Page 125 of Not Made to Last

I look at him, disgusted that he would even think otherwise.

“Sorry,” he chuckles, then lifts me up and off of him.

I watch him go into the bathroom, then I go back to scrolling on Pinterest, only looking up when the door opens again. I wait for him to get back into bed so I can bore him with more of my ramblings but, instead, he slips on some clothes and his shoes,then grabs his keys. One hand on the door to the garage, he asks, “Are you coming?”

With a heavy sigh, I climb out of bed, throw on one of his hoodies and slip my feet into slides. “One day,” I tell him, “I’m going to actually say no when you ask me that.”

I don’t know where we’re going, but then again, the destination hardly matters when it comes to Rhys. I’m just happy to be on the ride.

He drives us to the hospital.

The emergency room entrance to be exact.

After he finds a spot and puts his SUV in park, I tell him, “You don’t have to admit me.”

“What?”

“I’m not clinically insane,” I answer, wide-eyed. “So maybe I’m a little obsessed with the house, but can you blame me?”

Rhys chuckles, a deep sound that forms in his gut, and I wish I could bottle it. He reaches up, pinches both my cheeks, and I shove his hands away. “Come on, my little nutjob.”

He’s holding my hand in the middle of the waiting room and pointing to an empty seat. “That’s the one,” he says.

I look up at him. “Maybe you need to be committed.”

“That’s the one,” he repeats, motioning to the seat. “That’s the exact one you were sitting in the first night we met in person.”

I look from the chair, to him, a slow smile spreading across my lips. “It is,” I say, releasing his hand so I can sit down. I look around the space. It’s quieter now than it was back then, with hardly any patients waiting to be seen.

“Max was here,” I murmur, pointing to the two chairs beside me. “And I remember you asked the nurses for a blanket for him and covered him up. I thought you were so sweet.”

Rhys nods, still standing in front of me. “What else did you think about me that night?”

“That you were cocky as hell, but you kind of had every right to be, considering how hot you were. I mean, I’d seen you before,” I say, lowering my gaze. Shame heats my cheeks, but I don’t hold back. “I’d looked up pictures of you, seen you play against Dominic, and watched videos of you.”

“So, technically, you stalked me first, huh?”

I shrug, laugh under my breath. “I guess.”

He sits down beside me. “I sat here that night,” he murmurs. “So many empty seats and I chose the one next to yours.”

I smile, getting lost in the memories. “Your arm kept brushing against mine.”

“A hundred percent on purpose,” he says, and I face him, eyebrows raised in question. He simply nods. “That’s why I sat so close. It happened once in the truck, and there was something about your touch. About our connection.” He laughs, almost embarrassed. “That’s why I asked you to hang out with me. I… couldn’t get enough of you then, and I still can’t now.”

“I feel the same,” I admit, “and I don’t think that’s ever changing.”

Rhys nods, agreeing, and for a long moment, we sit in silence, lost in our thoughts. Our emotions. “If it wasn’t in the contract with my mom—would you have wanted to meet me in person? Because I asked once, and you never acknowledged reading it.”

I swallow my nerves. “Of course, Iwantedto, but…”

“But what?”

“I don’t know,” I say shrugging. “I was scared.”

“Ofme?”

“No,” I’m quick to say, facing him again. “I was scared that reality wouldn’t live up to the fantasy, I guess.”

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