Addicted (The Addicted Series, #1)(76)

Julian shook his head sadly and looked down into my eyes. His blue eyes hid something, and I felt once again the crazy urge I'd had for most of the past week to reach up and kiss him. "I'm not there yet, Krystal," he said softly, "but I’m working on it.”

I was about to reply, when the look from his face cleared, and the wise guy that was Julian when he was trying to hide something showed up on his face again. "Now, get out of here before I have to drag you down to O'Hare myself. You miss your flight, and your boss is going to have a few uses for your knives. You did pack them, right?"

I shook my head. "No, the rules don't allow it. Both teams start with the exact same things hardware wise. It's okay, I know the brand of knife they're using, I've used them before. They're good knives, I can do my thing with them."

Julian smiled and looked towards the front door to my apartment. "Well, can I walk you down at least? I wanted to go shopping anyway, I'm kind of out of socks."

"What, you don't know how to use a laundry machine?" I joked. "I'm kidding, I know you've been carrying your weight and more, Julian. I appreciate it, too. But on a serious note, what did happen to your socks?"

"Well, I kind of only came with a few pairs," Julian replied. "I wasn't exactly thinking straight when I packed a bag and came to Chicago."

I laughed and patted him on the arm, my hand resting seemingly on its own on his ripped bicep. I reluctantly took it back after a moment, and looked up at him again. "You do whatever you want, Julian. I trust you, and if I didn't, you wouldn't have gotten a key. But sure, walk me down to the bus stop."

We left my apartment, Julian taking the time to double check his key and lock the door to my apartment. "Thanks. Actually, while you're gone, I was thinking of finding a gym. I mean, I've been doing bodyweight work and stuff, but I miss having a big fu . . . a big pile of weights on my back or in my hands," he said, putting the key back into his pocket. I noticed again the change Julian was going through, disciplining himself and his use of foul language. "Any recommendations?"

"Julian I'm so busy most of the time I don't even have time to go to the gym," I admitted, "I do my little martial arts thing with Kim, but that's about it usually. But this is Chicago, there's gotta be your sort of place around here somewhere. You know, Kimberly might know a place, she dated a guy for a few weeks who was on the old Arena Football team the last year they were in town. Give her a call."

We reached the elevator and got inside. Julian pushed the button for the lobby, and turned back to me. "I don't know if that'd go well, Kim doesn't seem to like me very much."

"Actually, Kimberly likes you just fine. She's just very protective, and very bluntly spoken. She'll open up to you if you're as honest with her as you have been with me."

Julian thought about it for a moment, then nodded. "Okay. I'll give her a call. Worst thing that can happen is she hangs up on me."

"She didn't last time, and she won't next time either, Julian." The elevator doors opened, and we walked out of the lobby onto the city streets. We walked the two blocks to the bus stop, where I set my bag down. "Well, here we are. Where are you going to go shopping?"

Julian looked around and pointed uptown. "Figure I'd catch the El train. There's a shopping mall I wanted to check out. If you're right with talking to Kimberly, I can maybe give her a call and check out Edgewater or something too."

I nodded and set my bag down, shifting from side to side. "Okay. Well uhm, be careful on the El, all right? You're a pretty big guy, but this is Chicago."

There were so many things I wanted to say, like how much I didn't really want to go, I wanted to stay in town and spend more time with Julian. Part of me wanted to tell him about how he'd been a constant presence in my fantasies for almost a week, and how I'd almost cut the end of my index finger off at work while thinking about him. But most of me wanted to wrap my arms around him and hold him close, and more importantly have him hold me. Instead, the bus approached, and I picked up my bag. "Well, here it is. I'll call you when I get to New York, okay?"

"That sounds good. Be careful, and cook your ass off, Krystal. Show them what Aksoy DNA means," Julian said intensely, looking into my eyes again. He stepped back, and I got on the bus, watching him out the window until the bus turned the corner, and I was on my way to the airport.





* * *



Julian



I was rooted to the spot as I watched Krystal disappear around the corner, and it took me a good two or three minutes after the bus left before I realized I was standing in the middle of the sidewalk like some sort of idiot. Shaking my head, I turned towards the El train station. I didn't really need to go shopping, honestly. I mean, yeah I had two pairs of socks, but I had spent so much of the time since coming to Chicago indoors that I was barefoot most of the time. Still, the idea of finding a gym to get a lift in was pretty attractive. Krystal's building had a fitness facility, but for a guy like me who counted his lifts in the number of big 45 pound plates I could put on the bar, it wasn't enough. I needed a place I could sling some heavy ass iron. First though, I needed to get some clothes.

Climbing on the El, I remembered a shopping mall in the North Side that Krystal had taken me to, it had a Dick's Sporting Goods. Not quite the same as ordering stuff online, but I needed a new belt since I'd left my weightlifting belt in L.A. like a total dumbass. Mostly I needed some shorts, a few t-shirts, the aforementioned socks, and a pair of Chuck Taylors. Nothing better for lifting than a pair of Chucks, in my opinion.