Page 31 of Five Minute Man
Chapter 17
Adam waited in thehallway for the yoga class to let out. It was a sign of just how desperate he was—willing to risk another run-in with Eve to talk to Holly. Short of showing up on Holly’s doorstep, however, which he had considered doing many times over the last several days, he was out of options.
Last night, he had planted himself in Applebee’s in the hopes of crossing her path, but her and her friend hadn’t shown. After he had witnessed the young female convention amassing in Brandon’s section, he understood why.
Now, here he was, skulking in the corridor like some creeper, hoping for a glimpse of Holly while trying to stay below Eve’s radar. Luckily, though, Eve appeared to have attached herself to one of the muscled bodybuilders from the weight room and hadn’t even looked his way.
“Liz, right?” He stepped out of the shadows as Liz was about to walk past. He glanced down the hallway, but there was no sign of Holly.
Liz paused long enough to wave on a few of the women she had been talking to and faced him. She nodded, eyeing him warily.
“My name is Adam, and—”
“I know who you are. What do you want?”
She wasn’t openly hostile, but she wasn’t sending out any warm and fuzzies, either. Thankfully, there was no hint of the feminine interest that had flared in her eyes that first night at Applebee’s. Thank God for that. The last thing he needed was for any misunderstandings. Unless Holly decided to start taking his calls again, Liz was his best hope for understanding what the hell was going on.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?”
She exhaled and looked longingly at the exit. “Go on.”
“Holly’s not answering my calls.” It was a statement, not a question.
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, waiting. Clearly, she was not going to make this easy for him.
“Do you know why?” he pressed.
She stared at him for a long, few moments. “Holly’s my best friend. I don’t know you from ... yeah, forget I said that. What makes you think I’d betray her confidence?”
Adam blew out a breath. He hadn’t thought of that. It just went to show how out of sorts he was. “I don’t want you to betray anyone. I just thought ... Hell, I don’t know what I was thinking.” He ran his hand through his hair in a classic gesture of frustration. “I’m sorry.”
He turned to go. It had been a mistake to try to approach Holly’s friend, both cowardly and stupid. If he had a problem with Holly, and he obviously did, he should be dealing with it himself. He was just going to have to bite the bullet and man-up. He could get her flowers, maybe, and hope it would be enough to earn him a chance to find out how he had managed to fuck up something that had shown more potential than anything else in the last decade.
* * *
LIZ BIT HER LIP. HOLLYhad been miserable these last few days, and Adam looked no better. Holly was her best friend, and since Liz had been the one to encourage her to go out with Adam in the first place, she felt partially responsible.
Holly had confessed everything the night before. It was the first time in nearly ten years that Holly had wanted to skip their girls’ night out, prompting Liz to show up at her door, drag her ass out, and pry the information out of her with a combination of humor and two-for-one drink specials.
Adam certainly wasn’t acting like a man who was only interested in Holly as a potential client, and her female spidey senses backed up that assessment. If there was even the slightest chance Holly had made a mistake, a mistake that might be rectified if she would just talk to him, didn’t she owe Holly that much?
“Adam, wait.” Decision made, she jogged a few steps and caught up to him. If she was wrong, so be it. “I don’t know all the details, but Holly thinks you might only be interested in her as a client.”
The sheer surprise on his face told her that her instincts had been dead-on. “What? Why would she think that?”
“Apparently, she overheard something.”
Adam narrowed his eyes. Liz could practically see the wheels turning.
“It’s not true, though, is it?” Liz asked, watching him closely.
“No. Hell no. Look, I did say something like that, but only because I didn’t want Eve giving her a hard time.”
It was Liz’s turn to narrow her eyes. “Eve? Eve Sanderson?”
Adam nodded. “Yeah. You know her?”
Realization dawned in Liz’s eyes. A strange expression stole over her face before it blanked completely. “Wait. Let me guess. Eve decided she wants you and won’t take no for an answer.”
