Her family was happy. She’d wanted this for her brothers for so long. And, God, she was so damn thrilled for Hugh and Joe, but right then, she was actually feeling envious.
How messed up was that? Especially after everything they’d been through to find that happiness.
She glanced at her brothers again. And a jagged ball rolled around in the pit of her stomach. She hated that she missed Adam. That she missed that son of a bitch so much she ached.
Stop it, Lucy.
She would conquer this. She had to.
Slumping back in her seat, she glanced around the restaurant, and froze.
As if he’d been summoned, the man materialized, walking through Abella’s door. He stood across the room, dark gaze sliding to the back of the restaurant and locking onto hers.
Lucy’s breath caught in her throat just from the sight of him. He was wearing jeans and a black T-shirt. His hair was sticking up a little, like he’d been running his hand through it, and he looked tired. No. He looked exhausted.
She hated that she still cared. She’d give anything to switch her emotions off. What was he doing there anyway? She sure as hell knew Hugh or Joe hadn’t invited him.
He started toward their table, expression intense, gaze still zeroed in on her. The closer he got, the faster her pulse raced. She felt glued to her seat, and when he reached her side and she stared up at him, the look on his face could only be described as determined. Fierce.
“Luce.”
Hugh stood up, chair scraping.
Adam ignored him. “I need to talk to you.”
“No,” Hugh growled.
Lucy turned to her brother, giving him a hard look. “Sit down, Hugh.”
Her brother’s jaw ticked, monster biceps bunching as he clenched and unclenched his fists. Shay grabbed his hand and yanked on it, and though he was still scowling, he obeyed his wife and sat down.
It was hard, but Lucy forced herself to look back at Adam.
“You’re going back to school,” he rasped before she could say a word.
“Yes.”
He lifted his hand and his fingers twitched before he dropped it again, like he’d been fighting the urge to touch her. “I’m happy for you. I mean it, so fucking happy you’re going to get to do what you’ve always wanted.”
An electric pulse fired up inside her, setting every nerve ending on high alert. That awareness, that heat pumping through her veins, was so familiar, so strong. She shoved it down and smothered it in anger—the only emotion she could deal with where Adam was concerned. “What do you want, Adam?”
“I know you said to stay away. I just…I need to tell you a few things. I need—”
“I don’t care what you need.” She clenched her fists either side of her. “We have nothing to talk about, not anymore. Not a thing. We’ve already said everything we needed to.”
“Luce, please. Just give me a few minutes, and if you still feel the same way about me when I’m done, I’ll leave you alone. I won’t bother you again. I promise.”
She could feel herself weakening. She couldn’t afford to be weak. Not around this man, not with the way he affected her. There wasn’t anything he could say that would make a difference, not now. Yes, she loved him, deeply…desperately. But he’d hurt her. Oh, she’d walked right into it with her eyes wide open, but she wouldn’t—couldn’t—open herself up to that again. His apology, or whatever this was about, wasn’t something she would put herself through, not when it was only to appease his own guilt.
She shook her head. “No.”
His eyes drifted shut for a moment and when he looked at her again, the longing he aimed at her made it hard to breathe all of a sudden.
“Luce…please, baby.”
“She said no,” Joe said.
Lucy flinched at the word baby coming from Adam’s lips. The last time he’d called her that he’d been in her bed and she’d been in his arms. God, this hurt too much.
She didn’t miss the sympathy in her brother’s eyes, for both of them. And she hated that her impulsiveness, when he’d done everything in his power to keep her at arm’s length, had caused a rift between him and her brothers.
Adam’s jaw hardened, dark gaze sliding to Joe then back to her. His eyes searched hers, and just when she thought she might give in and throw herself at him, he dipped his chin, turned, and walked away.
She felt ill.
Joe touched her arm, but she didn’t want to talk or have her family’s sympathy right then. This whole mess was as much her fault as Adam’s. She went after a man she shouldn’t have. Let hope blind her to reality, when he’d told her he didn’t want anything more than physical.