Chapter 6 #2
Adelaide’s nostrils flared, and she put aside her glass. Her fingers didn’t shake like mine, used to the pressure of her dangerous life. I’d always done my work in secret, and now I was unveiling things that were a death sentence in the eyes of The Unseen.
“Some truth, finally.” The corner of her lip kicked up in a sneer. “I’m not unaware of The Unseen. My grandma dealt with your agents and warned me they would be back someday.”
I wiped sweat off my forehead. “Really?”
Adelaide hummed. “You don’t give me enough credit.”
“Beck works for them too. He r-recruited me when I was eighteen. I didn’t grow up with much, and my mom was always drunk if she was home. Someone killed her because of a drug debt.” Or so I thought. “I wanted a choice and power. But lying to you is my biggest regret.”
Adelaide tilted her head and weighed my thick, shame-drenched confession.
“I had a background check done on you. It didn’t bring anything up. This organization has staggering resources.”
I wanted to peel away the business-cold curiosity on her face and have an actual conversation. My heart longed for her support. I needed a friend more than ever, though I didn’t deserve Adelaide.
“They are beyond powerful. But our friendship wasn’t part of my mission. You’re my best friend, even if you don’t forgive me for the lies.”
I wanted to give her the truth the moment I realized I’d found a place to call home. It had been because of her. Her domineering ambition, her cutthroat absolution.
Adelaide had been my white flag in a sea of drowning darkness.
And I’d repaid her with lies.
Now with everything crumbling around me, the only foundation I could cling to was Adelaide.
I stood, but my knees wobbled underneath me.
Adelaide caught my crumpling waist in her hold.
She enveloped me in a giant hug. Her arms melded around me, warmth I hadn’t expected.
Her hair tucked under my chin, and it smelled floral, bougie.
But that was Adelaide. She was put together like a perfect mask, only I knew it wasn’t one.
“Please.”
“Shut up and let me hug you,” Adelaide muttered against my collarbone.
The bite from her grip was desperation, not hatred. Her heart clattered a discordant beat with mine, sweeping away all the remnants of panic.
“Adelaide.” I tried to pull away.
“No, you need this. And I do too.” Adelaide’s muffled voice reproached, so I sank into her hold and let her strength bolster me.
Adelaide’s anger was beautiful carnage when it appeared, rare but raging.
I thought she would have torn my nails off with her teeth by now.
Her grace hurt worse. It seared through my defenses to my soft, unworthy insides.
Pinched and cauterized the blistering despair.
I put myself in this position with my lies, but even in my wildest dreams, I never expected this reaction.
Adelaide’s grip loosened, but she didn’t let go, guiding me into a chair. She pursed her glossy lips and pushed a full glass in my direction.
“I knew who you were.” She corrected herself. “Made an accurate assumption.”
“What?”
“On paper, I couldn’t find anything, but blood brought back different results.” She tapped my wrist. “Remember that bloody nose?”
I thought back to when I’d bled through the last of her tissues and she’d cleaned them up without even a word of protest. How grateful I’d been for her.
My mouth fell open. “You did a DNA test?”
Adelaide nodded, smug. “Remember when I almost dropped a bag, and you grabbed it clean out of the air? It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. But I already had so much going on, and you’d never once set my gut off.
Then you turned up with Chief, and your body language? That made me wonder even more.”
Adelaide cocked her head, and I sucked in a fortifying breath. Here was the moment she would switch. My best friend would become someone brutal and punishing. But her gaze held only curiosity. My lungs emptied.
“You looked into me.”
“I’m paranoid for a reason, but I was content to wait for you to admit the truth. I knew you weren’t a threat.” She sighed. “I wish your idiot lovers could understand that.”
I wet my lips with water. “Our friendship was never a lie.”
Adelaide grabbed my hands, spilling water over the glass lip with a desperate bump.
“I believe you.” Her fingers tangled with mine. “I was only waiting for you to trust me too.”
Her voice was soft, but underneath bled hurt. Not from the lies I’d shielded myself with, but because I guarded myself. Because I hadn’t confided in her, and in hindsight I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t either. Now I had to make it right.
“Lyra was young, scared, and she made a decision that changed her whole life. Lyra didn’t have a chance to even find out who she was.
But Lara did. She discovered Pilates, chocolate in popcorn, and how fresh spring can be in the bay.
