Page 114 of The Chance

All the times he let me be …me… and smiled at me anyway.

All the touching, but not sexually. All the time he spent at my side, even when he didn’t have to. All the moments we shared … The connections …

His grip on my hand tightens when I open my mouth, and I quickly snap it shut.

“You weren’t the only one that went to a shrink.”

I nod, staring at the side of his head with wide eyes.

“Now just … hold my hand and watch this movie with me, yeah?”

Blowing out a breath, I nod again. “Yeah. Okay. Yeah.”

“Okay.”

It doesn’t take long, once the movie is restarted, for Jordan to relax back. His shoulder brushes mine, as does his thigh where our hands still rest, and though it’s a sweaty grip, I never want to let go.

He’s holding my fucking hand!

There’s a giddiness that’s worming through my system and filling my energy tank with such high levels that I’m nearly shaking with it.

The foundation for everything I feel for you now.

Now.

What if?

Whatifwhatifwhatif?

“Here.”

Wooden sticks are planted in my field of vision and my breath hitches all over again.

“Drumsticks?” I ask and it cracks. “You just have these laying around your apartment?”

The corner of his lips tip up.

“Yeah. I do.”

Chapter Sixty-Eight

Jordan

“Promise me something,” Imutter, my voice sleep thick and my body drained. But Mac’s head is back on my shoulder and I’m not dreaming of terrible things, and I admitted to him out loud that I’m not entirely what he thought I was, yet he’s still here. Nearly asleep and leaning on me. His hand still clinging to the sticks I gave him, the other still clasped in mine though I know it has to be aching from the angle like mine is.

I don’t plan on letting go though.

Not yet.

“Wha?” Mac rumbles back, his lips moving against my shoulder.

I smirk.

“Best friends first. No matter what.”

He’s silent long enough for me to worry he fell asleep between his response and my answer, but then his head is moving against me, his stubble creating the perfect burn on my skin.

“Me and you, Tyro.” He nuzzles me just like Cookie does and something inside me settles. Eases. Relaxes into a reality I never thought I could live, however brief it’s going to be.

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