“You’re losing your edge, Case.” Dom sneered at me.
I turned on my heel, feeling my blood boil at the sound of the despicable man’s voice. Glaring daggers at the mocking smirk he had on, I felt the strong urge to slap it off his face.
Dom straightened himself from previously leaning on a tree in a shadowed spot. My body screamed in objection when my muscles tensed up at the sight of trouble. I’ve used almost all of my energy on the fight I just got out of no longer than a few minutes ago.
Nonetheless, when Dom had walked close enough for me to reach him, I made an attempt to land a hit on him and successfully landed one on his ribs after faking a straight punch to his face. He staggered backwards to put space between us before hunching over and groaning.
This time, there was no guilt that followed. There wasn’t any bitter bile rising at the back of my throat, unlike when I kept on trying to land deathly blows on my opponent during the fight earlier.
“I thought I made it clear that you were not to come anywhere near me or my family and friends ever again.”
“I can’t help it, you’re simply too alluring.” He wheezed out through the pain as he tried to gradually straighten up. I had an urge to make a disgusted look at that but I held back and let my hatred for the man consume me. It wasn’t long before I was seething. I tried to land a kick to his head but he dodged it, blocking my kick and causing it to land on his shoulder blade instead.
He hissed and gave me a deadly look. I returned it, not planning to back down.
“I heard that you killed Carla, Case. I didn’t know you had it in you.” Dom gave me a sly smirk and I could feel my insides boil over with amplified anger and hatred.
“You! You little piece of shit! You did that! I knew you had something to do with it! You fucking piece of good―”
“Now, now little Casey, that’s no way to greet an old friend.” Dom taunted with a sickening smirk. I moved to slap it off his face but he snatched my hand and held it tightly. I tugged at it to retrieve my hand.
“Fuck you!” I spat at him in disgust.
He twisted my arm, moving behind me and pushing me against a tree. I felt his breath hit the back of my neck before I heard his voice whisper in my ear. I flinched at the proximity of his lips with my ear, trying to put as much space as I could between myself and the piece of filth.
“Aren’t you proud of how Adam turned out? He’s quite the man, isn’t he?” He baited.
“More than you’ll ever be,” was the only snarky remark I could conjure up with the sharp pain on my arm.
A sound came from Dom and I couldn’t help the smirk that tugged at my lips; seems like I hit a sore spot there. The smirk vanished the second he twisted my arm further, spiking up the pain shooting through my arm. That was when I threw my head back. I felt another sharp pain bloom on the back of my head from where it made contact with Dom’s head.
“You bitch!” He cried out. The pain on my arm was dissipating quickly as the hold he had on me loosened. He finally let go to nurse his nose. Dark red liquid was seeping through his fingers. I made a point to kick him in the nuts and gave him a sweet kick to the temple. Hopefully that'll give him a splitting headache and give me enough time to flee the scene without any more troubles.
I quickly swung my foot to kick him where the sun doesn’t shine but I wasn’t quick enough and he caught it in a tight grip. I used his hand on my foot to jump and kick him on the side of his head with my other foot. I braced myself for the impact of my body hitting the ground once I felt the impact of my foot kicking Dom’s head.
I felt myself free fall and rolled over the second I hit the ground. The lessened force of the impact saved me from breaking my face, or breaking anything for that matter.
I dusted myself off, feeling the skin sting on my elbows sting where I scraped them during the fall. I looked at Dom, curled up on the ground, nursing his probably throbbing head.
The scrape was a small price to pay for this satisfaction. I had the overwhelming urge to spit on the poor excuse of a man but held myself back. I’m above spitting on people even if this particular being was more animal than anything else.
I turned on my heel and begun the mad dash to my bike. I rode out of that place as if I was being chased by Hell’s hounds.
The road was a blur and the wind whipped the ends of my hair that stuck out of my helmet in every direction. I could feel the cold seep through my jacket and into my bones, making me tighten my hold on the handles of my bike.
When I turned to enter my driveway, Preston was on my porch with Adam, sitting on the ground of my garden. The sight of it made me hit the brakes so hard that I almost got thrown off my bike head first.
I was going to give Preston a call to let him know of what I learnt about Dom’s involvement with Adam’s recent brainwashing but I guess I didn't have to make that call now.
I got off my bike and turned the engine off, eyeing the two men as they rose to their feet. I took my bike to the garage wordlessly. When I stepped outside to greet the guys, they looked to be having a heated conversation.
Both of them wore serious looks on their faces. Adam looked like he was ready to tear his hair off his scalp while Preston looked exasperated more than he usually does.
“So, gentlemen, to what do I owe this pleasure?” I made sure to keep the space between myself and Adam. Two fights were enough for one night, three fights in a row for one night is just draining and would probably make me drop dead.
“Adam surprised me this evening by asking me to drive him here.” Preston said simply and I raised an eyebrow to indicate my concern for his IQ.
