The Retribution Chronicles

A d e | t w e n t y - t h r e e

Miriam and Wes froze, but Wes made no move to scramble away from her. If anything, he seemed to get closer, placing a protective arm over Miriam's exposed breasts until she made a grab for her top and slipped it over her head.

"Didn't you hear me?" Ade growled. "Get the fuck off her."

"I'm sorry." Miriam sounded far from apologetic. "But did you just tell him to get off me?" she asked.

Ade narrowed his eyes, watching as incredulity bloomed on her face. "Yes," he said. "Wes is obviously trying to make a move on you and you're too ki—"

"You've got to be kidding me," Miriam scoffed. "What? Could I not possibly be making a move on him? Am I incapable of making my own decisions? Of saving myself in the unlikely event this isn't something I want."

Miriam was speaking, of that Ade was sure, but her words failed to compute. Instead, Ade spent his time glancing from her to Wes and back again, noting how they both dressed, pulling up zippers and cracking tight muscles. "I'm sorry," he said, laughing almost. "You want this?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Miriam cocked her head to one side.

"B-b-because you're with me," Ade spluttered.

Miriam laughed. It was nothing like he was used to. Dark and dirty where she was usually bright and filled with joy, mocking too. Oh, so mocking. "I'm not with you," she said. "It's crazy you'd think I was."

"Crazy?" Ade felt his eyes widen. He probably looked crazy, but then he'd never felt such muted rage in his life. He was angry, he knew that in a hazy, incomplete way, but he also knew that he was deeply confused. Had they not gone on dates, kissed, cuddled? Had they not done all the things you do when you're with someone? Had they not been together? Been an us? A unit?

"Look, I was clear from the beginning," Miriam said with a careless shrug as she slid off the bed. "I was never looking for anything serious. I don't do intense. You get it."

"No," Ade said forcefully. "I don't get it."

Miriam licked her lips, shaking her head softly, and glanced up at the ceiling before taking a step towards him, then another and another until there was less than an inch between them. "This has been fun," she said, "but I don't see it going anywhere. I never did. We were hanging out, you know. Not really together. Not properly anyway."

"I—"

Miriam brushed past him, stopping in the open doorway. "Wes?" she asked, a glimmer of the girl Ade had known peeking through. "You coming?"

Wes blinked rapidly and shook his head. "I, uh, yeah." He stopped beside Ade and leaned in. "Sorry man," he said.

"Oh fuck you," Ade hissed in return.

Wes sighed heavily then joined Miriam, the two of them disappearing hand in hand. It would've hurt more if not for the fact that in their absence Ade came to the realisation that all this had happened in his room, on his sheets, in his bed. A fact which turned his muted rage into full-fledged red hot anger.

Crashing out of the bedroom, Ade thundered downstairs and co-opted the first bottle of liquor he could find. He spotted a tall woman in red, braids collected in a high ponytail, and slunk towards her, abandoning the alcohol as quickly as he acquired it. "Hi," he said with a soft smile. "I'm Ade."

"I know," she said. "We met last year. You said you'd call and then nothing."

"I said that?" Ade pointed at himself. If there was a God, he'd swallow him whole now.

"Yeah," she said stonily. "Not that I'm surprised, guys like you only stick around for the good times. Right?"

"I wouldn't say—"