Chrysalis (Excerpt Only) - New Adult BWWM Love Story

Chrysalis (Chapter 10)

Adam watched her strangely as she nervously paced to and fro, waiting for Nicholas to pick her up.

"You lucky dog," he said, grinning at her, but his eyes did not reflect the grin.

"What?" She grinned back although she had no clue what he meant. She was in a somewhat good mood, but also ready to bite off her nails.

"You actually got exactly what you wanted," he said, the statement no less enigmatic than the first.

"What are you talking about, Adam?"

"Don't play stupid, Sydney. I know who you're going on this date with. You've been drooling over that Dhalton guy since you were what, fifteen? And now, you actually have him." He shook his head, still smiling. "You always get what you want, don't you?" His smile remained.

"Adam..."

She didn't know what to say to him, how to refute him. How did he even figure it out? He knew "the whacko" and her date were one and the same, but she had deliberately kept his full name secret—for this very reason.

"You can't hide from me, Syd. You're good at fooling other people, but I know you. I knew you always liked that Dhalton boy, and..." his voice lowered, "...I know you don't really want to be a lawyer." His face was plastered with satisfaction and smugness. Then it morphed into something she couldn't read. "I hope he's all you imagined," he said. "The opposite of us."

Sydney stopped pacing. "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"Why do you like him, Syd? Isn't it because he's rich? Because he's supposedly good-looking? Because he's white?"

"Adam, that's not fair..."

She started getting angry, yet couldn't offer any counter-evidence for his accusation. She knew it wasn't Nick's money she had fallen for, or his good looks.

"What's not fair, Sydney? What else is there to go on? You certainly couldn't have fallen for his personality since, well, you'd never met the guy until recently. And from what I hear, he's not exactly the brightest of the bright, so you couldn't have heard about and fallen for his great intelligence and intellect since, well..."

"That's enough, Adam."

"Aw, is the truth bothering you, Sydney?"

Sydney shook her head, still trying to think of a way to throw him off, prove him wrong, shut him up, but she was too stunned by his ambush. She didn't understand why he seemed so bitter all of a sudden—almost as if jealous of her, which she would only consider incredibly ironic.

"Sydney, get over yourself. You're no better than the rest of us. You're just as shallow as any other girl who has never met him, but fell for him, and the only reasons are his looks and his money." His lip curled, and he looked like he wanted to spit. "Fucking rich folks. They always get what they want, don't they? Well, you know what? I don't trust 'em. Money turns them into monsters. They believe they can own anything and anyone, so you better be careful with this guy, Sydney."

So that was his problem, she thought. The money. It wasn't her he was jealous of after all; he was just misdirecting his envy.

"Well, if you had his money, do you think you'd be any different? Besides, it doesn't happen to all of them; he doesn't seem like a monster to me."

"Yeah, not yet. You know, you should be happy you're a bit shallow," Adam said. "That means you're normal after all. I know what you're seeking, Syd—just like every other person out there, you want to feel lovable, desirable. And getting Nicholas, well, it would be the ultimate proof of your desirability. Am I wrong?"