Addicted After All (Addicted, #5)

by Krista Ritchie

She studies my expression for a long moment and says, “It’s a boy.” I am flooded with temperatures below zero, and I pass the paper to her, so she can verify what she already knows is real. Her eyes travel eagerly over the words and then she delicately folds the paper. “You can smile, Lil.” Please smile. A tear rolls down her cheek. No. I lean forward and cup her face in my hands. “Lily. I’m happy.” Somewhere. In all the good places that belong to her. There, I know I am. Her lips are chapped as she licks them, and she glances back at the paper to reaffirm that we’re really having a boy. I wipe her tears that fall. “Say something,” I breathe. Smile, Lil. “I’m…really, really happy.” Her voice trembles. And then she laughs into a smile, one that’s half-pained. For me. On the precipice of two polar opposite emotions. “It’s better this way, with a boy,” I whisper, her glassy eyes flitting between me and the paper. “You have to believe that I believe it.” All I want is to sense her joy and rid the tar that’s seeped from me to her. I ruin most things I touch, and she’s the best thing I have left.

Wooo