“But why did you come?” she asked softly. He shrugged, walking over to her.
“I wanted to see you. I had someone at the club cover my shift. I just couldn’t stand to go and be so close to you and not touch you.”
He crossed the last few feet between them and opened his arms, trying to gently put his arms around her. She pushed him off, actually grabbing his hands and ducking out of the way to walk around him.
When he turned to face her, he was shocked to see her eyes had turned hard. He’d never seen her so hostile before.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “Are you sick? Is that why you left girls' night early?”
“In a manner of speaking,” she said, looking away.
Gage could feel a terrible fear rising in him. If he had been triggered before, now he was the bullet itself. He had that wild, horrible feeling that the world was out of control, and he was powerless within it.
Like being a hairsbreadth away from being blown to hell.
His emotions collided, leaving him irritated that she couldn’t just tell him what her problem was. She could see she was upsetting him with her weird behavior, so why couldn’t she just tell him the truth?
“Rylee, please, just tell me what’s going on.”
She looked down, searching the floor. When she raised her eyes, her expression was very serious.
“Gage, how do you feel about kids?”
“What?” he asked, grinning. He couldn’t understand where the question was coming from.
Maybe she wants to unload about a bad day at work.
“I could never work with kids,” he said, laughing. “I don’t know how you do it. I barely get by with adults…at least with them I know it’s a fair fight, though. Kids are just relentless little shits.”
“I’m not talking about work!” she snapped. “I want to know if you ever thought about having kids.”
Now she stared him right in the face, her eyes locked on his. There was a depth to her gaze that made him feel like he’d just blundered into the deep end of a pool and forgotten how to swim.
“What?” he muttered, truly confused.
“Have you ever thought about being a father?” she asked, her voice soft as her eyes stayed locked on his.
“No,” he said, shocked. “I can barely take care of myself, let alone someone else.”
They stared at each other, the shadows in the apartment seeming to get deeper as the pieces of the puzzle shifted around Gage’s head. There was an obvious explanation for this line of questioning, but Gage refused to accept it.
“I thought so,” she said softly. Gage felt like a sharp, cold rock was being dropped through his stomach. He still had no idea what was going on, and his emotions were colliding in creative new ways he’d never experienced.
I think I’d rather be a hairsbreadth from being blown up right now. It’s a far simpler disaster than this.
“I …” Gage took a step toward Rylee, holding out a hand. “I could tell you a lot about things that have happened to me. But I don’t know if it would help. I don’t have plans like Talon and Draco do. It’s different for me. I’m not like them.”
Rylee looked into his eyes, her mouth a straight line. How he wanted to touch those beautiful lips, kiss them, and make her smile. He held out a hand again as if to embrace her, and she shook her head.
The pieces in Gage’s head were falling together. It was the only obvious reason for her behavior. He could feel denial radiating from his every cell. He prayed to any god or devil that might be listening to let him be wrong.
They stared at each other for what felt like forever. Gage could hear Rylee breathing, short, soft breaths that sounded a bit like a panicked rabbit. When her hand moved toward her purse, his eyes snapped to it, desperately flicking away from her eyes.
He usually loved to look into her eyes, but tonight, they were frightening. He saw something he had never seen in them, and he was terrified it would drive them apart forever.
Without saying a word, Rylee reached into her purse and pulled out a small box. At first, he was confused, thinking she had gotten him a gift.
If she did, this is the weirdest possible way to give it to me.