“Kind of,” she grimaced. “They had another agenda for me, a job lined up at a company my mother worked with, that had nothing to do with my degree. When I never showed up for the first day after graduation, it became an ultimatum on taking the job or finding somewhere else to live.”
I was quiet as I listened to Odette talk about her past. A pain filled my chest at the thought of how my parents were when I refused to take over the family business and how my father wanted nothing to do with me for years after he found out I was making money gaming.
I squeezed Odette’s hand again, letting her know that I was there for her.
“I’m assuming you left right after.”
“You would actually be wrong.” Odette let out a loud laugh, her head shaking. “I had nowhere to go, no friends, no real money to my name, so I took the job, saved as much as I could. It wasn’t until a few years into working there that I met my ex. In order to keep saving money, I stayed with my parents, and he lived in his own apartment. It was an odd arrangement, but we made it work for many years.”
“Then how’d you get here?” I asked, unsure of how her story would play out, and I wanted to know about her time withParker, because I knew that was exactly who the ex she was talking about was.
“Oh,” she leaned in, a glint in her eye that she was excited to tell me. “That’s a fun one.”
She took a few bites of pizza first before continuing.
“At some point, I realized that I had saved up enough that I could move out on my own, and that I could quit that job and do whatever I’d like. By then, I’d secretly already written many books but hadn’t done anything with them, so I started to query them to different publishing companies. It didn’t take long for The Ink Well to pick up my books and start to work with me to publish. The first few books did okay, but it was my third that took off and became a best seller. My name was everywhere, but I hadn’t told anyone what I was doing, not my family or my ex. It was mine and mine only.”
“Shit, baby.” I leaned in, taking Odette’s face in my hands, planting a kiss on her lips. She’d spent so much time doing this on her own.
“It was a lot and shortly after I quit my job, but Parker didn’t want to move in together yet, even though we’d been together for years by then, so I found a cheap apartment close to where he was and continued to work on my books. That’s also when I started on my first game. Parker wasn’t much of a gamer then, but he tested it out after I got some people to assist with the design and building of it. It did okay, but we went intoLeague of Witchesright after, pouring ourselves into it day and night. After six months of working on it, we were launching, and it was soaring on the charts.”
“An overnight success.”
Odette let out another laugh.
“If you’d consider pouring years of your life into your passion projects overnight, sure.”
“I do.” I leaned in and kissed her again. She placed her hands on my chest, roaming her fingers over my chest hair. “Fuck.”
“After a year ofLeague of Witchesbeing out, I couldn’t do all of it on my own, and that’s when I met Jemma, and we just clicked. She helped me and became my rock, so when I decided it was time to leave the city, because it was honestly not who I was anymore, and I needed out, I started looking for houses. I had hoped to get something for me and Parker, but even though he was breaking through with his own gaming, he didn’t want to leave. And I couldn’t stay. So, I found this house a year after that, and Jemma moved in next door quickly afterwards. Parker and I broke up about a month after that, and it’s just been me and Jemma ever since.”
“Sounds like quite the ride for you.”
“It has been, but I honestly wouldn’t change any second of it if it meant that I’d end up where I am. As much as I was scared about blowing up and the pressure it put on me, or the fact that my family nor Parker was ever there for me in my successes, I’m here now. And I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
Odette beamed at me, her meaning catching my breath. She was telling me everything she went through because she’d go through it all just to be here with me. I leaned in, placing my lips on her, letting her hands roam more over my body. I pulled her onto my lap, legs straddling me. My hands kneaded over her thighs, inching under my button-up she had on. I fucking loved every part of this woman. My hands moved to her ass, squeezing handfuls before I moved up her back and pulled her closer.
“I love being able to learn about your life.” I kissed down her neck, and Odette let out a soft moan.
She pulled away, grabbed my face with her hands, and looked me in the eyes. She searched them as if she were looking for something, anything, but I had no idea what.
“I want to know more about you.”
I took in a sharp breath at her request.
“But it doesn’t need to be right now.” She placed her forehead against mine, and we sat there in her kitchen; she had laid her life story out for me. Baring it all, and I could barely get out a story that involved what I did daily.
I wanted to tell her it all, right this second, but I had no plan for if it didn’t go well or what to do if she told others. I didn’t think she would, but this was a part of my life I’d kept secret from anyone who wasn’t my parents or Beckett.
A smile curved on her lips, and she planted a kiss on me. I let our lips meld together as one thought kept running through my head.
I want to tell her, though.
I wanted to lay everything out for her as she had done for me, but I needed to talk to Beckett first. Get my shit together and figure out when I could do this, because the longer I went with lying to her, the more I hated myself.
In all the time I’d spent talking with Odette and seeing her, I realized one true thing in this moment.
I just wanted to be me.
