’m fine.” The strange part was, that wasn’t a lie, I was fine.
Really, really fine.