Read Online Adrenaline: An Ode to Love and Heartbreak by Sunniva Dee, Clarise Tan - Free Book Online Page B

arm’s length whenever she’s the one talking… or screaming. He nods once. “But text?”
    I cross my eyes, showing how I’m not interested in reading or writing at the moment. Concussions suck ass. Unfortunately, they’re one of my things—I’m predictable; head first, then, whatever else needs to be broken or twisted in my body.
    Marek offers me a beer. I use it to flush down an extra round of ibuprofen. I really hope I feel better in the morning when our flight leaves.
    I can’t help chuckling, though. What a sight we must have been, rolling over each other in the snow like a bunch of newbies and knocking each other out. Marek jokes that he’ll get us motorcycle helmets for the next trip. Shit. We were going to get wasted tonight. I already feel wasted.
    Dan shakes his head and hands me the phone.
    “Inga?”
    “You prick. You almost died!”
    I roll my eyes. “No, I didn’t. And now you owe me another go in the sack for surviving. No, hey—you owe me a threesome. Your choice, any of the BB chicks except the old cleaning lady, or the juggiest of the Smother girls.”
    “In your dreams,” she laughs out. “Dan says you smashed your head in?”
    “Mmm, not exactly what happened—can’t imagine what that would look like, Kitty—”
    She growls at me for calling her that again. Fuck, it’s so tempting to tease her even if my head can’t take her entire presence on the phone right now. “Purr for me?” I keep going.
    “Shut up! Tell me what’s up with your face. Did you smash it?” I picture a French bulldog in my mind.
    “Nope.” I whip up the mirror app she downloaded to my cell a couple of months ago and look at myself with the speakerphone on. “Got a purple ring around both eyes and a, hmm, black stripe that’s swollen right between my eyes.”
    “Your eyes are matching? How convenient.”
    I exchange glances with my buds, who are as mystified as I am. “How’s that convenient?”
    “You know, sort of like war paint. Girls love war paint. Plus, it’s Halloween… at some point.”
    “Oh good.” To spare my rattled brain, I choke back the laughter. “Now, how are you , Inga?”
    “I’m okay.”
    No, she’s not. She took a moment before she answered, which isn’t her, and then there’s that telltale dip in her voice. “You’re lying. What’s up?”
    “I’m just…” She puffs before she changes her mind. “We’ll talk later. When’re you in town again?”
    “Tomorrow night if the flight gods permit. I’ll pop by Smother if I’m not dead by then.”
    “Shhh, don’t say that, Cam.”
    Wow. Now she’s afraid of jinxing it? Yeah, we do need a chat about these things.

    Thanks to Arriane, I’m hyper-conscious of the regulars eyeing me at the bar. It’s Sunday night, and the one named Roy or Troy is on his stool. The hot ginger who tends to leave with different girls most nights saunters into the room late tonight. He responds to my quick hand wave with a wink. Yeah, Arria might be right. They’re all acting weird in one way or another.
    This morning, I woke up hell-bent that I’d have a good day. I refused to go Bo-obsessive and managed surprisingly well, with Arriane and sweet Lyric’s support. We took him to the theater for the first time, and the joy on his face as he watched cartoon characters splattered over an entire wall was priceless.
    After the film, he pooped out and got, what Arria calls, “bossier than his dad.” At the coffee shop where we’d planned to wind down, the most adorable brat in the universe demanded honey on his leftover popcorn and his mother’s red-hot espresso with a straw. We ended up paying in a hurry and hauling a tantrum-ridden cutie-pie off before we got ticketed for disturbance of the peace.
    I’m pouring a Miller Light for Troy slash Roy when Cameron walks in the door to the main room. He sees me immediately and flashes the sunniest grin known to mankind. I instinctively grin back. Lean my elbows on the counter and wait for