“I’m just saying that new picture on Facebook is a pretty big sign that you struck out big-time on closing that deal.” Dax flipped his mask up and laughed. Adam clenched his jaw. “No way. You haven’t even seen it, have you?”
“Nope.” He’d been too busy trying to figure out why he’d gone in for the save yesterday.
Adam might be a firefighter by trade, but in his personal life he didn’t do the savior act. Never had. Being someone’s personal hero only led to complications and disappointment. And he’d delivered enough disappointment in his lifetime. Yet, when he’d normally pull back, with Harper he’d stayed. Gotten involved.
The shit of it was he’d do it all over again, if it meant saving her from another humiliating moment with Dr. Dumbass. Yup, Harper with her coat-of-many-colors fashion, bright smile, and big doe eyes got to him. Bad.
Then again, maybe he was the dumbass in question. Watching Harper flutter around the bleachers, greeting every person she came across like they were an old friend, he knew going any further with her would be an exercise in extreme stupidity. They were a train wreck in the making, yet he couldn’t seem to stay away.
Instead of focusing on what was important—cleaning up his reputation—he’d somehow missed Baby posting a new photo of her in his jacket. Which took his current situation from annoying to disastrous. When Roman found out, and he would, he’d blow off Adam’s left nut.
And if Lowen found out, he’d blow any hope Adam had for making lieutenant right out the fire station door.
“I’ve called Baby a dozen or more times,” he admitted. “I can’t get hold of her.”
“Man, that’s rough,” Dax said, shaking his head. “Wanting some kind of closure and only getting radio silence? Total dick move.”
“I don’t want closure, I just want my jacket back,” Adam clarified and, sure, at the first signs of complication or drama he simplified things by dumping plan A and moving on to plan B, and eventually plans C, D, and E when necessary. But he always made sure when it ended there were no hard feelings. So what if he’d avoided a few calls from time to time in his day? That didn’t make him a dick.
That made him smart. Although he didn’t feel so smart right then.
“Her generation texts,” Dax explained as if he were slow. “Did you try that?”
Adam’s face went slack. “Her generation? How old is she?”
Jesus, he really needed to get his jacket back and clarify that when she said she was a graduate she meant college and not high school.
“I don’t know, text her and find out,” Dax said. “Add one of those emojis to it. The one with the googly heart eyes. Girls love that shit.”
“She’s twenty-four,” Jonah said, coming off the mound. The second his feet hit the grass the “Final Jeopardy!” theme song came though the speakers—indicating that a powwow was taking place on the field. “Something you should have known before you slept with her. Now can we get back to the game?”
“I didn’t sleep with her,” Adam said, breathing a sigh of relief that Baby was in fact not jailbait.
“How about that event planner Megan?” Dax asked.
“I didn’t sleep with her either.”
“What about your girlfriend? You sleep with her?”
He didn’t have to ask who the specific her in question was—the stupid grin on his brother’s face said it all. “I’m not dating Harper. And no, we haven’t slept together.”
“Facebook says otherwise. On the dating,” Dax clarified. “Because it’s obvious by your pissy attitude you haven’t gotten laid in a while.”
Try more than a month. Between training and everyone thinking he was in a relationship, he was practically a virgin again.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but I am helping her out with some stuff for her grandma’s shop. There was a misunderstanding, that’s it.”
Adam stopped, not comfortable with going any further. First, because when he was with Harper it felt like a whole lot more. It felt good. Mostly though, he kept silent because it wasn’t his place to explain to anyone what had transpired between Harper and the doctor. Or between Harper and Adam for that matter. “It’s complicated.”
“You don’t do complicated,” Dax pointed out, as if Adam weren’t well aware of this fact. “Especially with someone you’ll have to see around the family table.”
It was the main reason to steer clear—Harper was going to be around for the duration. Jonah’s marriage to Shay increased the potential for weirdness, but the moment Dax proposed to Emerson, the line was officially drawn. Crossing it would be more than complicated.