CHAPTER 13
Eve
S weat. Heavy breathing . This is my element. This is where I belong. The only place I belong.
Just stick to volleyball. I am volleyball. Volleyball never disappoints me. Volleyball has always been there for me when I've needed it.
Heat on my neck. Tingles up my spine. Adam. The fucking balls on this guy .
I feel his nearness before I see him. That warm tingle on the back of my neck intensifies and my spine straightens when I hear him say, "What the fuck do you think you're doing, Eve?"
The balls on this guy. Those things must weigh twenty pounds and are made of solid brass.
"Listen Adam, I don't have time for your particular brand of bullshit right now. If I get caught up on all my other bullshit, you'll be the first to know. Deal?"
"Don't push me, Eve."
"Don't push you? Fuck. Off. Fuck all the way off."
"What did you say?" His voice is low and dangerous.
"FUCK. OFF. Please. Just fuck off. You don't even have to stay fucked off. Just fuck off for right now and then you can get back on your bullshit at a later date when I'm more emotionally equipped to handle it."
I hear muffled laughter coming from behind Adam.
I can't believe my eyes. It's none other than my arch nemesis, Ada Davenport.
He brought her with him . She steps out from behind the man I thought I was falling in love with.
The man I gave my virginity to only last night.
The man who lied to my face when he said that the woman standing in front of me was not his girlfriend.
I'm sure there's some clever wording at play there on his part but I was destroyed when she walked into that room and saw us both lying in bed together, naked.
I shake my head to clear the memory from my mind.
"Ah hell, it wasn't enough that you're already the main character in my supervillain origin story. You just had to come here with your boyfriend and twist the knife."
Ada at least has the decency to look sheepish.
"Let's go, Eve. We're leaving NOW." His tone is commanding and it's about to catch him a left hook.
I laugh and it's clear that he doesn't find this funny because his eyes narrow to slits, and his jaw clenches so hard that I swear I can hear his teeth grinding.
"Look, I think it's cute and all that you two are here together recruiting for your harem but, I'm going to have to pass."
Ada suddenly looks confused.
"Wait, what does that mean? I don't help him get women." Ada sounds more perplexed with each word she says.
"Eve, if you're not over here in the next 45 seconds, I'm going to carry your ass out of here and it won't be pleasant when we get home."
"You're really working your ass off at perpetuating that possessive asshole stereotype."
"This is your last warning, Eve."
"No, seriously. If there's an asshole ranking system, you're an admiral. No question about it."
"I warned you."
He starts for me, so I turn and run, getting a total of six strides before he claims me in a brutal grip around the waist, tossing me over his shoulder like a rag doll.
"Are you serious, asshole!? I did you a FAVOR! I left without giving you the slightest bit of grief. I didn't even defend myself against your girlfriend's bullshit tirade."
Ada pipes up again. "Can you please stop saying stuff like that? One more reference to my brother as my boyfriend or me being a part of his harem and my breakfast is going to make a reappearance."
My head swivels in Ada's direction. My brain is suddenly foggy and confused. We're halfway to the exit doors now and Adam has a bruising grip on my legs and ass. There's no way I'm escaping this hold and I'm not quite bold enough to start punching his backside.
"Who's your brother?" Incredulity dripping from every word.
"Adam is my brother." Her head cocks to the side and she gives me a strange look. "Honestly, I don't know how you don't know that."
I roll my eyes and glare at her.
"Okay, I can play games too. I'll take things that are total bullshit for 300, Alex."
Ada laughs again for the second time since arriving here. "Man, I really am the asshole. You're funny as hell and I had no idea. I'm really sorry, Eve. I hope you can forgive me."
Tears well up in my eyes instantly at the words that I had no idea I had been waiting to hear.
I turn away from her, quickly hiding my face.
"I don't believe anything you say. Either one of you.
I don't know what the point is to all of this but if you were brother and sister, he would've just told me. "
"I didn't tell you because you were already suspicious that she had set the whole thing up and wanted me to get you to like me. If I'd told you then that she was my sister, you never would've gone to lunch with me. I don't regret keeping the truth from you and I'm not sorry."
"You are such an asshole! And you pulled this sister thing straight out of your ass. This is ass talk if I've ever heard it."
