Page 130 of Well That Happened

She tilts her head. “You don’t usually drop everything and show up. Especially not for me.”

That lands somewhere between my ribs and stays there. She’s not wrong. But it still stings.

I don’t tell her that the guys couldn’t get here in time, that they freaked out and needed me here. Because that’s only half the truth. The moment I heard she was in the hospital, I was already on my way.

I step closer. “You live in my house.”

“I live in yourhouse, yes, but I’m not yourproblem.”

My jaw clenches. “You’re not a problem.”

She raises an eyebrow. “Could’ve fooled me.”

I want to say something. Something that matters. But all I can see is the way she looked the night she moved in—tired, messy, chaotic. Mine. Before I knew what that meant.

“You scared me,” I finally say.

It comes out low.

Her breath catches.

And now I can’t stop.

“You push so hard. You take care of everyone. You run yourself ragged trying to prove you can handle everything. But you don’t let anyone help. And it’s—” I shake my head. “It’s gonna break you, Rilee.”

She looks down at her hands. Doesn’t speak.

And that silence wrecks me worse than anything she could’ve said.

I step closer, slowly. Careful.

“I’m not good at this. Feelings. Talking. Saying things that… matter.” My throat tightens. “But I need you to know something.”

She lifts her eyes to mine, and it floors me—how vulnerable she looks. Like the wind just got knocked out of her.

“Do you understand how hard it is for me? Being the guy who watches you fall, but not the one who gets to pick you back up again?”

A beat of silence.

Then another.

“I didn’t know you cared,” she says the words softly, carefully.

“I didn’t either. Until I saw you fall apart and realized I couldn’t breathe.”

And then—she reaches for me.

Fingers curling into the front of my shirt, just enough to anchor herself.

I exhale and step into the space between us, cupping her cheek gently, like she might break.

She leans into it.

And everything tilts.

I kiss her. Slow, deliberate. Like the first deep breath after almost drowning.

She kisses me back.

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