Leave a Trail (Signal Bend #7)(5)

To Len, she said, “Excuse me,” then turned and slid off her stool. Badger saw her as she took a couple of steps in his direction. He stopped, surprised, and stared at her.

He looked tired, with dark circles under his eyes, and he stood with a slight hunch of his shoulders. It was subtle, but she’d noticed it in January, too. Even so, he was beautiful. He had amazing hair—long and thick, dark auburn—and a full beard that felt really wonderful on her mouth. And he had the most fantastic eyes of anyone ever. Pale green. Like seafoam green. He was tall and thin, but strong, with great definition in his arms. She’d seen his chest once, when he showed her his tattoo there, and he was defined there, too.

She bet he looked wonderful naked. It made her blush to think it.

Still blushing, she smiled and said, “Hi, Badge. Surprise!”

He said nothing, just stared. Then he backed off a couple of steps and turned toward the couches arranged in one large corner of the room. There was a really pretty blonde girl leaning on a wall, talking to a couple of other pretty girls. Adrienne stood where she was and watched Badger grab the blonde by the arm and lead her to one of the couches. He sat, pulling the girl down in front of him, until she was kneeling between his legs. With barely a pause, she started opening his jeans. Badge put his hand on her head and leaned back on the couch, his eyes closed.

Adrienne felt sick, but she couldn’t stop staring. She stood there like a fool and watched the blonde pull Badger’s dick out—right there in the middle of everything—and then stick it in her mouth.

Her stomach rolled dangerously.

They were just friends—if that. He barely talked to her anymore. She had no business feeling like she did, but that didn’t change anything. It hurt. A lot.

A hand went around her arm, and she jumped. “Come on, doll. Come finish your beer. Show’ll be out in a second.”

“I don’t want it.” She could not look away. Badger’s hand clenched in the blonde’s hair as she bobbed up and down on him.

Adrienne had never even done that to anybody, and there Badger was, getting it done in public. Nobody else even seemed to notice.

“Adrienne. Come on. This way.” Len pulled harder and put his other arm around her shoulders, forcing her to put her back to the scene on the couch. He led her back to the bar and sat her down on the stool.

“Not what it looks like, darlin’.”

She made herself shrug. She didn’t know Len very well, so she didn’t know why he thought he could talk about this with her, or why he thought she’d care who was sucking Badger’s dick. But she knew he was trying to be nice. “It’s exactly what it looks like, but it’s not my business. We’re just friends. Maybe not even that anymore.” If that was true, then why had she just driven her forty-four-year-old car more than a thousand miles in two days?

Because she was worried about Badger. Who didn’t care about her at all.

Len gave her a hard look with his good eye. “Okay. There’s just more to it than you think.”

“Whatever.”

As she was about to just leave on her own and not wait for Show, he came around the bar, and she felt his hand on hers. “Come on, little one. Let’s go home. You’ve gotta be exhausted from your drive.”

“Yeah. I am.” She was feeling a lot more tired than she had been when she’d come in, that was for sure.

She let Show wrap her hand up with his and lead her out to the lot.



oOo



It was chilly when Adrienne woke up the next morning in the little room she stayed in. More of a big closet than a room, really, with its sloped ceiling and narrow layout. But she liked the purple walls and the cozy feel. She knew it had once been Show’s daughter’s room. Daisy, who’d died before Adrienne had known Show or Shannon.

Show had two other daughters, Iris and Rose, who shared the other bedroom. They were teenagers, living with their mother in Arkansas or someplace like that. Adrienne had only met them once, though they visited a lot more often than she ever had. They were nice, though. Cute and sweet. And they sure loved their daddy. There was a lot to love about Show.

Since it was early on a Saturday morning, Adrienne scooted deeper into the covers and closed her eyes, letting her mind wander. It ran into Badger first, but she made it turn away, not yet ready to confront her feelings about the night before, or the recent months, or why she’d packed so much stuff and driven to Signal Bend practically on a whim, worried about a guy who didn’t care about her anymore.

Well, he was mostly why she’d come. She thought it was mostly him.

She’d asked Shannon if she could stay for a while, and Shannon had been enthusiastic about her being with them as long as she liked. Adrienne had been thinking she’d stay until summer. Maybe even longer.

Her father was not happy about this decision.

Charles Renard was an academic, a tenured professor of world literature at the state university in New Paltz. He was a quiet, thoughtful man, who managed both to be strict and to deny his children very little.

Since Adrienne’s mom—her real one, who’d raised her—had died when Adrienne was in high school, her father had closed ranks around his family, directing his attention away from his career and spending as much time with his children as he could. Adrienne had twin brothers, Remy and Roe, who were now fifteen, and they were proving to be a handful in ways Adrienne had never been. She’d always been a good girl, never finding a reason to rebel against a family she’d loved.