Hanging On (Jessica Brodie Diaries #2)(37)

“ADAM! Language!” Dense yelled.

“Oh.” Adam's face turned red. “Sorry ma’am.”

“It is like a bunch of sailors in this house!” Denise said, standing. “You want breakfast, Adam?”

“Yes ma’am, if it suits.”

“Now, that’s better. That’s language your mother would be proud of.”

After I’d showered and climbed into some clothes William had nicked from my house, the sneak, I thanked Denise for the breakfast and scurried toward the hallway.

“Jessica—“ Almost made it!

With a big sigh I turned back to Adam, who apparently thought my discomfort was hilarious, judging by the irritating smirk on his face. “Been meanin’ to tell ya. I’ve got a car you can borrow. I never use the thing so it’s no trouble if you wanna use it.”

“Adam, that is really great. Probably too much, though. I’ll get my stuff figured out soon.”

His eyes brows furrowed dangerously. “Stop bein’ stubborn. I don’t use it. Borrow it. Get your own’un. Give it back.”

“Yiks, okay. Thanks.”

“It’s nuthin.”

We walked into Adam’s spacious, three car garage later that day. It was attached to a moderate-sized ranch house. It wasn’t as nice as the one on William’s ranch, nor as big, but apparently Adam didn’t stay out here much, so he didn’t bother with improvements. He, like William, had a place closer to the city.

Must be freaking nice having two houses and a bunch of cars to put in them. No wonder William couldn’t understand why buying a car was a big deal. Jerk.

The light from the open garage door splashed down on a beat-up old mustang in need of desperate repair. It looked like the paint was once orange, but rust had taken over. I tried to keep my eyes from bugging out of my head for Adam’s sake, but no offense, I would rather take the bus.

William and Adam started laughing.

“Not that one you dolt!” Adam turned to William, “Didcha see the look on her face? She about threw up her breakfast!”

Indignantly, I watched as Adam walked across the garage, passing a sweet, though slightly older, Mercedes, before he stopped in front of a mid-sized car with a cover on it. He pointed. Being that the light was on one side of the big garage, and he was on the other, and also that the car had a cover, I wasn’t sure what reaction to offer. Frankly, I was worried it would look like the rusty death trap I was standing in front of.

“Oh right,” Adam said as he noticed, apparently for the first time, that the car was incognito. He ripped off the cover and pointed again. “It’ll do ya, I reckon. It works. About five years old, but I ain’t had no problems with it. Hell, I hardly ever drove the thing before I parked it. Prefer the truck.”

This time Adam had got it right! It was a BMW in great condition!

“Adam, I can’t drive this!” I protested.

“Why? What’s wrong with it?” He turned and surveyed the car, hands on hips.

“It’s an expensive car, Adam.”

He waved my comment away. “It ain’t that expensive. Use it. No one else is gonna. It aught’ta get some drivin’ time.”

“You don’t take your truck on dates, though.”

He looked taken aback. “Uh...no. Well, I haven’t actually gone on any dates as of recently, and I have the Merc for that.” He cleared his throat.

William chuckled. “Our Adam is hard to please. I took the only good woman.”

Adam blushed.

William smiled wickedly. “Jessica, just say thank you and try not to wreck it.”

Later, when we were laying in my bed in the buff, I asked William what that exchange was all about.

He said, “I thought I told you... Adam wanted to make a play for you.”

“But I thought you said everyone knew you wanted me, and your friends just left it at that.”

He laughed. “Men aren’t that noble, I’m afraid. In the beginning, yes, I basically called dibs. I did see you first and made contact possible. But I was desperately trying not to get involved, as I told you, so Adam wanted to take a crack at you. Lucky for me you didn’t come around after Froggy’s.”

“It was after the dance off?”

“Yup. If I was going to make a play for you—this was the guys’ logic, not mine—it should have been then. Obvious reasons.”

“Obvious, as in, I was throwing myself at you?”

He laughed again and mussed my hair. “Something like that, yeah. That guy Brad wanted to dump his girlfriend and make a play, too.”

Without thinking I said, “He was cute.” Then I winced.

William gave me an incredulous look. “What?”

“Well! You were untouchable! That’s what everyone said. ‘Stay away from Davies’ was all I heard. So... Brad is cute and seemed interested. Which made me interested. Until I found out he had a girlfriend.”

“Interesting. And what if Adam did make a play for you? Is he cute?”

“Adam is striking, yeah.” I could see William’s face go blank, hiding his wariness. Apparently he didn’t care if I thought Brad was cute, but Adam was another story.

I wondered how I found William so hard to read before. It was comical how easily I could decipher his feelings now. I also wondered what the deal was with him and Adam. I decided to make him sweat.