Addicted to You (10 page)

Finn had interesting taste. Not that Will
had any room to judge.

“If you people
could
move
, I’d
like to be able to leave.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder
in a gesture that was surely practiced for how it emanated disdain.
Since she was an actor, it was entirely possible.

“Kat,” Finn said, returning her contempt
with a besotted grin that made Will mentally wince. “Want to join
us for pizza?”

“Are you insane?” she
asked in a tone of voice that suggested she thought Finn’s
intelligence rivaled a single-cell amoeba. Now
that
was impressive.

“You know, the state of my
sanity
has
been
questioned before. Just ask him,” Finn said with a nod at Will. He
accompanied the nod with a hopeful look at Kat.

It was like watching a train wreck. To
intervene or not...

“Maybe instead of wasting your time at a
pizza joint,” she said, her voice cool enough to shame dry ice,
“you should be studying your lines. I heard you fumble that last
scene.”

“I will—”

“Or maybe you should just
give the role to someone who
really
wants it. Someone who
cares
about the play.” Without
waiting a moment longer for them to move, she weaved through them,
taking what Will considered to be excessive care to not touch Finn
as she passed. She didn’t acknowledge either Will or his mysterious
not-a-sex-addict, who cast a sour look at Kat’s back.

“That was pleasant,” he said into the
awkward silence that ensued.

Finn rubbed the back of his neck and stared
down at his feet. He gave a light shrug. “Pizza?”

“Knock yourselves out,” his grumpy beauty
said as she made to leave.

“Can you at least tell me your name?” Will
asked, trying on his best smile. He might have gone a wee bit
heavier on the accent as well. He could see her waver. Triumph sang
in his chest.

“Oh!” Finn’s eyes went big, and his mouth
stretched into a huge smile as he looked between her and Will. “I
get it now. You’re the sex addict!”

She went rigid. Will’s heart dropped into
his stomach before he turned an incredulous look on his friend.

Finn caught his look and immediately
cringed. “Sorry, that’s not … Shit.”

His grumpy beauty looked between them, her
mutinous glare tempered by the way her brows drew together with
hurt. Then she turned and stormed out.

“Can you see it?”

At her brother's question, Leah tried to nod
while squinting one eye through the telescope. The observatory
staff had adjusted it so that they could see Saturn. Saturn looked
like a tiny, gray planet with gray rings.

“Isn't it cool?” Elijah asked, hopping from
foot to foot. Leah leaned back and stepped aside so her brother
could get a second look.

“It is,” she agreed. She gave him a few
seconds before saying, “Come on, other people are waiting for their
turn.”

A growing line of visitors waited behind
them. Elijah reluctantly followed her as they crossed the room
toward where Helena was studying a giant mural of their solar
system. Near the entrance, Neptune loomed over a kiosk standing
just inside the large double doors. It was a wash of blues, the
paler shades a near match for Blue Eyes.

Don’t think about
him
, she told herself. Naturally, this
meant she was now thinking about him. Insubordinate
brain
.
Specifically, she was thinking about that kiss in the
theater. Her cheeks grew warm, and she quickly thought about
something off-putting—Packers Cap kissing Stilettos, Old Lady and
the counselor.
Take
that
, brain.

“Did you know Saturn has sixty-two moons?”
Elijah asked, blissfully unaware of the horror show going on in her
head. As they walked, he tilted his face up in order to look at the
constellations mapped onto the high ceiling.

She took his hand to keep him from running
into other people. “I didn’t. Did you learn that in school?”

“No, I read it on the internet. And did you
know that Titan—that's Saturn’s biggest moon—might have life on
it?”

She smiled at the enthusiasm in his voice.
“Like aliens?”

“Like microbial life.” He looked away from
the ceiling to give her a questioning look. “What does ‘microbial’
mean?”

She almost laughed. He'd probably seen it on
Wikipedia and was just repeating what he’d read.

“Microscopic organisms. Things you would
only be able to see with a microscope.”

“Oh.” He sounded disappointed. “But maybe
there are bigger things too.”

