Flawed Perfection (Beautifully Flawed, #1)

Chapter Twenty Five

Three more days and there was still no sign of Adam. I was frustrated, hurt and annoyed. I'd been blown off by guys before, but they had never really mattered. Adam did though, and now I feared Tara had been right when she originally said it could ruin our friendship.

I punched at the air as the thought repeated in my skull—the man I loved my whole life was suddenly out of the picture. I shook the thought from my head as sweat dripped down my face, back and neck. I was on the second hour of the kickboxing dance video.

I couldn't stop. If I did I wouldn't be able to think about anything but Adam. My door opened, and I ignored it, huffing as I pushed myself to keep going.

I needed to keep going.

"That's just gross," Bobby said.

I ignored him, but darkness was beginning to vignette my vision. I'd pushed myself too hard. It wouldn't be the first time, and I was sure it wouldn't be the last. Instead of being able to stop and sit I found the blackness pitching in on me uncontrollably.

"Shit," I mumbled as my knees collapse, and I fell onto my face.

When I opened my eyes the shower head was pounding water into my vision.

"What the fuck were you thinking River?" Adam asked. His face was obscured by the water, but his tone said it all – he was worried.

I blinked to clear the water from my sight and watched as Adam leaned forward to shut the water off. In my peripheral vision I could see a worried Bobby taking up the whole doorway. My head tittered on my shoulders as I looked back at Adam.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, my words slurred.

"How long were you working out like that?" Adam pushed.

"It looked like she'd been doing it for hours," Bobby answered for me. "She was literally soaking wet in sweat, and her water wasn't even open."

"Why'd you do that?" Adam asked. His tone softened as he wrapped a towel around me and pulled me into his arms.

"I was frustrated," I said as I let my head fall to his chest. I couldn't have fought him even if I didn't want to be in his arms, which I did. God, I did.

His body rumbled with a laugh. "What could ever make you that frustrated?"

I didn't want to fight, and I didn't want to suffer in silence anymore. It wasn't like I could come up with a good excuse right now anyways, so I answered truthfully, "You."

He must have been holding his breath, because it came out in a whoosh as he shut my bedroom door behind him.

"I think you need to go to the hospital," Adam said, and his voice cracked.

"Why?" I asked as he laid me on my bed.

He knelt down beside me and brushed a soppy piece of hair out of my face.

"You need your head checked if I made you that frustrated," he said as his Adam's apple rose and fell.

His warm eyes searched mine, and I wondered what he was looking for.

"I think you're dehydrated," he finally said.

"So get me some water," I replied, but it sounded silly in a whisper.

"You probably want to change out of that," Adam said as he stood with his fists clenched and white.

I looked down at my soaked clothes and attempted to stand, but ended up falling forward. Adam caught me in his arms once again.