Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Adeline
Cyrus places her on the bed, and I see Maya walking down the hallway.
“Addie!” she squeals, and I move away from the door, so she doesn’t see her mother, pulling her toward the kitchen. “What’s going on?”
“I was sick. Your grandma was helping me,” Cyrus says, taking off his jacket.
“Are you Addie’s boyfriend?” she asks curiously.
“I like to think so,” he says, looking at me with a smirk on his face, and I roll my eyes at him.
“Go watch Shimmer and Shine, baby. I will be back in a minute,” I tell her.
She rushes to the living room, and I hear the TV turn on.
“Thanks,” I tell him.
He steps forward, kissing my head, and I notice his shirt is also covered in spew.
“Come, I will try to find you a shirt,” I tell him, knowing I have some band shirts that I use as nighties that would probably fit him.
He follows me to my room, and I duck into the bathroom, grabbing a wet cloth before finding him undoing his shirt’s buttons.
I walk over to the drawers and grab one of the shirts, which I know is about his size.
Turning around, he has his shirt off, and I marvel at how muscular he is; his body looks like it’s been carved by an artist. His abs look close to perfection as he steps closer.
I reach out, running my hands over his pecs before running them down the hard muscle of his abs.
Then I realize what I am doing. His hand grabs mine, snapping me out of my daze.
“Sorry,” I tell him, but he doesn’t let go, stepping closer before lifting my chin, making me look up at him.
He leans down, his lips brushing mine softly before I feel his tongue slip between my lips as he pulls me against him, his hand going to the back of my neck as he deepens the kiss, and I kiss him back, sparks moving everywhere he touches, his hand going underneath my blouse as he palms my breast. The clearing of someone’s throat behind me makes me jump, and I turn around to see my mother standing at the door.
“Just your boss, aye?” she asks.
I step away from him like someone has just tossed cold water over me, my face heating. Why did I do that?
“She is asleep. We will figure something out tomorrow. See if we can get her readmitted.”
I nod, knowing it will cost a fortune, a fortune we don’t have.
“We’ll figure it out,” I tell her, and she nods before leaving.
I look back to Cyrus, who is standing there, watching me. I hand him the shirt, and he pulls it on. I snort, choking on my laugh.
“What?” he asks, looking down. “Aw, really? I have to be seen in this?”
“Suits you. I could picture you being a Spice Girls groupie,” I tell him.
“Really?”
“No,” I tell him, shaking my head.
“Eli will be picking me up soon. I sent him a text. You don’t need to come in tomorrow, okay? Stay with your sister if you want,” he tells me, and I nod.
“Come, we should check on Maya,” he says, grabbing my hand and pulling me downstairs to the living room.
I watch Maya, trying to keep her distracted so she doesn’t go in search of my mother and stumble upon hers. I am almost dozing off when I am awoken by my mom touching my shoulder.
“Where did your friend go?” she asks, and my eyes snap open.
I look around. I didn’t hear him leave. Getting up when I hear a door shutting outside, I yawn, walking outside to find Eli and Cyrus both next to my car.
“What are you doing?” I ask as Eli pulls on his jacket.
I try not to laugh when I look at Cyrus, who is still sporting the Spice Girls shirt.
“Cleaning your car. She made quite a mess of it,” Cyrus says.
“No, you don’t have to do that,” I tell them.
Eli shakes his head. “It’s already done.”
“You didn’t have to do that. I would have done it,” I tell them, a little embarrassed that they’ve just cleaned up after my sister.
“It’s fine, Addie. I messaged Eli and told him to bring some stuff. I didn’t want to wake you,” he says.
“Well, thanks. Coffee?” I ask before yawning again.
“No, we should go, and you should go to bed,” Eli says, stepping forward and kissing my head.
I involuntarily lean into him, needing his touch, before I suddenly wrap my arms around him, hugging him.
He feels warm, feels like home. I can’t understand how they have this effect on me.
It feels strange, like I need them; I have never needed anyone, but I need them, want them, and it confuses me.
Eli’s hand goes to my hair, stroking my head, and I realize what I am doing. I step back.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that,” I tell him, shaking my head. “I think maybe I do need to go to bed.”
“It’s okay, Addie. We don’t mind you touching us. Don’t be afraid to. We will never reject your touch,” Eli says, and I furrow my brows.
They leave, and I head inside. Maya is fast asleep on the couch, and I curl up beside her. It isn’t even dark out, but the day has taken a toll on me. I also can’t figure out the strange feelings I have been having; they’ve literally come out of nowhere.
Yawning, I fall asleep only to wake in the middle of the night.
Great, now I am wide awake. I should never have had a nap.
Getting up, I pop my head into my sister’s room.
She is still passed out, my mother reading next to her, using the lamp to see.
She looks up, and I give her a nod as she grabs her coffee.
No surprise she won’t sleep; instead, she will wait till she wakes up and try and convince her to go back to rehab.
Grabbing my phone, I try Sam again but get no answer. Frustrated, I toss my phone before picking it up. He can’t ignore me if I just show up at his house. Grabbing a jumper, I walk back into my sister’s room.
“I am just going to go out for an hour. Do you need anything?” I whisper, and mom shakes her head.
“Make sure you lock the door,” she whispers back.
Walking downstairs, I decide to put Maya in her bed before leaving. Scooping her up off the lounge, I see her macaroni bowl and pick it up, too.
The news suddenly flicks on. A news reporter is reporting from a street that looks remarkably familiar. I turn the volume up, listening.
