The Body

by Arabella Abbing

  It only served to enrage me more.

  Turning my attention away from Dale, I poked my finger into Adam’s chest as I growled, “Tell me who did this, Adam. Who’s coming after you?”

  “You didn’t tell her anything?” Dale asked with a scoff of disbelief. “And you still let him stay with you?”

  “I told her what she needed to know,” Adam argued, cutting off my response while ignoring me completely.

  “Which was nothing,” I said, pointedly stressing the word before turning my eyes back to the detective. “Kind of fucked up, don’t you think?”

  The man gave me a half-shrug before he said, “It’s understandable, but yeah. Still pretty fucked up in my opinion.”

  “I didn’t ask for your opinion, Dale. Just give us a ride back to Brianna’s place.”

  “Adam—”

  He turned to me, the look on his face making my mouth immediately snap shut. While I was incredibly pissed off, it wasn’t my intention to goad him.

  “We’ll talk at your place. In private.”

  “How are we getting back? And what if whoever did this follows us there?” I asked, blindly grasping at straws in a vain attempt to get some kind of answer.

  “I’ll give you a lift home. The boys can take over here,” Dale said, waving his hand behind him at the officers that were inspecting the scene. The three of us made our way to Dale’s car and when he opened the driver’s door, he off-handedly remarked, “And I wouldn’t worry about being followed. His dad’s long gone by now.”

  I froze dead in my tracks, eyes widening at Adam as he whipped his head around to look at me in horror.

  “Your dad did this?!”

  After Dale’s revelation, it took the two of them a solid five minutes to talk me down from a place that was bordering on hysteria and get me loaded into the back of the car. Adam wisely chose to ride shotgun, leaving me with my arms folded across my chest as I glared at the back of his skull. His tone was low as he spoke to Dale, but I still was able to make out every word.

  “Where the hell were you?”

  Dale glanced to his right briefly before shrugging. “I’ve got to eat, too, kid. When I saw where you two were going, I took off to grab a bite. I didn’t think your pops would be stupid enough to try something at a place like that.”

  “You were wrong,” Adam muttered angrily. I couldn’t see it, but I could just picture his eyes rolling as he turned to stare out the window.

  “No shit,” Dale said with a huff of something close to laughter. “But the real question is—how the hell did he know you were there?”

  There was a long, uncomfortable stretch of silence before Adam finally asked, “Any theories?”

  “We weren’t followed, I’m sure of that. I would’ve noticed a tail. My best guess is that he put a tracker on the rental at some point. If he did, the boys will find it.”

  “But when would he have gotten the chance? Do you think—”

  “No. It had to have been before I got to the school the night of the reunion. None of the other options make sense.”

  Just as I was beginning to feel a tinge of relief, I watched Adam’s shoulders tense up. His voice lowered even further into a whisper and I strained my hearing to listen to his words.

  “If that’s the case... then he knows where I’ve been.”

  Dale hummed in acknowledgment as my heart started to race.

  “Thanks for the ride,” I told Dale as politely as I could manage before I hopped out of the car and rushed to the front door of my building.

  I had managed to get it unlocked by the time I heard the passenger door of Dale’s car slam shut, but I couldn’t bring myself to turn around. Instead, I marched straight ahead and let the door close behind me.

  When Adam called my name and pounded on the door, I let my eyes fall shut as I froze in place. A large part of me was screaming to leave him outside and try to forget about everything that had happened between us.

  But the smaller part—the logical piece that wasn’t being manipulated by my fear—told me not to let go yet. That we could find a way to work this out.

  With a frustrated groan, I clenched my jaw and spun around. A few short steps later and I was pushing the door open to let Adam in, although I still couldn’t bring myself to look him in the eye. The two of us stayed quiet all the way up to my apartment and the tense silence followed us into my living room, where we stood at opposite ends of the couch and stared at our respective corners.

  Or at least I thought we were both looking away until I heard Adam’s hesitant voice softly call my name.

  The anger that had been steadily rising since we stepped out of the restaurant was desperate to be unleashed. I faced Adam head-on, letting out a shaky breath in an effort to calm myself before I outright exploded.

  “Just... Just tell me.”

  “I’ve already gotten you more involved in this than I ever wanted to, Bri. You really don’t need to know more.”

  “That’s such bullshit!” I shouted, covering my eyes with my hands and trying with every fiber of my being to hold back the tears of frustration that were forming. “Bullshit, Adam. If he’s been tracking you since the reunion, he knows exactly where you are. Where I am. And you don’t think I deserve to know why your psychotic father is stalking you?”

  “I never said you didn’t deserve—”

  “Then tell me!”

  “No!” he yelled back. I uncovered my eyes just in time to see the regret flash across his face, but he quickly shrugged it off. “I don’t want to tell you, Bri. I don’t want any of this! The only reason I’m even here is because my mom practically shoved me at you!”

