His concern worried me, but if this was us moving in the direction of him opening up to me, I was here for it. I had no idea what could have him this worked up.
Please, just don’t be in love with someone else.
Or a serial killer.
“I want to show this to you.” Ryker walked toward me, grabbed my hand, and then led me toward the back of the house down a long hallway. “I need to show this to you. Before things go further.”
He stopped short in front of a closed door and then turned around to look at me.
Now I was more worried, mostly by what he was saying. We were standing in front of a door at the end of the hallway, and I had no idea what was behind it.
Was this someFifty Shadeskinky stuff? I wasn’t against it, but I wasn’t fully prepared for what might be inside the room.
“Should I be scared or worried?” I let out a nervous laugh, but unlike earlier, Ryker did not follow. “Ryker.”
I said his name more firmly. I needed something more from him in this moment than silence.
“This is important to me,” he started. He took a deep breath, squeezed my hand, and then continued. “But you are also becoming so important to me. So, I need to show this to you, Odette.”
The way he said my name was starting to calm my nerves.
“I want us to be together. Like, together, together.” Ryker’s admission calmed every nerve that had been standing on end.
My shoulders sank, and I relaxed into his touch.
“I want that, too.” It was the one true thing I knew without knowing what Ryker was going to show me. I wanted to be with him, and Ryker saying he wanted to be with me had me even less worried about what was behind that door.
He grabbed the door handle and pushed open the door.
I stepped in and took in my surroundings.
At first, I was unsure of what I was seeing, but then it started to click together. A large desk sat in the middle of the room. Three computer monitors filled the space around the desk; ambient multi-colored lighting surrounded the room. A microphone was propped in front of the quite large gaming chair that was in front of the desk.
Now, this was a gaming setup.
These were, however, not the photos that I’d seen from social media, but this was a true gamer setup. When I’d talked to Jemma, we thought this might be a possibility, but I was confused.
I looked around the room more. Shelves with knickknacks lined the walls, and that’s when I realized what all of this was. Except I needed to hear it from Ryker. Because right now I was looking at a gamer award. I scanned the walls again, not just one award, but multiple.
Was he actually a gamer like how Parker was?
I turned toward him.
“What is this?”
Odette Reign was in my office.
She was standing in the middle of my office, looking around at the different items I’d had viewers send me over the years. Awards I’d won. If she looked hard enough at my bookshelves, she’d see her books there, too.
I wanted to freeze this moment, keep us in it forever, but Odette had asked me a question and I needed to answer her. Explain all of this.
“This is where I game and stream.” I walked over to my desk. “My lights change based on what I am currently playing, and this is Rex.”
I pointed to the stuffed dinosaur in my gaming chair, which I wasn’t sure Odette had seen.
“These are some of the awards I’ve won and gifts from viewers.” I motioned to the different walls and then looked back to Odette, who was still standing there staring at me.
Please say something.
