Mine to Claim

I had been in love with Addison Vartan for ten years. The moment I found out he loved my sister, I gave up.
That night, he was blind drunk. My first instinct was to call my sister.
He snatched my phone and threw it out the window. “Still trying to push me away?” he murmured, his voice a low growl.
“You’ve gotten bold, kid.”
…
After the world tilted on its axis, I told him, “Don’t worry. We’re both adults. I don’t expect you to take responsibility.”
Addison’s eyes darkened. He pulled me into his arms. “Maybe not. But I need you to take responsibility for me.”

1
Addison Vartan came back the day before my birthday.
I went to meet him, my heart soaring.
I was a step too late.
I saw him with my sister, Aurora, wrapped in an embrace.
My childhood friend, Leo, sighed beside me. “I need to tell you something. You should probably brace yourself.”
“What?” My gaze was glued to Addison. It had been so long. He’d gotten even more handsome. Aurora was saying something to him; he just listened, his expression coolly detached, occasionally nodding or murmuring a quiet assent.
“Your sister is marrying him.”
“Who?”
“Addison.”
The bouquet of roses I was holding slipped from my grasp and fell to the floor.
Addison’s head turned, his eyes finding mine across the space. His gaze lingered on my face for a moment, just as blank and unreadable as ever.
Leo grabbed my arm. “Hey, did you hear me?”
I shook him off. “Don’t talk nonsense!”
I loved Addison. My pursuit of him had always been loud, direct, and anything but a secret. My sister adored me. She would never, ever try to steal him away.
I launched myself into Addison’s arms.
He stumbled back half a step, catching me. I inhaled the faint, familiar scent of tobacco on his coat, my head swimming with delirious happiness.
“Addison, did you come back just for my birthday?”
“You’ve misunderstood.” He gently pried my arms off him, making me stand on my own two feet. “I have a temporary assignment. A business trip to the city.”
I didn’t care about that. I pressed close to him again. “Do you have time tomorrow night, then? Can you come to my birthday party?”
“Skye.” My sister’s voice was firm. She pulled at my sleeve. “Addison is very busy. Don’t be a nuisance.”
I tilted my head back, my eyes wide with hope, looking only at Addison. “Stay out of this, Aurora. I want to hear his answer.”
Our eyes met. His were sharp, a deep, impenetrable black. I couldn't read a thing. But I knew that ever since we were children, he could never bring himself to refuse me.
Except for that one thing: being his girlfriend.
As expected, Addison let out a soft sigh. “If I have time, I’ll be there.”
“Okay.” I beamed. “I’ll be waiting for you, Addison.”

2
At 11:46 PM, he came.
“He’s on the rooftop, talking with your sister,” Leo told me.
“Okay!” I was practically vibrating with joy, ready to sprint up the stairs. Leo grabbed my arm again.
“Skye, please listen to me. Go on up, fine. But whatever you see, you have to be able to handle it.”
“What is there to handle?” I brushed him off, unconcerned.
I ran up to the rooftop, the name “Addison” ready on my lips. But the word caught in my throat, a hard, painful lump.
I saw my sister, the one who had cherished and protected me my whole life.
She reached up and untied the silk bow at her chest.
She took Addison’s hand, which was resting at his side, and brought it up, placing it over her heart.
“Addison, I’m in love with you,” she said, her voice trembling but clear. “I don’t know when it started, but by the time I realized it, it was too late to turn back. I know this is wrong, I know it’s not fair to Skye, but my feelings for you… they are just as strong as hers.”
My own heart leaped into my throat. I prayed silently, fiercely.
Reject her! Addison! You’re so good at rejecting people!
But heaven wasn’t listening.
I watched as Addison raised his hand. His fingers were gentle, deliberate. He took the ribbons of her undone bow and slowly, carefully, tied them back together.
Then he opened his arms and pulled her into a hug.
His lips moved, but I couldn’t hear the words. Of course, I didn’t want to hear them.
A tear slid down my cheek, a hot, silent drop that felt like it was falling straight into my soul.
The two people I loved most in the world.
On my birthday.
Betraying me. Together.

3
I ran.
Not home, not to school. I spent the next seven days and seven nights drowning myself in bars and clubs.
Preston, some trust-fund kid who’d had a thing for me, finally saw his chance and stuck to me like glue. He opened a five-figure bottle of champagne, determined to get me wasted.
My head was spinning, nausea rising in my throat. He kept pushing the glass toward me. “Skye, drink! If you don’t drink, you’re disrespecting me!”
My hair was a messy curtain over one shoulder. I shot him a glare. “Don’t push your luck. What ‘respect’?”
“Hey! If you don’t want to drink, fine, but why the attitude?” He was offended, calling over his buddies to back him up.
The door clicked open.
Like the hero walking into a movie, Addison’s entrance had an unreal, luminous quality. He stood tall, a cut above everyone else, his presence commanding. He was dressed in black, a palpable chill emanating from his sharp features. The restaurant manager scurried behind him, trying to stop him. “Sir! You can’t just walk in here! Who are you?”
Addison ignored everyone. His eyes locked onto me, a storm gathering in their depths. He strode over, grabbed my wrist, and started pulling me out.
Preston stepped in his way. “Hey, who the hell are you?”
“You dare touch someone who belongs to me?”
Addison didn’t say a word. He just lifted his gaze and leveled it at him. It was a look forged in crucibles Preston couldn’t even imagine, and it made the boy flinch. Preston started to bluster, but Addison had already turned to the stunned manager. “My name is Vartan.”
“Vartan? As in, the Vartans?”
“Holy crap! We can’t afford to mess with him!”
“Come on, anyone can say that. How do we know he’s not bluffing?”
The whispers rippled through the room, but no one dared to move.
Addison let out a cold laugh. “Since you’re Skye’s friends, you’re my friends,” he said, his voice dangerously smooth. “Their tab tonight… put it on me.”
He turned back to the now-terrified Preston.
“May I take her now?”

