“Understandable.” I shrugged. “I’m sure this has put quite a burden on them all. And Connor being the eldest—”
Kat’s lips thinned. “They had an argument about it. Heath was shouting at him over Skype.”
That seemed unusually insensitive of Heath. I frowned. “What’s this really about?”
“Heath thinks Connor’s not coming back. That he’s returned to Ireland for good because his family needs him.”
I bit my lip and chewed on it. “And why does Heath think that?”
Kat shook her head and took another sip of water, the plastic of her bottle crackling as she tightened her grip on it. Her lips whitened, too. “He’s not doing so hot, Mia. He’s either spending hours on the game or he’s drinking. He’s behind on all his web design deadlines, or so I suspect. I think he’s starting to fall apart.”
Ugh. Worry gripped me, but at the same time, my eyes drifted over to my book bag and the massive stack of notes, highlighted articles, and papers I knew were inside. I had so much to do to prepare for the Step 1 Medical Board exam that all M2 students had to pass. My gut tightened—shades of my MCAT failure as an undergrad had come back to haunt me…and then some.
And a wedding to plan.
And a ghost fiancé to connect with somewhere in that mix.
I’d come over to his workplace today to spend time with him and instead hadn’t even caught a glimpse of the elusive CEO beast. He ran—sometimes literally—from meeting to meeting. And at night, half the time he wasn’t home, either out on the road on some trip or managing a crisis that apparently only he could oversee.
I licked my lips and fidgeted. “I’ll talk to Heath, but…” I shrugged, suddenly awash with hopelessness. “I have no idea what I can do for him or even how.”
More crackling from her now-empty bottle. I reached out and gently took it from her grip. The sound was driving me up a tree. Kat cleared her throat. “I think that making the effort will help a lot. I’ve tried, but…you know damn well that I’m not as close to him as you are. Not by a long shot.”
I smiled at her. “I’m thankful that you’re there. Imagine how much worse this could be if he were dealing with this completely alone. Problem is he’s going to be all belligerent if I show up after not getting together with him in weeks and suddenly ask him to spill his troubles to me.”
She rocked from side to side on the mat as if trying to get comfortable. “Why don’t I invite you over for movie night or something? Then I could, uh, get a phone call and disappear into my room.”
I blinked, shifting my gaze to my friend. “Wow, you’re good at this stuff.”
She nodded, a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. “Better keep your eye on me.”
“I fully intend to.”
We chatted some more, firming up plans for the Heath ambush, and also discussed other things…her Twitch TV following and her rivalry with Lucas Walker.
I bit my tongue, noting how her fists tensed when she talked. I knew Lucas—barely—and remembered that he was good looking. And Kat had not dated a single soul since coming to California from Canada when I was sick the year before. She’d dropped everything—her entire life, her job, everything—to come south and be with me.
But she rarely talked about home or her family, and it worried me sometimes.
I finally did catch a glimpse of the elusive fiancé—on his way out the door to the dinner meeting he’d told me about.
“Hey! Not even a drive-by smooch?” I called, chasing after him as he strode toward his car. He slowed his gait—but, notably, did not stop—and held out his hand, which I grabbed.
“Sorry. I’m already late.” His fingers closed around mine—too tightly.
“Why aren’t you and Jordan driving there together? Looks like he’s late, too.” I nodded to Jordan’s massive SUV parked beside Adam’s Tesla.
“Eh, screw him,” he muttered, and before I could ask, he threw an arm around my waist and pulled me into a kiss—again, harder than normal. I reached up to push against his shoulder to ease him off a bit and almost gasped at the tension in his entire frame. He was wound so tight he seemed about to break.
When I pulled away, he was already halfway into his car. A glance over my shoulder revealed Jordan coming out of the front doors at a half-run. His eyes narrowed when they landed on Adam’s back. Were these two not getting along? What the hell?
“Don’t forget you live with someone, and I’m trying to keep my bedtime at a decent hour. I’m not waiting up till midnight for you.”
He started the car. It whirred to life. Even though I drove one very similar to this, I still couldn’t get used to how quiet they were. “I’ll be home before you go to bed.”
“How much before?” I folded my arms across my chest.
“Enough before,” he said with a smirk and a gleam in his eyes before he hid them behind his sexy Aviator sunglasses. Then he backed out of his space, and I shifted my weight, jutting out my hip and feigning a scowl as I watched him go. Of course, he’d get home in time for bedtime sex. He only missed that when he was out of the country.
Jordan had paused by his car to watch Adam drive off, his eyes still narrowed. I turned around and looked at him.
“Hey, Jordan.”
He nodded at me as he threw his briefcase into his car.
“Everything okay?”
“Just fine. See ya, Mia.”
“Tell April—” But he’d already jumped in, slammed the door and started the car, waving to me as he pulled out.
Weirder and weirder.
Adam made it home in time—barely. I’d drifted to sleep slumped over my textbooks in my study, and he carried me to bed. When I sleepily responded that he was too late for bedtime sex, he apologized and said he’d make amends and devote the entire weekend to me.
It was enough to convince me to rescind my punishment. When it came to Adam, I was an easy lay.
So the weekend was mine. And he kept his word. Mostly.
He did spend some time attached to his evil phone, however. Even when we went for dinner at Peter and my mom’s house—this time on Saturday night instead of Sunday, because Mom wanted some alone time with the two of us. Adam and I were anticipating some kind of premarital counseling session or something.