When she was convinced I wasn’t up to mischief, she said, “Adam is a good friend of Willie’s, and Willie treats my best bud like a princess. Adam is, therefore, one of my good friends, once removed. I don’t let people treat my friends like that.”
“Plus, Adam is probably putting up with a lot of shit so you don’t think he’s a monster.”
“And that, yeah.”
“He isn’t, though. You know—a monster…”
“Don’t start.”
I shrugged. I wasn’t in the mood to go swimming with my clothes on.
Later that night, in a moment of insecurity, I asked William if he liked Elise better than me. She was subtle and polite and petite and rich. I was told not to be dumb—he liked the loud, irritating, bitchy, Amazon types—I was perfect.
Adam apparently met her through some family friends. She was from Georgia, or maybe South Carolina? I wasn't listening that closely. They’d met a couple weeks ago and hit it off right away. That’s what William said, anyway.
I held my tongue on that one. I’d noticed that William had avoided her all night. He was a great conversationalist, and just as polite, but to him, like us, it was effort, and he didn’t like hanging out with friends to be work.
It was something no one wanted to admit to Adam.
Chapter Twenty
Work was going well. It was getting close to year end so tensions were running high. We had to get the year-end close in order, and start getting our things straight for the eventual audit. The company was performing solidly, though, and we would be getting bonuses if the numbers panned out. There were even talks of expansion in the near future, which meant William might have to travel, but it wasn't for sure yet.
It wasn’t long before the big news came that Ty was going to ask Candace to marry him! Men did love to gossip. I was thinking Ty would ask at Christmas time when the families were all together, but Candace had it in her head for next year, so I didn't say anything.
Candace, like most modern women, wanted a ring she liked, but wanted to be surprised when he proposed. Ty, like most modern men, didn’t have a clue about jewelry, so knowing what Candace liked was next to impossible. Conundrum.
We, meaning Lump and I, decided we’d go with Candace, help her pick out a ring, show the final product to Adam and William who would relay the information to Ty. Which was the second plan I suggested. Because I'm brilliant.
I have no idea why I got scoffs when I pointed that out.
The day of the great ring pick-out we all met at Adam's to give him more time to do farm crap. It was the first time I’d been there, so I was interested to see what kind of place he lived in. William called it nosey. I reminded him that opinions were like ass**les; everyone had one and they all stunk, so he could shove it up his hole.
Lump laughed from the back of the car.
We pulled into Adam’s moderate sized house on the edge of the city. It had a big yard—about an acre apparently—with landscaping and grass and trees and other lovely yard things. He even had a lawn jockey! That had been a joke gift from William when Adam bought the place, and Adam thought it was funny enough to keep around.
We parked next to a shiny Mercedes, or “Merc” as Adam called it, and filed out.
“I thought he had a ranch,” Lump said, looking around.
“He does,” William answered, waiting for us to have a look around before heading to the expansive porch with two rocking chairs next to the door. “It’s way out of town. There’s a ranch house on it, and while it’s livable, it’s not all that comfortable.”
“Why?” Lump asked, walking around the grass.
“Needs a new roof, a new furnace, and some interior fixing. It’s more for the ranch hands to have a place to eat lunch and rest than anything.”
“I feel like I’m on an episode of the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. Two houses, nice cars, employees…”
William looked around with consternation. It wasn’t nearly as much as his family had, so he wasn’t quite sure what Lump was talking about. He did know, though, that Adam didn’t identify with his money. He had it, and he made it prosper, but he’d got it from a father he hated and nearly killed once—saying thank you for the handout was a tough pill to swallow.
“If your parents sold their house in California, they could probably buy the ranch and this house with the money,” I moderated.
“How do you figure?” Lump asked, looking at a garden gnome.
“Your parent’s house probably goes for about a million, right?”
“A million?” William asked, leaning against the car.
