Page 60 of Vegas with my Ex’s Best Friends

“I definitely have morning sickness. I’m tired all the time. But overall…I’m okay.” I say. My throat burns saying it out loud.

He closes his eyes, jaw tightening as he breathes through his nose—the face of someone who learned young not to fall apart in front of people.

When he opens them the composure is back. But I saw it. The crack before he covered it.

He scrubs a hand over his mouth, slow, like he's buying time.

“I know why you didn't tell me,” he says quietly. “That doesn't make it hurt less.”

I want to apologize. I start to, and he shakes his head once.

“Don't.” His voice is rough around the edges. “I'm not asking you to be sorry. I just—” He looks away for a second, then back at me. “Years I've been trying to fix this. And you still thought I'd bolt the second things got hard.”

“I didn't know which way it would go,” I say. “I still don't.”

“Yes you do.” He holds my gaze. “You know me, Riley. You've always known me.”

He reaches forward and takes my hand.

My first instinct is to pull back.

Not because I don't want him touching me.

Because I do.

But wanting him to stay has never ended well for me.

I look at his hand around mine.

“I'm staying,” he says. “I need you to hear that. Whatever this is, whatever happens next—I'm not disappearing. You set whatever distance you need. I'll stay behind it. But I am not going.”

I don't know if I believe him yet.

Part of me still wants to pull away. The rest of me is too tired to fight it.

But I don't pull my hand back.

His thumb moves once across my knuckles.

Slow. Tender. Like he's testing whether I'm going to pull away.

I feel it everywhere. Not just in my hand. In my chest. In the tight space behind my ribs that's been braced for weeks.

I don't move.

Neither does he.

For a second, the room feels too quiet. Too still. Like everything is balanced on the edge of something that hasn't happened yet.

His fingers tighten slightly around mine.

Not trapping.

Holding.

“Okay,” I say.

He holds my gaze a moment longer. Checking. Then he nods once and stands. He looks at Ethan, then at Liam.