A Faltering self (Distorted Reality book 2)

Chapter 74- I can't keep doing this

(Kalston's POV)

I lay in Adeline's bed while she fixes her makeup in the mirror while wearing my shirt that is closer to a dress on her. I watch and take in every detail of her that I don't think I can ever forget.

She's gorgeous...

This is one of the parts I crave the most, and always get lost in which makes me forget the rest. Moments of simple bliss. No fights, no secrets, and no me watching her when she's not aware while I wonder which parts of her are lies, who she is with me or them? The moments with her that help me feel like I can breathe after being slowly suffocated again.

Why can't it always be like this?

I almost ask, but I haven't talked to Him in so long, and would rather not. I'm starting to see that all He's done for me is take and take while watching me struggle and plead for Him to let me hold on to what's left.

I get up and put on my pants before I head to the kitchen to make some breakfast for us. And when I do, I notice something off, there's a note on the fridge, but not in Adeline's handwriting.

'Thanks for letting me crash at your place, but you know that I can't stay. I'll keep in touch this time, I promise.'

-L

Who's L?

I have a strong suspicion who it is, and the thought makes my blood boil.

So, I'm gone for a week, and she's already hooking up with him again?

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

I know that I have to get out of here before I make a scene.

I can't keep doing this!

I can't keep putting myself through this!

I slam the door behind me and storm down the hall as my anger rises more. Adeline runs out after me, grabbing my hand again, but this time I yank it back and whip around to face her, furious.

"What's wrong?"

She's still just in my shirt as she looks over my face trying to figure me out.

"You, us, this twisted deal we have of me constantly letting you hurt me! YOU SAID YOU WERE DONE WITH HIM!"

She looks confused before she tries to defend herself.

"Lex? I am. I told you that you're the one that I want. He means nothing to me. I don't understand what you're getting at?"

I can't keep looking at the innocent mask she is trying to use on me.

"Oh, okay. So, the note on the fridge? Let me guess, it's from room service right. Is that the lie you're going to go with, or maybe I'm just imagining things? Come on, you're usually better at cleaning up after yourself than this. But, then again, you didn't expect me to come over, so I guess there's that. "

She looks horrified and flinches away as if I hit her.

"That- it's-"

Her eyes stay wide as they drop to the floor. There's a shift in her demeanor before her eyes no longer even leave a hint of the woman before and she becomes the Adeline I know, and hate.

"You were gone. You left me! You don't get to judge me on what I do when we weren't even together. If you were here, then yeah, I would have been done with him, but YOU Left Me! I meant what I said when I told you that I want to make things work, but I'm not going to sit here and let you berate me about something I did while you were gone. I don't get mad at you when you sleep around in your free time, so how dare you be a hypocrite here."

I'm still mad, but, she's right. We weren't together, so why am I sulking about something I didn't care about then. She promised last time that she cut things off, and she seemed to...

"Now, please, can we calm down, and head back inside?" Her tone is calmer now, and even her demeanor is back to her softer self.

I stay there silent still as my anger tries to linger.

Is it really fair to be mad at her about this?

'But she told you it was over, and obviously it wasn't.'

...

"Please." Her eye brows raise to tilt and scrunch together as her eyes pleads the same as her gentle voice.

This really has to be the last time.

"Fine, but things better be done with Lex. You will never see me again if I find out he's back in your life."

As much as it would hurt to find out that she's still tied up with him, it's also to protect her. I made her promise that she would be done with the Michelly family entirely. I got yelled at for it, but it was worth it. She is. She doesn't know the darkest parts of the family, and I needed her out before she found out. Adeline might have her darker side, but even that would have been too much for her.

"He won't be, I promise. Now come on." She grabs my hand with a teasing smirk.