CHAPTER 12
Adam
"A dam!! Get up! What in the hell are you doing? What's she doing here?"
Yelling. Close yelling. Female yelling. Oh fuck.
Ace is yelling. Here. Shit has hit the fan.
She's here and she's seen Eve in my bed.
I blink to clear the sleep haze from my eyes, only to find Eve standing beside the bed with a blank expression on her face.
She's in protection mode, giving nothing of her feelings away.
Ace is standing at the end of my bed, yelling, "What the fuck, Adam? Is there something you forgot to tell me?"
Eve looks back and forth between Me and Ace, taking it all in.
I see the moment that it dawns on her. Hurt flashes in her eyes so briefly that I would've missed it if I hadn't spent the last several days studying everything there is to know about that face.
Eve is still naked. So am I for that matter.
She's standing there, covering herself with the sheet.
She steps into the closet and closes the door.
"What are you doing here, Ace?"
"What am I doing here? Are you kidding me right now?"
"You're supposed to be in Vegas." I grit out at her.
Eve steps out of the closet, fully clothed with her impassive mask firmly in place and she immediately starts walking toward the door.
"Wait for me in the living room. I'll be out in just a minute."
Her back is to me now. She pauses at my words and turns her head slightly to the side, letting me know that she heard me before she walks out of the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind her.
If she had been afraid of Ace at all, she didn't show it.
She nearly brushed up against her on the way out and she didn't falter for even a beat.
"What the fuck are you doing, Ace?"
Reaching for my lounge pants from the floor, I slide them under the blanket and pull them on.
"What the fuck are YOU doing, Adam? You said you didn't even know her."
"And when you asked me that, I didn't. That was the first time I had ever seen her. It turned out that we had a class together and I just hadn't noticed her before."
We're now standing face to face, glowering at one another.
"And now what?" She screeches incredulously.
"And now we're together."
"You're together? What does that even mean? You don't do together."
"I do now. You were wrong about her. You're the asshole here, Ace."
"Excuse me? You don't even know what you're talking about.
Your girlfriend is a stone-cold bitch. She completely ignores everyone on the team and refuses to participate in team activities.
She thinks she's better than us because she has some talent, but it's not just us.
She never talks to anyone at school. She's too good to even make eye contact with us. She's a snob."
"A snob, huh?"
"Yeah, a snob."
"What did you and the other girls do when she first started the year here?"
"What do you mean?"
"You veterans on the team. What did you do to welcome the new member of your team and make her feel like she even could talk to you?"
Ace is silent for a moment.
"She's unapproachable. She makes zero effort-"
I cut her off mid-sentence. "It wasn't up to her to make the effort.
That was your job. That was Elise's job as captain.
When you started school here, they rolled out the red carpet for you.
Those girls fell at your feet and, even after you declined multiple invites, they kept trying until you warmed up to them.
Which one of you did that for Eve? I know you sure as fuck didn't."
Ace is silent again. She knows I'm right.
She has nothing to say. Her mind is busy processing every interaction that she has ever had with Eve, and she is coming to the same conclusion that I have already drawn.
She's the asshole. The whole team is the asshole, and Eve is the victim of their myopic view of the world around them.
"Shit. I'm sorry, Adam. I made quite the scene."
"It's not me that you should be apologizing to."
"Ughh! I know. This is going to be painful. I've given her months of ammunition for this...not to mention this little scene."
"Little scene? You came in here like a tornado. This very easily could've come to blows. I'm surprised at how calm she is. She may not forgive you. If she doesn't, you deserve it and it's up to you to keep trying."
"Since when are you the apology police? Have you ever apologized to anyone for anything in your whole life?"
"Why would I ever need to apologize?"
"There he is." Ace says this as though she's a game show host.
"Come on. She's in the living room. Prepare to grovel."
We walk out of the bedroom together. When we reach the living room, there's no Eve so I walk into the kitchen, where I see Cal looking in the fridge.
"Did you see where Eve went?"
"Uh yeah. She left a while ago."
"What?! Why did you let her leave?!"
"Well...I didn't realize she was your hostage. She came down the hall and walked straight out the door. She didn't look suspicious, and she wasn't carrying a TV or a Rolex, so I just let her go."
"Mother fucker!"
I turn to see Ace looking at me with pure shock. She's never seen me act like this over a woman and I know that it must hurt her to witness it. She's the only woman I lose my composure for.
"Let's go. You're going to help me fix this."
"What am I going to do?"
