Page 68 of Riley

That despite the obstacles in our path—our jobs—that maybe this was fate?

“Say something,” I pleaded, watching him bite his lip. “Say I’m crazy, and we can forget all of it. The games, the sex... Tell me you don’t feel anything, and we can just be friends.”

Eric’s lips twitched at the words, his eyes sparkling with the beginnings of a somber mist.

“I don’t want to be friends, Riley. I can’t be friends with you,” he said firmly.

“Oh,” I said, feeling the worst rejection I think I’d ever felt in my life.

“I can’t be friends with you when you’re all I think about when I’m alone. Just me. I can’t be friends with you when every time I’m near you I?—”

He let out a deep sigh as my heart threatened to skip a beat.

“I should have told you the truth, about me. About what Idid, but honestly, my experience in life taught me as soon as I did tell someone what I did, they peaced the fuck out, and I didn’t want you to peace the fuck out,” he said, twirling his straw in his glass. He looked at the cards, then at me as our waitress dropped off my beer.

“It was selfish, I know that. But when it comes to you I can’t help my selfish desire. To be whoever you want me to be. To be wherever you are.”

“Eric...” I breathed his name like the prayer it truly was.

“The other night, that was the last straw, just so you know. After I...”

The silence spoke volumes as we both caught one another’s gaze, and he sucked in a breath.

“I’d been performing a long time before I met you, and I don’t regret doing it for as long as I had. I only regret not ending it sooner, before I?—”

“What?” I asked, leaning closer, hanging on his every breath, his every word.

Waiting for the words I dared to hope to hear.

“Before I fell in love with you.” He said the words boldly, confidently, and my heart threatened to beat right up out of my chest.

I pushed away from the table, and rose to my feet. The look in his eyes killed me, because I knew he thought I was going to be like the others. I was going to walk away.

And in all reality and truth, I should have.

But I loved him too.

And love... it endures. It fights and it dances, and it wins and it loses.

But it always persists, even in the darkest of hours.

I moved toward him slowly, and he stood of his own accord, ready for an argument or defense, neither of which he’d need.

Because I knew as I looked at him, that he was more than what he displayed to the world.

I took his face in my hands, imploring his gaze with my own. I was well aware of our public display, and I didn’t care.

I only wanted to soothe this man’s worries, to show him I wasn’t going to run.

I wanted to double down on our bets. Play the long game.

“What you do... it’s not who you are. I know that better than anyone,” I told him, rubbing my thumb along his jaw.

Eric looked up at me with glassy blue eyes. “You do?” he asked, his breath shaky. Vulnerable.

I nodded, letting my thumb brush over his lower lip. “You are a cocky, pain in the ass pretty boy who hates to lose,” I said with a grin. “Whose voice is like velvet, and who I can’t stop thinking about.”

Eric parted his lips as a soft sigh escaped, settling his shaky hand on my hip.

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