“Maybe.”

They came up beside Helena, who gave Elijah
a pat on his shoulder. “So how was Saturn?”

“Awesome. Don’t you think it’d be cool to go
to another planet? I want to be an astronaut.” He put his finger on
the outside edge of the painting of the earth, which was larger in
size than he was, and made a noise like a rocket lifting off as he
slid his finger across the mural until he reached Mars.

“You could be the first astronaut to visit
Saturn,” Leah said. “Or Titan. And then you could find those
aliens.”

His eyes lit up. “And then you could visit
me there, and we could build an alien hotel and drive
spaceships.”

Leah did laugh then. Her brother was the
best distraction from the sensory reel that insisted on playing
back every overheated second with Blue Eyes. As Leah rubbed her
forehead, Helena reached out to ruffle Elijah’s hair.

He made a face and dodged her hand. “Would
you guys stop doing that?”

“But you’re so cute!” Helena reached for him
again, and he burst into laughter before ducking under her arm.

“You guys ready to go?” Leah asked.

They filed out of the observatory, Elijah
dragging his feet until she promised another trip soon. Less than
ten minutes into the ride back to the estate, he had fallen asleep
against the window. She smiled as she peeked at him through the
rear view mirror.

“Did your parents do something to annoy
you?” Helena asked from the passenger seat.

Leah cast her a surprised
look before returning her gaze to the stretch of empty road
illuminated by her headlights. “When
don’t
they annoy me?”

“I mean specifically.” She sounded like she
was rolling her eyes.

“Not lately. Why?”

“You’ve been moody all weekend. I know
you’re not on your period, so did something happen?”

A number of things. She hadn’t allowed
herself to think for too long about Blue Eyes. The insanity of it,
how quickly it had happened—she couldn’t tell Helena and not just
because of the risk of earning her wrath again. Something about the
way Blue Eyes had touched her, with equal parts urgency and
reverence … She wanted to keep that to herself. To cup it between
her palms and examine it when she was feeling braver.

What had happened afterward though was safe
enough to discuss. With a twinge of renewed annoyance, she
grudgingly told Helena what Finn had loudly blurted to a not-yet
empty theater. The fact that he had known she was in the same sex
addict program as Blue Eyes left her feeling a gamut of
emotions.

For one, it meant Blue Eyes had told his
friend about her. Maybe he’d even said some flattering things. But
more likely, it had sounded like she was just “the sex addict” and
knowing that actually kind of … hurt. He had defended her during
his first therapy session without even knowing who she was, and
every exchange between them since had been so refreshingly normal.
And unexpectedly easy. Even kind of sweet.

She was used to being
disregarded by others, and that normally didn’t bother her. It was
just that she hadn’t expected it from
him.

Maybe it had been a mistake to kiss him that
first time. Maybe he now thought she really was just some addict
with no self control. Was that why he’d kissed her again in the
theater? Because he knew she’d be easy?

The knot in her throat tightened. The fact
she even cared about what he thought of her was the most
aggravating part of all.

She swallowed to ease the ache and then
tried to shake away the unnecessary anxiety. This wasn’t like her.
She was being dramatic and over thinking things. Who cared about
why he kissed her? She had kissed him first, and she doubted he’d
questioned her motives. They were, after all, supposed to be sex
addicts.

But what happened in the theater with Finn
also meant Blue Eyes had told his friend about the program. Those
therapy sessions were supposed to be confidential. What happened in
Sex Addicts Anonymous stayed in Sex Addicts Anonymous. She didn’t
even tell Helena the details, although admittedly that was just to
punish Helena for making her attend them.

And she hadn’t yet told Helena about going
back on Thursday either. She probably should.

“No fair!” Helena said. “If he’s telling his
friend about those meetings, I should get to know what goes on in
them, too.”

Leah snorted and didn’t respond. Helena
babbled on some more about how unreasonable she was before
switching tactics and grilling her about Blue Eyes instead. Leah
refused to give her anything more than a rough physical description
just in case Helena decided to go on a manhunt across campus.

