“Any luck?”
“Nope.”I sigh.“I’m not sure what I’ll do if I can’t find something soon.My rent is due, and I have some savings, but I’ll burn through it quickly if I don’t find another job.”
“You can move in here,” Declan suggests.
I snort.
He stares at me, his expression serious.
“Wait?You’re serious?”
“Of course.”
“Declan, are you insane?We’ve known each other for like a week and a half!We only started dating yesterday!”
“When you know, you know,” he says simply.
I stare at him like he has two heads.“You’re nuts.”
“Not at all,” he says calmly.“I’m sure about us.I trust you.I’m all in, Elle.I don’t want to waste more time fighting what’s between us.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Declan smiles, pulling me into his arms.His head lowers, and his lips are almost on mine when the doorbell rings.He sighs and kisses me quickly before he goes to get the pizza.
We sit on the couch as we eat, talking and learning more about each other.
He clears his throat as my gaze strays to his desk.“You can ask me about it.”
I shake my head.“I don’t want to pry.”
“Elle, I want you to know me.”
“Okay,” I say softly.
He takes a deep breath, and I shove a bite of pizza into my mouth so I don’t say something stupid.
“I started showing an interest in hockey when I was three or four.The story goes that I was skating before I could run.”
I nod, and he goes on.
“Turns out I was good.A prodigy.That didn’t matter to me.I just loved being out on the ice.It was fun.My favorite place to be.”
I set my pizza aside, sensing that the bad part of this story is coming up.
“My grandpa and dad were proud of me.That’s what I thought anyway.”
“They weren’t?”I ask softly.
He shakes his head.“They were narcissists.Didn’t care about me or my interests.They cared about how I made them look.Pretended to be supportive, sitting up in the stands, but when we were alone, they were monsters.They hit me, berated me for every little thing they thought I did wrong out on the ice.When I got older, I started to fight back, but that only made it worse.”
I scoot closer on the couch.“I’m so sorry.”
“They never hurt Violet or my mom.I made sure of that.They mostly ignored them, though.My dad never cared about my sister, and I don’t think my grandpa did either.He never gave her a gift.”
I take his hand, rubbing my thumb over the back.
“My grandpa died when I was fourteen, and I was honestly relieved.I didn’t go to his funeral.Didn’t cry.That pissed my dad off.Some of those pictures were from after the funeral.”
