26 #2
That caught me off guard. Why was he bringing that up now? “What?” I said, stunned, but he just cut me off as he casually strolled out of the kitchen.
“Or over there, where you told me you enjoyed kissing me.” He pointed to a specific spot on the ground, where I’d sat, frozen, the night we kissed in the apartment.
I pursed my lips. The memories felt like a massive claw tightening around my stomach, making it churn. I swallowed. He was so laid-back, like this was no big deal and something he could chat about with anyone, anytime.
“Adrik, please—”
He cut me off again.
“Or even better, there on the sofa, where I took off your clothes, touched you, and almost . . .”
“That’s enough!” I suddenly exclaimed, cutting him off before I got angry and said things I’d later regret.
I flicked my gaze between the hall that led to the bedrooms and him, nervous and no doubt with a look of horror on my face.
“What the hell are you doing?” I added in a barely contained whisper.
He shut his mouth and stopped a few feet from me, but his expression remained cruel. In fact, I spotted a tiny, spiteful smile beginning on his face. Was he going to be mature about things? No, ladies and gentlemen, Adrik Cash was living up to his surname and its reputation.
“He can’t hear us. He must be busy talking to himself in the mirror,” he casually said.
I couldn’t believe he was acting like this. It wasn’t like him—or was it? Suddenly, each of us standing at opposite ends of the room like two cowboys about to draw their guns, I felt like I didn’t know Adrik at all.
“You’re chatty today, aren’t you?” I blurted out sarcastically.
“We’ve all got good days,” he said, his smile turning more bitter. I pursed my lips to hold myself back.
I glanced back toward the hallway and then blurted out in a low, angry voice, “Is that what you’re going to do now? Turn your anger at me into a stupid war?”
“Isn’t that what you were doing at the start?” he defended himself with a shameless tone that was starting to really piss me off.
I pursed my lips and clenched my jaw so tightly that I probably looked ridiculous.
I pointed my finger at him like I wanted to stab him and then stepped back.
No. Breathe, Jude. Act like that character from Pucca, Ring Ring: I’m not mad, I’m not mad.
Basically, I wasn’t going to argue with him, I just wasn’t going to . . .
“Well, I don’t want to,” I said, lifting my arms in surrender. “I won’t play along, so don’t bother.”
Adrik stayed unnervingly calm and let out a loud, mocking laugh, like that was the most ridiculous thing he’d heard all year.
“But, Jude, I’ve never been bothered by anything,” he admitted, with complete composure, and even a hint of arrogance. “I think you’re well-aware of that.”
All that was missing was for him to wink to end his little conceited-idiot performance.
“I didn’t know you were so bigheaded,” I mumbled, but he heard me.
“There are so many things we don’t know, and will never know, about each other . . . Of course, there’ll never be anything between us again.”
This made me feel . . . sad?
Aegan’s tall, freshly showered figure appeared in the hallway, pulling me out of that terrible moment.
He had a towel wrapped around his waist and little drops of water glistening on his tattooed shoulders.
His hair was tangled and all over the place, his skin oozing freshness.
But he was unshaven, and I could swear I noticed faint bags under his eyes.
He didn’t look bad at all though. Aegan would’ve looked just as hot with snot all over his face.
“Here you are . . . Did you bring what I asked?” he said.
At least he hadn’t heard the stupid things me and Adrik had said to each other.
“Yeah,” I replied, trying to sound like a caring girlfriend. I rummaged around the bag and pulled out the bottle of flu medicine. Not wanting to risk any mistakes, I opened it myself and took out a pill. “Here, this will help you.”
He took it and winked at me flirtatiously. Then he leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. He smelled of men’s soap and his mouth was cold from the shower. So . . . things were good again? Is that what the kiss meant? Was I still his girlfriend? Why?
I noticed Adrik looking at us suspiciously, and if humans were telepathic, I’d have heard him in my head saying, That’s it, Jude, kiss my brother and then have wet dreams over me.
I was starting to worry. Things were getting strange.
“What are you staring at?” Aegan said to Adrik, seeing him in the living room. “Stop being so weird and go get ready. It’s showtime in a few hours.”