“Let me get this straight, he asked you and you drove him here because the last encounter he had with me was oh so pleasant?” I asked him with an ‘are you stupid or are you stupid’ look. I thought this guy was supposed to be smarter; but then thinking back on the suggestive remarks he made when I first met him a year ago made me correct myself. I knew he was no genius the second he opened that mouth of his.
“In my defense, he didn’t ask me to drive him to see you. He gave me your address.” Preston stated. Although this revelation made my heart skip a beat, it did little to change my bewilderment at how stupid Preston can be. Does he not understand that one does not simply do this to a friend? Adam was no ally of mine, not in his brainwashed state; hell, all he wants to do right now was probably to choke the life out of me.
Kudos to him for not having done that the second he saw me, though.
“Case, he remembers.” Preston stresses and that was enough to make my eyes fly to Adam’s face. He was staring at me the whole time. I sensed his eyes on me the entire time I was talking to Preston but I was being childish and stubborn so I feigned obliviousness to his prying eyes.
“Thank you for talking about me like I am here this whole time.” Adam finally piped up. This brainwashed Adam means nothing more to me than another dude who wants to beat the living crap out of me. So excuse me for not caring about how I talk about him when he’s around.
I raised an eyebrow at him, “So? What do you remember?” I asked. More emotions were running through me more than I’d care to admit to anyone then. Something shifted in Adam when I finally acknowledged his presence properly. It was as if he had been trying to communicate with me through eye contact before I finally acknowledgement.
“It has all been fragments. Since that time I met you in the alley and you hit me over the head, I’ve had flashes of memory that makes no sense and is off-setting to say the least. These dreams or memories; they contradict everything that I’ve been told so far and it’s hard to decide what to believe. These bits and pieces of dreams are so lucid, it’s hard to believe that they’re nothing more than dreams. I mean they must be something more, right?” Adam’s eyes roamed my face, maybe to find an affirmation or something; anything.
I couldn’t give anything away, I saw the vulnerability in his eyes and fought the urge to shut my eyes to hide away. This could be a trick. He was just a vessel, nothing more.
Unless he did remember.
I tried to put out that spark of hope to no avail. Curse my stupid hopes.
“You’ve been seeing Dom.” I said instead, trying to keep my voice steady.
“How did you know that?” He answered the same time Preston’s eyes got big and yelled a loud “What?”
I glared at Preston and he looked around as if to make sure he didn’t wake the whole neighborhood up. We were outside so that was a pretty comical move. He looked back at me and decided to repeat himself in a softer yell this time.
“What?”
I focused my gaze at Adam instead.
“What has he been telling you?” I asked him. He squinted at me, half accusingly.
“I don’t owe you an explanation. I came here to find answers, not to get questioned.” He bit out. I had to grit my teeth to hold myself back from lunging at him and shake him until his head falk off his body.
“You owe me every bit of explanation there is, now start talking.” I crossed my arms in defiance. I could see Adam losing his patience over my stubbornness. He’ll get used to it, again.
“Look, all I want to do is clarify whatever has been happening in my life before and ever since I lost my memories. Don’t make this harder for either of us. If you can’t help me then I’ll do both of us a favor and leave.” Adam had started pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration and I felt a tiny prick in my chest at how familiar the sight was.
This was why I had to walk out of his life. Not just for him, but for me too. This would’ve been too much pain for me to handle. How everything appeared to be almost normal, as if the crash never happened, and be so different at the same time.
It would have upset me every time he did something Adam- like and not be Adam at the same time.
I looked at Preston and saw his eyes pleading me. At first, I was puzzled at what he wanted me to do. Did he want me to continue denying Adam’s claims or did he want me to tell Adam the truth?
I don’t read minds, Pres.
I guess he caught on to my confused state and he moved his eyes repetitively from me to Adam and I finally caught on. My palms grew clammy and my breathing started to get more rapid and shallow by the second. My whole body was starting to slightly tremble and I recognized the familiarity of my nerves attacking me.
“So? Will you help me?” Adam pressed and I looked at Preston who was standing slightly behind Adam. He was nodding his head wildly and I worried for the wellbeing of his neck. The dude was going to sprain something.
I looked at Adam once again and muttered an 'okay', I led both of them inside my house to stall and let my breathing to slow down a bit.
I rubbed my hands on my pants and balled them into fists. I tried inhaling and exhaling deep breaths to calm myself down and slowly, I felt my body stop trembling. I locked the door behind them and led them to the living room.
The house was quiet, completely void of any signs of life. Mom and Dad was out on another business trip and won’t be back until next week. Supposedly there was dinner waiting for me in the kitchen but we all know the kitchen was full of knives. Only an idiot would bring this group of people into a room full of knives and heavy pans. Thus, I opted for the living room which doesn't require us to pass the kitchen. If I’m lucky, Adam won’t remember where the kitchen was in case he has another one of his episodes.
I turned on the light of the living room lights and let the boys sit on the couch. Preston caught my arm and gave it a small squeeze as he walked past me and took his seat beside Adam. I took a deep breath and plopped down on the seat opposite of the couch. I grabbed a cushion and crossed my legs. Better make myself comfortable; this was going to be a long night.