“So, what was with the she-had-a-headache bullshit? Why not just tell me that you left to go hook up at my house?” I laughed, taking a sip of coffee.
“She didn’t want Addison to know, and we thought I’d have her back to Addison’s place by the time you guys came home.” A smug smile spread across his face. “But let’s just say that things lasted a little longer than we expected.”
This guy.
I rolled my eyes. “Why didn’t she want Addison to know?”
“She said Addison really likes you, and Harper didn’t want to complicate things for her or add any unnecessary drama by her having knowledge of us hooking up.”
I nodded. I really liked Addison too, but I just couldn’t go there.
“Makes sense. Well, cat’s out of the bag now with that walk of shame.” I chuckled.
Archer nodded and smiled. “Sure is, and I hope I get to do it again.”
A week had passed since everything had gone down with Addison, and I hadn’t heard from her much, not that I should really be surprised, given how we left things. Sure, we agreed to be friends, but part of me thought Addison only agreed to that to appease me…and to get me the fuck out of her car.
Between work and having Archer in town, I kept busy. Probably checked my phone way too much, like the needy bastard that I was, just hoping she would reach out. But no such luck. When I got home from the office, I finally broke down and sent her a text.
Hey, James, are we okay?
A whole fucking twenty-five minutes passed—and honestly, it felt more like three hours—before she finally responded.
Addison:
Hey, yeah, of course. Sorry I haven’t texted in a while, been pretty busy with Harper in town.
Okay, just checking. Speaking of Harper, Archer suspiciously stole my truck a couple of times this past week, late at night. You wouldn’t happen to know if he went and got Harper, would you?
Addison:
Funny you should say that. I caught her a couple of times leaving my place late. Those two have spent quite a bit of time together.
Lol, theyare terrible at sneaking around. Arch must like her. He’s usually a one-and-done type of guy.
Addison:
Yeah, I think they like each other. Guys don’t usually hold Harper’s attention for this long. I’ll keep you posted on what I know. She left today, so we’ll see if this continues now that she’s back in Boston.
Yes, please keep me in the loop because God knows if my brother will. He agreed to stay through Thanksgiving, so he’s here a little longer.
Addison:
That’s great. Enjoy your time together. Maybe now he won’t be as distracted with Harper gone, lol.
One can hope.
Addison didn’t further the conversation, and I didn’t knowwhat else to say to her either. I missed her. I missed our flirty banter back and forth. I missed taking it too far and seeing her reaction, seeing how easily I got under her skin. I missed spending time with her, but clearly we couldn’t go there after everything that had gone down between us.
Frustrated, I changed into a pair of joggers, a T-shirt, and my running shoes. I needed to do something to work through all of this shit in my head. Coal jumped to his feet when he saw me grab his leash. I threw on my hat backwards and headed out the door with him.
Coal and I found a nice rhythm as we hit our second mile. He loved going on runs, and I forgot how much running helped clear my head. Addison had me fucked up. When we got back from our four-mile run, Coal ran inside and beelined to his water bowl, thirsty and exhausted. I headed to the gym that I’d created in one of my spare rooms and threw myself into a grueling weight circuit to keep my mind focused on anything other than her. I worked out until every muscle in my body was burning, but my mind kept drifting to Addison. No matter what I did, I couldn’t focus on anything but her, and I didn’t know what the fuck to do about that.
After I got out of the shower, I made my way to the kitchen to start prepping dinner. Archer was already there, grabbing himself a beer when he saw me walk in.
“Hey, where’d you come from?” He reached back into thefridge to grab another beer and handed it to me. I popped the top off and clinked my bottle against his before taking a long swig.
“Took Coal on a run and then worked out in my gym for a while. You good with burgers for dinner tonight?” I walked toward the pantry to grab some chips.
