I can’t keep fighting this.
My cell phone rings as I pull away from a traffic signal.
It’s Bryce.
Part of me doesn’t want to answer. I know what he’s going to want to talk about. It’s normally a good phone call, hearing how our plan worked…again.
But with the prospect of Lucy so close, I don’t want to speak with him, honestly.
But he’s my friend.
And also, it doesn’t matter what the hell I want. This is about Never Alone.
I touch answer on my speakerphone system.
“Hello?” Bryce says, his voice filling the car.
“Hey,” I reply. “How’s it going?”
“Pretty good, actually, my grumpy old friend.” Bryce sounds upbeat. “A few high net-worth donors the past couple of days. It’s those haunting eyes, Logan, you heartbroken, heartbreaker you.”
Bryce says this with his usual joking tone. It’s how we always shoot the shit, as has been ever since we met in the locker room.
But today, I find it difficult to summon the same enthusiasm.
“Hello?” Bryce says.
“I’m here,” I tell him, taking the corner. The community center is at the end of the street.
“You sound…are you okay?”
I sigh, driving down the street. “I’m fine.”
As I park, I glance at the clock. I’ve got thirty minutes until Lucy’s due to get here.
I sit back, clenching and unclenching my fists.
I should’ve waited a little before leaving, but I couldn’t.
My inner beast was already angry at me for not going after her last night. I need hernow.
“All right,” Bryce says after a pause. “If you’re sure.”
“Except I think I’m falling in love.”
The words rush out, word vomit like Lucy said.
It’s not exactly what I mean. It doesn’t describe this feeling as accurately as I’d like. It doesn’t encompass the totality of my feelings, the need to possess her, support her, be with her forever, the primal depth of my hunger, or the certainty she’s going to give me children.
“What?” Bryce says after a long,longpause. “Did I hear that right?”
“Yeah.”
“Hell, who’s the lucky girl? Is it one of the women from the paparazzi shots?”
“No,” I tell him firmly. “Her name’s Lucy. We helped her, Never Alone did, I mean, when her dad died just over half a year ago. I met her last week.”
“And you think you’re falling in love with her?”