She learned that friendship is a pillar of life, something she needs to stay stable.
Lara is who I really am, even if it’s not my real name. ”
“It’s nice to meet you finally.”
“I’m so sorry.” A sob choked my throat.
Tears painted the rims of my eyes, and I wrenched my hands free to dash them away. I didn’t deserve tears, not toward Adelaide. She had every right to keep secrets, but she’d opened her world and shown me a side that few people got to see.
I’d repaid her with lies.
“You’re still my best friend, right?” She arched an eyebrow.
The long-held shield against my lies crashed down around me, and my ears rang.
Adelaide’s fingers strangled mine as I leaned forward, resting my forehead on her chest. Her thumb grazed over the heated flesh of my palm.
She gave me no sliver of space, fitting her body around mine as if she knew how much I needed the warm cocoon.
“Always. I’ve been trying to protect you, and I’m ready to tell you everything.” I pulled back.
“I’d never let one of my men apologize without a little blood. You know that, right?” Adelaide chewed her plump lower lip between her teeth.
Not a threat, just a revelation. One she added too.
“You’d put up a fight, wouldn’t you?”
I answered with a quick nod. Fighting wasn’t my specialty.
Stealth, tech, collecting information, and inserting myself where most people couldn’t go.
Those were natural tendencies Beck noted when he first met me.
I saw more than most people. But The Unseen had given me skills I’d never known were possible.
They didn’t help me when Adelaide grabbed hold of my arm and sent me sprawling on the floor.
“You sure you want to do this?” I scrambled back.
Adelaide nodded and wrapped coiled tension around herself like a shield. She was wearing six-inch heels, but I knew better than to underestimate her.
The adrenaline I choked on earlier bubbled in my veins, and I launched myself forward.
She shoved at me, a fierce bite. I stumbled, and my ass slammed into the corner of the elegant table.
A glass wobbled, adding to the puddle on the glossy table.
I struggled to my feet, but not fast enough.
Adelaide wrapped her hands around my neck.
Her painted burnt-orange nails stabbed the tender skin under my jaw.
“Go on, show me what you’ve got,” she panted, eyes bright with challenge.
She wanted to see the real me? The one who knew the taste of death and wasn’t afraid to fight her way free of it? Let her see the real me.
I wound my head back and slammed my forehead into the point of her nose. Her outraged shriek didn’t deter me as I dashed off her hold and shoved her stomach onto the arrow of my knee. Her breath rushed from her lungs like a violent wave.
Adelaide lashed out with a cry, taking me to the floor with her.
We rolled, striking until my entire body ached from effort and blows.
I clipped a chair and knocked it over. The skin on my knuckles split, and the sting burned like years of pent-up frustration squeezed from the wound.
We traded violence like therapy, smiling when we landed a hit.
Adelaide swept my legs out from underneath me and groaned.
“You little fucker,” Adelaide growled. “You broke a nail.”
The door bounced into the wall, and Adelaide’s guys streamed in.
Jesse wrenched me up by my elbows and dragged me backward.
I didn’t fight. Despite how it looked, the fight was the most fun I had in a long time.
Adelaide waved them off with a husky laugh.
She dabbed her fingers at her lip, where a fine line had cut through the skin.
Blood-red suited her.
“Round two?” I teased, wanting to laugh from hysterical relief.
“Impressive. If I had known you had those skills, I would have roped you in to help me last year.”
Jesse hovered behind me, ready to defend his soulmate. I ducked my head. What could I say? Even though my soft shell ached with protest, I couldn’t help but feel elated. Adelaide hadn’t killed me. Her eyes danced as her guys fussed over her.
“You split her lip.” Logan flicked me a furious look, examining Adelaide as if she were precious crystal instead of the person who had wiped the floor with me.
It was cute how they treated her like a princess, knowing she could destroy anyone who came at her.
“You can kiss my bruises later.” She let Logan pull her into his lap.
Jesse took a chair on one side, and Briar the other. Adelaide dabbed at her lip with a tissue one of them passed her. I dragged myself into a chair, aware of the lack of support. This time, it amused me because I knew Adelaide was on my side.
“That was fun, but we still have business to deal with.”
Ice froze the pumping blood in my veins. I couldn’t forget the three men outside. They were wounds like split knuckles. But in time, those superficial marks on my body would heal. Could I say the same about what they had done to me?