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Adam had called this morning. Five times. At first, she’d thought he must have gotten it from the club, but then Mike had texted her to let her know he’d given Adam her number. The stinker.
Of course, it wasn’t Mike’s fault since she knew he didn’t know the way things had turned out at Stronghold last night. But she was mad at the world. Once she worked through that, she wouldn’t be feeling so pissy at Mike anymore. Right now, she was enjoying a nice long wallow in being mad and once it was over she’d leave her room and be as cheerful and happy as ever.
She wondered what had happened to Lexie and the others. She hadn’t called them because she knew Lexie would ask about Angel’s night and she wasn’t ready to talk about that yet. Especially since she knew she wouldn’t be able to stop herself from asking what Adam had done after she’d gone home and she needed more emotional armor before she started asking those questions.
So she was sitting in her room, sewing, which kept her hands busy, and belting out the Dresden Dolls which was making her feel a lot better.
Her voice trailed off. Was that a knock at her door?
Worry, immediate and sharp, lanced through her. The guys knew not to bother her right now, which meant the only person who might be knocking on her door right now was Leigh.
When Angel had left the club last night, she’d discovered a disappointing voicemail from Leigh saying she and Michael had talked for a long time and she wasn’t ready to give up on him yet. Leigh didn’t want to feel like she’d wasted years on a relationship which hadn’t gone anywhere. Personally, Angel didn’t understand why Leigh would then want to waste more time, but she supposed that was because she didn’t have Leigh’s optimism about the relationship ending in happily ever after.
Seriously though, could the guy not hold his shit together for twenty-four hours?
Jumping up from her sewing machine, Angel crossed her room and yanked open the door, already ready to start comforting Leigh and call Michael every name in the book.
Angel tried to slam the door on the big, blonde jerk, but he put out his palm too fast. Bastard had reflexes, had to give him that.
Stomping over to her iPod, she hit the pause button and whirled around to see he’d already come into her room and was looking around. Angel scowled.
“What the hell are you doing here?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest. “And how did you get up here?” She couldn’t believe the guys hadn’t warned him to stay away. Granted, she wouldn’t pit her boys against Adam in a battle of wills... but then that begged the question, what did he want with her so badly?
“I came to see you,” he said, peering at the pictures she had tucked into the sides of the vanity mirror on her dresser. There were a bunch, various shows she’d been in, trips with Leigh, hanging out with the boys, and several of her and her family. “Michael gave me the address. And then I followed the music.”
Her lips twitched before she could stop it. Dammit, he wasn’t going to make her smile. Especially since he wasn’t even looking at her. Damn Michael too, for not giving her a heads up.
Having Adam looking at her personal things was unnerving, but she told herself she shouldn’t care. After all, it wasn’t like he meant anything to her. Angel went back to her sewing machine and picked up where she’d left off when she’d thought she was jumping up for something important.
“Are Lexie and Patrick okay?” That was good. Casual.
“Yeah, they’re both fine,” he said, with a subtle emphasis on the pronoun. Angel’s lips twitched again. Trevor must not be. She wondered what he’d done, not that she thought much would have been needed to bring Patrick down on his head. “I don’t think Lexie helped her quest to get into the club though.”
“If Patrick would let her in with a Dom who knew what he was doing then things probably would have gone very differently,” Angel said a little testily. Sometimes the way Adam and his friends reacted to Lexie was amusing, but only because she wasn’t Lexie. If she were Lexie’s shoes she’d be... well, she’d probably be doing a lot of the same things Lexie was if not more.
Adam sighed. “I didn’t come here to talk about Patrick and Lexie.”
She refused to look up as he moved away from her vanity and walked over to where she was sitting at her work desk. For a long moment neither of them spoke as she finished the seam she was working on. When she finally glanced up at him, Adam had seated himself in her armchair and was watching her, his expression somehow both blank and conveying his patience.
She turned the machine off and neatly folded up the fabric.
“So why did you come here?” It wasn’t an idle question and not one she was asking because it was expected—although he obviously did expect her to. She truly wanted to know. Because it didn’t make sense in her head.
“We didn’t get to finish talking last night. I told you to stay put and you left.” Those blue eyes managed to look hard and accusing without appearing cold. It was all she could do not to squirm in her seat guiltily, even though she knew she shouldn’t feel guilty. Frightening how good he was at that.
After a night of contemplation and a morning of music, Angel knew how she felt and what had upset her. It wasn’t his fault her perceptions of the situation had been different, and now she was confronted with him she felt her anger slide away. It said something good about him that he’d wanted to check up on her. He was a good guy. She hoped they could salvage a friendship after this and that, like Mike, her attraction to him would fade when she found someone else.
“I didn’t feel like talking last night,” she said. “I was kind of pissed, a little upset, and I needed some space.” Adam shifted in the chair, looking like he was going to say something, but she kept going before he could interrupt her. “I liked you, not just as a Dom but I’ve liked spending time with you, and since we’d arranged for a... a scene... well, I didn’t expect exclusivity because of that but I did think I’d have your attention for the night. So I came in and you saw me, but you didn’t seem to care I was there because you were too busy talking with that other woman. And then, right in front of me, you told the other sub that you would play with her on another night …” Hearing the bitterness creeping into her voice, Angel coughed and moderated it before continuing.
“I felt it was rude. Anyway, it hit me that individual scenes aren’t what I’m looking for. I’m not cut out for scening with multiple people or for scening with someone who does. I appreciate the scenes we had and they were wonderful, but like I said, I really like you and I think we could be good friends, but only if things don’t get all confused with the physical stuff.” The way Adam was looking at her now didn’t give Angel a clue as to what he was thinking. And she felt like she was babbling.
Nervously she flicked her tongue across her lower lip and then dragged her teeth across it, keeping any more words from spilling out of her mouth. She’d always been what her dad called a “straight-shooter,” even when it made her uncomfortable. Maybe it was because she read so many books, but she always felt issues between people could easily be solved with telling the truth as they saw it, rather than hedging or trying to gloss over their feelings.
The silence stretched between her and Adam until she was starting to think maybe he was one of those guys who didn’t appreciate bluntness either. Which would surprise her, but it wouldn’t be the first time it happened.
Finally, he sat forward, resting his elbows on his thighs with his hands hanging between them.
“I think, perhaps, you’re working from a misconception,” he said. “I haven’t scened with anyone but you since you came to Stronghold.”
