Page 49 of Five Minute Man
“We did not make love. We had sex, sex thatyouinitiated. I did not, nor will I ever, love you, Eve. I’m sorry.”
For a brief moment, Eve looked like she was going to erupt. Adam prepared himself for the sting of her palm across his face. He wouldn’t have stopped her. His words, however true, were cruel and meant to shock her into acceptance.
Then the hard lines in her face evened out, and her expression went oddly blank. “You’re scared of commitment. I get that. I really do. It’s why I’ve been so patient. But you can’t keep seeing other women, Adam. It confuses things.”
Eve started looking a little blurry. Adam blinked a few times to get her back into focus. She wasn’t just crazy, he realized. She was fucking nuts. Coming here had been a complete waste of his time. It was obvious that nothing he said was going to make it through to her delusional mind.
He reached for his mug, tilting it up and guzzling the rest. He had kept his part of the bargain—one drink while he listened to what she had to say. Now it was time for her to keep hers.
Slamming it back down on the table decisively, he pushed away from the table and stood. A sudden wave of dizziness assaulted him, forcing him to grip the edge of the table so he wouldn’t end up on his ass.
What the hell?He wasn’t a big drinker, but one boilermaker shouldn’t be affecting him this much, no matter how fast he drank it.
“Eve, you need help. Get some. I’m outta here.”
He took one step, then two, before black dots started creeping in from the edges of his vision. His balance was totally off.
He stumbled, listing sideways and bumping into another table.
“Hey, Adam, you okay?” Paul called over.
Adam opened his mouth and said something. His tongue wasn’t working properly, so it came out slurred and unintelligible.
“I told him he shouldn’t have had that drink on top of his pain meds,” he heard Eve say. She was right next to him, yet she sounded so far away. “Poor guy hurt his back and can’t go an hour without agony.”
What kind of bullshit was she spreading? He hadn’t hurt his back.
Eve tried to put an arm around him to steady him, but he pushed her hand away.
“I don’t think he should drive,” said one of the regulars.
“Definitely not,” agreed another, coming over to lend assistance. He slid himself under Adam’s arm and guided him to a chair. “Easy there, Adam.”
“Jackson?” Adam slurred, squinting at the big bald guy keeping him upright.
“That’s right. I got you, man.” The big guy called out to Paul from over his shoulder, “Better call his nephew.”
“Don’t bother,” Eve said quickly. “I can take him home. Just help me get him into my car.”
* * *
“MA’AM! MA’AM! CAN YOUhear me?”
Holly moaned as the voice cut through the darkness. A man’s voice. Definitely not one she recognized, and not the one she wanted to hear most. It wasn’t Adam’s voice.
She shifted and an intense wave of pain nearly sent her back into oblivion. She tried to breathe through it, but her throat protested, feeling raw and sore.
“Don’t try to move, ma’am. Let us check you out first, okay?” Strong, warm hands pushed her back gently.Not Adam’s hands.
She opened her eyelids, which seemed to have been coated with lead, to find warm brown eyes regarding her from beneath a shock of blond hair.
“What happened?” she mumbled. At least that was what she tried to say. Her lips felt swollen and cracked; her tongue, roughly the size of a cucumber; and the words didn’t come out nearly as clear as they should have. “Who are you?”
“Jason Fielding, ma’am. I’m an EMT with the Covendale Fire and Rescue Squad.”
Fire. That single word gave her mind the jump-start it needed, triggering her memories. The smoke alarm sounding, the vision of the gray and black tendrils seeping through the cracks in the old shed and curling around the eaves. She had run back into the house for her extinguisher, but she hadn’t even gotten the door open before it exploded outward, sending both her and Max hurtling backward ...
Max!
