Jacked (Trent Brothers #1)(107)

With a simple shake of her head, she declined and instead, wrapped her arms around herself, braving the cold.

I set my tools down and stepped between her knees, needing her to know I was here, sharing the burden. Knowing she was upset was driving me crazy. Knowing someone did this damage because of me was pushing me toward a blinding rage. “You’re shivering.”

“I’m okay. I just… I don’t understand. I work so hard.”

I knew she was close to crying. “Look at me. I’m going to fix this.” The pain I saw in her eyes slayed me.

“Who would do something like that? Why?”

My list of possible suspects was short. “Because some people just have too much ugly in them, Erin.” The burn of guilt rolled up into my throat. My inattention to detail had put her in harm’s way. It was a mistake I’d never let happen again.

Red and blue lights bounced off the back window of my garage. I tucked her cold hand in mine as I walked her out into the driveway to meet the arriving squad car.





SHE RESTED HER forehead against the window as I backed my truck out of the garage. Her car looked just as wounded as she did, though only one of them was propped up on jacks and missing two wheels.

“Do you think your ex did this?” she finally asked, rolling her fingertip through the mist clouding the edge of her window.

Good question. I pressed the Bluetooth button on my steering wheel. “Call Nikki cell.”

Erin’s attention whipped my way but I ignored her concern and her disapproving glare.

“Adam?” Nikki’s surprised greeting threw me for a second, making me question my level of hostility. My jaw clenched. No, this was just another one of her tricks, manipulating the situation to her advantage.

Just hearing her phony bullshit made me borderline homicidal. “You crossed the f*cking line today, Nikki.”

“Are you serious?” Nikki’s disembodied sigh was annoying. “You never answer your phone. How else am I supposed to talk to you?”

My hands tightened around the steering wheel. “You wanted my attention; you got my f*cking attention now. Your childish stunt was totally uncalled for. I just filed a police report on the damage.”

“Oh my God, what damage? I rang your doorbell. You knocked the picture off the wall when you pushed me out the door, remember? Can you be any more melodramatic?”

“Melodramatic? After what you did?”

“Jesus. I didn’t do anything. You broke that ugly-ass picture, not me.”

“Do not f*cking lie to me, Nik. Not now. I’m in no mood.”

“Why are you so pissed? It wasn’t even worth ten bucks. Jees, Adam. Arrest me.”

“You know exactly why I’m calling.”

“You may think so. What’s got your panties in a twist? Did your new piece of ass find your bag of ropes and shit and leave you or something?”

I bit back my reaction to tear her apart, but the loud rumble that erupted from my throat was something I had no control over. It’d been coming out of me the entire last year of our relationship. Still, my need to wound her surfaced. “She’s not as shallow as you, Nik.”

“Shallow? Nice, Adam. Thanks for that. Well, maybe you can tell me why you’re so pissed and being such an * to me again, because despite what you think I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play dumb with me. You know exactly what I’m talking about. I thought slashing tires was something you and your bitch posse did in high school. You’re lucky I don’t press criminal charges.”

“For what? I didn’t do anything. Are you accusing me of something? Because if you expect me to apologize for coming over to my old house to see you, you’re crazy,” she snapped. “Being on TV has gone to your head. You think everyone is out get you, like it’s all about what Adam is doing. That’s your problem. You only care about yourself. Our friends are going to be laughing at me at Ellie’s wedding and you don’t even care.”

Nikki’s ploy was making me lose my temper in front of Erin, and although I knew there might be a possibility that one day Erin might see me lose my shit, today was definitely not going to be that day.

Nikki may have made it a personal goal to bring out my mean side but Erin most certainly did not. And through months of counseling with my f*cking therapist I’d come to realize that my uncontrollable anger was a form of poison that had no business in my life.

I had a choice: let the shit fester and eat at me or figure out a better way of handling the never-ending mountain of bullshit. The festering had caused the binge drinking, my way of seeking some semblance of peace in the constant turmoil. But times like these, it would be just so easy to explode. I took a leveling breath.

“If you feel people are going to laugh at you, then don’t come to their wedding. I don’t give a shit. Is that why you sliced two very expensive tires on the car in my driveway?”

“Wait. What? Somebody slashed your new whore’s tires? And you think I did it? Hah. Wow. Um… Ellie told me things were getting bad with the fans harassing the unit but I didn’t believe her. Oh well… Maybe your new * should be careful or she may get hurt.”

It took everything in me not to point my truck toward Nikki’s apartment and call in an extra unit for backup. “Careful, Nik. You know I don’t deal with threats. And we both know who’s to blame here. I know you did it and I’m telling you right now, this shit repeats and I will not be gentle.”