Addicted for Now

**Addicted for Now** is the third book in the Addicted Series by Krista and Becca Ritchie. It is the second book to follow Loren Hale and Lily Calloway's romance.

## Summary

*He's addicted to booze. She's addicted to sex...staying sober is only half the battle.*

No. More. Sex.

Those are the three words Lily Calloway fears the most. But Loren Hale is determined to be with Lily without enabling her dangerous compulsions. With their new living situation—sleeping in the same bed, for real, together—Lily has new battles. Like not jumping Lo's bones every night. Not being consumed by sex and his body.

Loren plans to stay sober, to right all of his wrongs. So when someone threatens to expose Lily's secret to her family and the public, he promises that he'll do anything to protect her. But with old enemies surfacing, Lo has more at stake than his sobriety.

And his worst fear isn't relapsing. He hears the end. He sees it. The one thing that could change everything. Just three words.

No. More. Us.

## Plot

Addicted for Now begins with Loren Hale's return from rehab. Lily, who has been fighting her compulsions while staying faithful to Lo is having a hard time finding her groove with Lo. Loren, staying sober; Lily, cutting back and attempting to control her compulsions is an arc throughout the book.
The couple's journey to making their love and mental state wholesome is hindered when Lo received messages from an unknown number, threatening him with revealing Lily's addiction to the world. Lily, Rose, Conner, and Ryke are made aware of the issue pretty fast. In light of the threats, Lo believes the person behind the texts to be a former enemy of his: Aaron Wells. The brothers visit Aaron's house with the intent of making him confess.
However, after a tense interaction, in which we learn that Lo has slept with Aaron's sister to annoy Aaron back when they were in high school, Lo and Ryke believe Aaron to not have any involvement in the matter.

Rose connects her best friend Sebastian (formerly her arm-candy to family functions) with Lily. Lily is about to fail Statistics class and Sebastian is to be her tutor. Their session is mostly Lily trying to solve problems while Sebastian looks at his phone. Annoyed by the lack of help from her tutor, Lily makes her frustrations clear. Upon that Sebastian pulls out a bag full of past test saying that the teacher recycles questions from former tests and Lily needs to memorize them to pass her class. Lily is highly hesitant because she knows Rose would not approve of her methods, but she takes the bag anyway. Sebastian keeps on blabbing about wanting Rose to let Connor go and his distaste for Connor Cobalt. Lily stands up for what she thinks to be a perfect match and makes it clear that she will not let him separate them. Her threats go in vain as Sebastian blackmails her into silence with the threat of not showing her the tests. Lily, who is determined to not fail Stats, hopes Connor can see through Sebastian's ploys even though she can’t say a word.

Lo, being cut off by his father asks Rose if he could model for her company, Calloway Couture for their new menswear clothing line. Rose accepts and as Lo comes in for his first day, he overhears a conversation between Samantha Calloway AKA Rose's mom and Rose. Her mom tells Rose about how horrible PR it would be if an alcoholic is associated with the company. Rose refuses to believe that. After the call ends, Lo tells Rose that he will not do the job. Rose insists upon it, tries to convince Lo to take the job. However, Lo doesn't want Rose's business to get hurt because of him. He leaves the office with Lily, telling her that he will find another job.

Against Ryke’s advise, Lo askes his father to help find the anonymous texter. Lo confesses to the fake dating and Lily’s addiction to his father. Jonathan Hale takes the news better than expected and he is fully determined to find the leak who is messing with his family. Lo also asks for his biological mom’s name. Jonathan is reluctant to give it to him, but in the end he does so. Lo doesn’t tell anyone about getting in touch with his father.

Lily, Lo, Rose, Connor, Ryke, and Ryke’s girlfriend for the week Melissa go to Cancun for Spring Break. Surrounded by drinks and partying, Lo and Lily decide to test their boundaries’ in the hope of finding a normalcy without giving into their addictions. After Lily getting duped, the gang loses their baggages. Daisy joins her sisters in Cancun with new bathing suits and vet necessary items. Ryke’s attention shifts from Melissa to a Daisy who is prone to finding trouble with her adrenaline seeking ways.

