Then losing all control, Kirk popped off the lid of his cup and tossed the rest of his lukewarm coffee in my face.
“That’s assault,” said a deep, familiar voice behind me.
Adam stood up from the back of the coffee shop, walking towards us with a fiery look in his eye.
I smiled as he returned to my side, looking pissed as all hell.
“You already have two infractions on your record in the past month,” Adam said, taking a step closer to him. “Now you’re under arrest.”
A smile spread across my face as Adam read Kirk his Miranda Rights. as he protested fruitlessly.
Last night I was pawing through my messenger bag and found the letter Adam had written to me when he asked me to be his boyfriend. Reading alone in my dorm room moved me to tears.
In it, he’d explained that he still grappled with issues of loneliness and was still working through the feelings of helplessness that plagued him after Peter’s death. He laid his soul open to me in that letter, talking about how he’s overbearing because he wants to protect me and make sure that I always stayed safe.
But what really stuck out to me and burned its way into my mind was the last two lines:
Even if you want to be alone, even if you want space from me, that’s okay. But just know that when it feels like all of your walls are closing in on you, you can always call me; I’ll be your oxygen.
At that moment I knew that I had to make a choice: Close myself off and face my future alone, or open myself up to Adam fully and completely. The choice was easy to make.
It was late; I couldn’t call him last night, so I waited until the morning until I texted him. Then I called him and explained everything: That I was feeling like he was pulling away and wanted to break up with me, that I secretly thought he was too good for me and that I could be easily replaced, and that I felt like a burden on his life.
He listened carefully the whole time; he didn’t interrupt me once.
Then I was surprised as he explained what he was feeling this whole time; that I would desert him and go off to college, and forget about him as a simple summer fling. He was also afraid that I’d somehow be convinced to get back together with Kirk.
Then we went on to talking about how Kirk had texted me and planned to meet up in a coffee shop. Adam said it was a set-up, and I agreed.
“How about we turn the tables on him, then,” Adam suggested. “Let’s set him up.”
And here we were a few hours later, with Kirk being pressed into the table and handcuffed.
Even though Adam was in his street clothes, he still looked so unbelievably hot and in control as he guided Kirk outside to his cop car.
Through the window, Kirk gave me one last, hate-filled look. Then Adam put him in the back of the cop car.
Now he was the one staring at me through a cage.
And just like that, the sirens came on and the car pulled out of the parking lot, extracting Kirk from my life.
* * *
As soon as it was Friday and I got out of my last class, I packed a set of clothes for the weekend in my messenger bag. When I exited the dorm, I saw Adam’s luxury truck pulled up in the circle drive, waiting for me.
Brimming with happiness, I settled into the passenger seat and crossed my legs.
“I’m so happy to spend time with you this weekend!” I said, then greeted my man with a passionate kiss.
“It feels like I haven’t seen you in forever,” Adam purred in his low voice. “I’ve been at the station doing all this boring research, just waiting for you to get out of class so I could text you…”
“Really?!” I asked, overflowing with glittering happiness. “I’ve barely been able to pay attention in my classes, thinking about you…” I said.
Though really, I was thinking about how he’d been my hero earlier this week; he’d arrested the monster that had haunted me for months. But I didn’t want to bring that up again.
It seemed as though Adam could read my mind though because his expression shifted to serious. “We were able to search his dorm,” he said. “We found weapons.”
I’m sure I turned ghost-white and felt my gut clench uncomfortably. “…what kind of weapons?”
“Not the fun kind,” he said with a frown.
“What kind of weapons, Adam?” I asked again.
He sighed and said, “Well, I don’t want to upset you. But we found a gun.”
I felt like I’d been gut-punched. “Are you serious?”
He nodded solemnly. “It was enough to put him away for a long time. Having a weapon like that without a permit? And taking it onto university property? Yeah, he’s never going to be able to bother you again.”
I felt relief settle through me. The thought of Kirk being trapped in jail forever, never allowed to get out and stalk me later in life was something that gave me an overwhelming sense of peace.
“That’s… that’s good to hear,” I said, thinking of Kirk’s cold, dark eyes. Then I pictured them behind jail bars. There was a kind of poetic justice in that.
I shuddered.
“You okay?” Adam asked.
I knew from his tone that he was asking about more than if I was okay about everything he’d just told me about Kirk; he was asking about my well-being in general.
“Yeah, I’m okay,” I said. And for the first time, I really meant it. I felt like a dark shadow of doom had been lifted from my life.
* * *
When we got to Adam’s house, I was met with a surprise.
“LUKE!” Laura boomed, rushing to wrap me in a huge hug as soon as I got to the door.
“Laura!” I said from being squeezed tightly in her
