Heroine

Ch 43 - Mine

Are you mine?

The memory of Adam kissing my neck and whispering lowly in my ear sent a chill down my spine.

You're going to have to do better than that, Rosie. I want to hear you say it.

"Oh, MotherFUCKER!" I screamed as I shoved a pile of warm laundry from the dryer into my basket.

I stomped out of the laundry room, tossing my parent's clean clothes on their bed without folding them.

"Rosie?" my dad asked, walking out from their bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth. They were getting ready for bed. "Everything OK?"

I ground my teeth, looking at my dad like I was going to kill him. He blinked in fear at me.

"Mmhmm," I grumbled and stomped out of their room with the rest of my laundry. My thoughts flurried through my head in a rage.

Everything about Adam was calculating and scheming. He was duplicitous and treacherous, brilliant and loving. Absolutely fucking wonderful. What about him was real, though? Who was the real Adam?

My eyes drifted to the pumpkin-growing book and his mom's plants he put in my room. What was that? Who was I to him?

I hung up my clothes, every single outfit holding a memory of him. The flannel from our first date yesterday, the dress from later that night, the leggings from when he tracked me down in the pitch-black cave, the skirt from when we bounced around the mud walls of the trenches. He was surrounding me, swallowing me whole— entering every single crevice of my life and filling every crack.

"You normally mutter like this when you do laundry?" Adam interrupted my thoughts. He leaned on the doorway of my walk-in closet with his huge arms crossed.

I glared up at him. "I told you I didn't need help."

He shrugged. "Good thing I'm not here to help."

I scoffed and ground my teeth. This gorgeous asshole had some fuckin nerve.

"Look, I know you want me here or I wouldn't have been able to get in," he said plainly, his expression obstinate and kind of sad.

I laughed humorlessly. "Except I'm not the only one who lives here, am I? You've guaranteed entrance to my house whenever you want because you and my dad are bros, right?" I scoffed. "Smart."

He looked at the carpet, nodding sadly. "Yeah, forgot about my inside man." He leaned off of the door frame, looking disappointed. "So, you don't want to talk?"

"I'm afraid to fucking talk to you, Adam," I snapped. "After that shit you pulled tonight? Telling those creepy fairies I'm yours— What the fuck, dude! I don't know what that means and that was private... Meant for us." My throat tightened, warning me I was on the verge of tears. "Do you mean anything you say to me?"

Adam clenched his jaw, taking a step toward me. "I mean everything I say to you."

"Yeah, I guess you telling me to say that to you was just extremely convenient timing." I rolled my eyes. "I'm not as smart as you but I'm not fucking stupid. I don't know all the rules here yet and you're using that to your advantage."

He took a deep breath and closed the distance between us, towering over me before sitting on the settee. He looked up at me with soft green eyes I wanted to dive into. His warm hand grabbed mine gently, rubbing circles on the outside of my thumb.

"Rose, when I talk to you inside the walls of our houses, where no one can hear us, that shit is real— always. I wasn't playing any game earlier when I said I was yours. I just said it because I felt it and I meant it. And... I wanted to hear you say it back because I want you to be mine. I want you to want to be mine. I want us to belong to each other." He swallowed nervously, glancing at our hands before he looked back up at me from under his dark brows. "I wasn't thinking about the fae or anyone else at that moment. I was just ridiculously happy and I wanted you to have more of me. I couldn't stop myself from wanting more of you too."