Shockingly Seductive (Addicted To You, Book Seven) (3 page)

“Isn’t there some other way?” I asked.

He looked at me and shook his head. He walked back to his desk, opened another drawer and pulled out a syringe, encased in plastic. “It’s clean, completely sterile,” he told me, as if that made it all better.

Everything in me was sickened by what I was being forced to do. But my mind was spinning. How could I refuse? If I didn’t do it, my contract with the UFF was finished and I’d never fight for them again—or at least, not for a very long time.

Quarry ripped open the plastic and tossed the syringe across the desk. It rolled to within an inch or two of the edge and sat there, like an accusation.

“Put it in the vial and fill it up to four hundred milligrams,” he said.

I grit my teeth, picked up the syringe and plunged it into the vial, and then sucked it up until it hit the 400 mg level.

Suddenly, there was knock on the door. “Yeah?” Quarry called out.

“Coach, Jimbo thinks he might have staph.”

“What?” Quarry stood up. “Hold on a second,” he yelled.

I looked at the syringe, knowing I couldn’t do it. I was going to tell Quarry to go to hell. I couldn’t shoot this poison into my body.

Quarry glanced at me. “Hold tight. I need to see if that idiot infected my entire gym with staph bacteria or not.” He strode toward the door, opened it and left the room.

I continued to look at the syringe. As I continued to meditate on the choice I was about to make, I noticed a water bottle sitting on his desk. I didn’t know how old it was, but then again—I didn’t really care. I needed to be fast.

I plunged the syringe back into the vial and released everything it held. Then I hastily grabbed the water bottle, unscrewed the cap and sucked the contents of the water bottle into my syringe. I screwed the cap back on and put the bottle back as close to where I found it as possible.

Staring at the syringe, I thought it very possible that Quarry would notice what I’d done. But I had to hope he wasn’t going to question anything. I had to pray, because if he did figure it out—my time at his gym and in the UFF was over.

A minute later, the door to his office opened and Quarry stepped inside, smiling.

“It was a fucking spider bite. Idiots.” He held his hand out and took the syringe from me. “First time, I’ll do it for you. In the future, you can inject yourself or have one of the other guys do it. Okay?”

“Yeah.” I got up.

“Roll your sleeve up past your shoulder,” he said. He dug into his pocket, pulled out a little piece of plastic and ripped it open, revealing some kind of pad. “This is just some alcohol to clean the injection site,” he explained.

I rolled up my sleeve and he quickly swabbed an area of my shoulder. Then he took the syringe and stuck it in my shoulder. There was a hot, burning sensation as he injected me with water.

Quarry grinned. “Nicely done. You popped your cherry,” he laughed.

“Thanks,” I said.

He dropped the syringe in the trashcan and slapped me on the back. “Feel better?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Now, just one other thing I need to discus with you before you go.” Quarry’s expression grew serious once more and those stony eyes looked at me again, boring into me. “It’s about Brooklyn.”

“Listen,” I told him, “I made a mistake and I’m sorry. But we’re not seeing each other anymore, so it’s fine. I’ll stay away from your daughter from now on. Lesson learned.”

He shook his head. “You’re misunderstanding me, Brown. I’m not going to sit here and tell you to stay away from my little girl.”

“You’re not?”

“No. To the contrary, I’m telling you that Brooklyn likes you—she likes you a lot. And I love my daughter.”

“Yeah, but—”

Quarry held up his hand. “This isn’t a two way dialogue. This is a monologue.

I’m going to explain to you how things work around here.” He smiled, but once again, the smile never reached his eyes. “The way it works is, you got together with Brooklyn and that means you stay together with her until she decides she doesn’t want to be with you anymore.”

I couldn’t believe what he was telling me. Did he really think he had the right to decide who I dated?

“I really like Brooklyn, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to date. I mean, she’s your daughter and it would complicate things at the gym.”

“Isn’t it a bit late for that?” Quarry asked.

“I understand what you’re saying, but—”

“No, I don’t think you do, Brown.” Quarry put a hand on my shoulder and leaned in so that his forehead was practically touching mine. “I didn’t ask you to fuck my daughter. I didn’t want you to do that. But you did. And now you’re going to man up and make her feel cared about, and make her happy. Or I’m going to be very upset with you—and you have no idea what I’m capable of. Really. No idea.”