Ryke has very questionable conversations with the 16 years old Daisy who stays with the group for the rest of the holidays. Ryke tries to get Daisy to eat a taco and ends up hand feeding it. Lily is not sure if the the gesture just seems sexual to her addict brain or if it actually is. She decides to keep quiet in case it is all in her head.

Daisy goes off to buy jewelry from a suspicious guy. Ryke and Lo get a hold of her. Daisy claims to not have enough pesos on her for the item she wants to buy for Lily. Ryke tells her that there is money in her bikini top. The conversation makes Lo mad and leaves him questioning the relationship Ryke is perpetuating with Daisy. Later on, he tells Lily about his concerns and Lily is happy to have Lo affirm her feelings. She tells Lo that she has talked to Daisy about it and Lo informs her that he has talked to Ryke about it as well. They trust Ryke and stop dwelling on the issue.

On another evening, the group goes out to eat. Ryke’s conversations with Daisy gets out of hand and becomes uncomfortable for especially Lo. Lo pulls Ryke aside, rather angrily. Ryke assures to that his conversations with Daisy will not cross the line and the reason he gave Daisy sex advice (in Addicted 1.5: Ricochet) was to normalize talking about these issues for Lily. Lo softens at his response. Brothers return, but the group is no longer vibing. They leave the joint and Ryke has to get intimate with Melissa to not make it seem like Daisy is why he would ditch his annoying date. After eating the fish tacos Lily has brought for Lo, Lo gets sick. Ryke gets angry, assuming that Lo has drunk again and the medication to be the cause of him throwing up (Antabuse: lt makes the person sick when they drink alcohol). Soon after they arrive the mystery is solved: the fish in the taco was soaked with some type of alcoholic drink. This causes a friction between Ryke and Lo. Lo is mad that Ryke keeps on invading his privacy. Ryke doesn’t budge and an understanding forms between the two: Ryke isn’t going anywhere.

Poppy gets in contact with her sister to inform them of a package from a sex shop arriving at their family’s house addressed to Lily. The package contains a dildo and a note. Lily tells Poppy to throw it away and tells her it’s probably a prank. Rose and Lily worry about what the anonymous texter will do next.

In a shopping spree with Connor and Rose, Lily has an orgasm from fantasizing. She is filled with remorse and shame. Connor fills Lo in about what happened. He consoles Lily and after a conversation with her therapist Dr. Bannings, they decide that Lily should try to keep away from fantasizing instead of using it as an outlet in place for her lack of physical action.

All of them decide to go to a club. Girls go wild while the guys stay sober. Connor notices Daisy and Rose drinking ab unlabeled blue liquid. He asks Ryke and Lo, they tell him that the drink is Absinthe. The drink is banned from US and contains hallucinogens. Connor quickly determines that Rose and Daisy had no idea what they were drinking and rushes to their side accompanied by Ryke and Lo. Lily, who is sober, is shoved towards Rose. The sisters end up crawling through the floor for air. Lo gets Lily up while Connor looks after Rose. Just as they are catching their breath, they realize Daisy is missing. Connor takes Rose, who is barely able to stand, away from the club. Lo and Lily search for Daisy. Ryke is focusing on Melissa. Panicking, Lo and Lily ask Ryke’s help to spot Daisy. Ryke agrees upon the condition that Lily and Lo will stop with their assumptions about Ryke and Daisy’s friendly relationship. Too worried for Daisy, both of them agree. The trio find Daisy in the employees lounge. Daisy becomes aware of what she has drunk and freaks out. Ryke ends up carrying Daisy to the cab. Daisy doesn’t remember what happens last night when she wakes up. Lo, Lily, and Ryke decide not to tell her.

On the flight home, Lily catches sex and her name on the news. Her secret, her addiction is out. After the scandal many people emerge to tell their sexcapades and Melissa even goes as far as claiming Ryke, Lo, and Lily had a threesome. Hale Co. and Fizzle shares are damaged, Calloway Couture is pulled from some stores and loses most of it’s investors. One week of desolation, Lily faces her parents, Jonathan Hale, and their lawyers. Samantha Calloway is as toxic as ever and spews hate. Jonathan Hale takes charge and tells the couple straight up what needs to be done for damage control: Lily needs to see a therapist hand-picked by her parents, the couple needs to avoid being seen in club and parties, lastly, Lo and Lily need to get engaged right away with the intent of marrying next year. Lily feels to guilty to oppose any of the conditions. Lily’s trust-fund is cut off until the marriage. Lo’s father tells him to make a man out of himself by using the money and the trust-fund he now returns to Lo by using it to open a business.

