The question slams into my chest as my words from a few weeks ago echo through my mind.
“Dylan is gone for another three weeks. Let me love you how you deserve to be loved, and at the end of them, if you’re still not ready to tell him about us, then we’ll be together in secret.”
Fear seeps into my bloodstream. What if she wanted to keep our relationship hidden? What if I just took away her choice?
Indy frowns, almost like she’s reading every paralyzing thought. “Gareth—no.” She shakes her head. “Of course it’s not what I wanted, but what if this just costyoueverything?”
And it damn well might.
I’ve spent years agonizing over whether pursuing her was worth losing him.
Years of throwing myself into my sport, my grades, my career—anything to bury down my feelings I couldn’t outrun.
Years wondering if enough time had passed for Dylan to ever be happy for us.
I lost him anyway.
But I haveher.
“It won’t,” I answer honestly. “Becauseyouare my everything.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Leaving Indy’s house two days ago, after Dylan walked in on us together, was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
She let me hold her, her body curling into mine as we lay there for hours, clinging to each other like the world beyond her bedroom didn’t matter. It should have been peaceful—the calm after the storm—but it was anything but. Both of us were ripped open, hearts bleeding, lying broken in the aftermath of the destruction we’d caused.
And still, I couldn’t bring myself to regret it. Not for a second.
Sometime between late afternoon and evening, when the golden glow of the sunlight radiated its warmth through her bedroom window, Indy told me she needed to take some time alone.
To process.
Tofeel.
Her heart had just been shattered by the only other man in her life capable of breaking her.
I nodded once and climbed out of her bed, every instinct screaming for me to stay.
She assured me she loved me. That she only needed a little time.
Reluctantly, I’ve been giving it to her.
But I’m terrified she’s going to change her mind about us.
“Hey, Gareth! Get your head in the game!”
Declan’s stern voice cuts across the field where he stands in the shade of the dugout.
This practice has been a complete disaster. I’ve missed catches I could have made with my eyes closed. Let Austin strike me out like I was a goddamn rookie.
All because my thoughts won’t stop drifting to her.
Two days have felt like an eternity. It feels like a piece of my soul is missing without her near me.
I want to hold her in my arms and kiss her softly. I want to pour every ounce of emotion into showing her how much I love her.
Then I want to fuck her hard—remind her she’s embedded into my heart just as permanently as I’m embedded in hers.