4
A classic hero-saves-the-damsel moment.
All I felt was that he was being a meddling busybody.
Inside Addison’s black SUV, I asked lazily, “Did my sister send you?”
He handed me a bottle of water. “What does she have to do with this?” The cap was already twisted open. So thoughtful. Worthy of being my brother-in-law.
I didn’t take a sip. I screwed the cap back on and tossed the bottle into the back seat.
“Well, congratulations are in order, I suppose.”
The car screeched to a halt. I was nearly thrown from my seat. I whipped my head around to glare at him. His own expression was thunderous.
“Skye Everett, can you stop with the sarcasm?”
“You want me to talk to you nicely?” I sneered. “Fine. Beg me.”
Addison would never beg me. He started the car again and drove me home in stony silence.
I slammed the car door when we arrived, still ignoring him. He caught my arm, his voice laced with exasperation.
“What will it take for you to talk to me properly?”
I walked into the house and went straight to my father’s liquor cabinet, reaching for the strong stuff on the top shelf. Too high. I couldn’t reach.
I heard Addison sigh behind me. He stepped up, easily retrieved the bottles, and handed them to me.
I set them on the table. “Drink all of these, and I’ll talk to you properly.”
Addison was allergic to alcohol. He wasn’t supposed to drink, ever.
He looked at me, his gaze intense. “You promise?”
“Of course.”
I’d never seen him drink. The one and only time was on his 18th birthday. He ended up in the hospital. I sat by his bedside all night, crying my eyes out. When he woke up, I made him promise me. “Swear you’ll never drink again!”
He was lying there, pale as a sheet, but he still managed a weak smile. He lifted his hand and gently tapped my nose. “I swear I’ll never make our little Skye cry again.”
I was only in middle school then. That brilliant smile was seared into my heart. Even today, I couldn’t erase it.

5
Addison had lost his mind.
He actually twisted the cap off one of my dad’s expensive whiskeys and started chugging it straight from the bottle.
At first, I didn’t care. But then half the bottle was gone, and he still wasn’t stopping. No. Even without the allergy, drinking like that would destroy his stomach. I didn’t want him dying in my house.
I snatched the bottle from his hand. “Stop it! You don’t have to drink anymore! I was wrong! It was a joke, okay? I won’t mess with you!”
The alcohol had hit him hard. The corners of his eyes were red, the usual intimidating aura around him gone. He just stared at me blankly, murmuring my name.
“Little Skye.”
He kept saying it, and my own throat felt dry. This was a mistake. A terrible mistake was about to happen. No. Even though I loved him, I had my limits. A moral code.
“Just sit here. I’ll get you some water.”
I escaped to the kitchen and fumbled for my phone to call my sister. Before the call could connect, the phone was ripped from my hand.
I turned to see Addison swaying behind me. He’d thrown my phone out the open window. We lived in a house, thank God. Otherwise, that would have been a crime.
“Addison! What is wrong with you? You owe me a new phone!”
He just looked at me, a dumb, drunken haze in his eyes. Then he reached out and pulled me into his arms.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
I could hear his heart beating against my ear. His warm breath ghosted over my skin, and his voice, deliberately low and raspy, was intoxicating. It was melting my resolve.
“Still trying to push me away?”
“You’ve gotten bold, kid.”

6
His kiss was a storm. Overwhelming, passionate.
I never knew the perpetually cool Addison Vartan could be so fiery. At first, I resisted. Then, it became a battle of wills. It’s not like I was losing out, anyway.
But I was no match for him. I was losing, badly.
“Addison,” I mumbled against his lips, still trying to sound tough. “Tell me the truth. You’ve kissed a lot of girls, haven’t you?”
He was dizzy, his arms tight around me. “Little Skye,” he slurred, “I’ll take that as a compliment on my natural talent.”
Talent, my ass. I bit his lip. He wouldn’t open his mouth. I pinched his side in frustration. He gasped in pain, his lips parting, and I took my chance.
And I lost again.
I don’t know how it all happened. When I came to my senses, Addison was cupping my face, his handsome features softened with a tenderness I’d never seen before.
“Are you going to push me away again?”
I turned my head, refusing to answer. He was stubborn, pressing me for a response. He didn’t stop until a broken sob escaped my throat, until tears were streaming down my face.
He sighed, as if he didn’t know what to do with me. He gently, tenderly, kissed the tears from my cheeks.
“Little Skye,” he whispered.
“I’m so in love with you.”

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