And anyway, a rough physical description was
all she really had to go on for figuring out his identity. Over the
last couple days, she had begun playing a game in her head. She
assigned him different names until one seemed right. Scott? Too
obvious. Derek? Nope. Calum? Pretty, but probably not. She had even
looked up a Scottish baby names site. However, she’d stopped when
she realized how ridiculous she was being, and how utterly
pointless it was because chances were he wasn’t named Farquar or
Tavish. At least she hoped not.

When they reached the estate, she wasn’t
surprised to find her parents home. Since it was a Sunday evening,
they were recuperating from another busy weekend of trying to
impress their wealthy neighbors and pretending they were still one
of them. Her mom was draped across the sofa in the living room,
dressed in a satin robe while watching TV and sipping a cup of
wine. Her dad was bent over his work on the dining room table. He
looked up when they entered, gave each of them a small nod, and
went back to his papers.

Leah ignored them both and helped Elijah
upstairs to get ready for bed.

“Go wash up. I’ll get your pajamas out,” she
said.

He groaned and slumped his shoulders. Brows
pinched together, he squinted at her through sleepy eyes and gave
her his most beseeching look. “But I’m tired. Can’t I just clean up
in the morning?”

Leah flicked her finger at the line between
his brows. “No, you can’t. Now go,” she said, pointing toward the
bathroom.

“Uuugh.” He dragged his feet down the hall,
rubbing his eyes and mumbling irritably. Leah smiled as the
bathroom door shut behind him.

She switched on the light in his room,
revealing a fairly small space considering the size of the rest of
the estate. With a sigh, she moved around the room, picking up
dirty clothes and toys and depositing each into their respective
baskets. Then she pulled open the top drawer of his dresser and
withdrew a set of simple, striped pajamas.

Elijah joined her a couple minutes later,
looking more awake, but no less grumpier for it. She stepped out so
he could change.

“Okay,” he called from inside.

She went back in to find him already
burrowed into his bed. “Want your night light on?” she asked.

“Yeah,” came his muffled reply.

She switched on the low lamp at his bedside
table and then turned off the bright overhead light. Leaning over,
she dropped a light kiss to the tuft of dark hair sticking out the
top of his blanket.

“Good night,” she said.

The blanket slid down just enough for
Elijah’s face to peek out. “Hey Leah,” he said, squinting at her
again through one eye. “Thanks for taking me today.”

“Of course,” she said, sitting at the edge
of his mattress. “Like I said, we’ll do it again soon.”

He gave a soft sigh and turned his face into
his pillow. “I wish you didn’t have to leave.”

Her throat tightened. Swallowing thickly,
she leaned over and touched her forehead to his temple. “I know. I
hate it too. But we’ll be together all the time once I get Mom and
Dad to let you move in with me, okay?”

“When will that be?” he asked, his eyes
closed. His words slurred together with grogginess.

“Soon,” she whispered. “I promise.”

Having to leave him every night chipped away
at something inside her. Even though she came to see him as often
as she could around her work and school schedule, she knew how
lonely he probably got when she wasn’t around. It didn’t help that
the estate was outside the city and the nearest neighbor was
nowhere near walking distance for a nine-year-old.

Chest aching, she kissed the top of his head
again. His breath had grown deep and even with sleep, so she stood
from the bed, her fingers brushing the ends of his hair that curled
beneath his ear. She left his door ajar and then made her way back
downstairs.

A moment later, she joined Helena in the
living room where she had presumably tried and failed to engage
Leah’s mom in a conversation. Talking to her parents was always
awkward, but seeing as they were here, now was an ideal time to
once again approach the topic of Elijah.

Her mom was sprawled on top of a pile of
pillows, a thin blanket pulled up to her waist just below the ties
of her robe. Leah had her mom’s coloring with the blond hair and
pale skin, but she had her dad’s hazel eyes. Objectively, she had
to admit that her mom was a beautiful woman who looked at least
fifteen years younger than her actual age. Her appearance mattered
to her, and she knew how to take care of herself. Too bad that
didn’t extend to her children.