“Since we are already talking about all of this, I think you should know about the second half of this conversation that the boys didn’t want to tell you about. I think you deserve to know, though.”
“Jemma,” Beckett said her name. The firmness was something I hadn’t heard from him yet. “That is different.”
“Just like all this shit that happened with shit face involves them both, so does this.” Jemma waved her hand at him, disregarding the admonishment. I looked over to Ryker, who was no longer looking at me, but down at the mug he had in his hand.
“Ryker wants to out himself,” Jemma said, since neither of the boys was talking now.
My eyes widened; her words shocked me. I pulled away quickly, like I’d just been slapped.
“What?” I exclaimed. “Absolutely not. Isn’t this the whole point of meeting Melody? The contract? So that Parker doesn’t announce it to the world?”
“No.” My gaze went straight to Ryker as he spoke up. His eyes finally met mine, and there was something there, something serious I hadn’t seen from him before. “The point of the meeting isn’t for that; it’s so that we can make sure Parker never comes back around for you. That is why we are meeting with them. His not telling the world who I am is just a blip into what we want from him, which is to never be able to hurt you again in any capacity.”
“Ryker wants to do this on his terms.” Beckett followed up.
Jemma moved away from me, and Ryker made quick moves to take her space. His eyes searched mine.
“I can’t let you do that.” I reached up, both of my hands holding his face, and brought it down to me. Our foreheads pressed together.
“It’s my choice.” He leaned in further, placing a kiss against my lips. “I’ve thought about doing this long before the award show, and long before we decided to take this relationship any further.”
“I had no idea.” Ryker had never really mentioned not liking that he was an anonymous gamer, but then again, I hadn’t known who he was for very long.
“The café and my name were only ever the true reasons that I started gaming the way I do. With the sale of the café, yesterday was only the catalyst for this to happen. It’s something that’s already been in motion before we even met at the ball.”
“Are you sure?” I reached my hand up, searching his eyes this time. They’d softened, and a smile grew on his face as he kissed my lips.
“Yes, and this isn’t something uncommon for those who game like I do. The only thing different about me doing it is how long I’ve been doing it like this. We are going to have to figure out how to work this and do it right because it will garner a lot of traction when it is announced.”
“Exactly why I wanted her to know now,” Jemma added, giving a pointed look to both men.
“Beckett and I were talking about it last night and this morning, but would have never made a final decision without you, because I know how much this would affect you, too.”
I stared at him. I didn’t know fully what to say. This was crazy—the fact that this man was going to implode his whole career just for me. For us. I had no idea why he would want to do that.
“But why?” I asked.
“Because I love you and want not just to protect you, but to protect us.”
“That went far better than expected,” I stated as I turned on the treadmill. Beckett was next to me, doing the same. I placed an earbud in, giving him my attention as we both started our workout.
We’d met Melody and Parker with our lawyers this morning. She’d made the smart decision not to allow Parker to speak during the meeting; he’d sat there with his arms crossed as his lawyer went over the contract. They’d agreed to all terms without argument.
It seemed like Melody had wanted this all to just go away, and the easiest way to do that was to make sure Parker signed and stayed away. She didn’t even give him the option to object, just handed him the pin to sign, and pushed the papers in front of him. His career was essentially over with the flick of his wrist.
Once signed, he stormed out of the office.
We’d left shortly afterwards and were now at the gym, letting off some much-needed steam.
“In, out, and done,” Beckett said as he upped his speed, beginning to jog.
“I was also thinking about what Jemma said last week about Odette’s birthday.” Along with the conversation, we had talked about Parker coming to her house and me outing myself. Jemmahad also given us some insight about Parker and Odette’s relationship that I hadn’t even known. She was worried about all of this happening so close to Odette’s birthday and how it would affect her, and while I would have preferred Odette to tell me about what had happened, I was grateful for Jemma.
I knew a lot about Parker because of what Odette had told me, but not about her birthday; the sheer fact that it was next month boggled me since she hadn’t brought it up at all. I wanted to do something for her, but Jemma was worried. She also wanted to do something big for Odette, but with the whole Parker situation, she was on pins and needles with what to do.
“I think something small would be nice.” Beckett chimed in.
“Yeah,” I clicked my speed up a few notches. “But I also thought of inviting her team, and maybe some other friends she has. Make it really special for her; let her know that she has people here for her.”