“William, don’t be dense—California real estate is insane. It’s a four-bedroom home with a two-car garage in a nice neighborhood. It’s no mansion—“
“Not even close!” Lump interrupted.
“—but it’s worth about a million for where it’s at in LA.”
“You couldn’t buy both this house and Adam’s ranch with that—Adam has expanded a great deal in the last few years—he’s turning a great profit and investing wisely. You couldn’t buy both, no.” William’s eyes got distant as he did numbers in his head. “But you could certainly buy a great deal out here. Three of these houses, probably.”
“Can we just go in, now?” Lump asked.
William shrugged. I could tell he was wondering why Lump was so put off by all this. I was, too. Something was eating away at her, but damned if I knew what. Now was not the greatest time to ask.
We lumbered up the porch steps, staring cockeyed at the rocking chairs, which were a bit lopsided and odd-looking.
“Adam made those,” William remarked.
“Shut up!” I said loudly, looking closer.
If they were in a store, you’d wonder if the manufacturer was smoking crack when he made them. They kind of leaning to the side with some pieces that didn’t quite fit with others. I wondered if it’d break when I sat down. But if Adam made them, who wasn’t a freaking wood-worker with a bunch of machines, then they were awesome.
Still, I’d hesitate to sit. They did not look sturdy.
As I turned my eyes back to the door, intending to knock, Adam swung it open with a, “Hey. Nearly ready.”
He gestured us in, but the movement only emphasized what had my eyes guiltily mesmerized. The guy was shirtless, and had a body extremely similar to William’s.
I mean, yes, I knew he had the broad shoulders. You could see that through his shirts. But his shirts were generally loose. There was a hint of peck, and an occasional peek-a-boo of defined bicep, but I’d never seen it all put together.
His torso, rippled with defined muscle, was tanned. He had dark, curly chest hair and a small, nasty looking scar on the right side of his stomach. His abs were a cut six-pack with a happy trail of dark hair leading down into his fun zone.
It wasn’t that seeing a muscled guy was strange to me. Aside from William, I’d seen a million nice upper bodies at the gym, in ads, and all over TV. In L.A., where everyone wanted to be an actor or model, it was almost a norm.
But it was Adam! A sexual type flush was way wrong. And gross! He was a brother to me. He was a caretaker. He shouldn’t have surprised me with muscles! It didn’t give my logical brain time to realize it wasn’t a big deal!
I yanked my eyes away, desperate to look anywhere but at his bare chest. I heard a “Holy f**k!” behind me. Lump had been caught off guard, too. She probably also had the same thoughts. Not about the guilt, but she didn’t want to see this guy as a sex-symbol, either. She’d categorized him as scary, and therefore, off-limits. Her head was probably going pear-shaped. Together we'd be a fruit bowl.
She didn’t have her boyfriend following her up the steps, though! I definitely won the this is totally awkward contest!
“Hey Adam,” I remarked nonchalantly, lifting my foot up the last step as my eyes swung off to the left. I wasn’t sure where to look other than needing to look elsewhere.
“Hi Jess—“
It was then that my brain, not closely monitoring anything but my eyes and thoughts, forgot to tell my foot to keep stepping up. As such, I caught the step with my toe and lost my balance, tipping forward. Being that I still would not look at Adam’s chest and abs, and definitely did not want to touch said chest and abs, I started flailing, determined to fall on my face in order to keep things PG-13. But Adam was too nice, and too quick, to let that happen, damn him.
He easily grabbed my shoulders and half lifted me up the step, which probably would have worked out well, if not for Lump falling into me. Her full weight hit my back, pushing me forward—into Adam’s bare skin.
“Oh no!” I cried, trying to pull my hands away from flesh as if it burned.
I struggled out of his hands, trying to angle my body to the side so I could fall in peace. He wouldn’t freaking let go, though, now also trying to right Lump. I kept flailing, pushing off then getting freaked out and recoiling, trying to fall but held up by one strong arm. Seeing that strong arm taxed, so similar to William’s, made my brain buzz in white noise, desperate to block out all semblance of Sexy-Man thoughts, and I pushed harder, then recoiled again.