At least they weren’t mad at each other. Although Aegan and Adrik’s relationship was a mystery to everyone else.
“I was just chatting to Jude while she waited for you,” Adrik clarified, relaxed, shrugging his shoulders. “So she wouldn’t get bored. I can still do that, right?”
Hearing him say I can still do that almost killed me. What the hell had they talked about?
Aegan made a gesture like it was no big deal.
“Of course,” he said, before starting to do arm stretches. “So, what’s the latest?”
“Nothing, Jude was just telling me how much she loves this sofa,” Adrik replied casually, pointing to the massive sofa in the living room.
A second later, with me stunned by that sly, wicked insinuation, he strode toward the hallway and disappeared, triumphant.
I felt a twitch in my upper lip. I just stood there, like a Super Saiyan holding back a flurry of kicks, but I kept thinking to myself, I won’t get mad, I won’t get mad.
Aegan frowned and looked at me.
“Well, that was completely normal,” he said.
Then he headed to the kitchen to take the flu—sorry, I mean laxative—medicine with some water.
I turned toward him, taking a deep breath to steady myself. Now that I got a close look at him, he seemed . . . three times chirpier than usual, like he’d stepped straight out of a magazine of perfect, flawless men.
“You don’t look sick,” I said, keeping a close eye on him.
“That’s why I said ‘I think,’” he shot back, with charming attention to detail.
I shot him a death stare. He took the pill, put the glass in the sink, and came over to me. He gave me a thorough once-over and sighed, like rating how I looked was a complete waste of time.
If I still didn’t have to pretend to be his girlfriend, I’d have suffocated him with the bag instead of giving him explanations.
“Although I was really upset you played the video in the auditorium, you should know the kiss with Adrik only happened because—”
He shook his head to cut me off.
“Adrik already explained it to me,” he said, really relaxed. “It was the incense.”
I was surprised by how understanding he was, although it wasn’t too shocking considering we didn’t exactly like each other.
“Yeah, I was a little high,” I admitted, half lying.
I remembered that kiss vividly, especially the way it’d felt.
“As long as it doesn’t happen again,” he said, before throwing me a barefaced smile. “But I’m sure it won’t. Adrik has made it perfectly clear that he doesn’t really like you, which is such a relief because it would be awful if two brothers fell out over you, wouldn’t it?”
I was stunned.
I was SPEECHLESS.
Mainly because of that whole he doesn’t like you thing, but also because trying to make me feel guilty was a clever tactic to keep me from getting close to Adrik.
“Well, we’ll head to the fair together later,” he added, to my surprise. “Dress your best.”
He strolled down the hallway, the outline of his perfect ass visible beneath the towel. Although, for a minute, he paused and glanced back at me.
“And, by the way, I had nothing to do with the video in the auditorium,” he clarified, so casually that it actually convinced me. “There must be someone even crueler who really fucking hates you.”
After saying that, he finally left, leaving a waft of his body lotion in his wake.
Now all I had to do was get out of there and wait for the showdown.
Just when I opened the door to leave, I ran into someone I didn’t expect to see.
“Artie,” I blurted out.
Just how many more hits was I going to take today?
First Adrik flaunted his sensuality in my face, and now Artie made me look hideous by comparison, having seemingly had a complete makeover.
She was wearing tight-fitting jeans paired with a delicate lace blouse and suspenders, giving her a sexy look I hadn’t seen before.
She’d even put on makeup and wasn’t wearing her glasses.
She walked past me without saying a word. I couldn’t bring myself to leave.
“What are you doing here?”
“Oh, nothing. Adrik invited me to the fair with him,” she replied, shrugging.
Oh, nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing?
When the hell had that happened? Why would Adrik invite Artie if he didn’t even like her? Of course, he’d lied to me. Just like Aegan had said.
Definition of Jude Derry at that moment: “a loser with an inferiority complex.” This was just destiny’s way of letting me know that things could get much worse.
And unfortunately, I couldn’t let go of my feelings for Adrik Cash so easily, even if he was a liar.
But, anyway, it was almost fair time.