Chapter 12
ADRIAN
After I'd watched Michael leave the grounds with the man I was becoming increasingly infatuated with, I returned to my room and thought about what he'd told me.
If I wanted to get out, if I didn't think any of this was a good idea anymore…
I really shouldn't wait any longer, shouldn't hang around.
With every day that passed, I lost another little piece of my mind and soon I'd be a goner, if I wasn't already.
I took a deep breath, thinking about the two paths in front of me.
On the one hand, I could stay here, hope that Tyrel would eventually pick me, try to arrange myself with his family and have his children.
I'd live in luxury, but also under the watchful eyes of his mother and whoever else was part of his clan.
Or I could go back to cooking meals for my brother and hoping that my luck might turn around some day.
Right now, neither choice seemed particularly appealing.
My phone rang before I could think much further.
I didn't look at the caller ID, but when I answered, Luca's voice greeted me from the other end of the line.
"Adrian! Do I have to get angry at you? You promised to call."
So I had. And I'd completely forgotten all about that. "I'm sorry. There's been a lot on my mind." Like one particularly hot dragon whom I wanted to fuck. "How are you doing?"
"Oh no, I'm not calling to tell you about myself. I want to know what's going on with you and that dragon."
I'd suspected as much, but I didn't know what to tell her.
"Things are… I don't know. I'm confused, to be honest."
"You don't sound very happy." Luca's voice turned motherly, concerned. I wondered whether this was the same way she spoke to her child when Mara was upset.
"I'm… He's out on a date with another guy right now. It's tough to be happy when I don't know… I don't know what they're doing. What he's doing." Realizing that I was beginning to ramble, I stopped myself.
"I'm sorry, honey. That must be difficult.
I can't even imagine. If my husband had done that to me, I'd have hit him over the head with a frying pan.
" I heard someone laugh in the background.
Maybe her husband was listening in. "Wait, I'm going to move into another room," Luca said.
Then, "Okay, we're safe here. Tell me more about what happened.
You're starting to sound like you really like this guy. "
"Tyrel," I said. "He's called Tyrel, and he's kind of an ass, really, but… I feel like that's not all he is."
"Details," Luca demanded. "Paint me a picture."
I found myself pacing the room as I spoke.
"You've seen the photograph, haven't you?
He's even hotter than that in person. I mean, he's really fucking hot.
He has these eyes, when he looks at you, it takes your breath away.
And I'm not just saying that, I mean it.
Sometimes they glow. They actually glow.
" And every time they did, my heart skipped a beat.
"I used to think I was really into Rory, but being with Rory wasn't anything like being with Tyrel.
Hell, I can't even explain it, but sleeping with Rory wasn't even as good as just being kissed by Tyrel.
" I raised my hand to my lips, which tingled when I thought back to that moment.
"Wow. You've really got it bad, don't you?" Her voice turned even more sympathetic, if that was possible.
I closed my eyes and inhaled. "Kind of, yeah. It's stupid. I hardly know him."
She laughed softly. "Sometimes these things just happen. The heart wants what the heart wants."
"But why does mine want him?"
"Well, there must be something about him that attracts you, even if it's only subconsciously and you can't put your finger on it yet." She paused. "So… You kissed?"
That question nearly had me laughing, too. The way she asked it. My overly curious best friend was back.
"We did," I said. "Just once and not for long, but… yeah. He kissed me." And he'd promised me more than that, but I didn't tell her. There was such a thing as too much information.
"That's great! He must like you, too!"
"And yet he's out there with another man."
"Oh, honey, I'm sorry."
"He says he has to do it, that his mother is making him, but I don't really understand it all." I sat on the bed. "I just want it all to be over with. Tomorrow, she's going to have a doctor examine us."
"A doctor?"
"To check if we're fertile, since, you know, the whole point of this project is for one us to produce a baby."
"Ah, yeah, I see."
"I'm a little scared what they'll find."
"I'm sure it'll be fine. You've gone to a doctor before, haven't you? When it wasn't working with Rory."
"Yeah, but…" I shook my head. "Maybe they missed something. I don't know."
