Page 56 of Fake Dating Adrian Hunter
“Youhope? Verena, you are in deep trouble.”
“I know! You’re not helping!”
Darius gazes out at the ocean, sucking in a surprised breath like he’s seen something scandalous. Instead of sharing the details, he enters a violent coughing fit.
“What happened? Are you all right?” I ask, never having seen him look so unflattering in my life.
After more choking and convulsing, he straightens up with the foulest look on his face. “I think I swallowed a fly.”
I bend over laughing, clutching my stomach.
“It’s not funny. There’s an insect inside of me.”
“Gross.”
He whacks my arm and points out to the beach. “If you stop laughing, you’ll see what I was about to show you before my body became tainted.”
I take a calming breath and stand up, squinting through the darkness at two silhouettes walking alongside each other on the strip of beach my bungalow overlooks.
“Fuckwit alert,” Darius says. “Is that Isabelle with him?”
Like a scared child, I duck behind Darius the moment my eyes adjust to the dark beach and I realize he’s right. ThatisAdrian and Isabelle. Something inside of me stings—more than that bastard of a bluebottle jellyfish and Jake’s cheating combined—to know that Adrian and I just had amazing sex and now he’s moved on to Isabelle. What am I, some cheap hooker Adrian uses to get rid of all his pent-up sexual tension, then it’s straight to the girl who actually matters? In his defense, it probably appears that exact way with me and Darius. But still, I can’t deal.
“What are you doing?” Darius laughs over his shoulder at me. “They can’t see you.”
“You don’t know that,” I whisper, rushing to shut the lights off. “Can they hear us?”
“They’re too far away to hear anything,” Darius says, the two of us in complete darkness as we watch them. They come to a stop right by a beach lantern with flames illuminating their faces. “I hate to break it to you, Verena, but you’ve got some competition. Isabelle is beautiful.”
“Don’t make me hit you over the back of the head again.”
We fall into silence, watching in anticipation as we try to figure out their dynamic. I stop breathing when Adrian reaches for Isabelle’s hand. It’s like a knife to the heart, paying credit to my hooker theory. I lose track of how long he touches her for and how many breaths of fresh oxygen I’ve missed out on. I’m about to suffocate here. I’ll drop to the ground and die. It’s actually a nice alternative, rather than witnessing Adrian kiss Isabelle. Considering the amount of times I saw Adrian making out with girls during my teen years, you’d think I’d be desensitized to the sight of him locking lips with someone other than me. But no, I can’t do it. It’s unbearable.
I bury my face in Darius’ chest. “Tell me when it’s over.”
He hugs me tight, commentating their interactions. “They’re hugging.”
“Who initiated it?”
“I dunno.”
“How can you not know?”
“Him, I think.”
Another stab to my heart. “That’s not good. What are they doing now?”
“Still hugging.”
“What! How can they still be hugging? Is it intimate?”
“Have you ever seen a long hug that isn’t intimate?”
“Crap.”
“They’re leaving now.”
“Where are they going?” I ask. “Please tell me it’s not back to her room.”
