Page 88 of Cherry Picking
My limbs are too light to hold me up, but when I crash down, it’s into Riley’s arms. Sweaty and covered in cum, his mouth latches onto mine for a slow and coaxing kiss.
“Do you feel better?”
I sigh into his mouth and drop my head back on the mattress. “I’m still sad, but … the haze is gone.”
“Good.” He kisses my mouth again. “It feels like you haven’t been here all day, and you have to leave in the morning.”
Right. My last day with Riley before packing it up and heading back to Tennessee. Back to hockey.
“Are you coming back?” I ask.
He opens his mouth, closes it, and drops his forehead to mine. “I don’t know. I stepped away because I felt like we needed some breathing room, but now that I’m here … I realize how much I’ve missed this. Missed them. Parker still has a couple of years left before he goes off to college, and I want to know him. I want him to know me.”
“I’ll never stand in the way of what you want in life, Riley. If what you need is your family, be here with them. It’s not like I’m going anywhere you can’t find me.”
Riley rolls, cups my cheek in his hand and gives me the most loving smile that squeezes right around my heart.
“Thank you for being patient with me through all of this.”
“What am I going to do? Tell you to march downstairs and tell your parents we’re dating even though I see how much you struggle with it?”
He sighs, kisses me softly, and sighs again. “No. But you could decide it isn’t worth it. That we aren’t worth the secrecy.”
“Of course we’re worth the secrecy,” I say. “What you have to decide is when we’re worth the honesty.”
I don’t know how much waiting I have left in me, but I know I can’t take losing him again.
At least for now, I can give him a little more time.
CHAPTER 21
RILEY
Dinner holdsa tense awkwardness that only I feel.
I can tell because my family is all bubbles and laughter, Griff’s sister fitting in like an extension of them and not a new addition.
Nothing between Griff and I feels resolved. It’s like we’ve hit a pause button. One where I hold the remote—and Griff’s heart.
Remembering my conversation with Parker, I have no doubts that coming out would only get me support from my family.
Why do I still feel so unsure?
“I’m just saying that the guy they’ve padded the line with is an ill-fitted replacement, that’s all,” Dad grumbles after the third time Mom tells him to stop pestering Griffin about the roster.
“Honey, let’s be honest, unless it’s Riley back on the team, you’ll have a problem with anyone.”
“Well my son was the best defenseman they had. Can you blame me?”
Griffin chuckles beside me, grabbing my thigh under the table. “He’s right,” he whispers. “I miss playing with you out there.”
“Oh, you know my brother has it bad when he compliments another player.”
All eyes swivel to Cam, who is smiling joyfully and shoveling a spoonful of food in her mouth when she catches drift of everyone’s attention.
“What?” She covers her mouth with one hand until she finishes her bite and looks around. “Seriously, what? My brother having a thing for Riley is the world’s worst kept secret.”
While I expect silence and heavy stares to follow, it’s Griffin’s immediate laughter that fills the space. For a moment, my stomach drops, but then he smiles at me with the weight of all the feelings so much stronger than just having a thing for me, and that pit fills with regret.
