Read Online Sweeter Than Sin by Shiloh Walker - Free Book Online

attention focusing on the voice, so faint, as she whispered his name: “Adam, are you there?”
    He pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it as he flopped over on his back and pinched the bridge of his nose.
    “Lana?”
    “Yes.” Her voice, still shaking, came over the phone. For once, he didn’t have to think about how her voice undid him. She was still just a kid, in school. Three years younger than him, in high school, and she had a boyfriend.… He had no business noticing her, but he did; he’d always noticed her even though he knew he shouldn’t.
    Then he’d thought maybe it wasn’t so awful for him to notice her. She was older. Seventeen wasn’t really a kid anymore, right? He was twenty. It wasn’t like he was looking to run off with her. Just ask her out, maybe. Except it wasn’t going to happen now.
    She went and found herself somebody else.
    Noah, of all people. Straight and true Noah.
    There wasn’t anybody nicer than that boy, and while envy ate at Adam, she still called him up, chatted with him, like they were friends, just as they’d always been.
    Trying not to let anything he felt show in his voice, he sighed. “Fuck, what time is it?”
    If she’d had a fight with Noah, Adam was going to have blue balls again. All night. Because she’d want to come over, or meet somewhere, so she could curl up against him, not crying, just sitting there, where he could feel the warmth of her, the soft curve of her tits, smell her hair and her skin—
    Fuck. He was going to have another one of those dreams, and the next time he saw her his dick would be hard as a rock.
    “Adam, I need to talk to you,” she whispered.
    He shot a look at the clock, sitting up and hanging his legs over the edge of the bed. The bare wood was cool against his feet and he blew out a breath as he saw the digital clock. Midnight. Hell. “Lana, it’s already past twelve.”
    “I…” Her voice quavered, steadied. “I know. I wanted to call Noah, but his parents would answer.”
    “And what’s the problem there?” Adam asked, jealousy chewing through him. Noah. Yeah, that nice PK she was dating … that preacher’s kid probably didn’t think about the sort of things that Adam did. Noah treated her a hell of a lot better than Adam ever could, too. Would be able to do more for her. So why did Adam hate the thought of them together? Because he loved her. Had always loved her.
    “I can’t talk to anybody but Noah. I don’t want his folks to know—” Her voice broke off, catching on a sob.
    Worry started to burn in Adam.
    Okay. There was a problem here—a big one. He needed to yank his head out of his ass. “Lana, what the hell is going on? Are you in trouble? You’re not hurt or anything, are you?”
    “Adam, I … I’m in trouble—”
    There was another voice in the background, deep and low. A man’s voice.
    That worry turned into a full-scale alarm and then the phone went dead.
    Shoving upright, Adam stared at it, his heart racing.
    “Son of a bitch,” he whispered.
    Dashing the back of his hand over his mouth, he tried to think through the past few minutes, replay the conversation out in his head, stripping away what he had been thinking, and focus on what she had said.
    Call the police, he thought. That was what he needed to do. He’d call the police, then head over to her dad’s place across the street. Jim Rossi didn’t much like him—he had a feeling the old man knew Adam had a thing for his daughter—but something fucked up was going on.
    Reaching for the clothes he’d discarded, he replayed that conversation one last time.
    She’d sounded—
    “Scared,” he whispered. Yeah. She sounded scared. He mentally braced himself to make that phone call. She was going to be pissed, but he didn’t care. If she was scared, there was a problem and Lana could hate him, but he’d do what he had to do to make sure she was okay.
    The phone started to ring before he could pick it up.
    He didn’t even