Then she stepped out onto the stage and I couldn’t believe my fucking eyes.
This is her first big show? No way. No. Fucking. Way.
Obviously, though, there was awaybecause it was, without a doubt, Serenity walking onto the stage I was standing only a few feet away from. Serenity Ramirez.MySerenity Ramirez, and in her hands, she was carrying the guitar I’d gotten her at the Khan El Khalili Bazaar in Cairo.
What the fuck is happening right now?I blinked again, wondering if I was dreaming, but when pain raced through me after I pinched myself, I knew this was real. Whatever was happening, it really was happening.
Serenity was here, at my tournament, and as she took her place in the middle of the stage, I could’ve sworn she was looking for someone.For me.
Since I was near the front of the area dedicated for the gamers, it didn’t take her long to find me, and when she did, her eyes locked on mine and she smiled as she brought the microphone to her mouth.
“Good evening, New York,” she said into the mic, quickly looking away from me to let her gaze skim over the crowd before she brought her eyes back to mine.
The audience went nuts for her, but I didn’t blame them. She was the hottest thing going right now. Plus, she looked fucking hot. The opening bars to her song started, and as people recognized it, the roar of the crowd became deafening.
“Thank you so much for having me tonight,” she said over the din. “I know you’re all eager to get started, so I won’t keep you for long.”
The crowd finally started quieting down, and Serenity gave it another moment before she spoke again. “I’ve only got one song for you tonight, and it’s dedicated to the man I love. The man who showed me the world and who helped me get to where I am today. He’s here tonight, and I wanted him to know that I love him and that this is for him.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Of course, there were many different types of love and I’d always known she loved me as a friend, but as I started recognizing the song too and realized that it was the one she’d played for me in Hawaii, I knew that she hadn’t meant that she loved me as a friend.
This wasthesong, and it was all about deep, intense, romantic love. About feeling like you couldn’t breathe when the other person wasn’t with you and about how she wanted to spend the rest of her life in his arms.
Myarms, apparently. As she sang, I listened to the lyrics more intently than ever before. Our eyes met again and my heart started galloping as it glued itself back together. All of the hurt and pain of the last few weeks melted away as she sang about her love for me to hundreds of people.
She belted out how I’d always been the one for her and how she never should’ve let me go in the first place. Now that I knew she was singing about us, I felt like an idiot for not having realized it the first time I’d heard the song.
On the other hand, I had suspected but I hadn’t wanted to make assumptions about it being how she really felt about me when all she’d done was her job. She wrote songs for a living. It seemed like a leap to assume that she’d been trying to tell me anything with this one, but now? Now I felt like a tool.
The crowd went absolutely crazy for her when the music faded. She looked at me again, winked, took a bow, and then wished all the players good luck before she left the stage. I started pushing through the people around me to go to her, but before I got two yards, the announcer was back, saying we had to take our places.
It was time for me to play, and when I did, I played better than ever before. Hearing her sing that song about us to so many people after admitting to them all that she loved me had made me realize a lot of things. Sure, it had also made me realize that I’d been an idiot for not saying anything to her earlier or picking up that the song was for me in Hawaii, but it had made me realize that if she could do something that bold, that brave, then I could sure as shit pull it together for one tournament.
And I did.
I pulled it together so well that I managed to forget about everything else—even her—while I did my thing. It hadn’t felt like this since before my dad had gotten sick, and as I got into that zone where I hadn’t been for such a long time, I grinned like a fucking madman. Because I was back.
The real me. The one who wasn’t worried about building a company or the money I could make if I did it well. The guy who only cared about doing what he did best and giving it his all.
Grabbing my proverbial balls, I played the tournament of a lifetime, all the while knowing that she would be there, waiting for me when I was done. While I could hardly wait to get to her, this was important, too.
This was me. She’d done what she did best and she’d done it spectacularly, and now it was my turn to kick ass. And kick ass, I did.
Soon enough, I’d have my girl back in my arms, and this time, I was never letting her go again. I also wasn’t ever shutting up about anything ever again. If these last weeks of torture had taught me anything, it was that I had to approach my relationship with her the same way I was approaching this game.
I had to grab my balls and go all in, or I’d lose. Doing it half-assed had gotten both of us hurt, and I wouldn’t be making that mistake again. Not ever.
When the game was over, I collapsed back in my chair and blinked myself out of the stupor I’d been in. Then I checked the scores and realized that I’d won. I’d fucking won a tournament that I’d almost walked away from earlier.
My ears were ringing from the shock of finally tuning the rest of the world back in only to realize that the spectators were going wild. People were cheering, and screaming, and clapping, and I let myself soak it all in for exactly five seconds before I stood up, smirked, and accepted the rush of congratulations. But as soon as I could, I took off to find my girl.
No one and nothing would keep me from her for even another minute longer. It had been much too long already, and all this heartache and time apart had been completely unnecessary. Swearing to myself one more time that I would never be separated from her again, I spotted her fiery hair first and made a beeline for her, my heart trying to punch a hole in my chest when she turned slowly and her eyes met mine.
My entire being relaxed at the sight of her waiting for me, her eyes bright and happy as a smile spread on her beautiful lips.There’s my girl.
I hoped she was ready for this. Because I was. I was ready for forever with her, and if I had any say in it, our forever was starting right here and right now. The two of us together.Always.
CHAPTER48