Dead Dreams ((Young Adult Paranormal Romance) ( Dead Dreams Trilogy)) (34 page)

Aiming to
please
she rushed to the sink to pour him a glass, by the time she handed it to h
im she knew something was wrong,
“
Are you pissed with me what did I do?
”

“
It’s what you didn’t do, like say no.
”

“
No to what, I don’t get what you’re talking about
?
”

“
Devon
, Rufus…
I saw what was happening I’m not stupid.
”

“
Oh that, we were just
messing with each other,
nothing happened.
”

“
Do you tak
e me for an idiot I saw it all
!
”

Rufus
reappeared having overheard the conversation he grabbed
his jacket
on the way out to
G
od knows where and made
his final statement,

“
Grow up kid you’ve got an
over active imagination,
I can do better than this piece of
skinny teenage ass.
”
He said looking
directly
at Summer.
“
I want you
both
outta here by the time I get back…if you’re still here
,
then
the shit’s going down
!
”

It was music to
Adam
’s ears.
He badly wanted to
get
away from
the
house of hell and back
on the streets, even that was a
better
than being
surrounded by
heavy
drugs and dangerous characters
like Rufus.
His protective nature toward
Summer who he
saw as vulnerable was something
Rufus had
seen
as
a weakness in Adam
. But he didn’t care what
he thought. H
e had respect
for the
messed up girl who was
so
desperately seeking
stability
that she
re
ached out to anyone who was there.
He understood why she offered
herself sexually
just
to get through another day
because she didn’t know any other way.
He knew that deep down she had
never lost sight of a
dream
;
that one day
,
she would
find a secure and loving home.

But s
till not
convinced
nothing happened
and slightly angry
he glared at her.

“
Quit looking at me like that, I
’ve nothing to hide!
”
She responded.

The door slammed hard
as Rufus made his exit
leaving them alone in silence,

“
W
e need to get out of here right now you heard what that psycho said. If we’re still here when he gets back we’re toast.
”
Adam was worried.

“
Where are we going? I’m
getting so
tired of wandering the streets with
no place
to go
, I’ve been doing it for too long
.
”

“
I don’t know but we’re getting out of here, this is a bad place.
”

“
Can’t I wait
for
Devon
to come back to say goodbye
?
”

Adam
didn’t get that she wanted
to take a chance on Rufus coming back and finding them both still there,

“
Are you for real? You heard the man let’s go…now!
”

He knew
she’d do anything to stay there but
he wasn’t prepared to leave
her
there
to be manipulated and used by
Devon
and
Rufus. He may
have only been a
middle class kid from a nice neighbourhood
,
a little naive maybe, but what he saw there was enough to show him that it would end in the same misery she fought so hard to get out of in the past.

For the fir
st time since the death of his f
ather
,
Adam
was genuinely caring
a
bout someone other than himself. In spite of
all the scrapes the two of them
had
got into to, none of them ma
king any sense
,
bit by bit he’d
come to
have real feelings for
the sad little lost girl
.
He saw
himself as a father figure who
would
never
take
advantage of her like
Devon
did
and was
worried constantly about her bulimia
.
I
t was a new emotion-
being unselfish.

“
Shall we head back to
Rone’s neighbourhood?
”
He asked as they made their escape.

Summer
was morose and acted
like a petulant child who
hadn’t gotten
her
own way,
“
I don’t care where we go
,
China
’s fine by me.
”

Leaving her to her mood he
took
her as far away from the house as possible to another district and hopefully a bed for the night in a shelter somewhere. Back on the streets the familiar detachments continue
d. Summer was
st
unningly beautiful yet men didn’t
notice her at all
.
She looked at least eighteen and was a real head turner.

She’d
showered at the house
. H
er hair
was
clean an
d she smelled so good yet she was
ignored.
Adam couldn’t help feeling a sense of pride to be walking next to her
;
the only one who could see her
lithe young body encased in the tightes
t jeans.

“
Seeing as
we’re
invisible
we can just walk into any store and help ourselves to whatever we wa
nt
, n
o more search
ing through garbage.
”
Adam said
hoping that she’d
lighten up a little.

“
If that’s what you wanna do then go ahead
.
”

“
Sto
p sulking like a little kid,
it’s lame and boring.
”

“
I’m not sulking.
”

“
Yeh
you are and I did the right thing getting you out of
there
.
”

Summer was
angry, with herself for what happened back there and angry with the
never ending misery that followed them wherever they went but she took it out on Adam.

“
You’re not the boss of me!
”
She scream
ed.

Rather than be party to another argument
he chose not to
respond instead setting his sights on a store further down the street stocked with clothes and camping equipment
, that meant
sleeping bags and warm clothing for the cooler nights,

“
Let’s try this one.
”
He suggested.

Entering the large busy store
both were nervous they’d
be caught and done for theft
. St
ill not trusting the reality of being invisible
it
slowly began to look
favourable as
nobody
was
awar
e of their presence. T
hey could
stroll around
the store at their leisure
and
the
e
xcitement
was building
up
.
They were totally in control.

“
Summer look at these cool jackets, only 250 dollars a piece.
”
Adam remarked
throwing
a jacket
on the
floor to
test the
reaction from
a
shop assistant standing close by.

There was nothing, she didn’t even turn around. L
oving every moment
, like two kids with an unlimited budget in a toy store they tried
on anything their hearts desire
d from
sweats
,
t-shirts jackets and well needed sneakers.