Second Chance Summer (Chance #1)(55)
Author: Emma Hart

Adam drops his head into his hands. “Shit. Fuck. What if she is? That’s like…”

“A baby,” I supply helpfully. “A real life, crying, screaming, pooing, sicking, milk-guzzling baby.”

“Thanks, Kia. Your compassion knows no bounds,” he replies sarcastically.

“You’re welcome. But the question is, what are you gonna do if she is?”

His head snaps up. “What the hell do you think I’m gonna do? I’m gonna be there for her. If she is – and we both know it’s a big if – I’m gonna do everythin’ I damn well can for her.”

“She’s in Vegas, and you’re here,” Reese reminds him, putting a hand on my waist. “And you’re with Stacy.”

Adam shakes his head, walking to the toolbox and leaning forward on it. “I don’t give a f**k about Stacy, man, you know that. I look at you guys, see how much you two care about each other, and I look at Luce and want her to have it. I want to be the one to give it to her, but I never tried because I’ve always known she was worth more than that. She deserves more than that. Yet that’s why I didn’t turn her down on Saturday. I’m like a lovesick f**king puppy where she’s concerned. So, if she is pregnant, you can bet your whole damn life I’m getting into my car and driving to Vegas to be at her side whether she wants me there or not.”

My eyes meet Reese’s, both of us stunned by his open admission. Adam never opens up. He never tells anyone how he feels – and that makes it even more shocking. I know I’ve always thought he had a thing for Luce, but I never knew he cared that much. But it’s the fact he held it all back because he believed she deserved better than him, more than him, that gets me. Any annoyance I had at him melts away, and I cross the garage to him, standing just behind him.

“And what if she isn’t? What then? Does everything carry on as normal?” I ask him softly.

He shrugs, sighing heavily. “No idea. Maybe I’ll end up jumpin’ in my car and driving to Vegas anyway.”

I rest my hand on his back and lean in close. “And maybe, if you do, you’ll see the two of you have very different ideas about what she deserves.”

“Yeah, but it won’t change a thing, Kia.”

“Or maybe it will,” I argue. “How do you know unless you try?”

“She’s right, Adam,” Reese agrees. “And you know it. For f**k sake, don’t make the mistake me and Kia did. Don’t sit here mopin’ and bein’ an ass**le just because your balls are too small to chase after what you want.”

“So you’re saying I should go anyway?” Adam turns his head and looks at me.

I nod once, sharply. “If you want her, don’t stand here feeling sorry for yourself. Sort your shit out here, then go and f**king well get her.”

CHAPTER 18

A high-pitched shriek breaks through the moment, and I turn to see a blonde girl launch herself at Reese. My eyebrows shoot up, and Adam’s curse tells me everything I need to know.

The girl trying to attach herself to my boyfriend is the infamous Hana.

“I’m on break,” Adam mutters, darting around me.

“Hell no.” I grab his shirt and pull him back. “You’re stayin’ with me.”

“Shit,” he mutters again. “I hate this chick.”

“So does the rest of town, apparently,” I whisper.

“This is why.” He nods in the direction of Reese and Hana. Thankfully, he’s managed to extricate himself from her.

“Wait, isn’t she back early?”

“Two weeks early.”

“Damn.”

“Paranoid.”

“Obsessed,” I correct him. He snorts into his hand.

“Uh, hi?” Reese rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, glancing over at us.

“Aren’t you happy to see me?” Hana smoothes her hair back with perfectly manicured fingernails. “I thought you would be.”

“Um,” Reese pauses. “Am I meant to be?”

I ball my hand into my fist and bite down on it to stop a barking laugh leaving me. Adam is doing the exact same thing.

“Reese,” she whines, drawing his name out. Goddamn. Now I get it. She really does sound like a toddler.

“Hana, I told you god only knows how many times, there’s nothing between us. I’m actually kinda sick of hearin’ it myself.”

“I know you didn’t mean it. It was just because of her. I know you had that thing last summer, but Pheobe told me all about her. She’s stupid for leavin’ you and you know she’ll just do it all again. Her family is f**ked up, Reese. You know all about her mom and dad and all that shit. And that all means she’s f**ked up, too. She’s probably a little unstable, you know. How can’t she be?”

“Well, shit,” I say without thinking. “And this is comin’ from the girl that rushed back from Europe because she has a girlish fantasy over my boyfriend. But, yes, please continue with your oh-so-insightful analyzing of my life, which, I might add, you know sweet f**k all about. It’s just so damn interestin’.”

She turns surprised brown eyes on me. That surprise quickly changes to bitterness. “I should have guessed you’d be here. Pheobe said you’d been chasing him all summer.”

This time I do laugh out loud. “God, yes. Excuse me for being in the place my boyfriend works. I must have gotten lost on my way to the loony bin.”

Adam snorts.

“It’s sad, you know, how you left him then came running back expectin’ him to fall at your feet. Now I’m back, and thanks for keeping him busy, but since he was mine anyway, I’ll take him back.”

A fierce wave of protectiveness like nothing I’ve ever felt sweep my body and my feet start moving. Adam grabs my arms as my jaw tightens.

“Hana,” Reese says in a tight, strongly accented voice. Hell, she’s pissed him off. “Only one person done the chasin’ this summer, and it weren’t Kia. I fought to get her back, and you know why? Because there’s f**k all between me and you, but there’s everything between me and her. Sooner you realize that, the better, I’m tellin’ you. And you can’t take me back, because you can’t take somethin’ that was never f**king well yours. I’ve always been hers. And you know what? Her family might be f**ked up, and she might be a little crazy sometimes, but I happen to love the shit out of her crazy.”