Someone to Love by Addison Moore Page B

surrounded like a pageant queen on
parade, I hauled ass outside for a pity party and ended up
confessing to Cal that I had more than a few feelings rolling
around for Kenny—that surprisingly, they weren’t solely tied to my
balls’ incessant urge to release some pressure. I used the ‘L’ word
for the first time in a good long while, out loud, and not even my
own ears could fucking believe it—still not sure I do.
    “Yeah, I told her I was with you.” He catches
the worried look on my face. “Relax, I didn’t rattle off any of
that bullshit you were shoveling.” He wipes down his forehead with
the towel draped around his neck. “I thought you swore off love and
traded it in for, I believe the quote was, ‘quick and dirty
ass.’”
    I try to shake the accuracy of his words out
of my head. “I thought so, too. Don’t worry. You’re not the only
one who’s disappointed in me.” I don’t tell him that I saw Blair at
Ackerman House—that she wanted to talk, that I essentially blew her
off and fused my lips to Kenny instead. I don’t want to drag Blair
into every conversation. I want her and the ghost of who we were,
hidden in the back of the closet. I wish I could burn it down,
torch every memory we ever made. And now, here she is, showing up
just when things are shaping up in my life. Figures. She probably
doesn’t feel she did enough damage the first time around.
    I drain the rest of my water and end up
spilling the reserve down my chest.
    “Watch the equipment, buddy. That’s a three
thousand dollar machine you’re desecrating. You think getting your
heart ripped out of your ass hurt like hell, wait until I come
after you for restitution. How’s the bed and breakfast going?
Business mistreating you much these days?”
    A groan escapes my throat at the mere mention
of that money pit. “I handed the reins back to my mom last summer
when I ditched my sanity. I should swing by and glance at the
books.”
    “Wear safety goggles. Those books have a way
of trying to knock you out. I should know. Hey, school starts
tomorrow. You ready to begin instructional duties?”
    “Yup. Already found my favorite student.”
    “No way.”
    “Yes,” I say, exhilarated by the thought.
“Wrote up a syllabus just for her.”
    “I bet you did. You fucking perv.” He says it
with a marked sense of pride.
    “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
    Pennington struts in with his thin frame
puffed out, his glazed expression that lets me know he’s already
high as a kite at this early hour.
    “I bet he rolls his joints with your daddy’s
Benjamins.” Cal spits out exactly what I was thinking, and I give a
little laugh. Then an idea comes to me.

7
    Kendall
    The Date

     
    After Zumba, my limbs rebel and quietly
petition to secede from the union of my torso. Okay, not so
quietly. Every muscle in my body is on fire and rioting in protest
to my sudden faux interest in fitness. I hit Starbucks afterwards
as a show of affection to my poor earthly frame. I thought about
asking Cruise to join me on my quest for the perfect cup of Joe,
but I’d hate for him to think I’m clingy and needy. The last thing
I want him to feel around me is like he can’t breathe. But God, how
I’d love to smother him—preferably with my chest.
    Snow covers the ground in smooth, sparkling
sheets, a visual treat that I’m in no way prepared for. It’s as if
the landscape of my heart magically transformed into a fairytale
much like this new world I’ve touched down in. Cruise is the
sparkling magic. He’s adhered himself to that secret place inside
me that I once denied existed. He’s molded himself perfectly over
my heart, my soul, my marrow. And now I can never let go. How will
I ever tell him the truth? That I don’t want twenty boys on speed
dial—that I only want one. And that he just so happens to be the
one in question.
    Carrington glows a resplendent shade of
lavender, dressed in a winter wonderland that up until now, I had
only