Adam's Pulse

Part 13

Chapter 13

Sloan shifted uneasily on her feet, watching Adam’s back as he left the room.  For some reason, the urge to run after him, to make sure that he would be okay, was as overwhelming as it was when she dealt with her brother.  The only difference was that she knew she didn’t look at Adam in a brotherly way.  Her foot stepped towards the cabin door, ready to run out if she heard even the slightest noise.  There was no way that she was letting her two new friends come to harm.  She had learned enough while her brother was away to defend herself; even defend someone else if it came to that.

She took another step towards the door, but a hand on her arm stopped her from getting any closer.  Glancing up, she stared into Andrew’s vivid, blue eyes.  The man shook his head while jerking his head back towards the doorway, and his message was clear.  He wasn’t letting her go out there, no matter what happened on the other side of those doors. 

With a glare on her face, she snatched her hand out of his grip.  “Well, if you aren’t going to let me go out there, let’s at least do what they told us.  Where are these children?”  She hesitated for a moment.  “And whose are they?”

When he drew an A in the air, Sloan’s heart began to drop, but as soon as he drew an L, happiness flew through her once more.  Was it wrong of her to be happy that they weren’t Adam’s children?  If he had children, it wouldn’t change the way she felt about him, but thinking about him with another woman didn’t sit well with Sloan either. 

“Good,” she mumbled with a smile.  “Let’s go meet them.”

Drew smiled at her while shaking his head.  When he reached out to snatch her hand, without thinking, Sloan pulled away.  A frown flew onto his face before a look of understanding flashed.  With a shrug, he began walking away from her, leaving her the choice to follow.  She stepped after him, feeling excitement build in her chest at the prospect of meeting Ally’s children.  It may have been odd, but for some reason, Sloan was already beginning to feel a part of this little group.  The fact that Ally wanted Sloan to meet her children had to mean something, didn’t it? 

“Yes,” a voice said, making her jump.  “It does mean something.  It means that despite it all, she trusts you.”

Sloan’s eyes narrowed on the man now standing in front of her.  It was the same man she had seen just this morning when she had rammed into Adam’s car.  What was his name again?  “Zeke.”

A bright smile flashed on the man’s face.  “You got it right that time.”

Arms wrapped around the man’s waist, and Sloan followed the arms to a smiling woman.  “I’m Charlie.”

“Sloan,” she replied, while holding out her hand to the woman.

Charlie gripped her hand for a moment before dropping it.  “It’s nice to meet you.  Ally’s said a lot about you, and if I would have known you looked this good, I might have told Ally not to let you in the wedding.”

The joking smile on the woman’s face eased the nerves that had hit Sloan.  She was used to women being catty, was used to them hating her for no reason.  “Believe me,” Sloan joked back. “If she would have told me what you looked like, I wouldn’t have agreed either.”

“You’re both lying,” another person from the room called out.  Sloan’s eyes darted towards the man, finding who must have been Andrew’s twin.  “All Ally would have had to do is smile and you both would be ready to jump into a puddle of mud to make her happy.”  When Sloan frowned at him, he let out a loud laugh.  “The woman has a way of getting what she wants.”

“But she wouldn’t ask us to do something like that, Tony.”  Sloan looked towards another man, noticing that out of them all, he was the only one with blonde hair, but the eyes were the same blue as the others, maybe not as light.