Free Web NovelChapter 28: The Moonlight Is Truly Romantic
ADRIEN’S POV
"Of course I didn’t!" He snaps. "If I did, I wouldn’t have wasted my time here with you."
Luca stands over me, breathing heavily, and for some reason, eyeing me like I did something wrong to him. Prick. What the hell did I even do?
"And here I was thinking we were bonding over your airhead shtick and my apparent dislike for you," I mutter dryly, rising to my feet to meet his gaze.
There is no way in hell that I, Adrien Dubois, would allow a man as tall as I am to stand and look down on me. We short men should never use height to intimidate each other.
I’m not being sensitive, and neither am I lying. It’s in the ’short men code’. Everyone knows this.
Besides, I’m not actually short. I’m at a respectable height of five feet and seven inches.
"We were bonding! But I thought I was going to be the matchmaker for the two of you! You weren’t supposed to be together already." Luca yells at me.
Oh, you have got to be kidding me. "So, the reason why you’re spitting at me is because you wanted to trap me in a relationship with that bloody lunatic?"
It’s not like I’m not already trapped with the bastard, but if I weren’t, are you telling me that this little shit was planning to ruin my life that way?
Luca glares right back at me, not looking even the slightest bit sorry. "I wasn’t planning on trapping you, I just wanted to give you guys the push that would bring you together."
"Would you like me to push you off a bridge?"
"Ugh..." He sinks into his seat, groaning in annoyance. "You’re not getting it."
"That’s because I don’t want to get it. I don’t want to know what stupid thought process you had that made you believe you had a right to play matchmaker between me and that...fucker."
"Adrien," he blinks up at me, "do you hate Orion?"
Now, he’s asking the real questions. This is a question I can answer. It’s a question I can give him a whole new perspective on and—
"He’ll tell you he hates me, but we both know that’s a lie." freewebnovёl.ƈom
The voice comes from behind our booth, smooth like silk, and deeply unfortunate. I already want to bash my head against the table. I turn around to face him with a scowl already forming.
Orion stands right at my back. The fact that he was so close to me and I didn’t notice makes the back of my neck feel cold. Colored lights flash across his face, illuminating the amused grin twisted across his face.
I hate him.
Luca brightens up immediately. "Orion!" He calls out like the lunatic’s personal cheerleader. I’m already tired of this prick.
"Yes," I mutter dryly, "that is indeed an Orion."
Without any preamble, Orion slides into the seat beside me. I willingly scoot down to the end of the booth to give him space. As much space as I can.
I don’t need him trying to dig his fingers into my thighs for the rest of the night. That shit hurts like hell.
His gaze tracks my movement— my apparent dislike doing nothing to reduce the smugness of his smile. Bastard.
"You were discussing me." He states, looking pleased as fuck.
"Luca was discussing you," I reply coldly, "I was wondering why he kept on bringing up unrelated issues in our conversation."
"Unrelated issues? Is that supposed to be a jab at me, Duckling?" He asks, chuckling lightly.
"It’s not," Luca responds, rolling his eyes at me. "I only asked him if he hated you."
"Oh. Whether he hates me...?" He says the words like he’s tasting them. "And what did he say?"
"Well, if you hadn’t interrupted, you would’ve heard me say yes." God, I need a drink.
"You hesitated for a while though." Luca points out unhelpfully.
No, this little shit is not going to spin it that way. I only hesitated because I needed to know how much vitriol I was going to spew about Orion, not because I fucking like the bastard.
"Was I or was I not going to speak, dear Luca?"
"You literally stared into the distance like you were having an internal crisis." He shoots back weakly.
"I was about to get creative." I’m serious, he shouldn’t push me on this. I don’t joke with what I feel for this bastard. I hate him.
Orion takes a slow sip of his drink, eyes fixed on me over the rim of the glass. When did he get that? "And what did you come up with?"
