Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Addison’s been asleep for about thirty minutes. I’ve been sitting here watching her like a fucking creeper. But I can’t not stare. She’s beautiful, and right now, she looks peaceful, free. Like the Addison I used to know.
I know what happened to her has changed her from a free spirit, to someone who is always looking over her shoulder. I didn’t know she wasn’t sleeping, though. I’m a fucking idiot. I should have known. I don’t think I’m ever going to be enough for her. I can’t even tell she needs to fucking sleep.
I pull my phone out and send my dad a message.
Me:
How long are we staying here?
Pakhan:
You got somewhere else to be?
Me:
Addison isn’t sleeping. All the men around this house make her anxious. I’m booking a suite at the Four Seasons. She can’t stay in this house.
Pakhan:
You’re still going to need security. We leave next Sunday.
Me:
Okay.
Pakhan:
Where are you now?
Me:
Her room. She’s asleep now.
Pakhan:
Don’t fuck it up again, Lex. Give her whatever she needs.
I roll my eyes. I don’t get why my dad is so fixated on my girlfriend. I pause. Addison isn’t my girlfriend. Best friend, sure. But girlfriend? We haven’t had that talk. Maybe we need to.
I also don’t need to be told not to fuck up. I have no plans of living without Addison in my life again. I have her back. Even if she’s not the same, she’s still my Addison.
After booking the nicest suite at the Four Seasons, I look up things to do in this city. I’ve been to Melbourne plenty of times to see my sister Zoe, but I’ve never really played tourist. It might be good for Addison to get out and see the sights, though.
Three hours later, Addison rolls over. Her eyes slowly blink open and focus on me. “Hey.”
“Hold that thought,” I tell her, jumping off the bed and running into the adjoining bathroom. I’ve been ignoring the fact I needed to relieve myself because I didn’t want to move.
Flushing the toilet and then washing my hands, I then walk back out to find Addison sitting on the bed.
“Sorry. I was waiting for you to wake up so I could go to the bathroom.”
“Why? You could have gone to the bathroom, Lex.”
“I told you I’d stay, and I didn’t want to make any noise.” I sit back on the bed. “How’d you sleep?”
“Did you watch me sleep the entire time like a creeper, Lex?”
“No,” I scoff. “I also booked us a suite at the Four Seasons. We’re breaking out of this palace, Addi.”
“We’re breaking out?”
“Yep.”
“Why?”
“Because I know you’re not comfortable here.
Tell me you wouldn’t prefer our own suite in a fancy hotel with no one else around.
Just you and me.” I quirk a brow at her.
“It’s a two bedroom, so you’ll still have your space,” I rush to say because I don’t want her to think I’m planning anything other than getting her away from all the men in this house.
“Okay, but I don’t need a fancy hotel, Lex. I would be fine in any standard hotel too.”
“You might not, but I’m a snotty-nosed rich kid with daddy’s money, remember? I need the fancy.”
“Okay, well, as long as it’s for your benefit and not mine.” Addison smiles. “When are we leaving? Not that I don’t like your sister’s house, and she’s been really nice. But, still, when are we leaving?”
“Whenever you’re ready.”
“Okay. Give me five minutes.” Addison gets up and runs into the bathroom. Five minutes later, she comes out with her toiletries in her arms. “I need another five minutes.”
I laugh. “There’s no rush.”
I watch as she drops her stuff down into the suitcase she didn’t unpack. Everything is neatly folded inside. The only things she took out were her toiletries.
“I’m going to change,” she says, retrieving some clothes from her bag before she walks towards the bathroom and then stops. Turning around, she walks back to the bed and drops her clothes on the mattress. “I want to try something, but you have to not move.”
“Okay.”
“I… I have this thing. I don’t like people seeing me,” she says in a quiet voice. “But I’m going to get changed, in front of you.”
I don’t say a single word. If she thinks I’m going to argue about seeing her naked, or even partially naked, she’s delusional.
“Just… I trust you, Lex, so it’s different.”
“I won’t move. You can trust me, Addison.” I fucked up when we were at school. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure I don’t fuck up again.
She stands there for a while, just staring at the clothes she dropped onto the bed.
“You don’t have to do this,” I tell her.
“I do. I can’t be this broken forever, Lex.” She huffs and then pulls the sweatshirt over her head so that she’s left in a white lace bra.
I keep my eyes on her face, because I don’t want to make her uncomfortable by staring at her tits, no matter how much I want to look. “You’re not broken.”
“I used to get changed in front of you all the time, Lex. I didn’t care if you saw me in my underwear before. I want to be like that again.”
“Trust me, I remember. I had to hide the fact I constantly had a boner,” I tell her.
Addison undoes her jeans and pulls the material down her legs. Fuck me, now I have a boner I have to try to hide. It’s like high school all over again.
She’s quick to put on a pair of linen pants and another sweater. “I did it.”
“Were you scared?”
“No, but it’s you. I’m never scared of you.”
“Good. I don’t need my girlfriend changing in front of anyone who isn’t me anyway,” I tell her.
Addison’s eyes widen. “Your girlfriend?”
“Mhmm.”
“You want me… to be your girlfriend?”
“You already are.” I narrow my glare slightly.
“That’s not how you ask someone to be your girlfriend, Lex,” she says. “And what if I can’t, you know, do things? Things that girlfriends do?”
“I don’t need you to do anything you don’t want to do. We’ll take this one day at a time,” I assure her. “Addison, will you be my girlfriend?” And now I feel like a fucking idiot, and also a little nervous that she’s going to say no.
A huge smile spreads across her face. “Yes. I thought you’d never ask.”