Heroine

Ch 12 - Nothing New

"... end up here and you'll wish you were dead. Write that down," Adam said as he gestured to the map of Shady Cove.

I had been diligently taking notes while Adam broke down the different territories and trails. Trying to memorize everything Adam said as if my life depended on it because it did.

I went to write down what he said in the notebook but I was struggling to keep up. We had been down in the Vella's basement for over two hours going over the ins and outs of Shady Cove.

I was getting tired and it was affecting my attention span. As was everything about Adam. His jaw, broad shoulders, the way his lopsided smile made me feel like all of this was a big game and not a nightmare come to life.

"She wrote down Adam's Apple," Spencer peeked at the notebook Adam gave me.

"Just hungry," I said too quickly.

"Oh, hang on." Adam left the room.

I smacked Spencer on his arm. "The fuck is the matter with you?"

The twins grinned at each other in that eerie synchronized way they did everything.

"Having trouble focusing, Rose?" Taylor smirked.

"I don't think there's anything useful on Adam's ass but you're welcome to keep checking," Spencer offered.

I felt my cheeks heat up. "I don't know what you're talking about."

They both started cracking up.

I touched my hands to my face to try and cool off my cheeks and scowled at my notes.

"You have great taste and all... but it's never going to happen with Adam." Spencer gave me a sad smile.

"You sure about that?" Taylor asked his twin with an eyebrow raise.

I felt my heart pick up a beat. They started speaking in Spanish and I found myself feeling stupid for a lot of different reasons. How many languages did they all speak?

The twins shook hands, having made some kind of bet I'm sure.

"OK." Adam came back into the room with that fucking smile and a bowl of fruit. "I think it's break time."

I popped a melon cube in my mouth. "Mmmm. Everything here tastes so good."

"You don't want to floss some of Peri's face out of your teeth first?" Kelly asked coldly. I forgot he was even here, he was freakishly quiet.

The thought of having bits of that evil piece of shit still in my mouth while I was eating made my stomach turn. I scrambled to dump the precious contents of the chip box onto the table before I vomited into it.

"Kelly," Adam sighed in frustration as he pulled my hair away from my face. I clutched the box, vomiting up my breakfast. "Can you not be such a prick for five seconds?"

I heard Kelly laugh his snarky little laugh. I flipped him off with my head still in the box only to hear him laugh louder.

I wiped my face as Adam pulled the vomit box away from me. "I'm so sorry."

"No, I kept you too long anyway. You've probably been dying to get home and take a shower." He gestured to my hair.

I cringed internally at what I must look like. Under Adam's hoodie I was borrowing I was covered in blood. Not to mention I had cried several times today. Blood and probably some of Peri's spinal fluid coated my hair.

"Yeah, I should probably clean myself up," I admitted sadly.

I didn't want to leave them. I was afraid as soon as I was alone the reality of everything was going to finally hit me and I wanted to delay it.