To Hate Adam Connor

Olive sighed. “It’s a mess.”

“It’s more than a mess. What the hell did I do to her?”

“You didn’t do anything, Lucy. I suspect this is just to get the spotlight off her and onto Adam…or she is trying to get back at him; who knows. Ever since their divorce, she’s been all over the place. You know the saying There’s no such thing as bad publicity…I think she took that to heart.”

We were downtown at our favorite café, waiting for Olive’s new publishing team to arrive so we could go over their plans for her next novel. More than that, it was a celebration of the deal. We learned about the interview from Megan, Jason’s publicist, when she called to let Olive know there was a whole media frenzy surrounding it and that it was likely I’d be pestered by phone calls.

If I’d known how true that was, I would’ve never have left the house that morning. The moment we drove out of the gates, we were followed by paparazzi.

“Maybe she was hoping to get back with him. I mean, apparently she was, according to her. Maybe if I hadn’t climbed that damn wall, they’d be back together by now. Adam never said anything about a reconciliation, but what do I know about their relationship, right? They were married for years and not only that, they have a kid together.”

“Don’t go there, Lucy. If they were meant to be together, it wouldn’t have mattered how many walls you climbed.”

I took a deep breath and exhaled.

“We can leave, you know. I’m sure if we called Jason or Adam they’d come and get you.”

“Why do I have to run away, though? I didn’t do anything. And I want to be in this meeting, dammit. I didn’t do anything wrong that requires me to tuck my tail and run away from the vultures.”

The table started vibrating again, so I grabbed my phone and turned it off completely; it was either that or drop it into the glass of water in front of me.

Before Olive could speak, her phone started to go off. I growled and dropped my head into my hands in frustration.

“No, wait, it’s Adam. Do you want to answer?”

I thought about it. I shouldn’t have felt the need to, but unfortunately, I did. “I don’t think I can do that right now,” I admitted finally. When Olive winced and eyed her phone, I added, “It’s not him, Olive. I just don’t want to talk about this right now. I want to act like it never happened for at least a few more hours and focus on the meeting.”

“Okay, so we won’t answer. You’re right. He knows where you live anyway, so it’s not like you can run away.”

“These last few days I’ve been wondering whose side you’re on, and this kinda gives me the answer, I guess.”

She gave me a cheesy grin. “What can I say? I love that he made you fall in love with him so easily, and I think you’ve met your match; he won’t let you go easily no matter what you do or say. I think you’re curse-free, Lucy Meyer, and you don’t know what to do with yourself.”

“Please.” I snorted. “I’ll be curse-free the day I marry someone, wearing a white dress. That’s the tipping point in our family. No one has quite made it there yet. And even then—”

Olive’s gaze shifted, and she grabbed her water glass to hide an even bigger smile behind it.

“What’s wrong with you? Why are you snickering?”

She gestured behind me with a quick chin lift, and I turned back to find freaking Adam Connor barreling toward us with quick, angry steps.

“Why is your phone off?” he asked as a greeting.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

He gripped my elbow and pulled me up. “You’re coming with me. We have things to discuss.”

As pissed as he looked, his grip on my arm wasn’t firm, so I shrugged it off with a quick twist.

“Although everyone seems to think I’m a nanny these days, I’m actually an agent and have a meeting. I’m not going anywhere right now.”

His frown deepened, and he turned to Olive. “Is it okay if she skips this one?”

Olive was listening to our exchange in fascination. “Oh, please,” she piped up. “Take her away.”

The next thing I knew I was being ushered out through a back door and into a waiting SUV.

***

The ride back to Adam’s house was dead quiet.

As soon as we walked through his door, I whirled on him. “That meeting was important to me, Adam.”

“And you’re important to me. Why did you ignore my calls?”

“I ignored every call, not just yours. And like I said, I was busy.”

“I’m not gonna let you stew on something like this, Lucy. Not if I can help it.”

“Okay then, talk.” I crossed my arms over my chest and waited for him to go on.

After he watched me for a long minute, he offered me a seat, which I rejected.

“Okay, Lucy. Okay. Let’s do it your way—as long as you don’t run away from me. The interview…she says it’s me in the sex tape, that it’s us; it isn’t.”

“You brought me here just to say that? You were married, Adam. So you had sex and recorded it. So what? Do you think that’s why paparazzi are hounding me? To ask what I think about it?”

The sex tape thing wasn’t even on my radar. Would I have watched it? Absolutely not, but that part of the interview wasn’t the issue. He walked closer to me, and I dropped my arms, ready to bolt.

“I bought the tape.”

He took a step forward, and I backed away with a frown on my face.

“What?”

“This morning, I paid one million dollars to buy a sex tape that proves my ex-wife cheated on me while we were married, with a director…most likely so she could get a role in his movie—which she didn’t.”

“Why did you do that?”

“Because she is forcing my hand. I won’t go in front of cameras or give interviews to fuel this stupid thing she started, but I could do this. So I did. Now, if she insists on coming after me—or you for that matter, she’ll know I can prove her every word wrong.”

It was time for me to take a seat. “You’re gonna blackmail her?”

“Not exactly blackmailing. In theory, it is, actually, but she can’t take the chance of it getting out, so I won’t end up using the tape anyway. Now that’s not what I need to talk you about. I just wanted you to know that interview is the only time she’ll utter your name. If she keeps at this cheating thing, she’ll have to deal with the consequences.”

“If that’s not it, then what did you want to talk to me about?” I leaned back and braced myself.

“I’m going to tell you a little story. Vicky, my sister…she was eighteen when she moved to Paris. Her friends here weren’t exactly the best influence on her, and she got into drugs…not heavy stuff, but still drugs. As we discussed before, my parents threw a lot of parties and as much as I tried my best to keep her away from it all when she was younger…after she reached a certain age, my help wasn’t needed. Long story short, she hooked up with the wrong people and…got pregnant.”

I frowned, not sure where he was going, but listened carefully. Adam sat down on the other end of the couch and tightened his hands into fists.

“My dad and mom arranged for her to go to Paris to stay with my aunt who lives there. They couldn’t risk a scandal like that. She was a month and a half pregnant when they sent her away. And Vicky…she was so young, Lucy.” He glanced at me with a small smile and looked away. “I tried my best to shield her from my parents, but in the end she made her own choices. I guess sometimes no matter how much you want to save someone, you just have to accept the fact that you can’t, not unless they let you.” He shot me another look then got up and started walking around.