Anxious Love (Love Sick #1) by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle Read Free Book Online Page B

hurts. At the current rate of diminishment, I don't think it will ever go away. Not completely."
    "What about her family? Do you talk to them?"
    "I try and call her mother on her birthday. We were born on the same day; I think that's why we hit it off so quickly when she moved to my high school our sophomore year. We were practically twins. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't have had any fun in high school and college, until..." My voice trailed off, and I fought the urge to shut down. It was simmering closer to the surface than I usually allowed it to get. I focused on my breathing and pushed it back down. My breath caught in my throat when I realized tears were running down Sophie's face. I placed my hand on her shoulders, sat down on the couch, and she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me.
    When I talked about my best friend with Sophie, I knew it triggered memories of her and her mother. We would huddle together, and I never knew if she was comforting me or I was comforting her.
    Regardless, we were both relieved to have each other. We knew exactly what the other was going through. It was another thing that bonded us.
    We both knew what it was like for someone close to take the easier way out and leave us in this world without them.

Seriously, what is happening to me?
    In the last eight days, I had turned into a stalker. I called her day and night, ran by her place on my morning runs, ended up at her place unannounced, and hit up her friends to find out what she liked and disliked.
    Now, sitting in the middle of Audubon Park, a picnic spread out in front of me, I devoured a romance novel because she wrote it.
    The guy in the book and I had the same problem. We were obsessed with a girl. From the way the book was heading, he didn't end up with her.
    I wanted to end up with the girl.
    In the book, the main character was obsessed with his girl. She was secretly in love with his best friend. It should have given me a clue right then; girls didn't go for the stalker, they went for the nice guys who helped them pick up the pieces later.
    I had explored Uptown, a great place to run, but I hadn't spent much time in Audubon Park. At this time of day, the park was quiet, green, wide open, and cool under the full trees. I spread out a New Orleans Saints blanket that I planned to give to Leah after our picnic. I laid out the food, leaned back, and got back into the book.
    As I read a scene with my mouth hanging open, I didn't hear Leah walk up until she spoke.
    "Must be a good part?"
    I dropped the book in my lap. Her beauty would have knocked me on my ass if I weren’t sitting down.
    "Oh, shit. I mean shot." Correcting myself made me sound like a pussy. I shook it off, but she had already bent down and picked up the book.
    She placed the book on her knees and scanned the page; she bit her lip, and I blushed as she discovered the hot sex scene I was in the middle of reading.
    "It gets better." She handed it back to me. "You bought it?"
    "Yeah, ordered it from Amazon."
    "I would have given you one." She stood back up and smoothed down the front of her white V-neck T-shirt. She surveyed the park before sitting down.
    "Is this spot okay?" I asked.
    "No, yeah, it's perfect." Her black skirt flared out around her. She pulled it over her knees as she sat cross-legged. Her hands felt the grass around her.
    "How did you find out my pen name?"
    "I saw a book poster signed at the 21st hanging on the wall. It was newer than the other artwork, and seeing how you are such good friends with Mark, I assumed."
    "That's pretty perceptive." She took off her shoes and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. "What do you think?"
    "It good. It's a little dark. I thought romance books were all mushy love stories."
    "Some of them are, but I write where my mind takes me." She shrugged.
    "So is it based on your real life or a fantasy?"
    Her forehead produced the cutest little crinkle. "Overactive imagination and some of my fantasy."
    "And the more"—I