But Ramsey just shot him an incredulous look.
“I mean it,” Nate reassured him. “I’m not gonna die without you holding me up.”
“Maybe later,” Ramsey said casually. “I’m good right here. We came to skate together, not for you to watch me skate circles around you.”
There was a part of Nate that desperately wanted to tease back that he couldn’t, even if he wanted to, but there was no way that was even remotely true.
Ramsey absolutely could, andwould.
But he wasn’t, and that was pretty sweet, actually.
“How long have you been doing this?”
Ramsey glanced over. “This?”
“Skating. Were you one of those kids who started skating before they can walk?”
Ramsey gave a short laugh. It was such a strange detour from his earlier sweetness that Nate did a double take, nearly falling over in the process.
Reaching a hand out, Ramsey caught him just in time, his hand closing firmly around Nate’s arm.
“Hey, you okay?” he asked.
Nate was sure he was concerned. But he was also semi-convinced Ramsey was trying to change the subject.
“So did you?” Nate repeated.
Ramsey made a face again. “Did Wes tell you?”
“Did Wes tell me what?”
“I mean, it’s not like it’s a secret. I’m sure it’s in my Wikipedia.”
“What is?” Nate was so confused; torn between wishing he hadn’t brought it up in the first place, and also terribly curious what had Ramsey acting this way.
Ramsey sighed. “My . . .well, my foster dad taught me to skate. And I wasn’t young, I was actually old for it. Nine, in fact.”
There’d been more than once that Ramsey had surprised him. But Nate didn’t think he’d ever been as surprised as he was in this moment.
ButGod, that explained so much. Ramsey had been a foster kid.
“No, I didn’t know. Wes didn’t tell me. And I didn’t read your Wikipedia.”
“Come on,” Ramsey said, clearly trying for a teasing, affectionate tone, “why not? I think my feelings are hurt.”
That was easy enough to explain. And easier than dealing with Nate’s suddenly complicated emotions about finding out yet another secret that Ramsey hadn’t ever told him. Though him keeping this quiet at least made a lot more sense than the fact he was part owner of Vault.
“I didn’t because I kind of thought—hoped, anyway—that anything that the world knew about you, you’d want to tell me yourself.”
Nate felt rather than saw Ramsey flinch. Realized how that sounded. And added, before Ramsey could freak out even more, “But I get why you didn’t share this. That’s . . .that’s a big thing. A private thing. And until the last few weeks, I can’t say we were ever friends.”
“We were never friends,” Ramsey agreed easily. He seemed to have relaxed some, at least. “It’s not that I didn’t want to tellyou. Idid. But it’s also a hard thing to bring up, especially when you’re not used to talking about yourself.”
Nate took that to mean what he assumed it meant—which was that Ramsey was unused to telling any of his hookups anything that was personal or private about himself.
But he’d wanted to tell Nate. That much was obvious, from the yearning in his voice.
“I get it,” Nate said softly. “That must’ve been hard.”
