20 #2
I couldn’t help but laugh. I also couldn’t shake the feeling that Ms. Lauris’s sudden shift in attitude was because she liked Adrik. Maybe the kiss had made her jealous? I wasn’t surprised. She was always looking at him, thinking nobody had caught on . . . except me.
“Fine.” I shook my head and laughed. “I’ll leave it to you.”
Adrik offered a faint smile.
“You should trust me a little, Jude.”
And then he hit the side on the vending machine, and it finally dispensed the energy bar I’d paid for.
“Thanks,” I said, grabbing it out of the machine. And I really meant it. I cleared my throat and continued, “What I said to you earlier . . . was a little harsh.”
He looked at me like it was no big deal. He didn’t even look annoyed, despite the fact I was close to slapping him in the face at the time.
“It doesn’t matter; it’s true,” he admitted with a casual shrug. “My surname could get me access to the secret Vatican files if I wanted.”
We started walking together. I was heading to my apartment to work on some assignments. I didn’t know where he was going. I also didn’t know why he hadn’t taken his car, but either way we were keeping each other company.
I tore open the wrapper and took a bite of the bar.
I didn’t really want to say anything, just chew.
But then out of nowhere I started feeling slightly uncomfortable because of the kiss.
It obviously wasn’t my first kiss, but it was the first time I’d felt like this after kissing someone.
I didn’t know if I could put it out of my head that easily.
It was really strange. I was usually pretty levelheaded when it came to stuff like this.
I had no problem stepping up when something happened.
But now it was like I wanted to forget about what had happened while also wanting to know what he was thinking.
Even if both of us knew it was an incense-provoked mistake, right? No? Yeah.
Somehow, I found the courage.
“About yesterday—” I started to say but, to my surprise, he cut me off.
“The kiss,” he casually said. “Don’t say it like it’s taboo. It was a kiss, everybody kisses, so I’ll forget about it if that’s what you want.”
I chewed slowly and then looked at him.
“’If I want you to forget it?’” I repeated, dumbfounded. “What do you mean?”
“If you want to pretend like nothing happened, I’ve got no problem with that,” he casually replied. “I’ll just say blame it all on the incense.”
“Are you trying to say that the incense had nothing to do with it?” I furrowed my brow.
“Yeah, it had an effect, but you kissed me back.”
I looked up, frowning even more. Adrik had that irritating little smirk on his usually handsome yet pissed-off face. It was the smile that surfaced whenever he was certain he was right.
“Are you trying to say I liked it?” I said.
“I’m not trying to say it, I am saying it,” he corrected me.
He was saying it! I had to strike back immediately.
“Then you did too,” I said, equally as defiant. “It was obvious.”
Adrik rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, I got a hard-on, which is normal considering you were gyrating like crazy on top of me and the incense relaxed me,” he said, like none of this bothered him in the slightest. Being stubborn didn’t mean he wasn’t human.
I gave him a wide, triumphant smile.
“Let’s emphasize the part about ‘you had a hard-on’ and add ‘because of me.’”
Then he stopped, looked at me, and said in a challenging tone, “And what’s the problem with that?”
I sighed nervously.
“The problem,” I repeated, glancing around, moving as if I’d just heard something absurd. “The problem is big, Adrik. Of course, there’s a problem. There’s a whole load of problems. There’s a list full of problems.”
He crossed his arms and shifted his weight, staring down at me with defiant, narrowed eyes. “Okay then, tell me one.”
I kept glaring because, to be quite honest, I didn’t know else to do.
He was dealing with it in a way I hadn’t expected.
To tell you the truth, I thought he’d do one of two things: he’d either tell Aegan or he’d pretend it never happened.
Since Aegan hadn’t shown up to publicly accuse me of cheating on him, Adrik obviously hadn’t said a word to him.
We both knew that if Aegan had found out, he’d have been straight over to me.
“Well, to start, you’re . . . you’re my enemy,” I said.
“Really? In what war?” he asked with the same defiant tone.
“In . . . this one.” I drew a circle in the air with my palm to include everything. “This war. This.”
“There’s no war. It’s all in your head.”
There was a war, but he either didn’t know or was acting like he didn’t.
I decided not to take any more risks. I started walking again, nervously taking bites of the bar. I bit it so many times that a big ball of it formed in my mouth.
“I have no idea what the hell you’re trying to say,” I seethed, with some difficulty as I was trying to swallow.
Adrik kept up with me. He was looking at me. I could feel his eyes, but I stayed focused on the path in front of me and asked the gods for guidance.
“Nothing. I just don’t understand why you won’t admit you liked it,” he said matter-of-factly.
“But why do I have to admit that?” I complained, wiping my mouth with a sharp, curt motion. “So that you feel like you’ve won?”
Adrik took me by the arm and stopped me. My heart was pounding. Once again, I didn’t know how to react or deal with the situation. He was causing it. He left me with no arguments, no weapons, not even a fucking shield to protect myself with.
And I hated that.
“Why do you think everything is a contest?” he asked me, sounding pissed. The smile had been wiped off his face. He was frowning. He looked confused that I didn’t understand him.
“Because it is, Adrik. Tell me it’s not,” I shot back, with what I thought was conviction.
To be honest, I was starting to have my doubts about everything. He seemed more puzzled than ever.
“First, you thought I was conspiring with Aegan to humiliate you, and now you actually think I’m trying to outdo you at something so ridiculous?” he said, like that all sounded so absurd.
And was it? Was it absurd? Fuck, I felt strange. I didn’t know what to do, so I turned to my old friend: defensiveness.
“You can say whatever you want, but I don’t think the nickname ‘Perfect Liars’ is just a coincidence,” I blurted out. However, Adrik’s expression didn’t change.
“So, a stupid nickname explains everything then?”
“Maybe if it was just a nickname and not your entire reputation . . .” I shot back.
He furrowed his brows even more and shook his head. “Why are you talking to me like I’m a gigolo or something?”
“Well, ninety days . . . That’s how many girls a year? Not that many, but if we count all the other ones, because I don’t believe you’re capable of being faithful . . .”
He got really pissed off at that . . . like really. The look of confusion vanished; he pressed his lips together and fixed me with a hard stare. I was unsettled by the way he was looking at me. I knew I had messed up, but right then, messing up seemed like the only thing I could do.
“I told you that’s not my style, but you only see what you want, don’t you? Stop fucking comparing me to my brothers. Maybe then you’d finally have to admit the truth to yourself. You’d see which one of us here would rather die before admitting anything, because it sure as hell isn’t me.”
After saying this, he turned his back to me and crossed the road.
I sighed and also turned to leave but stopped for a second. For a minute, I felt like turning around and going after him to tell him that, yeah, I knew he was different, but too many things still made me wary of him. Instead, I just walked away.
In case it wasn’t obvious, what I refused to admit was that I really had the hots for Adrik.
Damnably sensual Adrik.