ma chérie | cl16

chapter twelve

tw: blood

Adeline's vision was blurred; she couldn't see anything but her own hands folded in her lap. She knew that she was on the floor, probably sitting. Her whole body was trembling from the cold marble floor she was sitting on. She suddenly realized that her head was aching, on the left side. She tried to lift up her arm to caress it, but when her palms slightly touched her head, it hurt. It hurt so badly.

Adeline looked at the palms of her hands—she couldn't see properly through the tears and probably mild concussion, but she could see deep red blood on them. The scars on her hands felt like burning, and the blood was dropping on the floor. She was in so much pain.

She could hear some familiar voice echoing somewhere in the distance, but she wasn't conscious enough to recognize the voice, nor to lift her teary eyes from her hands covered in blood.

Help. She needed help.

She needed Pierre.

All she wanted to do was call her best friend, even though she was barely able to open her mouth to speak. But she needed to talk to him.

But she he didn't even know where her phone was.

She wanted this to be over.

"Fuck!" Adeline opened her eyes in shock, feeling her body sweating. She could feel her breath going insanely fast, along with her heart. She immediately got up from the bed, looking at her hands. She wasn't injured; her hands seemed absolutely normal, except for a few scars that were quite old now. They were invisible to other eyes, but Adeline could see them.

Adeline shook her head and tried to calm herself down. She rushed to the bathroom and leaned herself against the sink. "It was just a dream, Adeline," she mumbled to herself, and then she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Her dirty blonde hair was sweaty, and her complexion was extremely pale. She splashed her face with the coldest water she could turn on. While she was drying her face with a soft hotel towel, she went to the bedroom to look at the alarm clock. It was 3 a.m., and Adeline's usual routine was waking up at 6 a.m. no matter the day—workdays, holidays, weekends. And although she was a morning bird, 3 a.m. was way too early even for her. At the same time, she knew she wouldn't be able to fall asleep now. And she needed to seem fresh. It was Saturday, the day of the qualification.

"Why is this happening?" Adeline let out a deep breath. She was able to answer the question by herself, though. She knew that she had that dream again because of him coming back to the United Kingdom. Suddenly, the thought of Hunter erased the shock Adeline felt after waking up—it turned into  pure rage. He was the reason why she had to run away from London to avoid him; he was the reason why she had those dreams, and he was the bad thing that was supposed to never come back.

However, Adeline knew that being furious and emotional didn't help absolutely anything. It just made her feel worse. And one thing that Adeline excelled at, was putting herself together very quickly. All she needed was a cold shower, caffeine, and to occupy her mind with getting some work done, even though she was on holiday. And that's exactly what she did.

——

"So, what have you been up to? I heard that you've been here with Pierre since Wednesday!" Lily exclaimed as her Williams VIP access pass was hanging around her neck. She had been in Monaco since Friday, but her flight had been delayed, so she had missed practices.

When Alex had told her that Adeline was attending the race weekend after all, she had been thrilled to see her new paddock friend again. She had texted Adeline after seeing her Instagram posts, and the girls had agreed to meet on a terrace with a breathtaking view of the circuit. It was situated above the start/finish straight, so it was really exclusive. And Adeline wasn't complaining at all.