I just nodded. Normally, I’m not one to be afraid of anything or anyone. But something about Quarry was just wrong. I was pretty sure that he was telling me the truth about his attitude, and I didn’t feel like pissing him off.

So I shut my mouth instead.

“This was a good talk, Brown. I think we’re finally on the same page,” he said, and then he left the room.

I followed him out, then headed toward the door of the gym. I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there. Brooklyn was standing outside the door as I left the building.

“Hey stranger,” she said, smiling.

“Hey,” I said, trying my best to hide the fact that I wanted nothing to do with her.

“Did my dad give you a hard time?” she asked.

“A little, but no big deal.” I grinned, trying to downplay how I really felt about the whole thing.

“I’m sorry about that,” she said. “Look, I wasn’t trying to make trouble for you.

I just like you. I liked hanging out together. But if you don’t want to see me anymore, I understand. I won’t be using my dad to get back at you or anything like that.”

I wasn’t sure what to say. I didn’t really trust her. She’d told her dad about us and now he was trying to intimidate me into dating her. The whole thing was shady. So I just nodded and grunted. “Thanks for saying that.” I sighed. “Look, I really should get going.”

“Maybe we’ll talk later,” she said. “If you want.”

“Okay, I’ll…I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Yeah, keep me in mind, Brown. Because I’m definitely keeping you in mind.”

She smiled wider and I started walking—I had to force myself not to run to get away.

LINDSAY

When I got back to my dorm after leaving Justin’s, the door to my room was locked, so I figured Rachel must have been out. She never locked the door when she was home, despite the fact that we got an email on the second day of the semester reminding us about school security and listing some helpful tips, one of which to keep your room locked. Granted, they meant when you weren’t home, but still. I took the fact that they even felt the need to send an email like that (it was marked urgent and filled with all sorts of scary language like “immediate threat” and “after dark risks”) as a bad sign, and so I opted to keep the door locked constantly, even when I was in the room.

I slid my key in the lock, and as soon I opened the door, a male voice said, “Oh, shit!” and then a rustling sound came from Rachel’s side of the room.

“Oh,” I said dumbly. Heat rushed to my face. Rachel was in her bed. And someone else was with her. “Sorry. Um, I didn’t know you had company.”

“No, no, it’s okay,” Rachel said. She sat up in bed, her long blonde hair tumbling around her shoulders. She pulled the sheets up over her body, which was a minor miracle, given that she didn’t care much about nudity. “I should have left a note on the door or something.” She giggled.

“Hi, Lindsay,” a male voice said sheepishly.

I started incredulously as Adam popped his head out from under the covers. I was shocked. Rachel and Adam? Had slept together?
Rachel and Adam?
They hardly knew each other. And yes, Adam was cute and all, but he didn’t seem like he was Rachel’s type. Was it a drunken mistake? They didn’t seem like they were hungover. In fact, Rachel had a weird, sort of dreamy smile on her face.

“Hi, Adam,” I said, hoping I sounded breezy, like I was expecting to find him here, naked in my roommate’s bed.

“How was your night?” Rachel asked me.

“It was fine.” I shrugged, not wanting to get into it, and definitely not in front of Adam.

“That’s good,” Rachel said. “Mine was really good. No, great.” She giggled again.

I wasn’t sure what to say. So I didn’t say anything.

Adam sort of slunk back down under the covers.

“We should all go to breakfast!” Rachel said excitedly, apparently oblivious to everyone else’s embarrassment. Her cheeks were flushed. “They have these amazing pancakes at this place down the street.” She gazed up at Adam, then pushed a piece of hair off his forehead. “What do you think?”

I was glad I had a readymade excuse. “I can’t,” I said. “I have to meet Carter at the clinic.”

“Mmm,” Rachel replied. She still had that weird dreamy smile on her face. It was kind of unnerving. Maybe she was on drugs. But Adam seemed perfectly normal, and Rachel had been fine when I’d left the fight last night. Was it possible that she just really liked Adam now? And how come the two of them, who had shown no interest in each other at all, had apparently had an amazing night of passion, while all I’d gotten was frustration and awkwardness?

