Only You (Adair Family #5)(12)

I righted myself, blood rushing to my face as the crowed oohed and tittered. My fists clenched at my sides as I scowled at her. Clearly satisfied by my reaction, Michelle shoved me again. I braced against it, my chest aching where she jammed her fingertips into me.

The problem was, she knew I’d never lift my hand to stop her. So she kept shoving me and screaming insults in my face.

Still, I kept my hands to myself and let her have at it.

I’d seen what happened when a man lifted his hands to a girl.

Images of Monroe’s pretty face swollen, bruised, and bleeding filled my mind. That day I’d found her on the road to our estate still haunted me. I’d never been so scared in my life.

As if I’d conjured her, Roe appeared out of nowhere and shoved Michelle away from me with a force of strength I didn’t know she had. She also wore an expression I rarely saw—one of pure fury.

Michelle had barely righted herself from the shock of Roe’s appearance when Roe shoved her again. “How do you like it, eh?” Roe shouted, and my eyebrows flew up in surprise. My Roe was a pacifist.

Not today, apparently.

She shoved Michelle again. “You think you can hit him because he won’t hit you back, aye?” Roe braced herself in front of me, and I could see the lines of her body trembling with anger. “Well, I hit back, and it might not look like it, but I hit really bloody hard.”

Pride and gratitude filled me as my best bud stood up for me. Most guys would probably be embarrassed as fuck to have a girl stand up for them. But I wasn’t most guys. I approached Roe’s side as Michelle glanced around at her audience. Even though she had a few inches on Roe, she swallowed hard and backed up as she sneered, “You’re pathetic hanging around him, waiting for him to notice you.”

Indignation churned in my gut, and I slung my arm around Roe’s shoulder. “She’s not the pathetic one here, Michelle. You got what you wanted.” I gestured around at everyone and the spectacle she’d made. “I tried to do this the nice way, but since that didn’t take … fuck off. For good.”

Hurt lit her features, and I actually felt guilty. “I hope Laura gives you a disease.” She turned and nodded to her posse, and the four of them flounced away.

The crowd broke, and the quad became a normal hangout space again.

Monroe turned to me with a sigh, her gray eyes even bigger than usual.

I laughed at her expression and reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear to appease my constant need to touch her. “Are you my bodyguard now?”

My friend gave me an admonishing look. “Well, if you keep messing around with lots of girls, you’re going to need one.”

I frowned, not liking that I might have disappointed her. “She knew the score.”

“Still, as much as I dislike Michelle or what she just did, people have feelings, Brodan. Why can’t you just pick one girl to date for real?”

The thought made me antsy. “I don’t want to be anyone’s boyfriend, Sunset. I’ll never be anyone’s boyfriend.”

She stared at me in disbelief. “Ever?”

“Ever,” I promised.

“Why?”

My gut twisted. “Just because.”

“That’s not an answer, Brodan.”

I grinned cheekily at her to cover my racing heart. “It’s the only answer you’re getting. Now, Bodyguard, where should we go next? And bear in mind, wherever we go, chaos follows.”

She laughed reluctantly. I ignored the swooping sensation in my stomach, just as I’d ignored it the first time I felt it a little over a year ago.

It happened these days anytime my best mate smiled at me.





5





Monroe





PRESENT DAY





* * *



My last job had been at a primary school in the suburbs of Glasgow, and there were some nights I didn’t get home until six o’clock, even though the last bell rang at three fifteen. However, since moving back to Ardnoch, I had no choice but to be out of the classroom by three thirty because of my current caretaking duties.

Passing by Ellen Hunter’s P6 class, I bid her good night as she sat at her desk marking jotters. She waved at me absentmindedly, and I hurried out of the school. To my surprise, I saw two kids lingering forlornly at the gate and was even more surprised when I realized the boy was in my class.

Lewis Adair.

He stood with his little sister Eilidh, who I knew was in P3.

He was a quiet, intelligent boy with an athletic side that made him popular with his peers. I liked him. His father was Thane, and I remembered Thane being a bit of a scrapper when we were younger. He was always the one Brodan and Arran looked to for protection, because the other boys were afraid of Thane. By all accounts, he’d grown into a civilized gentleman, but he’d sadly lost Lewis and Eilidh’s mum a few years ago. He’d since remarried and had caused quite the scandal since his new bride was his twenty-seven-year-old nanny—who also happened to be his brother Lachlan’s wife’s sister.

Keeping it in the family, those Adairs, I thought wryly as I walked across the car park to make sure the kids were all right.

“Lewis!” I called to him, and the children turned.

Lewis had his sister’s hand gripped tightly in his.