“I don’t mind sitting here and watching you swim. I don’t want to go in,” I tell him. I would love nothing more than to just jump in that water. It looks so inviting. I can’t get into a suit, though, not in front of people. And right now, I can spot at least five men on the far side of the lawn.
“You want to do something else?”
“Lex, I want you to do whatever you want to do. I don’t want to hold you back. I don’t want to be a liability to you.”
“Addison, you are not holding me back. You are not a fucking liability,” he grunts.
“Sorry.”
“Tell me, if you could do anything right now, what would it be?”
“Sleep,” I blurt out.
“You’re tired?”
“I haven’t been sleeping great. I don’t like new places and there’re a lot of people in this house,” I admit.
“Come with me.” Lex stands and holds out a hand.
I take it and let him pull me up. I hold on tighter as he leads me through the house. Stopping at my guestroom, he opens the door. “I’m going to sit right here. You go to sleep.”
I almost want to cry that he just knows what I need and is prepared to do things like this for me. “I really don’t deserve you,” I tell him.
“Trust me, it’s me who isn’t worthy of you, Addi. Go to sleep.”
“Come in. If you’re going to sit around while I sleep, you can sit on the bed,” I insist.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” As soon as I lie down, I feel the exhaustion taking over. “Thank you,” I whisper.
“You don’t need to thank me, Addi. I’ll do anything for you.” His voice is soft, almost reverent.
“Why do you think your dad wanted us to come here?”
“Probably because he didn’t trust me alone in the house.” Lex chuckles.
“I doubt that. Your parents always support you.”
“They do, but I also frustrate the hell out of them. Being the youngest, I don’t have the same pressure put on me that Neo does. He’s being groomed to take over the family, and Mabilia is the princess. Nothing she does is ever wrong.”
“I think you’re lucky to have siblings. Although I am glad my mother never had more children. I would never have been able to leave for school if I had a younger sibling to look out for.”
“Well, I’m fucking glad you got into that snotty, pretentious school,” Lex says.
“It wasn’t that bad.”
“It was full of rich assholes spending daddy’s money.”
“You were one of those rich assholes with daddy’s money.” I laugh.
“Yeah, but I make being an asshole look good.” He smiles at me. “Speaking of school, what happened to you wanting to study medicine?”
“I changed my mind.” There was a time where I wanted to become a doctor. Then I gave up on that dream. “I want to do psychology. I want to help people. Hopefully, by the time I’m qualified, I’m also healed enough to be able to do that.”
“You can do anything you put your mind to, Addi. You’re the smartest person I know.”
“Well, you’re the kindest person I know.”
