Page 137 of Dream Chaser
This morning, she shattered, and when she did, she took me with her. Nothing between us but sweat and the kind of sounds that will live in my soul forever. When I told her I wanted all of it, I meantall—even the quiet mornings where her legs are tangled with mine, our breathing synced, and I don’t even have to open my eyes to know she’s watching me like she’s trying to memorize every freckle on my chest.
Eventually, we had to get up—it’s game day, regardless of how we’re all feeling about it.
Still, she insisted on being dropped at the brewery. I offered to stay and help out, but she just leaned up on her toes, kissed me once—slow and lingering—and said, “Go hang with your boys. I’ll see you later.”
She needs this, and I need her to be here, the girl I will forever be falling for.
So, I hit up the group chat, and within twenty minutes, we’re all at Hart’s place, controllers in hand, yelling over rounds of Mortal Kombat like we’re in college again and life hasn’t gone and made us men.
Hart and Grimes are already shit-talking over the only game we’ll be playing today. But the version of it required when we have a flower among our stank, so to speak.
“You love my aunt Iz?” Boone’s girl, Lily, asks from where she’s petting her pup, Bossy, a sibling to Hudson and Riley’s Major.
“I do,” I answer, sliding off the couch to join her on the floor.
“She loves you, too?”
“She does.”
“You gonna get married like Daddy and Syd?” The way she cocks her head to the side, freaking adorable.
“You think she’d say yes?” I ask.
She looks me over like she’s really pondering it, and the amount of time she takes has me a little freaking nervous. Then she nods. “Yep.”
I lean in. “Do you think she’ll want a little Lily with me?”
She shakes her head. “There’s only one me.” She looks up at Boone. “Only one Lily, right, Daddy?”
“Prettiest flower in the field.” He winks at her.
Lyndsey, Lily’s mom, comes to pick her up, and Lily has a whole conversation for the pups, saying their goodbyes for them and promising another playdate in three sleeps.
My chest tightens, and memories that were once fuzzy resurface: Angela and those tea parties with her stuffed animals.
Once Lily, Lyndsey, and Bossy have left, all eyes are on me and the shit talk starts about this morning. I let them have their moment.
I’m about ready to give them shit right back when there’s a knock on the door.
Hart looks at an iPad, taps a button, and says, “Come in.”
“Security system?” I ask.
“Mom’s boyfriend hooked me up even before shit went down and the boys came back into town.”
“They’re a fucking treat, right?” I chuckle.
Hart smirks and nods. “Good guys.”
“When they’re not being menaces. Gave Iz so much shit a few weeks ago, I thought I was going to have to deal with it.”
“Oh yeah?” Hart asks.
“Didn’t have to. Iz …” I stop shit-talking when Remington Ross and CJ and Matthew Abraham walk into the room. The looks on their faces tell me they heard.
“Iz what?” Remington asks, flopping down on the sectional beside me.
“Held her own.” I shrug.
