AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Long moments of silence followed while I tried to figure out exactly what to say until the key in the lock jingled.
Adam.
Back from his trip with Zariah and June to grab something essential from the tiny campus store. I bolted up from the bed and jerked back and forth between the phone and the door. It was now or never. I could turn over the camera for the introduction.
But that would have to wait for when I could actually face them.
“I love, love, love you!” I blurted out to the camera and ended the video call.
Adam barreled into the dorm, paper bags in his arms and a big grin on his face. It widened the moment he saw me. He looked so good, so casual and carefree. Not the intense Adam from the shower. Not the Adam who locked me against him and manhandled me for the most intense four minutes of my life.
His eyes dropped to my dress, and he stumbled.
“Would you move your gigantic ass?” Zariah demanded from the doorway. “You’re the size of an elephant. You can’t just stop! We have places to be!”
Adam took two long steps forward, then stopped again. He held up a hand, pointing at me. “You’re wearing that?”
“What’s wrong with it?” I asked.
I actually liked the dress, a silver, strapless number that showed off my long legs, even if it showed off more than I really wanted. But there wasn’t anything wrong with it.
“It’s January in Oklahoma,” he muttered. “Why are you wearing that?”
“Oh my god, we’re not partying outside,” Zariah scoffed, pushing her way into the room. “Piper, oh my god.”
“You look so good!” June exclaimed behind her. “Who has the pineapple? I need the pineapple.”
I stared at the crowns of pineapple poking out of Adam’s bags. “What are we…?”
“Trash can juice for the party,” June explained. “Manners mean everything. And you never show up to a party empty-handed.”
31
Adam
No RA To Shut It Down
It had been a long damn time since I took a rideshare to a party. I didn’t pay an arm and a leg in car insurance for nothing. Without my cars though, I was shoved into the middle seat with two giggling girls next to me, one up front, and a hidden pitcher of trash can juice on my lap.
“Do you want another drink?” June whispered over the music blasting from the radio.
“I’m supposed to be the bodyguard here,” I said, pushing the pitcher towards her. “The bodyguard’s not supposed to be loaded.”
Zariah gave me a look from the corners of her eye. “Um…bodyguard?”
“Yeah. Any guy fucks with you and I’ll beat the hell out of them.”
The way all three of them burst into laughter wasn’t the most affirming thing in the world. Especially Piper. She held a hand up to her mouth to hide the giggles.
Whatever. I knew how hockey players operated. And the moment one of those dumb assholes decided to try something, they’d have to try rebuilding the strength back in their bones again.
If there was an actual party to go to.
It was too quiet out on the front lawn. A few people were playing cards on the porch. A guy in the front entrance crooned along to a song on the radio and clutched a lamp close to his chest.
“Is this…?” Piper scrunched up her nose and did a quick three-sixty, like the actual party was hiding behind a bush. “Is this the party?”
The guy holding the lamp moaned under his breath. “What does all this mean, man?”