I sighed. And then I realized that in order for the two of them to get out of bed and get dressed, I was going to have to leave the room. The last thing I wanted was to see either of them naked. I’d seen enough of Rachel, and I could do without seeing Adam.

“Um, I’m just going to run to the bathroom,” I said.

Neither one of them replied.

“Okay, so, um, be back in a few.” I left the room and walked to the bathroom, wondering what the hell had just happened.

Once I was in the bathroom, I washed my hands. That took all of five seconds, but I needed to give them enough time to get it together, so I reached into my bag and pulled out my lip gloss. I relined my lips, and then stared at myself in the mirror.

My lips were raw from all the kissing I’d done last night, and the skin on my chin felt sensitive from where the stubble on Justin’s face had rubbed against me. The thought of his mouth on mine filled my body with longing, and I swallowed hard. I missed him already. I wanted to be back with him, pressed up against him, letting his hands roam all over me.

Had I made a mistake not sleeping with him? God knew I’d wanted to have sex with him. Maybe I was over thinking everything. Maybe I didn’t need a promise, and maybe whatever had happened between him and Brooklyn was just –

There was a knock on the bathroom door, and I jumped.

“Um, just a minute,” I called, throwing my lip gloss back into my bag.

“It’s Adam.”

I opened the door.

“Hey,” he said, and then he stepped into the bathroom. The door swung shut behind him.

“Oh. Hi. Um, it’s a public co-ed bathroom. You don’t have to knock on the door. You haven’t been out of the dorms that long, have you?” I gave him a smile, and hoped I was being normal. I tried to think about what I would have said to him before I knew he’d slept with Rachel, when he was just Adam, but for some reason, I couldn’t remember. It was very weird.

“Whatever.” He glanced around. “Is there anyone else in here?”

I shook my head.

“Good. Listen, I have to tell you something.”

“Okay,” I replied cautiously.

He sounded serious, and it made me kind of worried. Maybe he was going to tell me something bad about Rachel. Or him. Maybe he had an STD or something. And he wanted me to tell Rachel. Or maybe –

“That didn’t mean anything,” he blurted out.

I frowned. “What didn’t?”

“Me sleeping with Rachel.” He bit his lip and his eyes darted from side to side, like he was still afraid someone was going to hear him.

“I don’t get it.”

“I just wanted you to know that it… it just kind of happened. We didn’t...I mean, we’re not together or anything.”

God, what was with all these boys sleeping with people and insisting it didn’t mean anything? First, Justin and Brooklyn—now Adam and Rachel. Was everyone but me just running around having random sex?

“Okay,” I said. “Um, does she know that?”

“Yeah, of course.” He waved his hand like it was no big deal, like of course Rachel knew and was okay with it.

From down the hall came the sound of a door opening, and Adam got a panicked look on his face. “I should go,” he said. “But I really just needed you to know that.” He was looking into my eyes seriously, like maybe I was supposed to get something from what he was saying. Then he squeezed my shoulder and slipped out the door.

A moment later, Rachel walked into the bathroom. She was wearing a long t-shirt that went to her knees, and nothing else.

“Hi,” she said happily. “What was Adam saying?”

“Um… ” Something told me that ‘he said sleeping with you didn’t mean anything’ wasn’t the right answer. “He just… he was apologizing to me for how I walked in on you guys. Even though it was totally my fault. I should have knocked, but when the door was locked, I just assumed you weren’t home.”

“No problem.” She launched herself up onto the counter and leaned back against the mirror. “We should probably work out a system anyway.”

“A system?”

“Yeah, you know. In case one of us has a guy over. I assume when you’re with Justin, you’ll probably be at his house a lot, but if Adam’s in our room, we’re going to have to figure out a way to let you know he’s there.”

She picked up my purse from where I’d left it on the counter and started rummaging through it. She pulled out my lip gloss and lined her lips, then turned around and pouted at herself in the mirror.

“Oh,” I said carefully. “So do you think Adam’s going to be around a lot then?”

“Probably,” she said. She turned around and saw the look on my face. “You don’t have to worry, Lindsay,” she said. “I would never do anything to make you uncomfortable.”

“Oh, I know you wouldn’t.”

“Then what is it? Why are you being so weird?” She was still going through my bag, pulling out all my cosmetics and lining them up on the counter.