Page 61 of Gravity
“Then you both showed up to the next game together, and Bunny… he was happy.Non, more than happy. He wasen extase. And—” MacKenzie frowns, as if he's hunting for the right word. “Tranquille. Établi.” He taps his hand on his chest, over his heart. “Il était joyeux.”
He was joyful.
The river. It was there that Bryce took me deep into his soul, gifting me a glimpse into the wonder of his heart. I was already falling before we made that drive, but those moments we shared…
All the confusion, all the questions, all the fears and doubts and worries, everything vanished when I was with him. The world made sense when we were together. What I felt made sense, too. I loved him, even then.
Our night in the snowstorm, when he sang his song to me, and when I scraped together my courage and confessed to him that I'd made a mistake. That I didn't want to put us in the past. That I wanted anowand afuturewith him, and I wanted everything. All of him, and me, and us together.Kiss me again. Please.
Kiss me again, Bryce. My God, please, open your eyes. It's been six hours and thirty-one minutes. Please, please, open your eyes. I'm here. I'm waiting for you.
“I look at Bunny now and I see how happy he is, and that's all I need. You make him happy, Hunter.Trèshappy.” MacKenzie finally smiles. “Tu complètes l'homme. We like our Bunny happy.Mais oui, we like you and him together. You're a good guy, when you're not breaking his heart. So—” he shrugs “—you got a second chance from us. But,calisse, you had better not blow it.”
Another voice joins in. This one is deeper and thickened by a Russian accent. “I'll rip your arms off and throw you in the river if you hurt him again,” Valery says as he joins MacKenzie. He lays his hand on Bryce's knee. “How isnasha zvezda?”
MacKenzie blows out a breath and says nothing. Valery nods, and he strokes Bryce's calf as he murmurs soft Russian words into the still air hovering above Bryce.
Valery shifts his attention to me. His hand moves from Bryce's leg and covers Bryce and my joined fingers. “Hunter, rest. We will watch over you both.”
My eyes squeeze shut as I wrap my thumb around Valery's and hold his hand. Weeks ago, I'd wondered: what does a secret like ours do to a team?
Nothing, apparently. Nothing at all if we were never a secret and if we are more than a team. If we are family, then there aren't any secrets that need to be kept. There is only patience and kindness, and them watching over Bryce and me as we fall in love.
“Thank you,” I force out through my clenched throat. “Thank you for everything. All of it—”
Valery waves me off. “Stop. Close your eyes. Lay down your head. We are here.”
He's out of his mind if he thinks I can sleep here, now, but I do what he says and lay my cheek against Bryce's thigh. I still have Bryce's hand in mine, and I press his fingers to my lips and kiss him a dozen, a hundred, a thousand times. I kiss him until my eyes start to drift, and keep kissing him as MacKenzie and Valery's voices roll over me.
I'm still kissing him, and whispering, “I love you,” between each one, when sleep drags me into the darkness.
* * *
Something tickles my cheek.
I flinch and reach for Bryce's hand automatically, but my fingers closes around empty air.
My eyes fly open—
And he's there. Bryce isthere, and his fingertips are brushing across my cheek. His eyes are open, and his lips are moving, and he's looking at me. He's looking at me, and I know that light in his eyes. I know it, because it's how he always looks at me. When we're in each other's arms, or when we're making love, or after, when I'm holding him and kissing him and can't get enough of him. When he sings to me at midnight and when we look at each other across the dressing room.
I'm on my feet in an instant, leaning over Bryce, cradling his face in both of my hands. “Mon amour—”
My vision goes watery, but I blink fast, banishing my tears. “Mon amour, you're okay. You're okay.” I'm babbling, nearly incoherent. “Mon amour,mon amour.”
His hand rises and lays on top of mine. His lips move again, as if he's trying to speak.
“Shh. You have a breathing tube in your throat. You can't speak right now.” I run my thumb across his cheekbone as fear slides into his eyes. “But you're going to be okay,mon amour. You're here, and you're going to be all right.”
He nods, almost imperceptibly. A hint of movement, a brush of his cheek against my palm. Tears slip down Bryce's cheek, but I wipe them away.
“You're going to be okay,” I say again before I press my lips to his forehead, his cheeks, his nose, and finally, to his mouth.
His lips move fractionally against mine. A kiss and a smile, miniscule, but there.There.
“Calisse!” Over my shoulder, there's a breathless shout, and then, “Tout le monde!Wake up!Allez,allez!” Clapping, groaning, curses—
And then everyone gets it. Slava and Karel and Etienne and Janne. They're on their feet, coming to join us. Valery is there with MacKenzie beside him, and everyone else, surrounding Bryce and me as they smile and reach for Bryce to squeeze his hand or leg.
