Dear Augustus | I Never Let Go ✓

06 | This Thing Between Us

In the morning, when I open my eyes, I'm not on the couch, not snuggled up against Adrian's warmth. I'm in my bed, wrapped in my fluffy blanket. The sun is high up in the sky and streaming through the gaps of my window drapes.

As my brain slowly resumes functioning and my braids come undone, a pang of loneliness hits me with the thought that Adrian might've left while I was asleep. I move only my gaze, following the length of my room. The desk looks clean, and books are back on the bookcase beside it.

Did he arrange my room? Thank God! My dirty laundry was in the hamper.

I can hear Olivia's faint voice in the hall, but I take my sweet time getting out of bed. I showered and dressed in my yoga pants and a tank top before heading out. The smell of freshly cooked pancakes and coffee fills my nostrils as I roll into the kitchen. When I inch closer, I find Olivia sitting on the island cross-legged in her pajamas with a plate of pancakes and eyes locked at the front. There's an empty mug waiting for me, along with a pile of pancakes.

"When did you return last night?" I ask her, filling myself a creamy cup of coffee.

"When you were cuddling with that hunk over there. Why didn't you tell me Adrian's here?" She nudges her head towards the person in question. "Imagine waking up to that."

I follow her gaze and almost choke on my coffee. Adrian's still here doing sit-ups at the empty corner of our living room. He never misses an early morning exercise. Watching his biceps bulge and his abs crunch with each lift has me transfixed. I take in the neatly folded sheet and a pillow on the couch as I set the coffee on the counter, fixing myself with a plate of pancakes.

He slept on the couch then, after tucking me in my bed.

"Do you think he can pull those off with a hundred pounds on his back?" Liv has a playful glint in her doe eyes and a smirk on her lips.

I fail to look away from Adrian as he switches to the push-up position, elbows bent, face down. He releases low grunts with each dip and rise. My eyes trace a path of those deeply cut pecs slick with sweat and flexing through each of his movements.

"Since you're too dazed off to respond, I might have to try that out with him. I don't think Adrian would refuse me." I hear a sigh from her as she jumps off the island and winks at me, then makes her way towards Adrian. A sudden image of her sitting on Adrian's back flashes in my head, and I beat her to it.

In less than two seconds, I am hovering over Adrian, making him pause on his elbows. He shoots me a surprised look, panting a little with exertion. In another two seconds, his green eyes read what's going on in my mind, and he isn't taken by surprise when I hop on his back, cross-legged, facing his head. Olivia clicks her tongue and shakes her head as I gaze at her over my shoulder. She mouths a "Fuck you" before storming towards her room. When I shift my gaze colliding with his, I feel like a deer in the headlights as he cocks a brow at me, still maintaining his push-up position.

"Good morning to you too, V." He exhales and starts to dip and rise methodically. I place my palms on the ridges of his back as he counts each lift. I relish the feel of his muscles flexing, and the low grunts escaping from his throat adds to my pleasure.

"Are you doing fine there with a hundred and twenty pounds on your back?" I chuckle as his body shakes a little after the fifteenth lift. "You can always quit, you know."

"Hundred and twenty pounds or more like ninety?" He presses out a lift with a breathless grunt and collapses with me on his back. "You've lost weight since you stopped eating all that sugar you used to love."

"Is that the reason you added pancakes on my menu?" I push off his back and lay beside him on the floor. I avoid looking into his accusing eyes and brush away the brown hair sticking to his forehead. He lets me until I snap out of my daze and look at my fingers, which were touching his sweaty hair to his adorning eyes.