Page 164 of Adam
His eyes go cold, all focus. I guess he’s not playing anymore.
Adam squints. “What’s the matter, Beast? Cat got your tongue?”
“Fuck off,” Cain hisses quietly.
“You shut up,” Adam huffs. “And what the fuck happened to your head? You look like a shaved ballsack.”
Cain snorts, crossing his arms. “Still works. Unlike your brain.”
Judas laughs once. “All that noise and barking, like kids trying to sound tough.”
Adam steps closer. “Say that again.”
“Or what?” Judas says, spreading his arms. “You’re cuter than you think.”
“Then let me turn scary.”
“I’ve seen scarier things in a mirror,” Judas barks back.
Cain shoves his shoulder. “Back up.”
Judas shoves him back. “Touch me again.”
Adam’s already in it, grabbing Judas’s shirt. “Oh, I’ve been waiting for this.”
A sharp crack snaps through the room, making all of us flinch. Smoke curls from the gun in Grayson’s hand as he lowers it, unfazed.
“Enough,” he says quietly. Then his eyes sweep over us. “Shut the hell up. All of you.”
He pauses, letting it sink in. “You want to act like children, I’ll treat you like children. Now stand down.”
The boys stay locked in place for a few seconds, still wired from the near-fight. Then, with clenched jaws and shallow breaths, they back down.
It’s unsettling how they fall in line for Grayson. He’s so calm, controlled, and fully willing to fire a warning to shut them up.
I’m impressed. All three of them are different in every way, but they share the same temper, the same instinct for violence, and somehow the same childish behavior toward each other.
They look like they’re around the same age, trading insults and smug looks, all ego and fake detachment, but it’s not real. Beneath it, there’s something desperate, something they won’t admit. And I see it. How can they not?
Adam lets out a long sigh, hands on his hips. “Weren’t you the asshole who butchered an entire prison just to drag your girl back to the cageyouthrew her in?” he asks Cain.
He did what?
Katerina laughs once. Cain snorts, barely hiding a grin. “Yeah, well … she knew what she signed up for.”
She crosses her arms and smiles playfully. “Not that I had a choice, anyway.”
Adam rolls his eyes back, then looks at Judas. “Weren’t you the dick who sold out his own blood and now hides behind a robe like it’s fuckin’ salvation?”
Oh my God, who are these men?
Judas holds Adam’s gaze, steady and cold, and his voice comes out smooth. “What I did and what I didn’t do has nothing to do with you.”
“Don’t start?—”
“We’re here to help you save your precious princess,” Cain says, cutting in. He steps closer to Adam, eyes locking with his. “Even after all these years, all the fucking hate between us, you still showed up when it counted. Even if I was too proud to spit out a thank you.” His lip curls into a half-smirk. “Now, I get to return the favor. Lucky you.”
Adam lets out a long sigh.
