Page 143 of The Addict

“And why is that?” he returned with a snap.

“B-Because,” I rose from my point on the side of his bed, unable to stop my voice from cracking. “It’s hard enough coming here, sneaking in, just to see you. What makes you think we can just…flaunt ourselves around in public without anyone noticing? Our families hate each other. Going out together would be ridiculous, and not to mention extremely risky. We’d end up everywhere online.”

“I guess that’s my answer, huh?” Disdain rolled off his tongue.

“Yes, it is,” I growled, running a hand over the back of my neck. “I don’t know what you think this is, but it’s not some silly-go-out-on-dates liaison.”

“Then what do you suppose we call our interactions?” Silas questioned with a smirk, obviously enjoying my temporary panic.

I thought about it, and only one word came to my mind.

“I don’t know, an affair?”

“Of course you would say that.” Silas shook his head, his laughter quieter this time.

A calm rose over us for what seemed to be the hundredth time. We were bad at talking, I realized then. Whenever it was anything sexual, talking wasn’t needed. But when left alone to speak, it seemed that the right words never came out of either of our mouths.

Silas stood and placed a firm hand on my shoulder. “Noah, look at me.”

I turned.

“What is troubling you?”

Everything.

“Nothing.” I realized then I was also the problem. Silas was right. I wasn’t sharing anything that was bothering me. I had kept my feelings for Delane a secret from him. How could I share that? I didn’t tell anyone, not even Alex, how I wasn’t even attending my lectures anymore, I was just showing up to school just to see her in the food court for an hour or so every day.

I yearned for her and Silas both. How fucked was that?

Silas grabbed my chin, pulling my face forward. I grunted from the force.

“Look into my eyes and tell me that,” he demanded, his breath cool on my lips.

I obeyed. “Nothing is wrong, Thorne.” I used his last name to piss him off. He hated when I did that now.

“Fine then, Hansen,” Silas said with a sneer, returning my family label. He opened his mouth to say something else but stopped before anything could emerge.

My hands found his waist, and his grip on my chin loosened. “What?” I asked.

Silas stroked my bottom lip with his thumb, his eyes gazing intensely at mine.

“At least promise that I’ll get to see you tomorrow.”

A flash of the dance came into my mind. The whole reason I was distracted in the first place.

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Busy. It’s a family thing.”

“Hmm. Unfortunate…” Silas murmured, snaking his arm around my waist. “I suppose we have to make up for the lost time then, hmm?”

I curled into his chest. “I guess we do.”

And our dance began.

Chapter forty