Page 16 of Essa

"Phial doesn't like you. Big surprise there since you called him a lizard."

"Not to his face," Adam grumbles, shoving his hands in his sweat pockets. We're both wearing lounge pants and dark t-shirts since we're pretty sure this is a casual affair.

"Alik is worried you'll try to cause a fight."

I pause as I try to listen. The rest of them support getting to know us, except for Jovi, who doesn't care either way. Before I can tell Adam, the door opens, and an unamused Phial stands there with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Are you joining or just standing in the hall and eavesdropping again?" He doesn't wait for a response. He just throws his hands up and stalks back into the room.

"You're being mean," Avery whispers as Phial crawls behind her in the beanbag they're cuddling in for the movie. It's covered in furs, blankets, and feathers that have fallen from Phial's head.

He shoots me a smile and Adam an angry glare when we stare at them too long. I move my eyes over the rest of the room, taking in what everyone else is doing. Sloane, Jovi, and Alik are sitting on one of the couches. The same couch they use when I get a blaster pulled on me. Sloane leans against Alik, her legs in Jovi's lap as he massages her feet. There are two empty recliners, the love seat we were sitting on when we first got here, and a sofa that's obviously in use, but Essa isn't around.

I head for the loveseat, but Adam doesn't follow me. One second, his presence is right behind me. The next, he's stepping in another direction. I'm trying so hard to keep the groan I want to release inside.

Tonight will be a good night of bonding with the people we're sharing a ship with for the foreseeable future. The least Adamcan do is not cause issues, but in true Adam fashion, he's going to cause issues.

What are you doing?I ask, turning around as nonchalantly as possible to see where he is.

I know before I find him that he's trying to fuck with Essa's stuff. He's standing in front of the couch with about half a dozen pillows piled on it, a couple of blankets, and a bowl of some blue goopy food. His hands are on his hips as he surveys the occupied space before glancing up at me.

"That's Essa's spot," Phial says, catching on that Adam is about to cause trouble. His relationship is already strained enough with Adam, and Adam's only going to make it worse.

Adam doesn't even look at Phial when he pulls the pendant out of his pocket, showing off the faint red glow. Of course, he thinks he can do whatever the fuck he wants, all because of some arbitrary power Alik gave the pendant as though it's infallible.

I hope all he'll do is look at Essa's stuff and make the others think he'll mess with it. But then he starts moving pillows around on the couch, pushing them all over to one side before sitting on one of the blankets. I cringe internally and try to think of a way to salvage this.

I open my mouth to ask Adam to sit with me on the loveseat. I'm even about to mentally offer to give him a handjob while we watch the movie if he comes to sit with me. Before I get the chance, Adam grabs the food sitting on the flattened arm of the couch and eats a spoonful as though it's his. Surprise covers his face like he wasn't expecting the food to be good but was willing to eat it anyway just to be spiteful.

I put my face in my hands, rubbing them down slowly as I try to think of how to fix this because it's obvious Adam's being a douchebag just to be a douchebag. Somehow, Alik and Jovi haven't noticed yet, probably because they're whispering something to Sloane that I'm trying very hard not to payattention to. However, when they notice, that will be the biggest issue because they could kill Adam. I don't think they would, but I think they're the most likely to do it out of everyone here. Phial might, but he'd need a blaster, and I don't see one around. Then again, Alik always pulled one out from underneath the couch when I walked in on them. They might have blasters hidden all over the place.

"What are you—" Essa's voice has me moving my hands from my face just in time for her to register that the spot she got all situated and nice for herself has been trampled by a beast, and her snack is filling his belly.

Sloane's whispering stops, which means Jovi and Alik's attention is now on Adam. The fucker just keeps eating, something glinting in his eyes akin to humor. Essa's head tilts to the side, her brows tugging together as she tries to figure out what Adam's doing and why. I'd love to know, too.

"Are we going to watch a movie or not?" Adam asks, licking blue goop off the spoon and pointing it at Essa, whose tail thrashes behind her.

He grabs the pendant with his free hand and clicks the color over to green as though he's willing to talk now that he's pissing someone off. Well, I guess now that he's pissing Essa off because he didn't care much when he was making Phial upset.

There's a low rumble of growls behind me where Jovi and Alik are sitting, and I can see Phial shifting around in the weird nest until Avery's behind him.

It takes me a second to register why they're acting that way, but I get it when my eyes meet Essa's again. Her pupils are constricting, her fangs are descending, and her whole body is priming for a fight. I shiver hard, my mind telling me that she's a predator and she can kill me. The only one not affected in the same way is Adam, who continues eating Essa's food.

"Get out of my seat," Essa says, fangs pressing into her lower lip.

I avert my eyes, my chin tucking downward to stare at the floor. My hands shake, and sweat beads on my forehead as I force my limbs to move. My body, my survival instinct, is telling me to get away from her, but I need to keep Adam safe, too. Even if it's keeping himself safe from his own dumb fuckery.

"Make me," Adam taunts, not a hint of fear in his voice.

I don't know if that makes it better or worse for Essa. I'm assuming it's worse since she's trying to scare all of us. I don't think it's voluntary. I think Adam manages to bring out the worst in her, and she manages to do the same to him because he usually doesn't try to pick fights this often.

He does it way more often than he should, but it's never been this bad. This is the third time he's tried to pick a fight with her, and they've only been around each other three times since we've been here. At this rate, the others are going to kick us off their ship, and we're going to be screwed.

"I don't want to hurt you," Essa says, her voice not matching the harshness of her features. No, her voice sounds almost like a soft, soothing song when she talks to Adam.

Her heart is racing, her breathing coming in sharp and shallow through her nose. I listen to those sounds as they grow closer and closer to where Adam's sitting. I try to reach him before she does so I can try to end this fight before it starts, but my mind screams for me to stop, and my limbs are listening to it and locking up in fear.

"We both know I'm not scared of you," Adam says.

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