I felt sorry for whoever she was.
I lifted the cup to take another sip of my coffee, but none flowed past my lips. I yanked the mug away and looked down. It was empty.
I shuffled back in the kitchen to get another cup and wandered into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror.
My reflection made me wince. I took another swallow of coffee, hoping it would fortify me for the sorry sight I made.
My eye makeup was rubbed around my eyes, making me look like a raccoon. My cheeks were pale and sunken, my lips looked chapped, my eyes were bloodshot, and my contacts felt entirely too dry.
I won’t even tell you how bad my hair looked.
I wasn’t an unattractive woman, but right now, I was downright hideous. After I pried the coffee from my hands and peeled off my clothes (carefully hanging Adam’s jacket on the door), I got into a steamy hot shower.
I groaned out loud when the hot spray hit my back and tense muscles. After standing there for a long time just letting my body relax, I got to work with shampoo, deep conditioner, body scrub followed by moisturizing body wash, and a hydrating mask on my face. By the time I was done, the water was cool and the bathroom was filled with steam.
Once I was dry, I smoothed on my favorite coconut lotion and combed out my hair. Instead of covering up with my towel, I hung it up and pulled Adam’s jacket around me and padded into my bedroom.
I laid the coat across my bed and looked at my fluffy pillows longingly. It was going to be a long day. After I dressed in cutoffs and a tank, I went back in the bathroom to blow-dry my hair and pull it into a high ponytail. I was too tired to do anything else with it.
I no longer had chapped lips (thank you ChapStick) or raccoon eyes, but they were still bloodshot and itchy. I took out my contacts and tossed them in the trash. After using a few eye drops and letting my eyes rest for a few moments, I put in a brand new pair. I just didn’t feel like myself without them. My signature violet eyes were just so much better than my brown ones.
Since it was almost time to be at the club, I decided to stop on my way there to grab something to eat. Once I cleaned up the coffee and made sure the pot was off, I brushed my teeth and headed out.
It was hot, the air was thick and muggy, and the sky was overcast and gray. As I climbed in the car and started the engine, I couldn’t help but anticipate seeing Adam today. I wondered if things would be different between us after that kiss. I wondered if he’d kiss me again.
I sat there with the car on for several minutes, waiting for the A/C to start cooling. As I sat there, I went through my phone to make sure I didn’t have any missed calls or texts. I also got distracted by some video on the Internet about a kitten and a puppy.
Kittens and puppies make everything seem happier.
I backed out of my space and drove out to the main road. Sweat was gathering on the back of my neck, and it made me uncomfortable. “What the heck?” I said, glancing down at the A/C controls. It was on. I turned it on full blast and returned my eyes back to the road.
Something fluttering on my windshield caught my attention. I frowned and sat forward, trying to see what it was. It looked like a wrapper or something.
It had probably just gotten blown there last night in the rain.
As I was waiting for the traffic to clear so I could pull out on the main road, my eyes kept going back to the wrapper. Why wasn’t it floating away? It was pinned beneath the windshield wiper.
Like it had been placed there.
I put the car in park and opened the door. I had to lift the wiper blade off it in order to pick it up. It was a piece of a SweeTarts wrapper. I frowned down at it as the traffic on the main road whizzed by. I flipped it over in my fingers, expecting to see the plain white wrapper on the back.
Call me.
The words were written in handwriting I knew all too well.
Another car pulled up behind me, and I hurried to get back in, shoving the note in my bag and getting back to driving. It was still hot as hades in here. I held my palm up to the vent. It was blowing hot air.
“Seriously!” I yelled. I just had this A/C fixed a couple months ago. They charged me out the ass for the repair. They said it needed a whole new pump or whatever.
I was pretty sure brand new air-conditioners worked longer than a couple months.
I rolled down my window and shut off the non-working I-got-ripped-off piece-of-crap A/C. Maybe instead of some food, I’d just get a smoothie. A cold one.
As I contemplated my flavor options, a red sports car pulled up behind me.
In the light of day, I didn’t react like I had the night before. Or maybe I was just expecting it this time around.
I could see Craig sitting in the driver’s seat, and while I really wanted to either:
A) Slam on my brakes and let the front end of his car get smashed
or
B) Stick my middle finger out the window and wave it at him furiously
Instead, I did what I promised myself I would do. I ignored him.
That didn’t make him go away. By the time the smoothie place came into view, I was no longer hungry. I knew if I stopped, he would just pull over too. I didn’t feel like dealing with it. I’d end up yelling at him for scaring me so badly last night. I was done yelling at him. It was a waste of breath.
He followed me all the way to the Mad Hatter.
My stomach churned when I signaled to pull in the lot, because I knew if he followed me, a conversation would be inevitable.
Surprisingly, when I turned, Craig kept driving. Thank you, God.
I parked right next to Adam’s motorcycle near the entrance to the club. Just knowing he was inside and that I was going to be alone with him was enough to make me forget all about my stalker ex.
14
Adam
She might as well wear a label that read “handle with care.” I’d never met a woman so prone to being an oxymoron as Roxie.
One minute she was strutting across the stage, almost naked and looking like a fierce sex kitten and then the next… the next she’s pulling clothes around her and closing up the part of herself she doesn’t want anyone to see.
But that part wasn’t what my jacket covered.
It was a part deep down within her, buried beneath her skin and bones. For all of Roxie’s sexy, independent, and quick-witted ways… there was another side to her. A side I often wondered if she even knew was there.
She was vulnerable. It was as if everything she let the world see was just armor to cover up the parts of herself she most needed to protect.
I told myself for years I didn’t date her, didn’t do anything about the heat she created in me, because she was my dancer. I told myself it was because she was taken. I told myself it was because I was taken.