Page 25 of Save Me

“Nothing!” Adam throws his hands in the air. “She’s been like this since we found her nickname in one of Dec’s paranoia notebooks.”

“Come again?” Riggs asks, looking between the three of us. “What the hell did I miss?”

My mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water, nothing but half sounds coming out with my frustration. Rhys stands up to guide me to the loveseat before he takes over the explanation. My mind is far too rung out to do it myself, with how fast it’s moving I’m sure to miss something. Placing my fidgety hands in my lap, I focus on Rhys now standing in the middle of the room.

“Alayna found some notebooks in Declan’s room when they were going through it again,” Rhys starts, his voice matter of fact and calm. I can see why he tends to take control, his voice and matter of fact demeanour is already calming me down. “They’re filled with dates, times, and notes about one person he was paranoid about. He thought they were a threat of some sort and the last entry in the one book alludes to this person also being a threat to Alayna.”

“What kind of threat?” Riggs moves a couple steps closer to me, as if the threat is in this room.

“We don’t know,” Adam answers, shrugging his shoulders. “For all we know it was all in his head. It could explain why he did what he did.”

Sighing, I slouch down on the couch, rubbing my hands up and down my face. This past week and a bit has been nothing but a goddamn rollercoaster of emotions and I’m getting tired of it. Honestly, I need some normalcy in my life, even just for a couple hours.

“I need to hit something,” I murmur out loud, pulling out my phone to find the closest dojo or boxing gym so I can take out some of this pent up agitation at the world.

“I’ve been hit once already, use one of the other guys.” Adam throws his hands in the air with a cheeky smirk. With my resting bitch face firmly in place, I stare him down for a solid minute. His smirk grows into a full on smile, the challenge in his eyes showing how much my attitude excites him. Fucking weirdo.

“I’m looking for a gym, twatwaffle.” My eyes moving away from his way too sexy smile, that in no way makes me feel tingly, and back to my task at hand.

“Twatwaffle!” Adam roars with laughter, his laugh bringing a small smile to my face. “I shall cherish that nickname forever, buttlicker.”

A giggle escapes me before I can stop it, both of us falling into a fit of laughter. The two of us seem to have at least something in common, an immature sense of humour.

Rhys and Riggs are talking together by the entrance to the living room, their soft murmurs filling the room as Adam and I come down from our fit. We smile at each other, the tension that was between us just a week ago feels like a figment of my imagination.

Riggs and Rhys break apart after a moment. Riggs smiles at me then heads towards his room to clean himself up after his welding shift today. Rhys turns to look at me, his face alight with warmth.

“I’ll take you to my gym,” Rhys offers. He starts fixing his ponytail, the flexing of his biceps distracting me for a moment before I mentally slap myself back to reality. “That way you don’t need to pay to get in. My membership allows me to bring a guest.”

“Oh, awesome! Are you sure?” I double-check, my habit of not accepting anything from anyone warring with my want to get a good workout in.

“Absolutely. I could use an outlet for my aggression as well.” Rhys winks at me, the gesture so smooth and easy going it doesn’t make me shudder in revulsion like it does when other guys do it. “Let me go get changed and then I’ll drive us to your motel to do the same.”

Nodding in agreement, I lay back on the love seat with my legs hanging over the edge. Mindlessly scrolling through Reddit, Adam’s deep breathing catches my attention. Turning my head, I look at him over my shoulder.

“You okay?”

“Look, Lay,” Adam mumbles, his hand running over his buzzed, dark hair. “I wanted to fully apologize to you for how I treated you when you showed up. I’ve got issues, which I’m sure you’ve noticed.”

“Be hard not to,” I tease, a small smile on my lips. “But don’t we all?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Adam laughs awkwardly. “I just feel really bad. I’m sorry, Lay. There’s no excuse for how I treated you. Will you forgive me?”

“Maybe if you beg,” I say, swinging my legs back over so I can sit up and look him in the eyes.

Without warning, Adam drops to his knees in front of me, his eyes full of pleading and a little bit of heat. My heart starts racing over the sudden close proximity, both from a little bit of anxiety and a whole lot of desire.

“Alayna Morgan, please, I am begging you to forgive me. I will worship the ground you walk on, the air you breathe,” he pauses, a smirk playing across his face so briefly I wonder if I made it up before he continues. “And the flatulence you release. Forgive me, Buttlicker.”

“You’re an ass,” I say on a laugh, my fingers pinching my nose in exasperation. “I fucking forgive you, twatwaffle. Now get out of my sight.”

“As you wish, buttlicker.”

With a salute and a smirk, Adam gets off the ground, stumbling slightly on his prosthetic. My hands fly out, helping steady him by his hips as his hands land on my shoulders. It’s, of course, at this moment that Rhys joins us back in the living room. My face almost in Adam’s dick, his hands holding me in place there.

“Woah.” Rhys wolf-whistles from behind Adam. “What the hell did I miss?”

“Just two people becoming best friends,” Adam jokes, stepping away from me.

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