I look him up and down and sneer. "A lunatic with the human capacity of a curse."
Luca chokes on air.
Orion doesn’t even blink, but his eyes glitter with dark amusement. "That is surprisingly poetic. Do you always get this artistic when you think of me, Duckling?"
"It’s also accurate...Fucker."
"It’s not. You forgot to add wealthy and handsome."
I guess one has to be shameless to be the perfect lunatic. Though he is wealthy and subjectively handsome— to people who are into madmen— I’m not going to give in to his bullshit.
"I was being objective," I shrug. "You know, most normal people would run away from you at first sight before even thinking of your money or...face."
A faint smirk tugs at his lips and I instantly regret speaking. The problem with Orion smiling is that it always leads to problems. Always.
"But you didn’t run at first sight," his lips curve into a slow grin. "And you weren’t lacking at the time, so could it be because you started thinking of my face?"
Oh, fuck him. "You forget that I still ran...darling."
"But not at first, my heart." His gaze stays sharp.
"Why don’t you think of it this way," I lean across the booth, keeping his eyes on mine, "I had to stay at the time, and the moment I was finally able to run, I did. I ran away without looking back, honey."
He leans close, so close I can feel his breath brush against my face. "And you forget, that your escape is the reason why you’re back here now...baby."
At the same time, both our gazes flicker to our hands on the table. To the silver bands binding us together. These damned rings.
"You guys are so good together." Luca’s agitating, excited voice cuts through whatever it was that I was doing with Orion.
Really, what the fuck was that?
"Don’t sound so excited," I mutter, trying to get a hold of myself as I pull back to the safety of my corner. "You were just trying to trap me with this bastard five minutes ago."
"I really wasn’t trying to trap you," he argues weakly. "Don’t make it sound so wrong."
"It was wrong."
Orion sets his glass on the table with a soft tap, his eyes still on my side. "You wound me, Adrien. Here I was thinking his actions were sweet, only for you to make them seem so...sinister."
Is he trying to guilt me? Me, Adrien Dubois? He’s a fucking joke.
"Yes, because secretly orchestrating my downfall is supposed to be sweet," I deadpan. "It must be so tragic that I failed to appreciate his efforts."
Luca groans loudly from across the booth, dropping his head onto the table. "Why are you so mean?"
Because I have to watch everything I say or do so I don’t get outed and gutted, is what I want to say in response, but I can’t say that, so I just pick the next best thing.
"It’s a trauma response." Good, let’s make everyone uncomfortable.
"No, seriously," he lifts his head just enough to glare at me, not buying my excuse for a moment. Which is such a shame because I was actually being honest. "I’m just trying to help you."
"By trying to chain me to a psychologically unstable criminal?"
"Easy with the compliments, darling. A man can only blush so much." Orion chimes in, completely unbothered.
"You should hear all my creative ones then."
"Oh?" One dark brow lifts in amusement. "Do tell."
"No."
"I didn’t take you for a coward, duckling." He hums into his glass.
"If I speak, you’ll gut me," I glare at him. "And yet, somehow I’m the coward?"
"You’ve said worse and your guts are still in your body, aren’t they?" He scoffs. "Don’t take the fun out of it, Adrien."
Adrien? Am I talking to the basilisk now?
"It’s only fun for you because you’re not the one whose intestines are in fucking danger of seeing the sunlight."
"Don’t worry about it," he beams at me, "if I wanted to gut you, I’d do it at night. The moonlight would make it much more romantic for both of us."
Is that really the problem here?
"Speak for yourself. I’m the one who’s always in danger around you." It’s a nasty feeling, knowing just how true that statement is.
"I thought you loved the danger, darling," his smirk widens. "Why else do you have my ring on your finger?"
Oh, he did not just go there.
***********
Hi everyone, I hope you’re enjoying the novel. If you are, I would love to see some comments or reviews about your thoughts! And I would also love to know your favourite characters.
— TheLovePoet
