A wave of nausea hit before she could allow logic to kick in. She forced herself to breathe, to calm the hell down. Of course it wasn’t Daniel. He didn’t even know where she lived. The bang came again, this time more insistent.
Shay. What if the baby was coming early, or if something was wrong?
Lucy dashed from the bathroom out into the small living room and yanked the door open.
She jerked back in surprise.
Adam.
He stood there, staring at her, and he looked…pissed. No, he looked furious.
She was only wearing a towel and her nipples tightened purely from the sight of him, angry or not. All flaring nostrils and flexing biceps. Goddamn it. She quickly crossed her arms to cover up her lack of self-control. “What are you doing here?’’
He didn’t say a word, just shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled something out. Her phone. He held it up.
She blinked at it. “W-where did you get that?”
His jaw was tight, teeth gritted. “It was in the car when I got it back.”
She reached for it, but he shook his head, gripping it tight in his fist and holding it out of reach. “You have a lot of missed calls and texts.”
Oh God. Please, no.
“You went through my phone?” she whispered.
He didn’t even bother faking guilt, pretending he felt bad for snooping. “Honestly, I’d forgotten about it, had it buried among my stuff. I remembered last night, and decided I’d bring it to you.” He took a step forward, forcing her back. “I threw it on my bed while I did a few things. I must have accidentally turned it on when I got it out. It started blowing up right after.”
He kept moving closer, backing her toward the counter behind her.
“So you read them?”
He dipped his chin. “Yeah, I read them.”
She thought she might actually throw up. “You had no damn right.”
“So that’s why you left school, because that asshole you were seeing won’t take no for an answer?”
There was no point denying it now. He’d seen it, all of it. All the ugly, sick, twisted crap Daniel had been sending her. “Yes,” she whispered.
Fire burned bright from his eyes. “Do you know how hard it was for me to come here instead of finding that fucker and tearing him to shreds?”
Lucy shook her head furiously. That was the last thing she needed. “This has nothing to do with you. I can handle it. I am handling it.”
“You’re not handling shit.”
“I’m going to change my number again. It’ll stop.”
Adam’s hands went to the counter either side of her waist, caging her in. “It’ll stop all right.”
“Please, Adam, you can’t…you can’t say anything. Please, just leave it.”
The muscle in his jaw jumped. “Why haven’t you reported this?”
She couldn’t hold his stare. It was too damn intense. “I just want to forget any of it happened.”
“You need to call the school. He should lose his job for this.”
She shook her head again. “No, please…”
“What the fuck, Lucy? Do you still care about him? Do you love him? Is that what this is about?” he said.
Her gaze shot back to his. “No…”
“Cut the bullshit. You’re hiding something. What is it? Fucking tell me.”
“No…I…”
“Tell me.”
“It’s none of your—”
“Now,” he barked.
“I don’t want to hurt his kids, okay?” Her voice sounded broken, stilted. “Not any more than I already have.”
“So his wife found out about you and Daniel, and started sending you hate messages, threats?”
Lucy shriveled in on herself. “Do you blame her? I had an affair with her husband.”
“Did you know he was married?”
“No.”
“That he had kids?” He cupped her face and made her look up at him as she shook her head.
“No.”
“Goddamn it, Lucy.” He sucked in a rough breath. “It’s not your fault. This is all on him. He was in a position of power and he abused that. None of this is your damn fault, do you hear me?”
She tried to pull away, but he wouldn’t let her. “I could have destroyed their family. Those kids would have grown up without their father.”
“They’re better off without him.”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe that. And I…I won’t be the cause of them losing him, the cause of their pain, of wondering every night where their dad is, if he’s coming home, what they did wrong…I can’t be the cause of that. I can’t be the one that destroys their lives.”