Ada bursts out laughing again.
"Please, Eve. Whether you take my brother back or not please forgive me.
I was wrong all the way around and I am so sorry that I didn't work harder or really make any effort at all to get to know you.
If you're this funny in a state of inexplicable rage, I can't wait to see how funny you are when your emotions are in check. "
I stare back at her, at a rare loss for words. Is she really his sister?
"But you're a Davenport," I say to her as her words start to penetrate the wall that I've constructed against these two.
"Yep. So is he. Seriously, you really are living under a rock if you don't know about Eden's two-time Heisman-trophy winning quarterback, Adam Davenport." She says this with as much mock awe as she can cram into her tone.
I put my head in my hands as it bobs up and down from the force of Adam's angry walk. Speaking to Adam, I say, "Okay, so say this is true and you two really are siblings. Why in the hell are you so mad at me? You're the one who screwed up here."
Adam stops abruptly and drops me to my feet.
It's dark out now. The night air is cool, creating a stark contrast between it and Adam's hot, flushed skin.
In a low and dangerous trembling tone that I haven't heard from him before, he says, "You.
Left. Me. I don't care what you thought I did.
I don't care what happens. You. Belong. To.
Me. Always. This mouth-" He rubs his thumb roughly over my bottom lip.
"is mine. This pussy-" He grips me hard between my legs.
"it's mine. This ass-" He squeezes my ass painfully hard in both hands.
"will always be mine. I told you, but you didn't listen.
Now, I'll have to show you. You'll NEVER leave me again. "
Ada stands off to our side with her jaw on the pavement. She looks like she can't believe what she's seeing. I don't know if she's surprised that her brother is actually a psychopath or if she's blown away that I'm standing here taking this shit off of him.
"You're actually insane," I say to him with as much venom as I'm capable of producing in this moment.
Adam grabs me by the hair, jerking me to him as he speaks into my ear.
"Don't forget it."
I want to say that I'm furious. I want to believe that I'll get away from this guy the first chance I get, but the truth is that I'm relieved and still so damn attracted to this man.
I'm relieved that Ada isn't his girlfriend, and I'm turned on hearing him tell me in front of her that this is it.
That we belong to each other and that nothing will take me away from him.
"Where are your keys?" He asks while still looking at me like he wants to pluck my eyeballs from my skull and lock them in his nightstand so I can't see my way away from him again.
"In my locker."
Adam pinches the bridge of his nose and takes in a deep breath before letting it out slowly.
"Is your locker locked?" He asks.
"No. Why?"
He shoots me a glare as though to say you're in no position to ask questions here.
"What number?"
"16." I almost ask why again, but I think better of it.
"Ace, go get her keys and take her Jeep back to my house."
Ada looks at me questioningly. She's asking me if this is okay without putting words to the question.
I can't believe it. I'm stunned actually.
Is she willing to go against her brother for me?
I nod, letting her know that it's ok. Looking back at Adam and meeting his gaze for the first time, I see that it's pained.
I mean, it's also overflowing with rage, but he's hurt too.
I hurt him when I left. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. "
"You said you loved me last night and then this morning, the first time something hard came along, you left me without a word.
You didn't even give me a chance to explain, and you did it so easily.
Like none of it had mattered to you." His words are hard and drenched with anger but there's an edge of pain there as well.
"Easily?" I scoff at his words that couldn't be further from the truth.
"It took every ounce of strength I had to hold it together in there.
When I got to my car, I was a mess. When I got home, Vaughn wanted to take me to.
..well, she wanted to murder you because she's never seen me like that.
I was so miserable over you being with someone else that I couldn't breathe.
I was completely and utterly devastated. "
Adam grabs me, slamming his mouth onto mine and pressing our bodies together with his firm hold. His hands are everywhere. He kisses me and caresses me like he hasn't seen me in years. Then, he grabs my face and places his forehead against mine.
"I love you, Eve."
Control is a thing I no longer possess. Tears stream down my face. This is the first time that he has directly said the words and I'm filled with so much emotion. I don't know what to do with all of it.
"I loved you first, Adam."
He chuckles against my lips.
"If you believe that, you're not as smart as I thought."