Lily’s professors give her, her final exams as take home exams to avoid unnecessary drama her presence brings to the campus. Sebastian help Lily by giving her old tests of his and Connor find the test and figures out Sebastian’s tutoring method. Connor and Sebastian have an argument just as Rose walks in. Both of them try to push the other one out of Rose’s life. Rose chooses Connor and realizes what a piece of ass Sebastian is. Connor tutors Lily and tells her that she can pass the finals if she just studies.

Lily experiences a setback as she stars using Tumblr and various other sites to look at porn. Ryke and Lo catch onto her and Lo bans the internet. Later on, Lily masturbates in the shower without telling anyone about her old habit’s return. This time, Lo, Connor, and Ryke find her. Lily denies it, but Lo doesn’t buy her excuses and decides to use tough love. He tells Lily why she should stop and be honest in front of Connor and Ryke. The couple has an icy week, which gets resolved after a heart to heart.

Lo settles on opening a comic book publishing company and store to sell the comics alongside scones. The venture makes Lily hopeful for the future.

Jonathan calls Lo, tells him that he has found the leak. Ryke, who is with Lo during the phone call is roped into a family dinner because he doesn’t want to leave Lo alone with their father. The three of them eat burgers. Jonathan reminisces about the time when Ryke was a teenager and asked him if the regretted the night of infidelity that led to Lo and the unraveling of Jonathan’s marriage. He answers with never and that he would do the same if he could do it all over again because he had Lo. In the end, Jonathan hides the leak/the anonymous texter’s identity and just tells the boys that it is solved. Lo is unsatisfied with the answer, but realized that there is nothing he could do now after the situation is handled.

Rose deals with the downfall of her brand while Connor tries to support her. Lo decides ti visit his biological mom, Emily Moore, in her house. She essentially tells him that the only reason she kept the baby way because Jonathan wanted the baby. She makes is clear that she doesn’t want to be involved with Lo. Lo leaves after telling Emily that even though she is indifferent towards him, her kids will have a brother and they should learn about it sooner or later. Lo is in a self deprecating mood and calls Lily and asks her why she loves him. She tells him how he has become the rock for people he always wanted to be. Lo decides to see his therapist after a long time and unburdens himself by talking about his issues.

The therapist picked by the Hales uses electroshock and says stuff to further scar Lily. Lo goes to her for the sessions in an attempt to comfort her. They ignore the therapist’s methods and suggestions even though Lily wants to keep going just to please her parents. In a session in which Lily goes alone, for the first time, the therapist order Lily to masturbate while he shocks her. Lily refuses and the therapist whips out his shaft, telling Lily to suck it. When she doesn’t comply, he tries to force herself on her. Lily yells for her bodyguard outside the door. The bodyguard takes the therapist off of her. Lily stops by to see her old (and actually helpful) therapist Allison Bannings.

Lily’s father learns the situation and sues the therapist, letting Lily go to Doctor Bannings instead.

Ryke decide to move to another place due to the attention from the press his house has received and the lack of guest rooms. Lo and Lily go with him to his mom’s house, Sarah Hale’s house, to collect old items for Ryke’s new place. While looking for more tape, Lily sees a box with the same label as the one Poppy told her about being sent to the Hale’s residence. Lily connects the dots to Ryke and is about to freak out when Sara Hale arrives. She kicks Lily out causing Ryke and Lo to come to her defense. She shows them the box, bought from the same store, and Ryke begins yelling at his mother. It is revealed that Sarah Hale was the texter and the leak. Her plan was to hurt Lo and show the world that she was a scorned women instead of a gold digger by indirectly revealing Ryke’s identity as the brother of Jonathan Hale. Ryke decides to cut off his ties with his mother and Lo understands why his father kept the identity of the blackmailer a secret: to protect Ryke.

Loren properly proposes to Lily with a ring of his choosing, both of them hopeful about their future.

## Trivia

* The book is set in March 2012 to July 2012.
* Loren and Lily's ship name is Lilo.