Page 148 of Home Game

“Well, you two seem to get along.”

“She’s absolutely lovely, Ryan,” my mom’s voice was soft.

I crossed my arms and nodded slowly. “I know.”

“I’d be proud if you dated someone like Zoey. She’s polite and gentle. Funny and intelligent. She told me all about how she grew up and her recent trials and yet now she has a job with your accountant and she told me about her dreams to become an accountant.”

“She’s come a long way.”

“And the way she talks about you, I can tell that she cares very deeply about you.”

I knew there was a “but” coming, and I didn’t want to hear it. “I have feelings for her too, mom.”

She wiped her hands on the tea towel. “Are you thinking of pursuing a relationship with her?”

I didn’t know what I was planning. “I don’t know. She’s become a huge part of my life.”

“You’re moving towards deepening your relationship with her.”

After last night, I couldn't deny it. I wanted Zoey in my life and in my bed. Every single night. “Yes.”

She sighed. “It won't work.”

“Excuse me?”

“If you want a romantic relationship with Zoey, it won’t work. Not right now.”

I could feel my entire body get hot. I never fought with my mom, but right now, I felt nothing but angry words bubbling up inside me. I worked to keep my tone neutral. “Okay. Care to explain that?”

She came around the island and sat down beside me. “Zoey needs to be on her own.”

“Not true. She’s been on her own her entire life.”

“What I mean is, if you sweep her up into your life and take care of her like you have been, the dynamic between you is always going to be uneven. The fact that you saved her will come between you.”

“I did save her. That isn’t going to change.”

“She needs to save herself. She needs to thrive. Stand on her own two feet. She needs to understand that she can do so, without help from anyone. Then she will be an equal partner to you.”

“I’d never treat her as anything less than my equal.”

“I know that. But she will always feel that way. She needs to feel empowered. Find her own success. Get her own apartment. Earn her own money. So that she can feel whole. She has so much gratitude and hero worship for you, it won’t work. She needs to stand on both feet if you want anything serious between you two to work out.”

I wanted to stand up and howl.Thiswas the exact reason I had fought so hard not to take things further with Zoey. I had never been able to articulate it to myself, but somehow, I knew it wasn’t fair to cross those lines. A line I had crossed last night. And now, in one short conversation, Mom summed up weeks of internal debate and hot temptation. She explained me to me, in a way that no one else could.

I knew she was right. And it made me feel sick.

“What do you want, Ryan?” My mom stood up and wiped the counter.

That was a loaded question. “I don’t know.”

“Don’t pull that with me,” she chided. “If you don’t know what you want, you have no business sleeping in the same bed as Zoey.”

I wanted to live in Vancouver. I wanted to get along with my team. I wanted to take Zoey on trips during my time off and show her how big and wonderful this world was. I wanted to buy her things. And make her smile.

And I wanted to introduce Zoey to the wonders of sex. I wanted to give her orgasms in a hundred different ways. I wanted to fuck her into oblivion before I pulled her naked body against mine to keep her safe from the monsters in this world and her nightmares about those monsters.

I wanted to protect her from the Terrances of this world and use my money to buy her whatever her heart desired.

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