Page 82 of Endurance
I smile and bite my lip. A heavy silence stretches out and I can tell he wants to say more so I add, “I’m sure that meant you two were very close.”
He exhales and drops a soft kiss to my hair. “We were,areI mean. We still are, but we’re not. It’s…different now that he’s not on the pitch with me anymore.”
My brows knit as he continues.
“I think being twins put us at a huge advantage in a match. Communication was instinctual. Effortless, like breathing. Have you ever noticed how we always stand on the same side of each other?”
“No,” I reply, a bit fascinated.
“Yeah, not just on the pitch either. It’s everywhere we go. Cam is always on my right side. It’s bizarre. We don’t even mean to do it, but we have a constant awareness of each other.”
“That’s incredible.”
“So we’ve had this our whole lives. Then when he left for Arsenal and I went to Tower Park without him…it felt like…one of my lungs was missing.”
My heart clenches at the vulnerability in his words. “I’m sure you miss him.”
“But I’m also so fucking proud of him I could burst. He’s acing it with Arsenal, and watching him out there is incredible.” He pauses for a beat before adding, “But is it completely selfish of me to want him back by my side?”
“Not at all,” I answer and scrunch into him while dropping a kiss on his forearm. “I understand it. I felt similar when Indie left The Royal London Hospital.”
Indie and I had been beside each other since med school, but as our interests became more focused, it pulled us further apart professionally. Then she started getting serious with Camden and things continued to change. We probably had an easier time of it than Tanner and Camden because we’re used to being on our own more than they are. We didn’t grow up like the Harris family and we certainly never shared a womb. But she’s still my version of family.
“If I wouldn’t have had my fellowship with Dr. Miller coming up, I think I would have been completely gutted to lose Indie.”
His grip on me tightens. “It’s like having a security blanket taken away.”
I half smile. “Exactly.”
He kisses me and sighs, “I’m finally starting to see myself without Cam. I need my team to see that, too.”
“They will,” I reply. “You’re a hard one to miss, Tanner Harris. And you may have lost a teammate, but you haven’t lost Cam. You’re biological brothers. Nothing will ever change that.”
He pulls in a large breath and I feel his chest rise against my back. When he exhales, his muscles soften and his body relaxes into me as if he’s unloaded the world off his shoulders. He nuzzles his chin into my hair and whispers, “I…” He pauses as he searches for his words. “I need to be inside you again.”
My brows lift. “Oh, I suppose I could withstand another mind-shattering orgasm.”
He kisses my giggles away and makes love to me like I never knew he could.
“WHAT DO YOU THINK OFthis one?” Indie asks, stepping out of the dressing room at a secondhand boutique she insisted we go to.
I squint at the strapless red dress. “It’s good but I liked the black one better, darling,” I answer from the purple chaise lounge that I’m currently stretched out on like a cat in heat. It’s the only perk to this godforsaken shop.
I don’t consider myself a snob, but Indie is the cheapest person I’ve ever met. She constantly looks at the price tags everywhere we go. Even on a menu. And it’s not to differentiate the steak price from the burger. It’s to save two pounds by getting a tuna sandwich instead of salmon. I know her job shadowing at Bethnal Green F.C. pays practically nothing but still. Her defiant independence is maddening. I could have easily ordered her a new dress and we could be drinking wine right now instead of rifling through used clothing in Shoreditch, but she’s a willful little thing.
“Black it is,” Indie says, disappearing behind the curtain. “How much time do we have?”
“About an hour before the guys said to be back.”
“Okay, perfect. I’m just about done here.”
Indie and I are out last minute shopping in preparation for the big hospital fundraiser tomorrow night. We’ve both been in Loversville with our hot Harris men all week, so we were in dire need of some girl time. However, it will be short-lived because Tanner and Camden are making dinner for the four of us tonight. It’s likely going to be chicken and rice or some derivative of that because that’s apparently all footballers eat during the season.
“I’m so done with this shopping nonsense,” Indie adds. “I hate trying on dresses. You have to take all of your clothes off and think about what undergarments you’re wearing. It’s a pain in the arse.”
“But you look gorgeous in them.” I laugh at her tiny fit.
“So do you. Your dress for tomorrow night is wicked.”
