Page 97 of The Keeper
It’s not angry, or upset, or disappointed.
No.
It is full of hope, and longing. And love.
He’s standing 10 feet away, hands braced at his hips.
I stand slowly and rub my hands on my shorts again.
“You are…” he stops and shakes his head, letting out a humorless chuckle. “RJ, you arenotbroken.”
I squint my eyes in confusion. Out of everything I said to him about loving him and waiting until I graduate to date, he focused on that?
“If you end up taking only one thing away from knowing me, I want it to be that. You arenotbroken. Inanyway. You’ve been banged up a bit by things I might not really understand, and you’ve been worn weary by burdens that you’ve carried for years on your own with no one to help you lighten that load. But RJ, shit.” He shakes his head again, taking a few steps towards me. “You are anything but broken. You’re beautiful and resilient and…”
He stops and rubs his hands up and down his face.
“And I’m in love with you,” he finishes, his eyes connecting with mine again. “So in love with you that I have been barely seeing straight for the past few weeks wondering if that was the end.”
I stand suddenly and practically rush him, my body colliding with his in a hug so tight and warm, I wonder how I will ever let go. His arms wrap around my middle and mine are squeezing tight around his neck and shoulders, our cheeks pressed together.
“I don’t want that to be the end,” he whispers into my ear, kissing me softly just beneath it. “Six months is nothing when considering the potential of forever without you.”
Chapter Eighteen
I groan internally when I see the caller ID display on my phone.Frank.I’ve never programmed him in asDad- it’s just Frank.
“Don’t answer it,” Mack whispers from his spot next to me on the bus. When I look at him in question, he continues, “It’s either something you don’t want to hear, or it’s something that will make you upset. You don’t need that today.”
My first instinct is to brush him off, tell him it isn’t a big deal. But then I remember what I promised to myself. That I would open up those protected parts of myself to Mack, and trust him with those pieces of vulnerability that I think make me weak.
I nod slightly, clicking theignorebutton.
“You’re right. I don’t need his particular brand of crazy today.”
Mack gives my knee two taps, then turns back to focus on the paperwork in front of him.
Sitting next to each other on the short bus ride from the hotel to the arena is weird. Normally I sit with Piper, and she sent me awhy are you sitting with coach?text when I stopped at the front of the bus and slid in past him to get to the empty seat by the window.
I didn’t respond, figuring the excuse I had crafted this morning didn’t even make sense, and that the time on the bus would provide me with extra time to come up with something.
But of course, my mind is blank.
He didn’t act surprised when I sat next to him. It’s not even just that he wasn’t surprised. He barely responded. He didn’t move out of the way or rearrange his stuff. He didn’t even look at me at first. The only reason I know he was aware I was sitting next to him was the ghost of a smile that sat on his face when I turned to look at him after a few minutes.
Telling me to ignore Frank’s call was literally the first thing he said to me.
But he has been sitting for the entire 10 minute bus ride with his knee pressed to mine, and I cannot for the life of me calm the butterflies that are soaring around in my stomach and around my heart.
From touching knees.
So pathetic.
When the bus comes to a halt, I glance outside and see the stadium.
Shitshitshit.
“What’s wrong?” Mack asks.