“We are live on the scene, where a meth lab has exploded, and nine people have died in a residential area. Firefighters did everything to put out the flames and stop the risk to neighboring houses, but unfortunately, they were too late to save the occupants. Investigations are underway to identify the victims. Police have said the house was known to them and helping with the identification process.”
I am about to turn the TV off when it flicks to the picture of the house, and I gasp. Shock hits me when I realize it is Ethan’s house, the very same house I’ve pulled my sister from earlier in the day.
I walk Maya to her room in complete and utter shock at what I have just seen. Placing her in bed, I tuck the blanket around her before closing her door.
Grabbing my keys, I head for my car, bracing myself for the pungent smell inside.
But when I open it, all I can smell is the air-freshener tree hanging from my mirror and the smell of the cleaning products.
No foul odor at all. Putting my car in reverse, I pullout of the driveway heading to Sam’s, hoping to get some answers about why the hell he’s bitten me and why I can hardly remember anything from that night.
Pulling up at Sam’s, I see his motorbike in the driveway, and I know he is home.
Walking up the front porch of the A-frame house, I knock on the green door.
I hear movement inside as someone walks over to answer the door.
It opens to reveal his mother in a pink dressing gown and bunny slippers on her feet, her face lighting up when she sees me standing there.
“Adeline, what a lovely surprise,” she says, opening the door wider and allowing me to enter.
“Who is it, ma?” I hear Sam’s voice call out from the lounge room out the back of the house.
“It’s your friend Adeline, dear,” she calls back to him.
I hear the shuffling before seeing him walk down the hall toward me. His mother’s name is Mary; she is lovely and has blonde hair that is almost white and kind blue eyes as she stares at me.
“How have you been, dear?” she asks before Sam steps out.
He nods toward the stairs. “Another time, mom. I need to talk to Adeline,” he says, grabbing my hand and tugging me up the stairs, the floorboards creaking as he pulls me toward his room.
The moment we step inside, his lips are on me, and I find myself pushed against the wall, his lips devouring mine. He starts trying to pull my jumper off over my head.
“Sam, wait. That’s not why I am here,” I try to tell him while he keeps trying to undress me. He starts tugging on my pants, and I grab his hands, stopping him.
“Sam, wait. Stop,” I tell him.
He lets go, walking off and sitting on his bed. “Is this about your bosses? Are you fucking them?”
“What? No, why would you say that?”
“Could have fooled me,” he says, and I scrunch up my face in confusion.
What the fuck was he talking about? I sit on the bed beside him.
His room is cleaner than mine, not a speck of dust, the drawers clear of clutter, while mine are covered with cosmetics and pictures.
Though, he does have one photo of him and me at the fair on a Ferris wheel.
I get up, picking it up and looking at it.
“You still have this?” I ask, and he looks up at me, giving a swift nod.
He looks sad for some reason I don’t understand; maybe his father’s death has been getting to him more than I thought.
“What happened the other night? I have little to no recollection. I remember us meeting at the diner, but that’s where I go blank. Then I woke up at home,” I tell him.
“What, you think you can play dumb, and I would just fall for it? You made me look like a fool,” he snaps, and I am surprised by his sudden anger.
I turn to face him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why haven’t you been answering my calls?”
“Calls? You haven’t tried to ring once, Adeline, and you disconnected your phone, so don’t scold me. You should have told me you were involved with someone else instead of letting me find out when they catch you sneaking around with me,” he says, standing up, his hands fisted close to his side.
I have never seen him like this; he is angry, and his anger kind of frightens me. “What are you talking about, Sam? You’re not making any sense,” I tell him.
He raises his eyebrows at me. “I can’t believe you. As soon as they sat down, I knew that you were fucking them, the way they looked at me. Then instead of choosing me, you just sat there. Do you know how humiliating that was?”
“Who are you talking about? I don’t remember anything from that night, Sam. That’s why I am here. I just remember waking up and finding that you bit me and wouldn’t return my calls.”
“Bit you? I never bit you, Adeline. We didn’t even leave together. You left with your bosses. I saw the entire thing as they shoved you in their car, and you left with them. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me. You could have saved me the humiliation.”
“I never left with them. I came back here with you,” I tell him, trying to wrack my brain.
It sounds right, yet I just can’t picture it.
“No, Adeline. You left with some man called Eli. I never got the other one’s name,” he says, rubbing his face. “Did they do something to you?”
“No, I… I don’t remember. I just woke up with a huge bite mark on my neck. I thought you did it.”
“Show me. You never came back home with me, Adeline. You went home with your bosses, not me,” he says, standing up and reaching for my shirt. “Where is it?”
“No, it is on my neck,” I tell him, tugging my shirt down and moving my hair.
Sam gasps, stepping back. “Get out, get out now, Adeline!”
“What?”
“Get out of my house, Adeline. You have been marked.”
“Marked?”
“Get out!” he bellows, hitting his bedside drawers with his fist.
I run from the room and down the stairs. What got into him? One thing is clear, though: I need to see Eli and Cyrus, and they need to tell me what the fuck happened the other night.
As I climb into the car, Sam runs out the door, stopping on the step. I open my door, and he shakes his head, holding up his hand.
“I am sorry, Adeline. I can’t be with you now.”
“What are you talking about?”
“That mark on your neck, you have been claimed by one of them. You belong to them now.”
“Sam, you are not making any sense.”
“Go ask them, go ask your bosses,” he says, walking inside, leaving me there confused.
I get in the car and close the door. I leave, driving down the street before pulling my phone from my pocket. I dial Cyrus’s number.