ADDICTED

21

JAMES

Match. Chat. Date.

I threw my phone across the bed with a low curse. I didn't need to read the app's description any further to understand what Leah had been implying.

My face felt hot. Rarely was I wrong, but I couldn't help but wonder if my perception of Leah and her desires were off. She suggested a dating app for fuck's sake.

Was she on Tinder?

I reached for my phone and unlocked the device. Shaking my head, I set it down more gently.

Even if she was, I didn't want to bring her to me that way. She lived with me. I had all the opportunities in the world to clear up any miscommunications between us. And to lure her into my bed.

I couldn't sleep anymore, especially not after a night of tossing. The cure to my sleeping ailments would be to have a soft, warm body beside me. I'd gone without for so long.

After rousing myself, I changed into running clothes and headed for the door. I hesitated in the hallway. It would be nice to see her, bundled up in bed, sound asleep.

Before I followed my impulse to invade her privacy, I turned and continued toward the back door.

The forest beckoned me. My stresses melted away under the glowing green of the canopy. Each stride sent a tingly jolt up from the contact of my shoe against her spongy earth. My shins and thighs jolted as I bounced on the balls of my feet. I inhaled through carefully controlled breaths. The feeling was simultaneously energizing and intoxicating.

I followed the trail I'd marked and did it twice, in either direction. Four and a half more miles under these feet. Once I stopped running, the sweat oozed from every pore on my body. I pulled my shirt off and draped it over my shoulder.

Perhaps, if she was awake as I suspected, this would open Leah's mind to all the opportunities. It was incredible how the moment I wasn't in the blissful void of running, my thoughts drove right back to her.

Those thoughts were fragmented at the sight of a car in front of the house. It was a new, outlandishly red Hyundai sedan. I didn't know a single soul who drove such a vehicle. Certainly, no one who had my address.

I approached cautiously, glancing about, and looked at the tag. The license plate was from Florida.

I sulked towards the house. I knew exactly who the mysterious driver was. She had such shitty timing.

The moment I entered the house, I heard their voices from the kitchen. Leah introduced herself and the response was silence. Shit show.

They both looked at me. I pulled the shirt from my shoulder and tossed it on the counter, next to the opened bag of bagels. I noticed Leah wasn't anywhere near them. That meant Julia was already welcoming herself into my home. As usual.

"Well, what a pleasant surprise, baby sis. Your rental car is disrupting my nature."

She stuck out her tongue and then crossed her thin arms, leaning against the counter. "Mom sent me. You haven't been answering her texts since the memorial. She's worried."

"It's been busy around here," I said.

When I looked at Leah, she kept her gaze aimed low. I nodded at her.