Beautiful Addictions Read Online Free Page A

cross-legged on the floor of her apartment among the dust bunnies. Sheets
     of paper pulled free from their binding lay scattered around her like fallen leaves.
     She repeated Tristan’s name over and over, as if the sound of it would jar her memory
     into revealing their past. He knew her. He knew her in her former life, the one that
     had chewed her up and spit her out. She was conflicted as she recognized both the
     urge to forget him completely and the one to reacquaint herself with everything he
     was.
    A rhombus of light slanted across her floor from the window, blazing yellow-gold.
     Dust particles floated in and out of the beam, and when Josie moved, they swirled
     frantically, like a shaken snow globe. She found herself entranced by them, jealous
     of their carefree and aimless existence.
    Tristan, her mind repeated again. She now had a name to go with the seraph’s face. She smirked,
     realizing that the things she wanted to do to him were quite devilish. Josie wanted
     to explore and conquer that man, like no one before him. She wanted to mark his skin
     and exchange breaths while whispering sexual promises. Before letting the fantasy
     run freely, she focused her attention back on her sketch.
    There was more now, more than a carnal desire for the taste of his flesh. Josie wanted
     to memorize him, inside and out. She wanted to dissect the memories he possessed and
     reenact each one to make them concrete. She wanted to give herself over to Tristan
     and ask him to mold her into something better than she was. But when had she ever
     gotten what she wanted?
    A pounding sounded against her door. She ignored it. Instead, Josie focused on recreating
     the needle-made art of Tristan’s left shoulder. She glanced at the clear plastic grab
     bag of pills sitting on her table. They seemed to be calling to her. Eat me. Feel good. Forget everything. She sketched the shapes of Tristan’s tattoo, filling them with gray. What a disservice
     to the original art, she thought. They should be red and violet and deep-water blue.
     She hadn’t used color on paper in years. She didn’t even own the tools to do so.
    The pummeling sounded again, startling her from her drawing. Josie looked at her rattling
     door, the secured chain swinging from the force. As much as she loved her isolation,
     she knew she’d have to answer.
    Freeing the chain and twisting two dead bolts, Josie swung the door open to find a
     smiling Alex, dimples on display. His hulking form dwarfed her as he beamed his most
     charming smile and waited to be invited in. She moved aside and secured the door behind
     him.
    “You know you don’t have to lock that when I’m here, Jo. I got you.” He winked and
     flexed his huge arms in her direction.
    Josie was not impressed.
    Alexander Hernandez was a beast of a man, a giant in reputation and size. He’d been
     raised in the roughest part of the city, tainted with crime and violence, and he’d
     never left. This metropolis and its pollutants flowed through his veins, more important
     to survival than his Hispanic blood. He was a sinner and a mortal, and he knew in
     the end that meant he’d smolder in the fiery pits of hell. He was okay with that.
     Acceptance was apparently the key to inner peace.
    Alex knew misdeeds and narcotics and only one way of life. He had been in and out
     of juvenile detention as a teenager, eventually landing in jail for an eight-month
     stint. There had been no deprogramming and no reform behind those bars. He’d emerged
     ten times worse than when he’d went in, only his allegiances had changed.
    As a young man, he’d held no authority there. However, his loyalty and willingness
     to do dirty work quickly earned him respect in the ranks. His incarceration was more
     of a training exercise than a punishment. Lessons that could be taught only by experience
     were now ingrained. Never trust anyone, never turn your back on the enemy, and never
     share personal information. One