Addicted (The Addicted Series, #1)(111)

About a half hour into class, the rolling practice started. This sort of controlled sparring is what I love about jiu-jitsu class, as each time you change opponents, you're faced with a new set of problems, a moving chess game that requires brand new adaptations to new challenges. And that day, I was keyed up, and had a lot to work off my mind. I was a lot more aggressive than normal, in the end even catching one of our brown belts by surprise and getting him face down on the mat, rear mounted and more or less rubbing his face into the surface when the bell denoted the end of the round.

After practice, Kim did everything she could to make the whole day a girl's day out. Twice her phone buzzed with text messages, which she quickly checked then replied to before putting her phone away, but other than that, she was totally committed to getting me out of my funk. I'll be honest, by six that evening I was feeling pretty good. She'd even talked me into cooking dinner for the two of us at my place. "Hey, you may currently be unemployed, but that doesn't mean you have to let your skills dull," she joked as she pushed the cart around. So I'm going to sit back, use my laptop to do some surfing and stuff, while you plop yourself in your kitchen and whip me up some five-star quality grub."

"Michelin only rates up to three stars," I said, grabbing a box of couscous. "I regret befouling my heritage by using this junk, but I don't have any of the good stuff at home, and I doubt you want me to spend an hour steaming it the proper way if we can find it. I know we can't find the Turkish variety."

"Nope, instant is fine with me," Kimberly replied. "I mean, I still use Minute Rice at home."

I rolled my eyes at her good humored culinary blasphemy, and we checked out, carrying out over a hundred dollars in fresh ingredients. It was enough food for ten people, but I was grateful that Kim was letting me indulge. I put the bags in the back of my car and drove home, parking underneath the building as I normally did. Taking the elevator up to the lobby, I was shocked when I saw Julian standing there, waiting for me.

"What are you doing here?" Kim said, stepping forward aggressively, a plastic bag filled with lamb brisket in her hand. She looked like she was ready to beat him with it.

"Please, I . . . I just want to talk," Julian replied, his face sorrowful but still determined. His skin was a dark, angry red, like he'd been severely sunburned, and there were patches starting to peel from around his forehead. "Just hear me out."

Kim looked at me, then at him, then back at me. "What do you want to do?"

I sighed and nodded to Julian. "Come on up. I'm making dinner."





* * *



Julian





I stood as crammed into the corner of the elevator as I could while on the way up. I hadn't meant to surprise Krystal, but I figured that just going into the apartment itself would have been wrong, so I'd waited in the lobby when she didn't answer her phone. As it was, Kim still stared daggers at me the whole way, standing in between us like a bodyguard.

It was the same inside the apartment, as Kim kept herself positioned between us constantly. I could barely even get a full view of Krystal, at least until I went to the complete opposite side of the room and sat down on the sofa. "So what did you want to say?" Krystal asked after putting the groceries away.

I read her face, and could see that she was still pissed off at me. She was still angry, but I was hopeful, because I could also see that underneath all that anger, she still loved me. It was in the way her voice said it, that she was angry, not resigned or sorrowful. She didn't want to let go of me either. I chose my words carefully, but spoke from my heart.

"Krystal, what I did . . . I'm sorry. I was stupid, I was immature, and I was flat out wrong. I should have told you, even before I told you how I felt about you, that I had been with Gina. I should have told you about my original plan, and I should have told you how you stopped me from going through with it, because I fell in love with you. I should have done all of that, but I didn't."

"Damn right you didn't," Kim said heatedly. "What did you expect, that the two of you would go the rest of your lives without Gina ever seeing you together and going Hmmm, maybe I should tell my niece that her boyfriend and I hooked up at her mother's wedding?"

I sighed and nodded. "I don't know what I was thinking, Kimberly. After admitting to myself that I was in love, then with my own other problems, and then learning the truth, and then Krystal and I coming together . . . I don't know what I was thinking half of the damn time. So for all of that, I'm sorry. Then after you found out, I made it worse by running away instead of trying to make it right and talk to you, that's just as bad, and I apologize for that too."

"Is that it?" Krystal asked. "You just wanted to say you're sorry, and maybe hope that I take you back?"

I shook my head. "No. Krystal, that's not all. I need to continue on the path that you set me on, and I know I've said that before, but my actions are just proof of it all. Well, I've been offered a second chance."

"How so?" she asked, a bit of curiosity coming into her voice. "And does it have anything to do with you looking like a brick?"

"In a way," I said. "After I left, I took the first flight out of Logan I could, which happened to be Miami. I walked to the beach and just sat there for two days, and probably would have been dead by now if it wasn't that an old friend found me. Right around sunset on that second day, Dwayne Forrester found me and took me home. He cleaned me up, and he talked some sense into me."