Page 41 of Wrecked

“I had to try!” I cry. “I couldn’t just let them leave.”

Adam takes a step toward me. “This town has been going to shit, people have been getting high in this bar for years, and now, you suddenly have a conscience?”

My mouth falls open. “Tell me how you really feel.”

Paulie chimes in, “That’s not true. We keep this place clean. We’ve never had a problem.”

Adam clenches his jaw. “Wonder why that is.” He’s still staring at me as he inches closer. “Nice outfit,” he says.

I look down at my construction-worker ensemble. My jaw trembles. “So what? You’ve been using our bar to track drug deals. Maybe that’s something you should have let us in on.”

“And have you play vigilante like you did tonight? That guy is a small pawn in the grand chess game that is Cedar Ridge narcotics. He should be leading us to bigger fish, but now, I have to haul his ass in and book him.”

“So, this is my fault? I was trying to help those girls,” I cry.

“You play and party and pretend like everything is A-OK. But guess what, sweetheart? This isn’t Leah’s world. Shit happens. People die.”

The way he said that statement was like I’m somehow contributing to the demise of the world.

My body is shaking. I unwrap my arms from my body and throw them up in the air. “That’s right, Adam. People die. He’s dead!”

“Who’s dead?” he asks.

“Brad!” I shout.

Suddenly, the world goes completely silent. My stomach just dropped ten feet, and my head is a rush of blood and tears and memories.

From the harshest scream to the lowest whisper, I hold out my arms out and state, “Brad is dead.”

He looks like he was just punched in the gut. Those dark onyx eyes glisten, water pooling on the insides, threatening to be released. His mouth opens and closes. His hands fly to his hair and brush it back, pulling at the ends. His mouth is pinched. Pinched so tight that I fear he might fall apart if he releases it.

“I don’t know what kind of crusade you’re on, but it’s not going to bring him back. You are right to get that scum off the streets, but you can’t do it alone. We’re trying here, too.” I point to Juice and Paulie.

I look up at Adam, my eyes prickling with moisture. It’s the second time in as many weeks that he’s saved me. Whether I needed it or not, he was there. As much as I want to be angry with him, I know there’s a good guy in there. I knew him once. A long time ago. I want to know him again.

He clenches his jaw, his eyes bloodshot. Yet, instead of seeing hate in his gaze, I only see…fear. The look he’s giving me is making my pulse race and my skin tingle, and my head becomes unclouded.

I look down at his knuckles. They are crimson and raw. No one who hates someone as much as I thought Adam Reingold hated me defends them with as much passion as he has with me—not once, but twice.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

His lashes flutter as my words catch him slightly off-kilter. He has absolutely no idea why I’m thanking him. That’s fine.

I take one last shaky, deep breath and walk away. I have nothing else to say. Maybe I’m shell-shocked from the moment, but I don’t want to fight. Not tonight. Not anymore.

“Let me walk you out,” Juice says as I turn the lights off in The Bucking Bronco.

“I’m fine. I doubt anything will happen on the thirty-step walk from the back door to my car.”

“Based on what happened earlier, just twenty feet from the front door, I think it’s safe to say you should never assume.” He holds the door open for me and then watches as I lock up. “Then again, you do have your own personal security detail with you.”

I pull the key out of the lock and swivel the key ring around my finger. “Yes. You’re never too far.”

“I wasn’t talking about me.” He nods toward Main Street.

On the corner, in his police cruiser, is Adam facing the parking lot.

I roll my eyes and then look up at the heavens. “Great. Now, he has some savior complex.” I start walking toward Luke’s car that he’s been letting me borrow some nights for work.