ADAM
I bolt awake on the couch, drenched in sweat.
My breaths are labored, the images of the nightmare still running in front of my eyes. Gunshots. Screaming. Blood. The sickening sound of a human skull splitting on gravel.
I peel my damp shirt over my head and toss it on the coffee table stained with water rings. It's also cluttered with last night's empty beer cans and gas station food wrappers. Geez. No wonder my stomach feels like garbage.
From the kitchen, I hear crackling of butter on a hot pan. Soon, the smell of eggs hits my nose.
Again? I'm going to kill her.
"Is this supposed to be you resting?" I snap at my sister, storming into the kitchen.
She shrieks, flinching out of her skin. The rubber spatula she was using flies out of her hand and lands by my feet. "Oh my God, Adam!"
"What did the doctors say?" I bend to pick it up and smack it against my palm, pacing towards her. "Hm? What did the doctors say, Leah?"
"They said your brother needs professional help!" She giggles at my acting, slapping my arm. "Stop being so dramatic, I'm just making breakfast."
I notice the open mail over her shoulder. "Is that the new bill?"
"No." She snatches it behind her back, lying to my face.
Shit. That can't be good.
"Let me see..." I open my hand, not moving it until she brings the paper forward. My eyes scan the letter, dropping down to the right corner where the six-figure debt is boldly printed.
Holy fuck. It's worse than I expected. Way worse.
"Honestly, I don't even need the surgery." Leah hurriedly pours the eggs onto paper plates. "I think they're just trying to rip us off."
"You need it." I sit around the table wrapped with a plastic sheet. It's an old, hideous table I took from an abandoned restaurant ten years ago. I've had the chance to buy something better since then, but it holds a sentimental value for us. Plus, it's not broken.
"It doesn't really matter. It's not like we can afford it." She shrugs, placing my plate in front of me.
Roxy, my manager, and also Leah's friend, calls me while I eat. I flip my screen on the table, ignoring her like I've done for the last two years.
"She still offering you jobs?" Leah asks over the rim of her mug like she doesn't already know.
"Mhm."
"She's sweet," she says randomly, making me scowl. "Come on. Not everyone cares enough to still reach out. I think she worries about you."
"If that was true, she'd leave me alone." I bite a piece of toast. "She also wouldn't drag you into it."
Guilt etches her heart-shaped face, framed with curly baby hair. For an eighteen-year-old, she still looked like she was two, with little chubby cheeks.
Downtown LA smells like ass. It's past noon as I'm walking down the street, where the grease of food vendors and cigarette stench crawls into my pores. The working class is huddled at the bus stop, the gravel littered with plastic bags, cans, dog shit. Probably human shit too.
The glass doors of the fitness center slide open. The cheap AC whines as it blasts overhead.
"Hi Adam..." The front-desk brunette brightens up, her voice unnecessarily seductive. I give an obligatory nod, cringing when her gaze lowers over my body.
YOU ARE READING
Falling Forbidden (Unfinished)
Romance"Breathe, sweetheart. That's it. You're not going anywhere." She's anxious and sensitive. He's quiet and protective. A story in which she's arranged to marry, but falls in love with her bodyguard. Secretly struggling on the spectrum, Selena is furi...