“Willie, quit touching me!” Lump yelled.
Sounded like she’d just joined the awkward club. Falling into a hot man in front of a boyfriend wasn’t great, but having your friend’s boyfriend grabbing you while thinking of muscles and bare chest wasn’t great, either. We both struggled to the side now, trying to get away, until finally both boys, in sheer confusion, lost hold and let us tumble to the wooden porch in a mess of arms and legs.
“Christ, you guys, how are you not used to a clumsy girl? Jessica must have shown you the ropes by now!” Lump said in exasperation.
“They always catch me,” I expressed, out of breath.
“No touching,” Lump stated, also out of breath.
“What the hell is wrong with y’all?” Adam exclaimed, stopping, half-bent, at Lump’s comment. “Ain’t you never walked up steps?”
“Just…go get a shirt,” Lump scolded, getting off me and helping me up, throwing a finger out to stop William from stepping closer.
“And I do not care for your slang!” I yelled after him. Lump chuckled.
“You girls have lost it,” William said with sparkling eyes.
“I know you are but what am I,” I replied, not caring that it didn’t fit.
Adam’s house had a few things similar to Williams; weird paintings, a leather sofa and a bachelor feel. That was where the similarities ended. As opposed to William’s over decorated interior, Adam’s was bare. There was a beer sign or two, and a rug over the hard wood floor, but that was about it. It was to the point where he didn’t even know to buy a lamp to solve the lack of light problem. The guy was definitely a boy, and his place proved it! It was a shame, too, because the house had such potential; high vaulted ceilings, glossy hard wood, decorative trimming on the doors and windows.
“Why doesn’t he decorate?” Lump asked, having the same thoughts as I did.
“He has a penis,” William supplied.
“I’ve been to your house, Willie—are you saying you don’t?”
“I hired someone.”
“Okay, if I must pull each sentence out of you one at a time, why hasn’t he hired someone?”
“His mother doesn’t live within twenty miles to constantly tsk at his lack of decoration.”
“She must tsk at the decoration you’ve chosen, though,” I said, sitting on the couch.
“Yeah, that weird goat statue, especially. Your taste is worse than a blind lady,” Lump sat next to me with a smile.
Where I rarely picked on William, opting to annoy his friends instead since they were more fun, Lump picked up the slack. Only fair—all the guys thought so.
“No pleasing women.” William smiled in exasperation, standing by the large mantle above the fireplace.
“Amen,” Adam affirmed walking in—thankfully with a shirt.
“Adam, doesn’t your girlfriend give you shit about your…decor?” I asked.
He sat down on his leather recliner to put on his worn-in cowboy boots. “She won’t stay here. Says I need to do something with it.”
“So why don’t you?”
“Got too many rooms. Just seems like too much work, and I’d rather put the effort into the ranch.”
“Why did you buy such a big house just for yourself, then?” Lump asked.
“What is this, an interrogation? Ain’t always just gonna be me, is it? Don’t want to buy a house now then have to sell and buy another when the Mrs. moves in.”
“What Mrs?” I asked, leaning forward.
“Jessie, now don’t you start.”
“Future wife, Jessica, not current,” William clarified, enjoying Adam’s discomfort.
Adam walked out of the room, shaking his head.
“Where’s the el bano?” Lump asked.
“Down the hall, to the left,” William answered.
After a pause, when the others were out of the room, William asked, “Like what you saw, then?”
I looked at him in surprise. He’d noticed.
Shit.
Instead going the route of denial—William knew me too well for that—I chose to be honest. "Muscles. Girls like muscles. Just like boys like boobs. If Lump answered the door without a shirt, and you weren't expecting it, you would react the same way."
William nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off me. Caution was prevalent in his eyes. "And if you were expecting it?"