Chapter 5
ADAM
No breaking his fucking jaw, I reminded myself on repeat, dragging my hand across my face as I got down to the third floor.
My brain was working overtime, because I was still furious, still seething over that worthless little shit Caspar, and at the same time, I was trying as hard as I could to erase what I just saw from my head.
But fuck, my brain was holding on hard to that image of AJ.
Her hands on my chest. The way she looked in that lacy fucking lingerie.
It definitely wasn’t the time to look, nor did I have any business looking because for Christ’s sake it was AJ and I wasn’t supposed to look at her like that.
But it was also completely goddamn impossible not to notice her body when she was nearly fucking naked. When her chest was heaving that hard as she looked up at me with those big brown eyes.
Jesus.
I felt every kind of fucked up there was right now, my mind jumping back and forth between the way she looked. How goddamned worthless he was.
He was already out of his league with her. And now this?
My jaw was clenched tight as I approached room three twenty-two. But as I rapped on the door, I gave myself a reminder. Rein in. No killing anyone, I told myself, getting about three knocks in before the door swung open.
Little shit, I thought the second I laid eyes on stupid, man-bunned Caspar who looked pretty fuckin’ shocked to see me. He stared wide-eyed for a second but then as if suddenly remembering his pride, he gnashed his teeth at me.
“Where the fuck is she?” he growled.
“I’m here for her luggage,” I said flatly.
Caspar glared at me full of contempt, huffing and puffing with his scrawny chest before hissing, “No fucking way I give that to you.”
“Suit yourself,” I said, easily pushing past him to get into the room.
“Hey! Hey, you can’t do this!”
Right away, he was sputtering. Indignant to the point of sounding cartoonish. He even threw in an accusation of trespassing before he realized that he was a hundred-fifty pounds soaking wet and helpless to stop me from just walking across the room to get AJ’s suitcase.
So with a sneer on his face, he switched gears.
“You know, I always knew not to trust you,” he said as I did a quick check to ensure that AJ’s purse was inside the suitcase.
“But with her… fuck. Should’ve known she wasn’t any different.
Or smarter. In the end, every girl spreads her legs for the dumb jock, am I right?
” He attempted a laugh when I only glanced up with boredom.
Because I knew what he was doing.
He couldn’t physically stop me from entering the room. Taking the suitcase. So now he was trying to provoke me. To get me to lose my cool.
“You fuck her, asshole?” he asked as I zipped the suitcase and stood back up.
I wore a blank look on my face as I stared back at him for a second.
“No,” I grunted my reply as I headed for the door.
But I kept my eye on him, watching his shoulders relax, letting the relief set in before I stopped right next to him.
“I didn’t fuck her,” I said, my chin tipped slightly up as I looked down at him.
And slowly, as I felt his uneasiness rise, I let a look of satisfaction curl onto my lips.
“But I did put my hands all over her,” I said, breaking into a full grin and watching his face go pale as I stroked my chin and laughed.
“Shit, I couldn’t help myself. With the way she looked in that lacy thing?
” I swiped my thumb across my lip, playing up the dumb jock persona.
Just to piss him off. “Christ, Cas. I didn’t know she was hiding that body under there—she’s fuckin’ stacked.
Thought she was gonna pop right out of that little lace thing she was wearing,” I said, sucking in a breath between my teeth.
And as the words came out of my mouth, the images flooded back into my brain. Of her body. Her smooth skin.
Her perfect fucking tits.
I felt my blood rushing as I let myself relive what the hell happened upstairs, but through it, I kept a smirk on for Caspar, still paused in front of him, giving him the chance to say something back.
But surprise, surprise. He didn’t.
So with a laugh, I shook my head.
“You fucked up, bro.” I clapped his shoulder hard.
“But don’t worry. We won’t let any of that lingerie go to waste,” I said assuringly.
“’Cause I’m going to be making her come all night.
She won’t even remember your name by morning,” I grinned, tossing him an asshole wink just to put the cherry on top of his shit sundae as I strolled out of the room.
He was still standing there, paralyzed with fury when I left.
And while that thoroughly satisfied me, I didn’t exactly feel relaxed or at ease as I headed back up to my own room, because there were still several things to wrap my head around, starting with whatever it was that had happened between AJ and me at the door.
Or rather, against it.
“For fuck’s sake,” I muttered to myself.
Because I knew what the energy usually felt like between me and AJ.
Whether things were normal or we were in crisis.
Whether we were having fun or fighting about something.
No matter what was happening on any given day, the air between us was never unfamiliar.
That was half the comfort of our relationship.
We always knew what to expect with each other.
But whatever happened against the door before—that was new. And because it was new, it was chaotic, fucking with my head even as I let myself back into the room and found AJ standing ten feet from the door, staring down at her phone.
And when she looked up at me in surprise, I knew that Caspar had texted her exactly what went down in his room a minute ago.
“You told him we…?”
I brought the suitcase in and stopped at the door. “Yeah,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s okay. I mean I’m the one who started it, and I kind of… wanted you to,” she said sheepishly, chewing her lip.
The corners of my mouth curved up a little as I gave something of a laugh.
“Then we’re good,” I assured her, hauling her suitcase onto the rack.
I was ready to tell her to get in there—to grab her clothes and get changed—but something hanging in the silence told me that she had something to say, so I held off for a moment and when I looked up again, she was still standing there, looking at me.
Biting her lip.
“What did you say to him exactly?”
I clenched my teeth as I looked back at her—as I processed her swollen lips and that glimmer of something in her eye I’d never seen before. Something impulsive. And reckless.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to repeat it, AJ,” I finally said.
“Why not?”
I drew in a deep but silent breath as I just looked at her, saying nothing despite knowing the answer to her simple question of why not.
Because she was in a vulnerable state. Because I’d get hard as a rock if I told her.
Because I couldn’t predict what was about to happen next, and while I generally thrived in that kind of situation, it was only because AJ was always in control—always three steps ahead me and ready to rein me in if I got too crazy.
And right now, she wasn’t in the place to do that.
She was angry. Emotional. The fact that she was standing comfortably before me in just a silk robe and lingerie was the first sign that something was seriously wrong.
The fact that she was also asking me to describe a fake scenario in which I’d put my hands all over her body was confirmation that the situation was entirely fucked.
So with the sternness I was used to getting from her, I doubled down.
“It’s just not, AJ,” I said. “Now come on,” I nodded at her suitcase. “Get dressed and we’ll order some dinner.”
She nodded through the first few words of my sentence but then blinked at me. “Don’t you… have a date tonight?” she asked, but I was already shaking my head.
“Nah. We’re doing room service and Catfish tonight,” I said, grabbing the menu off the table and handing it over to her.
She blinked at me a couple more seconds but then she nodded, taking the menu like it was an assignment. And once we were finished ordering, I gave two knocks on her suitcase on my way to the bathroom.
“Get changed. I’m gonna shower and once I get out, we’re gonna eat and drink and watch the trashiest shit we can find on MTV or Bravo or… fuckin’ HGTV if that’s what you want. How’s that sound?”
I glanced over my shoulder to catch her cracking a half-smile at the edge of the bed, a lock of hair in her face and her robe falling slightly off one shoulder.
“Sounds good,” she said, her voice soft in a way I’d never heard it, and her eyes briefly locked on me with a look I didn’t recognize. But then she turned back down to the menu, and as much as I wanted to linger for some reason, I didn’t. Instead I got into the bathroom and closed the door.
And as I stripped down, I turned the shower to the coldest water there fucking was.