Page 10 of The Reunion

8

Addicted to You

Faith

A flash of light flickered in the kitchen door window, and Dom’s heavy metal music faded as he turned off the truck. “Wish me luck.”

Shoving his six-pack into the ice in his cooler, Dad lifted his chin at me as I pulled the door shut behind me. “Good luck. See you tonight sometime.”

Halfway to my door already, Dom held his arms out for me to hug him. “Good morning.”

Every time I saw him again, he seemed to grow another inch taller, and I had to stand on my toes a little to put my arms around his neck this time. “You sure are happy today.”

Slipping my bag from my shoulder as I released him, he put his hand on my back to lead me to the driver’s door. “Why wouldn’t I be?” Opening the door for me, he rolled his eyes up to the sky. “The weather’s perfect. My mom’s gone all weekend.” I slid across the seat, and he grabbed the overhead bar to climb inside behind me. “And I’m spending the entire day with the best-looking girl in town.”

The door closed, and he turned the engine over and readjusted the volume so he didn’t break my eardrums. “My dad’s going to be hanging around the house, but he’s not a problem or anything. He’s about to go to trial,” — wrapping his arm around the back of the seat to turn around, he raised his brows and sighed — “so he’ll be busy working as usual.”

I hadn’t seen either of his parents at one of his games yet, not that I’d recognize them if I tripped over one. “So, what’s your dad like besides being a busy lawyer?”

Once he pulled out onto the street, he put his hand on my knee. “He’s alright, I guess.” His hand lifted off my jeans. “He’s the complete opposite of my mom. I can’t imagine what the hell ever got them together, to be honest.” Shrugging at the road ahead, he hummed as he thought it over. “He’s really smart, though, and not into all that religious stuff like my mother is. So, he’s easy to talk to when he is around.”

I moved my hair to the other shoulder to keep it from slapping my face as I shifted toward him more. “You’re a lot like your dad, then?”

Tilting his head toward me, he kind of groaned. “Eh, I got Mom’s blond hair and blue eyes. But” — he took his hand away for a second to touch his temple — “thank God my dad’s genes won the war for this, though.” His hand swept back and forth over my leg as he glanced at me. “What about your mom? What’s she like? You never have said.”

I twisted my mouth back at him. “I guess the opposite happened to me. I’m all Dad in the looks department, but I got Mom’s loopy brain.”

Shaking his head at me, he squeezed my knee a little tighter. “Stop that. There’s nothing wrong with you except you have no confidence for reasons I can’t understand.” He took his eyes from the road long enough to move them down my body. “I mean, look at you. You’re perfection.”

Just being at his side every day made me come out of my shell a little. It’s like he radiated so much light that I had no choice but to shine more. “You have enough confidence for both of us. So I never worry about anything anymore.”

We turned onto his street, and he slowed down a bit as he waited for the car backing out into the road to finish its turn. “I hope you’re cool with me not inviting the whole gang over. I feel like I’m always sharing you, and I just wanted a day for us.”

A giant white house with black shutters came up on the left, and his hand jerked the wheel toward it as I bent down to look the whole thing over. “Who are you sharing me with?”

Creeping to the back of the drive, he parked in front of a smaller building by their pool. “Life, school, football, your friends, my friends.” He pushed the door open and slid out onto the driveway, holding out his hand for me. “I guess I’m a little addicted to you, and I just want more than what I’m getting.”

Leading me to the back door of the house, he stood aside and waited for me to go through. Sitting at the kitchen island eating a bowl of cereal, the spitting image of him jerked his eyes at us and wiped his hands on his pajama bottoms. “There she is.”

When he came off the stool to shake my hand, Dom shot out his finger at him. “This is my dad, John Vasser. Dad, this is Faith.”

Instead of blond hair, John had curly dark hair that he obviously hadn’t even looked at yet this morning. “Yeah, I’ve heard all about you a couple of times a day. It’s great to meet you finally.” Punching Dom’s arm playfully as he backed toward his seat, he clicked his tongue and winked. “Nice job, son. I was always partial to green eyes, too.”

Dom wrapped his hand over my hip, pulling me closer so he could kiss my head. “Nothing better than a pretty girl that doesn’t know it. Am I right?”

Sandwiched between two beautiful men who never met a stranger, I was sweating from how uncomfortable they made me. “Awe, we embarrassed her.” Dom pinched my cheek and pouted his lips at me. “Sorry about that. We’re still working on that shyness thing. Aren’t we?”

His dad snickered into his bowl as he scooped up another spoonful. “What are you guys getting into today? Anything interesting?”

Sliding his hand into my back pocket, Dom shook his head as my bag strap twisted around in his hand. “Nah. Just playing video games and watching movies or whatever. But we might use the pool if nothing better to do pops up.”

Taking the last bite, John slid from his seat, barely giving us another thought as he dumped out his bowl in the sink. “Sounds like a plan. Just give me a yell if you leave, in case your mom calls.”

Dom took my hand and led me toward a staircase at the other end of the kitchen as John disappeared around the corner. “Alright. Now let’s go make out.” When I glared at him, he burst out laughing at me as we came to the top of the stairs. “Okay. How about playing me a couple of rounds of Motor Mayhem instead until it’s time for the pizza place to open?”

He put his arms around my waist and backed me toward the first bedroom he came to as I shrugged at him. “I don’t like racing games that much. What else do you have?”

Taking a deep breath through his nose, he let me go with one hand to close the door behind us. “Let’s see. I have Haunted Havoc, Nightmare Realm, and Dark Descent. Pretty much all the horror and shoot-’em-up games.”