Addicted After All (Addicted, #5)

by Krista Ritchie

I sit up and pull my shoulder back. “So how about it, Ryke Meadows, you want to be miserable with me?” This is difficult for him to accept. I see it in his eyes. By agreeing, he’s willfully subjecting me to a certain torture. He’d rather beat me. I’d rather beat him—but I’m not sure I can at the beginning: when I first walk through those glass double doors, when I meet the board’s judgment. Before I run on my own, I need a crutch. It’s either Ryke Meadows or a bottle of booze. And I can’t let it be the latter. So this is what I have to do. Please. Say yes. He rises to his feet, and I do the same, my heart thrashing in my chest. And then he grabs my hand and hugs me, setting a palm on my back. “Okay,” he says. “Let’s do this together, little brother.” My muscles finally loosen. For the first time that night.