Page 118 of Of Flesh & Bone

"Eve!"They all bellow from the hall, and I realize that,no, it does not count for anything.

"I'm not opening shit!"

"You know I ripped this door off the hinges once.I can do it again."

"C'mon, dude.Don't do that.We had to replace the whole frame."Cal whines to Adam.

"Yeah, we can just unscrew the hinges."Cotton, the thinker, suggests.

"Yeah, well, you'll have to do the bathroom door too, because that's where I am!"

"She lied, Eve.We were never engaged.We weren't even in a relationship.There have been no relationships.Only you.I swear.Now open the door."

"Yeah, I know.I gathered all that downstairs."

Something hits the door hard again.Adam's fist, if I had to guess.

"Then why won't you open the damn door?"

"Because I shot all of you and now, you're all butt hurt about it."

"Butt hurt?"Cal asks incredulously."You shot us for no reason, and now we're butt hurt?"

"I thought I had a reason.I thought you all kept something from me and..."

I stop talking, realizing that I'm about to reveal a weakness.

"And it hurt.You thought we betrayed you, and it hurt because you trusted us." That Cotton has got to be the most intuitive person I have ever met.I say nothing.He knows he's right.They all know he's right.I hear them talking amongst themselves in the hall, but I can't understand what they're saying.I imagine one of them is going to get a drill to take down the hinges.I'm like a caged rat in here.If I get naked in the shower, two of them will definitely back off.That still leaves me dealing with Adam, but one is better than three, and if I'm already naked, I can possibly distract him long enough to escape again.This feels like the trappings of a very solid plan.

"They're gone, Love.They went to take showers.Let me in, baby.I'm not mad."

"Liar.I shot you.Multiple times.At close range.I know you're mad.You're drenched in paint."

"Please.Let me in."

I'm momentarily stunned by the desperate pleading.He's never said please before, and I don't know how to respond, so I say nothing.Instead, I unlock the bathroom and walk out into the bedroom straight to the door and unlock it.He opens it so quickly that I barely have time to get out of the way of the swinging door.He grabs me pulling me, into his body as he buries his face into my neck."You didn't leave me."

The relief in his voice is unmistakable.He thought that I had left again.I ran out to my Jeep to get the paintball gun.I promised to never leave him again, but he sometimes seems to make it his personal mission to piss me off, so I needed another option to even the score when he makes me mad.

I borrowed Eli's paintball gun so that the next time I felt like running out on him, I could light him up instead.Adam's clutching my body like he's afraid that I'll slip through his fingers.

"I love you so fucking much, Eve."

His words make me feel even worse.How could I believe that he would lie to me on the word of that jealous twat?He told me before that there had never been anyone serious before me and all it took for me to question that was one obviously bitter woman saying otherwise.

"Still?Even after I assumed you lied and shot you?"He pulls back to look at me.He's confused."Eve, I could sooner pluck the sun from the sky, wrap it in ice, and gift it to you than I could stop loving you."

His words are like salve to all the broken pieces of my soul.I feel wounds that I didn't even know I had begin to heal.His intensity is overwhelming so much of the time, but it is always honest.I know that he means what he's saying to me.A single tear escapes my eye and streams down my cheek.Adam catches it with a kiss, and I have never felt as whole as I do in this moment.

"I got paint on your clothes."

"Well, in all fairness, I did shoot you."

"That's right.You shot me.Many times."There's a mischievous glint in his eyes, and his arms grow even tighter around me."You planned that.You already had the gun here."He narrows his eyes, thinking through the events of the past hour.

"I uh, borrowed it...from Eli a while back.I promised I'd never leave you again, but you piss me off all the time, and I just needed an outlet for my frustration.I figured shooting a gun at you would alleviate some of that, and the physical harm from the paintball probably couldn't be that bad, so I thought," I shrug and turn my expression to innocence, "win-win".

"Win-win, huh?"

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