"Whatever it takes."
.........................
Arriving at Eve's apartment in record time, I immediately notice that her Jeep isn't here. I didn't even realize she had her keys when she left my room, but she obviously never intended to stay because she already had the keys and her phone before she left the closet.
Knocking on the door, I wait and listen for movement.
I should've insisted that Eve make me a key.
I'll rectify that as soon as I get her back.
Soon, I hear Vaughn yell from the other side of the door.
"Get the fuck off my doormat, you lying piece of shit!
I knew you weren't good enough for her! I tried to tell her, but she'll listen now!
We both fucking HATE YOU!" Vaughn's voice reaches octaves reserved for sirens and rare birds.
"I hope you crash that ugly ass little dick car, you inadequate mother fucker! "
Little dick? Inadequate? What the fuck?
"Where is she, V?"
"I don't know, ADAM. Why don't you check up your ass and around the corner and don't call me V, you irredeemable sack of shit."
Ace steps forward and says, "Calm down lady, you don't know the whole story."
Suddenly, the door locks start getting rapidly disengaged.
I sense that something isn't right, so I pull Ace behind me right at the same time that the door flies open.
Vaughn launches herself toward Ace. I grab her and hold her back while she fights to get free, and Ace looks on stunned once again into silence.
"You horrible piece of shit excuse for a human being! Fuck YOU!! How dare you come here after how you've treated her! She's so much fucking better than you in every way!"
I can't see Ace's face, but I know Vaughn's words hit hard. Quickly, Vaughn turns on me when she realizes I won't let her get to Ace. She starts kicking my legs and landing haymakers all over my face and body. She's small. 5'6 at most, but her little fists are like tiny sticks of dynamite.
"Fuck you two wastes of space. You pieces of human debris. How dare you bring that Satan bitch queen from hell here? You were in on it together, fucking psychopaths!"
"All right, that's enough."
I toss Vaughn back into the apartment and shut the door, locking the doorknob as I go.
It won't stop her for long, but hopefully, she won't pursue us if she has a moment to think about it first. Once I'm out the door, I face Ace, taking in her stunned expression.
I see the shame written all over her face.
"You look pretty beat up." I say to her, referring to the regret that I see in her expression.
"Yeah, well you look like something fresh out of Fight Club. She really kicked your ass. I would've helped, but I kind of feel like I've already done enough."
"I'm glad you didn't. I'm fine."
Dialing Eve's number again, I listen for the ring. I hear it. It's inside the apartment.
"She doesn't have her phone, you stupid mother fucker! STOP! CALLING!"
I close my eyes and turn my face skyward, trying to gather all of the self-control that I can manage.
I am ready to rage. I'm ready to burn this city to the fucking ground.
I want her back. How dare she think she can leave me?
I will get her back and when I do, I'll teach her that there is no escaping me.
I will chase her, I will catch her, and I will make her regret running.
"Do you have any idea where she might go?"
"No. Not really. Trust me, I'm already kicking myself, but I really don't know that much about her."
"Let's go."
We start walking toward my car. My car which is NOT a little dick guy car.
"Are we giving up?"
"No. I have to have her back. We'll find her. We just have to think."
"You have to have her back? Last Thursday, you didn't even know her name. What the hell, Adam?"
"We'll find her. You'll see. You'll get to know her, and you'll see."
"Oooookay. Well, what do we know about her? She's obviously a badass volleyball player. I can admit that now."
"She's brilliant. Genius-level math skills. She volunteers at the juvenile detention center tutoring troubled teens, she doesn't have many friends, and she doesn't like a lot of attention-"
Ace cuts me off. "Okay, okay. That's enough. I get it. I'm the asshole here." Ace sighs heavily. "I hate people like me. I don't understand how I let this happen."
"You're going to make it up to her. You have to. And she'll eventually forgive you. I need the two of you to get along."
We drive to campus and check to see if her car is in any of the lots. I go into the library even though we don't see her car because I know now that it's a refuge for her. Our lazy Sunday in bed was full of revelations.
We drive all over town, wasting most of the day just on the off chance that we will see her Jeep.
"Aha! I've got it. The athletics complex over on Washington. They have a full-size volleyball court and there's always people there willing to play pickup games."
"She hasn't mentioned it. Has she ever been there?" I ask.
Ace shrugs. "I don't know, but it's worth a shot."
I make a U-turn, and we head in the direction of Washington Ave., prepared to set the world on fire if it helps me find her.