Page 22 of Adrian (Love Under the Lights 3)

“Yeah, you gave your V-card up to a guy who’s so far out of your league,” Cindy snorted. “I don’t know why he even bothered.”

I shook my head. “I should’ve heard back from him by now.”

My whispered words hadn’t been quiet enough because Cindy heard them. “What part of a one-and-done don’t you get? He isn’t going to call or text you. He’s probably blocked your number already. Maybe even filed a restraining order like he did with that stalker.”

I had no idea what she was talking about, but it didn’t matter because my phone buzzed with an incoming text from Jen.

Where are you? Adrian’s phone is broken, and he wanted me to find you.My smile returned as I typed out my parents’ address. I’d never been more happy to have my mother and sister proven wrong.11Adrian“What were you thinking, going out to buy chocolates and condoms by yourself? That’s what personal assistants are for,” Dane chided after climbing out of his Bentley Mulsanne and striding over to where I sat on the back end of an ambulance in the parking lot of the grocery store.

The red and blue lights from the cop car parked next to the ambulance were drawing all sorts of attention, and I wasn’t in the mood for shit from anyone. Not after the disaster my day had been. Lifting my head to glare up at Dane, I growled, “If I’d known my stalker wasn’t afraid of violating the restraining order, I wouldn’t have come.”

Dane leaned his shoulder against the ambulance door. “The article must’ve set her off again since you haven’t heard anything from her since they let her out on bail.”

“Article?” I echoed as I pulled my phone out of my pocket, forgetting for a moment that it had been smashed when I was forced to defend myself from my stalker. “Shit.”

“Here.” Dane pulled the article up on his phone before handing it to me. “TMZ has a photo of you at the farmers’ market with a woman.”

“Fuck,” I groaned as I stared down at a picture of us on TMZ’s website. It had been taken when Casey was holding a piece of cake up for me to take a bite as we grinned at each other. There was no mistaking the intimate air between us, and the paparazzi hadn’t missed it.

Is Adrian Clarke Off the Market?The headline was a clever play on words because of where they’d spotted us, and I might’ve appreciated it if the story hadn’t been rife with speculation about the woman I’d been with and how long we’d been together. Pissed as fuck that I hadn’t been more careful, I fired off a quick text to Jen using Dane’s phone.

This is Adrian. My phone is broken. Need to find Casey ASAP.“They didn’t know her name when they ran this, but we got a call asking if we wanted to comment on your relationship with Casey Smythe about an hour ago. Either someone recognized her and called it in, or she grabbed the opportunity for fifteen minutes of fame and plans to run with the story on her own.”

I tried to remind myself that Dane had good reason to be suspicious of women after the shit his ex had tried to pull. I was one of the few people he’d confided in, so I understood how it fucked with him.

“Casey isn’t like that. She’s more likely to run in the opposite direction to get away from all the drama that comes from being with me.”

“I hope you’re right.” It didn’t sound like he thought I was going to be. “But either way, I need some details about her to pass along to the PR team so they’re prepared to spin the story in your favor.”

What the world thought of my relationship with Casey wasn’t my concern. The only thing I was worried about was how she was going to react to the article. “Until I’ve had the chance to talk to her about the article, all you need to know is that she’s working on a degree in neuroscience at UCLA, Duke adores her, and she’s mine.”

He quirked a brow. “It’s like that, is it?”

“It is,” I confirmed distractedly when Dane’s phone buzzed with an incoming text from Jen.

Found Casey. She’s at her parents’ house. Dropping a pin to share her location now.I clicked on the address and was relieved to see it was less than a ten-minute drive away. After memorizing the directions, I handed Dane his phone. “I have to go. My woman is waiting for me to rescue her.”

“Lucky fucker,” he grumbled as I walked away.

I wondered if he was irritated because things weren’t going smoothly with the girl who’d been walking with my neighbors. But that was a question for another day since I needed to get to Casey and make sure she was okay. From what she’d told me about her relationship with her mom, she didn’t like to spend a lot of time at her parents’ house. I hated that the article had forced her to go there for a haven.

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