Page 46 of Addiction

Clearing my throat, I look at her. “Yes, thank you. It was great as always.”

“Glad to hear it. And I’m glad that plant got its regular watering, too.” She winks, grinning.

“Wait, she knows?” Asher asks.

“I believe it was originally Ellie’s idea.”

“You two are evil people.” He stands and heads toward the counter. He pulls his wallet out of the zipper in his running shorts, and I grab my cell and head over to him.

“What are you doing? I was buying.”

“Change of plan. You can give me a ride home instead. You can buy next time.”

I can’t help the zing of excitement that hits my stomach with his statement. “So, there’s a next time?”

He glances over his shoulder, giving me that signature grin. “If you want there to be.”

“Give it a few days, I’ve got to think of another prank.”

“Two can play that game.”

We say our goodbyes to Ellie and head out, walking toward the parking lot. I’m beginning to appreciate the comfortable silences that have fallen between us today, and I’m hoping it’s the same for Asher. As hard as it has been for me to enter a zone when it comes to my own anguish with Jonny, I’m grateful that Asher felt at ease enough to open that door and show me a side of him that he keeps enclosed. Getting to know him is all I’ve ever wanted, and I know I’ve barely scratched the surface with him. I want to know everything. Especially all the bad.

“What are your hobbies?” I ask randomly.

A leisurely chuckle leaves him. “Collecting sobriety chips.”

“Well, there is that. But I’m serious. What are they?”

He shoves his hands into the pockets of his shorts and looks down, taking too long to answer for such a simple question. When he does, his words make my heart ache. “I don’t have any.”

“You must have.”

“I don’t. As I said before, all I wanted to be was a SEAL, and I lived my life being that. If I wasn’t doing that I was working out or…”

Drinking.

Like he’s just realized he can sum up his life in one short sentence, he stops walking and faces me, sadness now in his eyes. “Not to play the pity party, but it’s times like this that I realize I know everything and nothing about who I am. I can’t give you one thing I like doing that hasn’t destroyed others. I can’t tell you the last time I watched a movie, went on a vacation or did something simple like just look at the stars. I know I’m getting my life back on track and great things are happening with the gym—and I’m grateful for that—but honestly, Wade, I can’t stand here and give you one thing about what I like doing with my life because I don’t know. I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

His words hit a lot deeper than I expect them to, and a strong urge to change everything for him creeps over me. He has a whole new battle on his hands, and it all comes down to finding himself.

I want to change that.

I need to change that.

I keep my words clear but full of promise, hoping he will accept them. “Then let’s start now. Let me help you with that.”

He studies me hard. “Why? Why do you want to go out of your way to help me?”

“Because like I said earlier, I can see the good in you. You need to find something you like doing, and I need a new partner in crime to go on adventures with.” I turn my statement into a joke in the hope I haven’t freaked him out. “And as you haven’t got many friends right now, I’d consider my offer.”

A slow, effortless grin spreads across his face. “You are something else, you know that?”

“Great isn’t it? So what do you say?”

“All right. You win.”

“Excellent. Now stop being dramatic and hurry up. Some of us have a job to go to.”