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“Get back in the shower! Don’t worry about it!”
“You locked us in?” Shocked laughter rocketed out of him. “Are you serious?”
I pressed my forehead against the door, without the patience to think this through. My hand went to the pockets that didn’t exist. The only thing I had on was a towel. No pockets, no phone, no way out.
I thumped my forehead against the door. “Please tell me you have your phone.”
“Ice princess, you pushed me into a pool. It’s drying on the bed, I’m lucky my phone’s even working after that.”
“And…” Dejected, I gave a look at the rest of the bathroom. “You didn’t bring in a towel.”
“On the bathroom counter.”
I glanced back. “The place we’re locked out of?”
“Hey, I didn’t lock it.”
“You’re saying that like I purposely locked us in!”
“Piper, you’re getting upset—”
“You haven’t seen angry,” I hissed and started pacing. “Oh my god, you’re the one who messed up tonight! You’re the one who should have to shower in cold water, and move their stuff, and get kicked out of events! Why is it that every time you get a consequence, it’s just dumped on somebody else?!”
“This is your problem,” Adam said, like it was a gentle reminder.
I was so close to throwing my towel at his head. But I couldn’t. So I did the only thing I could think of and closed my eyes and yanked open the shower curtain.
“My problem right now is going to be fixed when you fix the door,” I said, eyes shut as tight as could be.
“Piper, you live by all of these little rules because you think that’s how life works. You think—hey—if I don’t do this and I don’t do that and I don’t even think about this, everything’s going to be fine, and I’m going to get rewarded for the behavior,” Adam said softly. His voice echoed against the shower walls, making it harder to tune him out. “But that’s not how real life works.”
“What would you know about real life?” I muttered.
“A lot more than you know.”
“You’re a football player. Everybody caters to you.”
There was a pause.
“If you just…loosened up a little, you wouldn’t get so disappointed. None of this matters as much as you think it does, ice princess.”
With my eyes still closed tight, I frowned, trying the game that Adam had taught me at Gianna’s.
What is he gaining by saying this?
“Why are you telling me all of this?” I asked suspiciously.
For a few seconds, Adam paused, and I could taste the hesitation, heavy in the air. His words were careful. “You remind me a lot of…me. Back in high school.” A beat passed. “I feel very…protective of you.”
By yanking me into a pool?
I made the crucial mistake of opening my eyes to tell him to get to fixing the door. I didn’t mean to. It was a natural instinct, but that instinct was a costly one. I got a full sight of Adam Russell, completely naked.
Water dripped down his face, clean and fresh in the light. His muscles…oh my god. A sculptor perfected them. They weren’t crazy defined like the bodybuilders in the gym commercials, they were real and thick and hard to look away from. Hard muscle. Well-earned muscle.
My pulse raced. My mouth dried.
And then my eyes flickered down even lower.
