He frowned at himself for even thinking it. If he started romanticizing home on his first day, he was going to be wallowing by the end of the week. And it was so damn shortsighted and selfish, anyway.
He was here, in sunny, beautiful Puerto Rico. He had a summer research job that any physics or astronomy major in the country would kill for, mapping out galaxies using a giant radio telescope. He was getting paid, and he was getting valuable experience, and he was living someplace exciting and interesting.
And all he could think about was that his phone still hadn’t rung.
Even though he’d sworn to himself he wouldn’t do it—wouldn’t keep worrying at this like a scab about to bleed—he pulled out his phone and glanced at the screen. No messages, no missed calls. Nothing. He put the thing away with a sigh. Shannon was probably busy with whatever she was up to back at home, and he didn’t begrudge her that. Their mismatched schedules were part of why they’d decided to take a break this summer, after all. Part of why she’d wanted to take a break. And he hadn’t thought she was entirely wrong.
He had thought he’d hear from her occasionally, though.
Not that standing around obsessing about it was going to do him any good. He shook it off, giving himself a couple of quick slaps on the cheek for good measure, because honestly, this mood of his was starting to piss him off.
He gave the room another quick once-over, but there really wasn’t anything left for him to do. Coming from his parents’ place in Florida, he’d managed to be the first one here by a long shot, arriving early enough that it had warranted the observatory’s driver, Roberto, making a special trip out to San Juan just for him. It had been a good chance to pick the guy’s brain about how things operated out here, and an even better chance to get first dibs on the room of his choice. An extra couple of hours to work on getting settled in, but now he was restless, and really, really in need of a distraction.
Normally, this was the kind of energy he’d prefer to burn off by going for a run or lifting some weights, but the heat made him think twice about it. He’d have to get used to fitting in his exercise routine in the early mornings if he didn’t want to die of heat stroke. Didn’t help him much right now, though.
At a loss, he pointedly did not reach for his phone, but instead wandered out into the hall and stuck his head into the room next door.
“Hey.” It took him a second, but he remembered. “Tom?”
“Yeah?”
Tom was sitting on the floor, suitcase barely touched, with a book in his lap and a fan pointed right at his head. Adam chuckled at the sight, plucking at the damp fabric of his own T-shirt in sympathy.
“A summer without AC is gonna be killer, huh?”
Tom shrugged. “Labs are all air-conditioned, and it won’t be too bad out here at night.”
True enough. Changing the subject, Adam gestured at his bags. “You need any help getting unpacked or anything?”
“Nah.”
Okaaaaay. Adam was plenty accustomed to dealing with the antisocial types who ended up in the sciences, but this was going to be a very long summer if everybody was like this. “All right. Well. Just let me know.”
“You could go ask one of the girls. Girls usually like…” Tom trailed off, giving Adam an assessing look. “… Help from guys like you.”
Adam frowned at the “guys like you” comment. And at the inflection to the way Tom had said “help.” Really, the whole sentence kind of bugged him, but he didn’t want to go taking offense for no good reason. Whatever Tom was implying, the fact of the matter was that Adam did get his fair share of attention from women. Shannon’d always used to make fun of him for it—used to ruffle his hair and tweak his nose and tell him he was going to get himself in trouble someday.
A pang echoed dimly through his ribs. She wasn’t the reason he hadn’t headed over to the other house to lend a hand. It wasn’t. He just didn’t need any complications this summer. His life was messy enough as it was.
He forced a weak approximation of a smile. “Well. I’ll… leave you to it, I guess.”
“Okay.”
Yeah. With Tom not exactly inviting him in, he moved on. The other guy sharing the house with them—Jared—had seemed a lot more sociable, but as Adam approached his room, it was to find the door closed, music ringing out from within. He was tempted to knock regardless, but hesitated.
In the end, he sighed and kept walking, meandering through their minimally stocked kitchen for a glass of water before soldiering on.
Outside, it was even stickier and muggier, and the itch beneath his skin only deepened. Fresh air usually made him feel better, but the density of it pressing on his lungs was claustrophobic. He set down his glass, then clasped his hand to his chest and dug his thumb in hard.
All at once, it dawned on him the situation he’d gotten himself into. He was lucky to be here, sure, but he was also cut off from all his friends and from the girl he’d been seeing on again and off again since he was seventeen. His cell phone reception was mediocre, and he was stuck in the middle of nowhere without a car. It was too hot to run, and his housemates didn’t have any interest in keeping him company.
And… and the van that had brought him there that morning was pulling into the drive.
For one single, heart-stopping second, he imagined leaving all his shit behind and making a run for it. Telling Roberto to take him to the airport, that he’d made a terrible mistake. But that wasn’t who he was. It wouldn’t be—not anymore. Dropping his hand from his chest, he sucked in a deep, hard breath. Curled his fingers into his palm and squared his jaw.
Rather than heading his way, the van veered off toward the house where all the girls were staying, lurching to a stop right in front of their door. Roberto stepped out and headed around to the rear, but there was a tension in his shoulders. Before the guy could get over there, a girl tugged open the doors at the back. A girl in heavy boots and cargo shorts that hung low on slim hips and a long-sleeved shirt that made him feel even hotter in his tee. Her face glinted with metal, piercings in the shells of her ears and in her lip and her brow, and her chin-length hair shone a deep jet black, except in the front. Where it had been dyed blue.
He swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry. She was… something. That was what she was. Everything about her said to stay the fuck away, but as she beat Roberto to unloading her things, Adam took a single step forward. And then another. And another.
Because it didn’t matter if she was tough as nails. He’d treat her the same as he would anyone else, and that meant offering to help. And if his palms got even damper just watching her as she turned toward the house, well… that was no one’s business but his own.
Roberto and the girl were saying something to each other, but Adam couldn’t quite make it out. He kept moving, crossing the space between the two houses as Roberto held up his hands, then turned and walked toward the front of the van. Adam frowned at the expression on the man’s face, but before he could call out, the engine started up, and the gravel churned beneath the tires as the van peeled out.
Adam stepped aside as it rumbled past, peering beyond it to watch the girl’s shoulders slump. She was faced away from him, looking brittle in a way he hadn’t entirely anticipated. Black ink peeked above the collar of her shirt, curving along the base of her neck, and his hands itched as he stared. Maybe it had just been too long—maybe it was that he’d never touched a girl who looked like that—but for a second all he could think about was tracing the lines etched in her skin, following them down, down, down. Soothing the brittleness away with his lips against her nape.
He shrugged aside the guilt that threatened to boil over at that thought and walked a little faster, because he could, damn it. He could touch and kiss and sleep with anyone he liked. Because—if the way she had spoken the last time he’d gotten a hold of her was any sign—Shannon wanted him to.