The truth was, he was grumbling, but the last week had been so good. He was hitting all his benchmarks that the Wolves wanted to see from him on the ice, his conditioning progressing well, and in a few days, he’d head back to Buffalo.
“Did you talk to Wes?”
“You mean, when we get to Aidan and Levi’s, is he going to be weird and not talk to me? We . . .yeah. We’ve been texting some. Or I’ve been texting at him. It’s not bad. We’re not fighting. He’s just not happy with me.”
“You’re a good friend,” Nate said, glancing over and meeting Ramsey’s eyes. He reached out and took his hand, squeezing it firmly. “You could’ve said nothing.”
“Yeah, and continue watching him be miserable?” Though it wasn’t like Wes wasnotmiserable now.
He was, and it was the only persistent problem that Ramsey couldn’t seem to fix.Yet, anyway.
Ramsey looked back out the window. They’d been driving for at least thirty minutes at this point, far out of the city. “Where are we even going? What evenisthis errand?”
“You’ll see,” Nate promised.
When Nate had dragged an unwilling Ramsey out of bed, shoved a large coffee in his hand and put him in the car, Ramsey hadn’t really asked questions.
Not like him, sure, but Ramsey was trying this new thing where he let Nate call some of the shots. And so far, it was a good time. Usually agreattime. Though admittedly all of those times had been sex-related, so of course they’d been awesome.
Maybe this was still sex-related, though Ramsey was pretty sure it wasn’t.
Finally, Nate pulled off the freeway, taking them through a bedroom community. Ramsey found his curiosity significantly piqued, staring out the window as the car turned into a section of townhouses.
“What’s this?” Ramsey asked, unable to help himself from asking again.
But Nate only shrugged and got out of the car. “Come on,” he said, beckoning with a hand that he then tucked into Ramsey’s as he followed.
The builds were new and modern. Ramsey could hear the sounds of construction far down the block. There was a sold sign stuck into the lawn on the townhouse Nate led him to.
Ramsey had wondered before this, but now seeing the sign, he was pretty sure he knew. Especially when Nate let go of his hand so he could pull out his phone and look up the door code in his email.
Nate pushed the door open and gestured Ramsey inside. Ramsey walked in, gaze flickering over the surprisingly cozy interior, despite the modern fixtures and clean lines.
The foyer led into an open floor combo of living room slash kitchen.
“There’s three bedrooms upstairs, including the owner’s suite,” Nate said steadily, watching Ramsey as Ramsey took in the pale green cabinets and the quartz countertops. It was empty, no furniture at all yet, but the interiors still felt homey, like it was just waiting for them to fill it up not just with things, but with alife.
It was everything that his big condo in downtown Buffalo wasn’t.
“You got this for us.” Ramsey didn’t ask, just stated, because it was obvious. Closer, then, to both of them. Not close, necessarily, butcloser. A central place they could live, at least part of those five months.
“Yeah,” Nate said with a nod.
“A further commute for you,” Ramsey observed.
Nate’s lips quirked up. “Also further for you. We don’t have toalways—I’m going to keep my place and you should keep yours too—but I thought it would be good to have somewhere central for when we’re both playing. A place we could live, to make it a little easier.”
Ramsey’s hands tightened on the edge of the counter he’d been resting them on. Nate had done all this, without beingprompted, and had not only done it, he’d done it well and with flair. This wasn’t just some blank apartment they’d crash in sometimes. Nate had bought this to be ahomefor them. Not their only home, maybe, but a home nonetheless.
“Still going to be hard,” Ramsey said, the words escaping out of him before he could snatch them back. What was hedoing?He wasn’t trying to convince Nate not to do this, that he didn’t want to. HewantedNate to want this, with him. Even if itwashard.
But then, Ramsey didn’t think he could do any of this, even for a short time, and not have it work out. If he put his heart into Nate’s hands, Nate was going to need to hold it forever.
Telling him he loved him was a huge step, no question, but this was more than just words. This wasaction. This was working every day to make it work. If Ramsey made that kind of commitment, he’d never want to go back from it.
Ramsey raised his eyes to Nate’s.
His gaze was warm and brown. So fucking steady. Loving. Trustworthy.
