Page 40 of Addiction

“Oh really?” Nora asks. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything is good. I’ve just got a lot on with the gym.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.”

“I am.”

He steps toward me and hands Ava back, his sudden unpredictability a little concerning. “Are you, okay?” I ask softly so the others can’t hear.

“Fine,” he says, without looking at me. “I just… I’ve got to go.”

He kisses Nora on the cheek and says bye to Grayson.

When he gets to the door, he hesitates, and when he looks back at me there’s a look in his eyes that doesn’t just tell me he wants to leave but that he’s leaving because of me.

And I don’t know why.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Asher

The music of Imagine Dragons blasts through my earphones as my feet pound the hard sand. The burn in my body is an indication that I’ve once again pushed myself with another tough workout. I’d got a ride with a neighbor who was on his way to work and got him to drop me off halfway to Virginia beach, and the second I was out of his truck, I’d hit the road.

When Mom had walked through the door at the crack of dawn, I’d headed out after making her something to eat.

I’m helping out as much as I can. Sometimes it’s hard to run errands for her now that I don’t have a car. We’ve worked together on me living back home again, providing each other space when needed, but the majority of the time we enjoy each other’s company.

We talk more now than we’ve ever done before, but I’m not going to lie and say that I find the conversations about Pop easy. I’ve just learned to hide it well from her.

Although, I can’t say the same for the other day at Nora and Grayson’s. I’d again been out for a run and had wanted to visit them before going home, but the second Pop’s name had been mentioned I knew I couldn’t stay.

It’s not that I don’t wish to talk with him around others: it’s that I don’t know how. Which is crazy because he was my dad.

Needing a breather, I stop my sprint, resting my hands on my knees as I control my breathing. The cool, morning breeze covers my skin as my heart pounds hard against my chest. Stepping forward, I dip my hands into the salty water and splash my face, looking out across the ocean. I’ve missed these workouts—the ones where I have freedom instead of being confined behind a large fucking wall. There is only so much I’d been able to do in St Brides, but out here, I can run free and keep on going until I can’t run anymore.

As I turn to head back up the beach, a guy doing yoga catches my attention. As still as a statue, he holds his entire body up on his hands. The deep, cut muscles of his back scream strength, power, and determination.

Slowly, his legs move effortlessly so he’s doing splits before he brings them back together and repeats the motion but with his legs out the other way. I know I shouldn’t be watching this half-naked stranger, but the control of his body has me captivated.

As he lowers his legs to the ground he changes position again, but when he turns to face me, an unexpected breath leaves my lungs faster than I can control. His torso is picture fucking perfect: the cut of his abs and the valley of his V; the tattoo that rivers down his waist; and a goddamn nipple piercing. All of it is fucking perfect, causing my heart to beat like a drum when he grins at me.

Wade. Fucking. Johnson.

“Asher?” Stepping toward me, he looks just as shocked to see me. “What are you doing here?”

“Jogging. Or at least I was until I saw you.”

For some reason, he finds my comment amusing. “You make it sound like I stopped you.”

You did. “I didn’t say that.”

“How often do you come down to the beach to work out? I’ve not seen you down here before today.”

I place my hands on my hips and look back toward the water, willing him to put a damn shirt on. “Well, it may have escaped your notice, but I’ve been locked up for a year. And you wouldn’t have seen me before that because you weren’t in Virginia.”

I look back at the sound of his deep chuckle.

“Jesus, you don’t know anything about me, do you?”