Jacked (Trent Brothers #1)(157)

We’d effectively cornered her, but that’s not how I wanted us to come back together. “Ladies?”

“Yeah, let’s give them some privacy,” Jen said, ushering the other two away. “We won’t go far,” she muttered to Erin.

They sat at a table a few feet away.

It felt so good to be seeing Erin’s face with my eyes instead of my memories. “You always have a choice, Doc. If you really want this to be dead and history, just say so and I’ll walk out that door and never bother you again. It’s that simple. This was my last ditch effort to show you how much I miss you and how much I am still madly in love with you, but I’m not going to force you to feel it back.”

My legs wanted to stand, to get up and put distance between me and the pending rejection. “You don’t want a future with me, it will hurt like hell but I’ll accept it. Can’t hurt much worse than these last three weeks have been without you.”

I studied her, waiting, praying, hoping… Thirty seconds and still… nothing. I tapped the table with my knuckles and stood, taking the silence as her final word. I’d lied… this hurt so much worse than I thought possible, but I’d be damned to let her see how completely gutted I was.

“Adam, wait.”

I had to remember to breathe.

“Why do you love me?” she asked.

So many words crossed my mind. Between that and the hurt watering my eyes, I was blinded by it all. But one thought out of them all rung true. It was all I had left. “You make me want to be a better man, Erin.”

She stood.

Two steps and I had her in my arms. The feel of her body finally pressed up to mine, chest to chest, maybe there was hope to come out of this alive after all. “I’ve missed you, so much.”

Erin’s hand tensed into the back of my head. “I’ve missed you, too,” she cried softly into my neck.

I had to see the feelings in her eyes, make sure they were there, that this was true. Air mixed with every emotion, stuttering out of my lungs.

Her kiss was the only medicine that could heal me.

I clung to her, to my lifeline.

There was no way I’d ever let her go again.

It was till death do us part now for me.





“THE GIRLS SEEMED like they had fun tonight. Everyone get along?”

Adam turned left onto Fourth Avenue, definitely not taking me back to my parents’ house. Jen and Josh had picked me up, giving me some space to think about Adam’s presence back in my life, but they had left me at Cherise and Marcus’s house after seeing how happy Adam was with me being there.

God, I’d missed him, but I’d made the conscious decision that I had to draw the line between love and having someone shooting at me and unfortunately, self-preservation had won that round.

The familiar scent of Adam’s truck, his commanding presence behind the wheel, feeling his attention and affection throughout the entire night, all brought about a sense of contentment I hadn’t felt in weeks. “It was a great time. I think your poker circle has expanded now though.”

Adam’s smile was marvelous. “Josh is a cool dude. Pretty much fit right in. And Sherry’s husband is funny as shit. We don’t mind losing Booger at the table, that’s for sure.”

I got the willies just thinking about someone touching their nose and then touching the food plates. “That’s good, because Cherise is expecting girl company from now on. She’s already planning on making some sort of Jell-O shots for next time.”

“You can drink with them, Erin. Just because I don’t doesn’t mean you can’t.” He rubbed his scalp, muttering about me resenting him.

I was stone-cold sober. The rest of girls, not so much. “It’s not a sacrifice, Adam.”

“But it is.”

“No, and we can argue this forever. It’s hard enough to fight an addiction and beat it without the people who care about you making it more difficult.”

“Does that mean you care about me?” His smirk was playful and yet he was truly worried asking.

“I’ve never stopped.”

He nodded, chewing his bottom lip. “Good. That’s good to know.”

“I was scared.”

His grip on the steering wheel tightened. “I know.”

“I still am.”

“I don’t want you to be scared. You need to know I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you never feel that way again.”

I knew he meant every word but there were so many things out of his control. It wasn’t worth arguing about or pointing out how he’d failed in the past. Wounding him that way would solve nothing. “I’ll need time.”

He pulled into his driveway; watching his garage door rise up made me nervous, as if the mouth of his lair was welcoming me to a point of no return.

“I’m not sure jumping back into things so quickly is the best decision.”

“Christ.” He parked and left me sitting in his truck, which was something he never did.

I followed him into his kitchen, carrying a handful of guilt in with me.

He tossed his keys onto the counter.

I slipped my coat off. “Adam, I—”

“No.” His glare was daunting. “We do this, we go all in. I’m not going to spend the next year taking shit slow and seeing if we can make things work. Either we get along or we don’t. No more skirtin’ issues and making assumptions. You want this with me? Here I am, offering. You want it? It’s a simple yes or no, Erin.”