(REWRITING) The Skylar Experiment : Coveting

Chapter Twenty-Two - Keep Adam in the Dark

As promised, I am back from my crunch-time hiatus and here to continue Coveting. When I first published the first book, the time period of the narrative coincided with the narrative in real life, which I always found amusing. It's still in synch and I'll try to keep it that way for the second book just for the hell of it. It gives me an excuse to post more than one chapter at a time because Coveting ends on New Year's. 

*

RILEY

I WAS SWITCHING books between first and second period. Being grounded, the homework and the trainings, it had me walking the halls with an unshakeable emptiness in my chest. Then, there was my nonexistent dating life.

I told myself it was better considering the hurdles, but I hadn't received any text in the few days since that mortifying buzzkill. More and more, I thought I might have actually blown our relationship to smithereens. He never struck me as the type to take that so... personal, but I probably pushed all the wrong buttons during the last weeks to amount to that.

Sigh.

A disaster on all fronts.

Someone stirred in the corner, prompting me to glance. My jaw almost dropped to the floor.

"Hey... do you have a minute?"

Adam shifted against the free lockers, one hand holding the shoulder strap of a duffel bag. My feet froze in place while I clenched a pile of texbook and notes. Embarrassment caught me again, but I strongly felt the horror of having to explain myself more.

I all but slapped myself to spit a word out. "Okay." 

He slid closer, arms folded. When he lowered his head before others eavesdropped, some of the pressure between my ribs relented. And then my heart rate climbed back up. A dark tousled head appeared in my peripheral vision and Luc strolled to his locker.

I was going to get dumped with the worst possible audience.

Adam raised a hand to my books and unlocked my fingers from the binding, keeping them there. Whether he noticed the other boy he'd been freshly worried over or not, he didn't grant him any attention. "I shouldn't have said anything. You had a freaky encounter with that creep, and I should have understood it was bad timing. Instead, I got selfish like a grade A asshole."

My mind wasn't all there, that much was obvious. For all sorts of reasons. When I'd regained my room, Ben replied to my messages and everyone else was notified of a man named Finn. Since then, they hadn't spotted him in the vicinity.

Looks like he'd focused on me... so far.

"I mean I wanted to be into it," I said and instantly blushed. Hell, I stood up to Devin for this guy and would do it again. Might as well say it with my full chest. "I totally did, but... I guess you're right. Bad timing."

He hesitated at first. "You'd tell me if you're upset with me, right? Or if I'm doing something wrong..."

I gave a contrite smile. "I'd tell you if it were the case."

"That's not why you're suddenly missing in action?"

His fingers started leaving mine. It stung that he felt insecure about this. In a hurry, I unloaded the pile of books to the side and grabbed his face. Stretching up, I met his lips with mine, throwing all my energy into it before letting go. 

I brushed his fringe tenderly. "Never think that. What I'm dealing with is not related to you, and you make it better."

His eyes lit up. "Really?"