As much as I would love to see Ryker again so soon, I needed to sleep on this.
“Odette,” Jemma’s voice snapped me out of the trance I was in. “Ryker’s laid out a secret that hardly anyone else knows. It sounds like he trusts you.”
“He said he trusted me.” I had told him I’d trusted him too.
I still did.
My whole body relaxed at the thought. I did trust him. No matter the reason, he wanted to tell me all of this. No one was forcing him to.
“Beckett, however, didn’t want him to tell me.” I let Jemma know.
“Beckett,” Jemma grumbled and reached for her phone, rattling off a text. “I will fucking strangle that man.”
“What is going on between you two?”
“Oh, you know, just an enemies-to-lovers thing.” Jemma waved her hand to dismiss it before putting her phone on the coffee table. “But I really think you need to tell Ryker how you feel about him. If not now, then tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow night.”
“That works, too.” Jemma let out a laugh as she patted my leg.
I would head over to Ryker’s house and tell him that I loved him.
“I love Ryker.”
The words slipped from my mouth, and I knew in hearing them that they were completely true. I was in love with this man, and fuck, I hoped he was in love with me too.
Beep beep.
My head shot up as I looked directly at the door.
That was the sound of a car locking and, hopefully, Odette making her way to my door.
I looked over to the clock on the microwave; it was most definitely her. She texted a bit ago that she was on her way over. That’s when I obsessively started to clean. Not like I hadn’t been doing it all day.
Ever since Odette left last night, I haven’t been able to sit still. I’d called Beckett after she drove away, and he came over to talk me off the ledge. I wanted to follow her. Wanted to explain more than I already had, but he’d blocked my exit and told me to give her space.
He’d also scolded me, reminded me it was too soon, and that we should have planned this out, but I just ignored him.
So, I waited. I didn’t go after her. I didn’t message her. I stayed off my phone until it lit up early this morning with a single text.
Odette: I want to see you.
My heart stopped as I read and reread the message, taking a good thirty minutes to respond, not wanting to seem eager thatI wanted to hear from her. I had only gotten three hours of sleep as I deep-cleaned the entire house, down to the floorboards. I should have been working on edits or making content, but I physically couldn’t sit still, and the only reason I slept at all was because I was taking a small break on the couch and passed out around four in the morning.
We’d settled on her coming over around eight tonight, but hadn’t discussed dinner or anything else, so I wasn’t sure what might happen. Would she stay? Would she leave again?
No. She said she’d come back, and you have to give her a chance to take it all in.
In the panic of not knowing, I ordered dinner, just in case.
Chinese food was sitting on the island of my kitchen, still in takeout containers with plates laid out next to them. I wasn’t sure what she liked, so I ordered about five different things, including the ever-important crab rangoons.
Everyone loved those.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out to see a message from Beckett.
Beckett: Breathe, damn it.
