The Brothers' Desire [Complete First Draft-Unedited]

Chapter Eighteen (First draft-Unedited)

Amaris' POV

I woke up feeling like complete shit.  I'm so glad that I do not have to work today.  Perk of not working as a RN right now is no weekend work for me.

Deciding to be lazy and lounge in my bed for a while, I grab my phone to scroll Instagram. I see a text from Adrian. I smile despite my raging headache. I've missed his silly ass.

Adrian:
Hey Mare! Let's go to that huge nightclub tonight! Obsidian! Pleeeeaaaassseeeee!

Me:
Ugh I have a hangover already!

Adrian:
So it should be gone by tonight! And nobody said you had to drink! I want to hang out with you! Don't make me beg! I'm too pretty to beg!

Me:
Okay okay! Wouldn't want you to resort to begging. I'm awesome anyway! I'll text you later on after I sleep some more of this hangover off!

Adrian:
I'm awesomer than you!

I snort and lock my phone. I refuse to start childish banter right now only because my head hurts too much. But awesomer is one of the dumbest words he has said so far.

•••

After a few more hours of sleeping off and on, I finally roll out of bed. I feel pretty decent by now actually. I have lots of time to kill before tonight and nothing pressing to do.

I glance around my room. Absolutely nothing to do here.

A run sounds good. I throw on some workout gear, grab my ear buds and my phone.  Starting up my pandora, I strap my phone into my arm holder and stretch quickly in the front yard. With the music playing in my ears, I begin a mindless jog without anywhere in particular to go.

After about fifteen minutes of jogging, I suddenly feel like someone is following me. I turn around and scan the area as I step backwards, but I don't see anything out of the ordinary.

Blowing out a breath, I face forward once again. "Quit being paranoid, Amaris." I mumble to myself.  I continue my jog, trying to shake off the unease and enter the trail at a nearby park.

For a while, my jog seems peaceful.  Relaxing. Then I feel as if I'm being followed again. Deciding to just pick up my pace this time, I quickly exit the park and start back for home.

About twenty feet from the front yard, I yelp as a strong hand grabs my wrist and yanks me toward them.  Pulling my ear buds out, I quickly look at the person responsible.  Fear immediately shoots down my spine as I look right into the cold, calculating eyes of Devin.

"Don't look so alarmed baby." He sneered down at me.

"H-how did you know I was here?  What do you want?" I stutter. I can't believe my husband is actually here. I didn't think he would actually put in the effort to look for me, much less actually show up for me.

He chuckles softly. The sound so sweet yet dangerous. "Oh darling, I remembered the name of your hometown.  I figured out you were no longer in California when you up disappeared. An idiot could figure that out." I wince as his grip on my wrist tightens. He's barely containing his anger with me.

I try to wiggle my wrist free but he pulls me closer to him. "Yeah, well if you didn't try to kill me then maybe I wouldn't have had to move away!" I say through gritted teeth.

He scoffs. "Me.. try to kill you? Don't be ridiculous.  I love you and wouldn't ever try to kill you.  I may have been a shitty husband and got violent when I drank, but I'd never attempt to kill you." He caressed the side of my face as his voice became more kind and soft.  I'll hand it to him... he's manipulative but I won't fall for it this time.

I jerk my face away from his touch. "Say whatever you want, but I'll believe you're responsible for my accident unless proven otherwise." I snarl, yanking my wrist hard, getting free of his hold. I turn and run to the yard and up the steps. "You need to quit following me too."  I shout at him before stepping inside and locking the door.

Sighing out of relief, I start to walk away from the door but not before I heard Devin shout out, "I'm not following you, but if someone is, then I think you might just want some help from me."

I ignored him, shoot Adrian a text to let him know I'm going to start getting ready, and go to take a shower. As I tried to relax in the comfort of the hot water pummeling my sore muscles, my mind just won't allow me to relax. Who else would be following me?  If Devin isn't responsible for my accident, then who is? No. Everything points back at Devin.  He didn't even mention the divorce.  I wonder if he's received his papers yet?  I imagine not if he wasn't going crazy outside.  I wonder if I should tell my dad or Luca about Devin being here?  Maybe tomorrow.

I step out of the shower and dry off. I complete my hygiene routine in the bathroom before going to my room to tackle the daunting task of trying to figure out what to wear tonight.  I decide on some dark washed denim skinny jeans and a plain red v-neck shirt that is snug against my torso, accentuating the curves my small frame fortunately has.  Slipping on some knee high black boots, I throw my hair up into a high ponytail, and skip out on makeup except for some clear lipgloss.  Around the time I'm done doing a quick check of my appearance, I hear a horn honk.  Adrian must be here.

As I approach his car, he quickly jumps out and opens the passenger door for me.  I'm glad to see he's dressed in casual wear too.

I falter for a second before I get into his car. "Since when are you a gentlemen and open up doors for ladies?" I raise a brow at him.

"Don't be so surprised Mare.  I've always been a gentleman to you."  Adrian snorts at me and I chuckle.

"So that surprise wrestling move into my brother's pool yesterday was you being a gentleman?" I laugh as I question Adrian and his gentleman ways.

He barks out a loud laugh. "Well, that's different.  It was just you and it was just fun!" He exclaimed. "You and Shelley always got the WWE moves handed to you. Why would I change that now?" He glances at me quickly before returning his eyes to the road. "Besides, that was a perfect RKO and I got in a perfect choke slam on Shelley shortly after. I'd say I earned 10/10 on both moves, wouldn't you agree?" He waggles his eyebrows playfully.

I smack his arm playfully. "Shut up. You're an idiot." We both chuckle as I shake my head.

We arrive at Obsidian and get through the line quickly before passing security.  I see Miranda and Luca bartending at the main bar.  I don't recognize the other bartenders up there but I decide to grab Adrian's hand and pull him up to the bar with me.

"Hey girl! I didn't know you'd be in tonight!" Miranda shouted happily and gave me a hug over the bar.

"Blame Adrian! He thinks it's a good idea!"

"Oh she loves me! She wouldn't be able to say no to me even if her heart desired to!" Adrian announced with a wicked smirk as his eyes roamed up and down Miranda appreciatively. Her cheeks flushed as he shot her a wink while rolling his tongue over his bottom lip. They'd make a cute couple. Perhaps I should play matchmaker.

Just as I was about to start working my Cupid mojo, the tiny hairs on the back of my neck stood up on full alert.

"So, you love him?"  A deep voice, one that I recognize all too well by now, said from behind me.

I slowly turn around and meet the angry and tense faces of Dominic and Damon.

Ah, shit! Drama already and we haven't even been served yet!