Addicted After All (Addicted #3)(18)

I step into the room as Ryke tells her, “I would believe you more if you weren’t doubled over, Calloway.”

Daisy is hunching, her hand on the back of the couch like a support. Her cast hangs by her side and her head dips down low. “I’m standing upright,” she says. “I’m taller than tall.” And then I notice her casted wrist curving to her stomach like her abdomen hurts.

“Fuck this.” Ryke picks her up and cradles her easily in his arms.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

Ryke spins towards me, and Daisy turns her head into his chest, clearly wincing in pain now. “Cramps,” Ryke answers.

I frown, and I feel myself crinkling my nose like Lo mentioned. I try to wipe away that look.

“Are you about to f*cking sneeze or something?” he asks in that mean, blunt way.

“No.” I flush. “I’m just confused…” I scan Daisy who fists Ryke’s plain white tee, her discomfort clear.

“I don’t see how this is f*cking confusing,” Ryke deadpans.

Afraid to embarrass Daisy, I hesitate delving into the subject, but he started it so…maybe he already knows everything. She seems to be open with him since they’re dating anyway. “Daisy?” I say softly.

“Huh?” She won’t remove her face from his shoulder, refusing to let me see her in pain.

“This is kind of long for a period, isn’t it?” I try to count the days since she said she started. It has to be about nine.

Ryke stiffens but he stares down at Daisy, not speaking for her.

“It’s been awhile,” she says slowly. “But I’ve had ten day periods before…you know, I have this theory…” She grimaces. “…that it’s my body’s way of saying it loves me.” She almost climbs higher onto Ryke’s body as the cramps most likely return with a vengeance. Ryke wears this hard concern that’s nothing short of masculine and kind of scary and cute at the same time.

For her, not me. Just to be clear.

And then it clicks. “You still have irregular periods?” She used to have them during her extreme dieting phases. I blame modeling.

“They’re not as bad as they were,” Daisy says.

Ryke doesn’t seem as optimistic. “Four months of nothing and then this?” he tells her. “I can’t imagine what they were like before you met me.”

“Heaven,” she says sarcastically.

“And now you’re in hell, f*cking around with me.”

She laughs, but it dies quickly.

“Do you need Midol?” I ask.

“I took some already. It’ll pass if I don’t think about it. That’s what Rose always says about cramps.”

Mental power. That’s a smart person trait that I’m not so sure I have. With bad cramps, I just curl on my side, cling to Lo and have a Marvel movie marathon. I usually can’t concentrate on the films, just focused on the clenching in my abdomen.

I have faith that Daisy can do it though. She’s strong.

Shoes suddenly clap against the hardwood, and Lo appears from the kitchen, entering through the backdoor. “Hey,” he says to us, first scrutinizing my wellbeing, then his brother and Daisy. “We should leave now in case there’s traffic.”

I spot his nervous anxiety from his locked shoulders and cut jawline. His hand even shakes a little, but he balls it into a fist when he catches me watching.

Lo approaches me while Ryke carries Daisy out the front door, still cradling her. “I’m fine, Lil,” Lo assures me. “Come on.” He wraps his arm around my shoulders.

“How was work?” I ask.

“Boring,” he says, rubbing his lips, another giveaway that he’s anxious. I reach out and hold his hand. His shoulders slacken by a fraction.

He shuts the front door behind him. “What’s up with Daisy?”

“Cramps,” I say.

His face scrunches like, what?

“I questioned it too, but her periods are still out of whack.” What’s strange is that discussing Daisy’s periods has been the norm for some time. I wonder if she realizes that Rose spreads this news like wildfire, and it becomes a topic among the guys too. I hope she’s not that embarrassed by it.

We descend the short stairs and walk to Lo’s matte black Audi, parked by the fir tree. Growing up, Lo always bummed rides with me, but when he first started Halway Comics, Jonathan removed the monthly cap on Lo’s trust fund so he had enough to buy a car.

Ryke always tries to drive the Audi when he’s with Lo. Really, his love and obsession with the two-door car is grounds for cheating on his silver Infinity.

This time, instead of asking Lo to drive, Ryke climbs in the backseat with Daisy, ahead of us. He’d rather take care of his girlfriend than drive a cool car. If I was allowed on social media, I’d document this moment and upload it, literal cute proof that Raisy is meant to be.

Say that was me in Daisy’s position, Ryke wouldn’t crawl in the backseat on my account. In fact, he’d beg Lo to drive so he didn’t have to withstand my moaning and groaning. Our families’ publicists can’t see how useful this evidence is against the three-way rumors.

Lo lets out a short, amused laugh. “Ryke has to be dying.”

I have a feeling this isn’t about the car. Since Daisy is on her period, Ryke probably hasn’t had any action in a while. “He went four months without sex,” I remind Lo. “This has to be easy.”