Adrenaline

Chapter 5

Alyssa

I could hear men's voices coming from the kitchen at the butt crack of dawn. The clock read somewhere around 5:30 in the morning and clearly too early to be having a casual conversation. I crawled off my bed into the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. If I was going to fight someone this early, I better be fresh. The voices got louder as I got closer to the kitchen. A guy was sitting at the counter with Chris, laughing over Belgian waffles. All my irritation flooded away recognizing that head of short blond hair. The guy turned, giving me one of his charming little smiles before opening up his arms. I jumped into them, wrapping mine around his neck. "Luke, you're finally back!" I cried pulling back to kiss my best friend's cheek.

We'd met as 14-year-old freshmen. It was almost an instant friendship that strengthened when we found out we both belonged to the IIA. It was a relief to know my Innocent best friend wasn't actually an Innocent and would understand everything that came with this life. He was like a brother to me. I told him how much I'd missed him as I sat down on a stool.

"Shall we?" he asked.

I grinned, lifting up my shirt to expose my bruises. He reached over making me wince then lifted up his own shirt revealing a stitched up gash.

"Who'd you fight?" I questioned.

"Some dude with a hankering for knives. How many guys did you fight?" he countered.

"Six."

"You always were a man magnet."

I winked as Chris set a fresh, hot plate of waffles in front of me. We locked eyes for a second and I recognized that brother-like evil glint in his eyes.

"Hey Alyssa, why don't you tell him who you've attracted recently," Chris smugly said.

Luke cocked a brow with a curious flare, making me roll my eyes. "Jason Snow." Chris butted in again. He needed a muzzle!

"How long have I been gone? How, did you meet the Jason Snow?" Luke asked.

I told him about my dad's party and how a lawyer friend had invited Jason. Luke scrunched up his face at how odd that they hadn't assigned me to an older agent. Hey, I hadn't come home smelling like old spice that night so I wasn't complaining.

"He didn't see anything, did he?"

I shook my head at Luke.

"Oh no, they went out to Nitro." Chris smirked.

"Oh, how nice." Luke grinned.

I rolled my eyes again shaking my head.

"They went out to a Carly Whitney concert on Wednesday." Christopher, shut up!

Luke laughed drizzling syrup on his waffles. I stood up going to pour us all glasses of milk.

"Two outings in a week's time, some might consider that dating." He said.

"We're just acquaintances." I chuckled, placing his glass in front of him.

"Jason Snow has a reputation for taking any woman he wants." Chris added.

"He's met a challenge this time."

The boys laughed shrugging their shoulders.

***

Jason

It was 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning. As I placed my dirty dishes in the sink and grabbed my keys, heading for the door, someone called my name. I pressed my back to it looking up at the staircase. Paul was standing there rubbing his eyes, wondering where I was off to so early. "Just the bakery." I nonchalantly lied.