Jacked (Trent Brothers #1)(117)

Adam’s smile warmed me. “Glad you like it. I couldn’t decide between Smelly Garbage or Wet Dog. I went with Wet Dog.”

I burst out laughing. “That’s from, from, from Monsters, Inc., right?”

He winked at me. “Figured I’d be meeting your family tonight, so I thought I should smell it up.”

I snorted. “That’s funny, Cop.”

“You know once you name it you’ll start getting attached to it.”

My belly actually started to hurt, but in a good way. “Is that your favorite movie?”

Adam shrugged. “One of them.”

“I love that movie too, although The Incredibles is still my favorite. ‘I never look back, darling, it distracts from the now’.” I took a few sobering breaths after our mutual laugh. “You’re going to meet my family at a viewing. My mother is never going to forgive me.”

He captured my hand and pressed it to his lips. “You worry too much.”

As soon as he released me, he gently nudged my elbow so he could get into his center console. I watched him pluck several tissues out of a box, fold them, and slip them into his suit pocket. The console lid fell back in place with a thud. “Ready?”

My chest felt heavy as I nodded. There was no delaying the inevitable.

Adam held my hand as we ascended the five steps up to the front entryway. I tugged my black skirt into place.

“You look beautiful,” he said, pausing to kiss my cheek before opening the ornate door.

I can do this, I chanted silently, taking his warm hand in mine.

“You lead,” Adam murmured, though he never wavered from my side.

I signed my name in the guest book resting on the podium next to a lavish floral arrangement. The sickly sweet scent from the roses perfumed the air, churning my stomach from their attempts to disguise the smell of embalming fluid. Adam swallowed noticeably when I handed the pen to him. He hesitated, nodded once, and then signed his name under mine.

Even though we were fifteen minutes early, a line had already formed. Several people held conversations; a few hugged and rubbed hands over backs in solidarity. I spotted my sister, Kate, wiping a tear from her eye as she chatted with some friends of the family.

She looked thinner, as though her inner mourning had wilted her somehow. The moment she spotted me, she politely excused herself and rushed over to me. I pulled my sister into my arms, feeling her sadness mirroring my own.

“Oh, E.” She sniffled on my neck.

I squeezed her harder, wishing I could take on her pain, too. My baby sister had endured enough obstacles in her life; she didn’t need any more. “I know, hon.” I swept Kate’s blonde hair back so I wouldn’t cry on it. That’s when I noticed three distinct black and blue marks in a vertical line up her neck.

“What are these? What happened?”

Kate quickly backed away and covered her neck. “Oh, it’s nothing,” she dismissed. “Struggled with ah… an animal… a dog during labs.”

“A dog?”

Kate nodded and scanned the growing line of mourners. “He was a handful. Got me good.”

Her feigned disinterest was what gave her away. I hated pretenses, especially from her. I glanced around, trying to spot her current boyfriend, the one that made me tense up the moment I met him. “Is Prick here with you?”

“Prick?” Adam questioned.

Kate flit her eyes, incensed. “His name is Nick.”

My sister may be brilliant veterinarian in training but she was a lousy actress and a worse liar than I was. “And no, he’s not. He, um, has a paper due. I drove up by myself this morning.”

My sadness turned to angered disappointment hearing that her boyfriend couldn’t adjust his own agenda to support her. I reached for her shoulder. “Kate.”

She brushed me of and fixed her silk scarf so it would cover her neck, and then wiped under her eyes. “I’m serious. Stop looking at me like that. It was a dog. Mom’s been waiting for you to get here. She’s a mess. They had Aunt Karen cremated and put her remains in with Uncle Cal’s body.” She shivered and then became entranced by Adam.

“Kate, this is my… Adam. Adam, my sister, Kate.”

Adam offered his hand and a warm smile. “Nice to meet you, Kate. I’m her Adam.”

Kate smiled shyly, letting her long bangs drop over the scar that ran from her temple to her cheek. Her coping mechanism instantly reminded me of my failures.

“Nice to meet you, Erin’s Adam.” She eyed me speculatively. “I didn’t know you had an Adam, sis.”

I hadn’t told anyone I was dating him; why set false hope? “I just got him a couple of days ago.”

Her eyebrows rose.

I went for distracted levity. “Macy’s was having a sale.”

Adam laughed lightly and recaptured my hand in his.

Kate’s eyes followed his gesture, her smile wavering. “And you didn’t get one for me? Lousy sister.”

“I was the floor model. She got a discount,” Adam joked.

It almost felt sacrilegious to be sharing a small laugh at a funeral.

Kate scanned him from head to toe. I could read her mind as clearly as my own. “I’d say she got quite a bargain. Have Mom and Dad met your Adam yet?”

I shook my head. “Not yet.”