Dark Necessities || BOOK TWO || A Jared Leto Fan Fiction

April 2018

Photo credit to Luke Stackpoole via Unsplash

Los Angeles, California/London, England

Adrienne rolled onto her back, frustrated that sleep wasn't coming. Vishan was lying next to her, reading a rare book by the light of a headlamp. She nudged him with a heavy sigh.

"What's up?" he asked, looking over and shining the headlamp directly into her face.

She groaned and squinted. "Jesus, you're gonna blind me. Turn that thing off."

"Shit, sorry," he apologized, clicking it off and pulling it off his forehead. "What's up?"

"I can't sleep," she said into the darkness.

"How is that possible?" he asked, sliding down from his pillows and settling into the blankets. "You've spent forty of the last forty-eight hours in the office. For once you're actually working more than I am. I'd be wrecked by now."

She shifted on her pillow and reached over to turn on the lamp on her night stand. The room was cast in a warm glow, illuminating the large master suite. Photos from their wedding in Mumbai hung across the room and she wondered what had happened to them since. They were so in love when those photos were taken. Now it seemed like they were just coexisting together.

"Do you think something is missing?" she asked softly.

"Missing?"

"Like, do you feel like part of you is missing?" she asked again. "I feel like something is missing between us. How did we get from that," she pointed to their wedding photos. "To this. Barely talking. Coexisting in this huge house. Something's missing."

After several seconds of silence, Vishan spoke.

"Jared," he said. "He's what's missing."

Adrienne sat up and crossed her legs. "But...we're married. We should be able to make this work."

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "But maybe the reason we haven't been able to make it work is because we can't remember what it was like to not have him there. I mean, think about it: he was there after we got engaged. He was with us at our wedding. Hell, he came on our honeymoon with us."

Vishan bit his lip as he considered his next words carefully. Jared's absence had left a hole in his heart larger than he cared to admit. And as much as it hurt that Adrienne and Jared had sex by themselves, the idea of not seeing him ever again in that context hurt more. The last few months, he'd tried to focus on Adrienne like any good husband should. He loved her, without a doubt. But he loved Jared just as much. And it scared him.

It scared him to admit that he was different, that he wanted a different relationship. That he was in love with two people at the same time. That he wanted both of them at the same time.

"I miss him, Adie," he said softly.

"I miss him, too," she replied. 

"I don't just miss him, Adie," Vishan said. "I love him and not having him with us legitimately hurts." Adrienne heard Vishan's voice crack as he spoke and reached over to hold his hand. "And its not that I don't love you. Its that I love both of you. And right now it feels like part of my heart is missing and I don't know what to do. He's the one that chose to leave."

"Because he thought he broke the rules," she explained. "He thought he overstepped and he was worried you and I would suffer because of it. But its obvious now we're suffering far more without him in our lives than when he was in it and breaking rules."