She assured me again that everything would be fine. Not only the doctor thing, but the Tyrel thing, too. I had a hard time believing her. So much so that I couldn't go to sleep when the call eventually ended, even though it had gotten quite late.
Instead of changing into my jammies, I went out into the garden.
The moon stood high and full in the sky tonight.
I'd always liked looking at it. Even though I didn't believe the moon had any mystical powers, there was something soothing about a full moon night.
I sat on a bench overlooking a flower field, even though it was too dark to really appreciate nature now.
The fresh air was nice, and I felt like if I could just have a little time to myself out here, maybe I could clear my mind.
Of course, I had no such luck.
Shortly after I sat down, I heard a noise from the direction of the house.
When I turned around, I spotted Tyrel. My heart stopped for a moment. He was the last person I'd expected to see tonight. Wasn't he supposed to be out on a date?
For how long had I been sitting here? I hadn't noticed the time pass at all.
On closer inspection, Tyrel was holding something in his hand, but I couldn't quite make out the shape of it in the moonlight. As he approached me, I realized that it was a bottle, though I couldn't tell what kind.
"I think you're supposed to be in bed," Tyrel said.
"And you're supposed to be on a date."
Tyrel shook his head. "We had dinner and then I sent him back." He came closer still. The bottle in his hand looked like it had held something alcoholic at some point, but it was empty now. He sat next to me on the bench and put it down.
"You sent him back?" That meant he hadn't immediately gone home. Grinding my teeth, I wondered where he'd gone off to. Some place with alcohol it seemed. To do what, though?
"I wanted to get drunk."
"Did it work?"
He shrugged. "High tolerance," was all he said. "I can get drunk, but it takes a lot."
"So you're saying you're not even a little tipsy now?"
"Yes."
"You're lying, then." At least, his voice sounded a bit different. I noticed, because I always listened closely when he was speaking. I liked the cadence of his voice, the way he said things. Everything was deliberate and clearly enunciated.
Usually. Now? Not so much.
He shot me a long look, studying me intently in the low light.
His gaze was so intense that I was tempted to look away, but I didn't. Tonight, I didn't feel like backing down.
That was always what I'd done when I'd been with Rory, and in the end it hadn't gotten me anything but heart break.
I wasn't going to make that mistake again.
Couldn't afford to. So I looked Tyrel straight in the eyes.
"You can tell, can't you?" he asked.
"It's obvious to me. I think you've had a lot to drink, though I don't know why."
Tyrel eventually averted his gaze from me and looked out over the garden instead. "My mother is asleep," he said. "So's Paul."
That didn't tell me why he thought he needed to get drunk, but it told me a lot of other things.
For one, that no one was going to see us.
And that he had checked to make sure of this, for some reason.
He was plotting something. I had an idea what he wanted to do, but I doubted that engaging in a drunk make-out session with a partner who'd just been out to dinner with another man was the smartest thing to do.
"You weren't in your room," he continued.
"Didn't feel much like sleeping."
"I see. Michael said you were angry. Furious was the word he used."
I gripped the wood of the bench beneath me tightly. "I was. Kind of."
"Because I went out with Michael?"
"Yes." There was no point denying it, was there?
"I see. He was right then." Tyrel eyed me curiously. "But you're not angry now." It wasn't a question, just an observation.
"I'm not. I'm…" I looked at the sky, searching for words that wouldn't come.
I had no idea how to describe what I felt.
Probably because so few people in my life had cared to know.
My father had abandoned us early and my mother had turned to TV shows and soaps, which she watched for hours on end.
And Rory… well. I'd always made his feelings a priority without caring much about mine.
I'd been born with this need to take care of the people around me, but for once—just once, I thought—it'd be nice to be taken care of in return.
Tyrel didn't much look like a caretaker, but he waited patiently for me to reply. It was a start.
"You need to tell me," Tyrel said eventually. "Because I'm not very good at reading humans."
I got the feeling he didn't often confess to not being good at something. I couldn't help but wonder if the alcohol had anything to do with his sudden sincerity.
"I'm not very good at it myself right now." I looked at him and saw that he was watching me expectantly. "I don't like this competition," I admitted. "I don't want to quit, not exactly, but I hate the idea that you're choosing between all of us, and you might not choose me in the end."