  Adam paused as I froze, forcing myself to remain passive even though I felt liked I’d been sucker-punched. I had spent the last few days trying to ignore the nagging feeling that Adam was using me for a place to stay, but it impossible to pretend any longer. His words confirmed that my gut feeling had been right all along.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that,” he said as he took a few steps closer and reached a hand towards my cheek. When I evaded the touch, he visibly winced. “Brianna, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to be.”

  I didn’t believe him, but I also didn’t feel the need to share that fact. Instead, I folded my arms across my stomach and worked hard to keep my voice from wobbling as I asked, “Why can’t you just tell me the truth?”

  “You said it was enough,” Adam responded with a sad sigh, shaking his head back and forth as he ran his hands into his hair and let out a growl of frustration. “Back in the restaurant… You said it was enough.”

  “And you said I was safe. I’m sorry, but it certainly doesn’t feel that way. If you can’t tell me the truth—if you can’t give me a good reason to believe that I’m not in danger…. then I want you to leave.”

  An ultimatum was the last thing I wanted to give him, but he left me little choice. In our brief time together, I felt like Adam and I had truly bonded—but what good was a bond that was built around secrets? Even with as much as I cared for Adam, I felt like I deserved better. I deserved honesty.

  Unfortunately, Adam didn’t seem to feel the same way. After a long moment of studying my face and coming to the realization that I was totally serious, his shoulders slumped in resignation. He walked over to where his duffel bag was lying on the floor and made quick work of throwing the few random items he had scattered around back into the bag before hoisting it up on his shoulder and heading towards the door.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, his voice thick with an emotion I couldn’t identify without seeing his face. “I just can’t.”

  “Adam,” I choked out, my vision blurring with tears as he opened the door and stepped out without so much as a backwards glance.

  I slammed my eyes shut at the exact moment he closed the door behind him, willing away the urge to chase after him as a few tears rolled down my cheek. What hurt more than anything else was that I knew it would end like this, yet I still allo
wed my stupid heart to get attached.

  I plopped down on the couch and allowed myself to feel the full range of emotions that were running through me—starting with the anger I was still harboring and going all the way to the gut-wrenching sense of sadness and regret of letting him walk out of my life without a fight.

  Chapter Twenty

  Adam

  “Why can’t you just tell me the truth?”

  Brianna’s words echoed in my head as I walked out of her apartment building and headed right for Dale’s black sedan. The deja vu feeling they gave me wasn’t lost on me, nor was the reason behind it. It was nearly identical to what I had said to my mother when I finally had enough of her lies.

  The difference was that my mom had been lying to me for over twenty years whereas Brianna had been a part of my life for less than a week. Patient definitely wasn’t a word that anyone would use to describe her, but deep down, I couldn’t find a reason to fault her for it. Because I knew myself well enough to know that I would have done the same damn thing if it was me in her position.

  It still hurt like a bitch when she told me to leave, though.

  Dale’s window began to roll down when he saw me approaching and he stuck his head out, not an ounce of surprise on his features. I guess he saw this coming during the ride back. I walked past his side of the car without stopping to explain and tossed my bag in the back before sliding into the passenger seat. Dale slid his phone out of his pocket and ordered whichever unlucky officer was on the other end to come to Brianna’s apartment complex, muttering a few yeses and noes before he abruptly ended the call and turned towards me.

  “I’ll stick someone here for a few days, just in case,” he solemnly said before turning over the engine. “Where to?”

  I blew out a long breath before I admitted, “I really don’t have many options.”

  “Linda’s it is.”

  As he pulled out of the spot, a tendril of fear worked its way up my spine.

  “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea,” I carefully said, watching for a reaction out of the corner of my eye.

  Dale didn’t so much as flinch. “Don’t worry, kid. This is strictly a drop and run for me.”

  I didn’t have a reason not to believe him, but the thought of Dale taking me to mom’s house still made me nervous as hell. As I absentmindedly watched the lights of the town fly by out the passenger window, I silently prayed to whoever might be listening that my mom had already gotten Kyle to move his stash out of the house. Not only for her sake, but for mine as well.

  The last thing I needed was to have my name attached to a drug scandal. As it was, I was lucky to have gotten out of my past position unscathed.

  A few minutes later, Dale pulled to the curb beside my mom’s house and the two of us let out matching groans at the sight of the black pick-up truck that was parked in the driveway.

  “You want me to come in and break this up?”

  “No, I’ll handle it. Just keep your phone handy.”

  “Will do. Stay safe, kid.”

  I grunted an acknowledgment before I got out of the car and grabbed my bag from the back seat. With a growing sense of dread, I stalked towards the house, totally unprepared for whatever confrontation I was about to endure.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Brianna

  “Bri? Where you at?”

  “In my room!” I shouted when I heard Stacy’s voice echoing through the apartment.

  Her keys jangled loudly as she tossed them into the bowl and I counted her footsteps as she rushed down to my bedroom. She dropped her bag in the hallway before tentatively stepping in and giving me a strange look.

  “What?”

  “Is this going to become a common occurrence for us now? Me coming home to find you sulking in bed?”

  “I am not sulking,” I weakly protested, forcing myself into a sitting position and throwing a pillow at her. “I’m just thinking.”

