The Secret Love Scandal

7

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Where did Adriana drift into whilst crumbling inside and desperate for an escape? A small bar that reeked of cigarette smoke and beer and was adequately lit from yellow lights lining the ceiling. Where two men tried to collect their thoughts on bar stools and the pool table had no friendly company. There she bought an entire bottle of Irish Whiskey, collected a glass and slid into a booth, feeling the pain welling up inside her chest like a ball of barbed wires. Just cutting and squeezing and gradually threatening to kill her.

She hated herself for saying all the wrong things. Adriana didn't like to drown in anger. It wasn't ever her preferred cup of tea. The taste of anger resembled the taste of black coffee without sugar in the morning. Back in the days when she used to down two cups after Machavano beat her around like a punching bag. Now, it wasn't supposed to unfold like this. Being certain of one's triggers should stop the bomb from exploding on another person. But Samantha wasn't just another person.

Samantha was her soul mate.

Believing in that kind of hocus pocus, as Ruby proclaimed it to be, was ludicrous. In fact, where would someone even begin to define a person that could possess the qualities attached to the phrase? She must be a fierce creature to behold, as Jane Austen would have penned once. Someone who was adorned with the kind of traits that perfectly fitted them together in every aspect. And Swan was essentially in possession of such qualities that combined them like a puzzle. Which is why Adriana could literally swell up with anger and frustration within seconds.

It was simple.

Every little thing, miniscule in fact, that Samantha conjured up in her conflicting behaviors demonstrated, Adriana couldn't help but magnify. She couldn't help it if every expression of doubt seemed bitter enough to sting her heart. When such a prolonged absence of affection had been allowed, Adriana felt inadequate. And that sense of inadequacy now existed like a crater within her chest, a crater she decided to patch up temporarily with whiskey on the rocks.

By the time Samantha had managed to deliver a few punches of her own, Red showed up at the bar to greet an already drunk Adriana.

"Knew I'd find you here," Lucas shook her head and slid into the adjacent seat. She plucked the bottle from the older woman's grasp and sighed. "For fuck's sake, there's only one shot left in here. Where did the rest go?"

"I drank it." Adriana offered a very cute pout whilst leaning onto the table. Those brown eyes swam in tears.

"Well of course you swallowed it all. But why?" She was fishing.

"Because..." Adriana tilted her head and smiled widely, "Samantha's left me she...wasn't even with me in the first place. I'm pathetic. There were drugs. Little tiny packs," she demonstrated by holding up an inch of space between two fingers. "I don't know where they came from."

"Fuck, I'm sorry about that," Lucas swore again, and could clearly remember her shouting match with Samantha on the phone. "Look, I asked Ron to deliver the box because I trust him, you know? I mean, he was the guy who got me out of jail when I punched that guy's face three months ago. I didn't know he would try to squeeze you for money. I don't even think he knew Samantha's a cop."

"So you fucked me up," Adriana drawled in her drunken state. "When I saved you from hell. This is what I get."

"Adriana, I didn't know!" Red pleaded. "I really didn't know there were drugs in there. I swear to God, I didn't mean to get you in trouble."

Clumsily pulling her mobile out from the waist pocket of the trench coat, the older woman slid it across the table and her chest heaved. "You have to call Samantha and tell her what you did."