Page 95 of End Game
Trying to sit up, I’m stopped by him clamping down on my feet. My heart stills as I look at him.
“What if it isn’t me and you, Sunshine?”
“I don’t understand,” I gulp, a hand falling to my stomach. He watches it rest against my navel before he looks back at me.
“What if it’s . . .us?” he whispers.
“Branch . . .”
I’m glad he doesn’t speak because I couldn’t hear him over the roar in my ears anyway. My heart is beating so damn hard I’m lightheaded.
Wetness pricks my eyes but it doesn’t fall. Shock prevents that. I just look at him and try to gather what he really means from his face, but the look of sincerity doesn’t change.
His hand comes down gently on top of mine, applying a small dose of pressure to my stomach. My heart nearly bursts in my chest, the lump in my throat refusing to allow any words by. Instead, I just take in the worry lines on his forehead and the clear blue in his eyes.
“I’ve been thinking it for a while now about you and me and what we might’ve been and what we could be,” he says. “Then I heard the baby today. God, wasn’t that amazing?”
All I can do is nod and hold my breath, waiting for him to continue.
He reaches out and tips my chin towards him so I have no other choice but to look him in the eye. “I have reservationsabout whether I should do this or not, but looking at you lying by me, thinking about that motherfucker in here . . .”
“Max?”
“Whatever his name was,” he sighs. “This thing with you isn’t going to go away. As a matter of fact, it’s getting worse.”
“This thing with me?” I say, my voice crackling.
“It started the day I saw you. It got worse when I saw the sex therapy card, almost fell out of control at the festival, and spun so far past me when we were together that night that I knew there was no turning back. I just didn’t want to fuck you all up, but I already had, in another way.”
I try to speak, but only a whimper comes out as salty liquid streams down my face. He pulls me into a hug, laying me across his lap, and holding me so hard I can barely breathe.
Wrapping my hands in his shirt, I press my cheek against his heart. It’s beating loud and strong, just like our baby’s was just a little while ago. The thought makes me smile through the tears.
“I don’t know what this means,” he admits. “I know there are still things we have to work out and I can’t figure out how to protect you from my life. I just know I want to be here every day to check on you, for you to know I have your back, to make sure our baby gets Popsicles.”
“What?” I laugh, wiping away tears.
“Nothing.”
Pulling away, I look into his sweet, blue eyes. “We had very real reasons to not be together and those aren’t going to go away.”
He pulls me all the way into his lap so I’m facing him. “I know that and we’d be stupid to pretend they aren’t real. But . . . I think we’re stupid to also pretend that you and I are strangers. When I look at you, I don’t see a random girl. I see a girl I want to get to know and see what happens.”
“Doesn’t this set it up to end even worse?”
“Maybe,” he shrugs. “But until I know you and I aren’t doomed one hundred percent, I’m probably going to kill anyone that comes around. I almost ended Max.”
“Max is no chump,” I giggle.
“I’d have pieced him out,” he teases. “But stop changing the subject. Let’s give this one try. One good, solid effort, and if I think I’m fucking it up or if you think I am or if it becomes too much, we stop right then. Done. No more.”
“Okay,” I whisper, grinning like a loon.
He digs under the neckline of his t-shirt and removes the necklace his grandmother gave him. He holds it in his hand and looks at it for a long moment before placing it around my neck.
“I want you to wear this,” he says softly, positioning it carefully so the cross sits in the center of my chest. “There’s no reason why and it’s really dumb but I want to know it’s there.”
“It’s not dumb,” I say, placing my hand over his and pressing it against my body. “It’s sweet.”
