Page 164 of Unloved

I’d planned to play for them, but had excused absences whenever I was needed at home. It turned out I wouldn’t need even one.

She was gone before the semester started.

I search for that memory now—a hazy party scene, not even a clear face of one team member who was with me. And then, a phone call—shrill and unforgettable.

Painful, even now.

Archer, whispering a broken “Matty” and then, “I’m so sorry.” A stumbled walk to the dorms, which were nearly too far—and Bennett fucking Reiner, with his dad, taking care of everything. Flying in a goddamn private plane and shaking, legs bouncing, the entire time.

The rest blurs and my eyes water, hands reaching up to rub them.

“Matt?” she asks, her voice trembling. “Can I hug you?”

“Please,” I rasp.

She doesn’t know why I’m crying but she doesn’t ask—she doesn’t even try. Ro holds me, her long arms winding around my broad shoulders and pulling me closer.

“I’m sorry, Matty,” she says, but her voice overlays with Archer’s in my head.

After my tears subside, I manage to wrangle the story from my brain and out of my mouth. It takes awhile and I stutter over a lot of it, but Ro sits patiently, listens, all while keeping my hand in hers.

Patience. Kindness. Love. It pours from her like water.

“I need to stop unloading on you like this.” I laugh, releasing her hand from mine and wiping my eyes until I’ve pulled it together. “It’s ridiculous.”It feels like I’m leaching your strength and love and warmth, I don’t say.And I don’t want to be that to you.

“No,” she says lightly. “I want to be there for you. You’ve been there for me more times than I can count. And besides, I like this part of a relationship. I think it’s healthy, and I haven’t had that before.”

“Me neither.”

In the quiet of my room, we stare at each other, until adoring smiles burst beneath our sparkling lovestruck gazes. It is still and perfect.

She stands, slowly and almost begrudgingly, to get ready for her shift. I grab her and pull her back to me.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving me,” I mutter, pouting my bottom lip and moping up at her. She laughs and shoves me off gently, grabbing her clothes and dressing carefully.

“I’m going to work—not the military.” She bites her lip and walks into the open bathroom, messing with her hair. I scoop a few butterfly clips off my nightstand and follow her, coming up behind her. It’s comical—me, completely naked; her, fully dressed. I comb a few strands back like I’ve watched her do a thousand times before, securing a clip into one side and then repeating the process with the other.

“Perfect,” I whisper, leaning down to kiss her, arms around her waist. She blushes up at me and my cock starts to harden all overagain—which only works like a vicious cycle, making her cheeks hotter. “Give me a second and I’ll drive you.”

“Okay,” she says dreamily. I perch her on the counter so she can watch me change in the way I watched her. We descend the stairs hand in hand and out to the driveway, where I parked a little haphazardly on the sidewalk.

“I have a request,” she says once we’re inside the car, music playing softly.

“What’s that?”

“I think you should call Archer.”

My throat closes up almost immediately, sweat beading at my brow. “I… I don’t think he would want to talk to me now. I ignored him for forever—”

She shakes her head, looking at me softly, affection and warmth heavy in her gaze. “I don’t think that’s true, Matt. I think he loves you and he probably wishes you would call him.”

I hate that she’s working today as I pull up in front of Brew Haven to drop her off for her shift. I want to ask her to stay, to talk to me until the echoes of shame are drowned out by her nearness.

She kisses me twice on the mouth, then once more on the cheek before she hops out, shivering from the icy wind immediately whipping against her.

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” she says. “Just think about it. I think it would be really good for you. Both of you.”

CHAPTER 58Freddy

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