Page 109 of Just Forever

He laughs softly. “We have Kian’s birthday party tomorrow.”

I groan. “Why do you insist on us having friends?”

His eyes shine with laughter. “I’m so sorry. I take all the blame. You should punish me for it later.”

I kiss him again. I miss him so much when he’s on the road, and it hasn’t gotten any easier in the years we’ve been together, but we make it work.

I yawn and lean against him. “Anything else on the schedule?”

“I’m pretty sure your mom has been talking about stopping by this weekend.”

I scratch the side of my nose and blow out a breath. “There’s a fifty-fifty chance she won’t show up.”

I say that more for myself than for Ryker. He knows all about how flighty my mother is, so it’s more of a reminder for me. I don’t expect her to suddenly change, but it helps to say it out loud.

Not that I even need it anymore. My mother is the way she is, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Nor do I really want to. I have a family, so the fact that she chooses not to be a real part of it stopped hurting a long time ago.

Besides, Genevive has pretty much adopted me by now, so she’s there for me just as she is for Ryker.

“I guess we’ll see what Mom does,” I say lightly.

Ryker doesn’t comment.

He’s still not a fan.

“Kian rented out a club to celebrate,” Ryk says, laughing when I make a face.

“Really?”

Ryk hums in reply. “Turns out he’s still young and not a part of an old married couple, so we have to endure for his sake.”

“Emotional extortion. Nice. Fine, I guess we’re going clubbing.”

He laughs again and kisses my shoulder.

There’ll be a lot of people there if I know anything about Kian at all, but these days that doesn’t give me pause. Ryk and I are sort of an open secret. Of course, people know by now. His team. Our friends. Our families.

A lot of people suspect or guess.

There are rumors.

Ryker doesn’t care.

So, I don’t either.

I sometimes get looks when I go to his games, and somebody recognizes me from his Instagram or something. I’ve learned to ignore those.

It’s us and our life, nobody else’s, so we choose carefully who we let into our circle. The rest of the world doesn’t get a seat at our table, and that’s the way we like it.

I wrap my arms tighter around his neck and kiss the corner of his mouth.

“I love you,” I say. “Thanks for marrying me all those years ago.”

He laughs. “I’d do it all over again. Every last second. Testicular cancer and all.”

I tilt my head to the side, a sudden idea flashing into my brain, and before I can even think, I blurt it out.

“Why don’t we?”

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