  “You gonna tell me what happened?” she asked with a chuckle, tossing the pillow back on the bed before taking a seat on the edge. “Where’s Adam? I thought he was staying for a few more days.”

  “He was supposed to.”

  “But?”

  “But he didn’t want to be here,” I muttered with a shrug.

  Stacy raised a disbelieving eyebrow at me. “You going to give me the full scoop or not? Because I know whatever’s going on isn’t as simple as you’re trying to make it sound.”

  With a sigh of resignation, I began giving her the full story. I made it a point to leave out the part about Adam being a dealer in the past—regardless of what terms we were on, I wasn’t going to tell anyone that bit of information—and gave her a modified version of everything else I knew. When I got to the part where I gave him an ultimatum, Stacy surprised the hell out of me by responding with a blinding smile.

  “I knew you had it in you, girl.”

  “Had what in me?” I asked, puzzled by her reaction.

  “I knew you had the balls to get past your obsession and demand answers. Honestly, I was really worried when you told me to stay with Lexie. Not just because of the trouble he was in, but because I thought you’d be so blinded by this strange hero-worship you’ve got that you’d let him walk all over you.”

  I frowned and shook my head, ignoring her eye roll as I vehemently denied her claims. “It’s not an obsession, Stace. Maybe it started that way back in high school, but—”

  I stopped myself, feeling my eyebrows draw even tighter together as I tried to figure out just how much Adam really meant to me. I knew my heart had gotten involved during our first night together, even though I had known at the time that it was only a one-time deal.

  But that one-time deal turned into multiple times and my feelings had grown exponentially with every moment I spent in his presence.

  “Fuck,” Stacy breathed out, standing up from the bed and staring at me with a sad smile as the pieces clicked together in her head. “You have feelings for him, don’t you? Real ones—not ‘old high school crush’ feelings.”

  “Yeah,” I forced myself to admit, swallowing hard in an attempt to clear the lump that had formed in my throat. “Yeah, I really do.”

  “And you still had enough common sense to send him packing. Well, now I’m truly impressed.”

  “Gee, thanks. I’m so glad that the heartache I brought upon myself makes you so proud.”

  Stacy plopped back down beside me and rolled her eyes. “It’s not like that and you know it. But love is blind and all that crap, right? So many people willingly look past shit like this and just accept it even though they shouldn’t. You deserve better than being lied to—especially when your well-being is at stake.”

  I nodded along with her words, waiting until she was finished talking before I said, “You haven’t said anything I don’t already know... but unfortunately, that knowledge doesn’t make it hurt any less. Part of me really wants to call and apologize.”

  “Don’t you dare!” Stacy chided, narrowing her eyes and giving me a stern look. “You are not in the wrong here. If Adam shares any of the feelings you have for him, he will call you and apologize.”

  “And if he doesn’t?”

  “Do you honestly think that he doesn’t? I can’t answer that for you because I wasn’t here, but from what you’ve told me...”

  “He feels something. I know it. I felt it. But what if it’s not enough? What if he doesn’t come back?”

  Stacy shrugged. “If he’s not man enough to realize he’s in the wrong and apologize, is he really the guy for you?”

  “No. No, I guess he wouldn’t be,” I easily replied, surprising myself by not even needing time to consider my answer.

  Deep down, I knew Stacy was right. If Adam really did feel something for me—if there was truly something between us—he’d contact me in one form or another. But I’d never be happy in any sort of relationship with him if I felt like I forced it.

  Regardless of what happened or didn
’t happen between us, I felt some of the pain in my chest ease with the new perspective Stacy helped me achieve.

  Yet my gut clenched painfully at the thought of never seeing him again.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Adam

  Kyle didn’t even have a chance to speak before I had him pressed firmly against the wall, my grip tight on his shoulders. He winced and tried to slip down and away from me, but I kept hold of the weasel. When his mouth began to open as if to speak, I immediately cut him off.

  “The only words I want to hear coming out of your mouth is that you got your shit out of this house,” I said lowly, feeling a strange sense of glee when I saw his expression turn fearful.

  “You know about that?”

  “Of course I know,” I said with a scoff, shaking my head at his stupidity. “Now tell me what I want to hear.”

  When I sensed him beginning to hesitate, I pulled his shoulders off the wall and slammed him back against it. Kyle wasn’t a big guy by any means and while something in my mind told me to take it easy on him, the larger part told me to push him as hard as I fucking could and see just how easily he’d break.

  “The last of it’s in the truck!” he shouted, his voice pained. “Now let me go!”

  “Adam!”

  I twisted my head towards my mom’s voice, feeling that annoyingly familiar sickness rise in my stomach when I saw that her makeup was smudged and her hair a tangled mess. She had done a well enough job of getting her clothes back into position, but I could still see it. I glanced back at Kyle, noting that while he was definitely still in pain, he also had a smug grin plastered on his fucking face.

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding!” I roared, practically throwing him against the wall and backing away before I lost the final tattered remains of my control and beat the ever-living shit out of the other man. “You’re seriously fucking him? Him?”