“So, funny story,” Ramsey said, “I got that chain a long time ago. In the OHL, before I went to Portland. And well, I didn’t have a lot of money back then. Not like now.”
Comprehension was dawning on Nate’s face, and it shouldn’t have been funny, but it kind of was.
“It wasn’t real,” Ramsey finally admitted. “They weren’t real diamonds.”
Nate didn’t look mad though, he just looked amused. “And you gave it to that guy and he had no idea that they were what, cubic zirconia?”
“Lab grown I think, actually?” Ramsey laughed, now, feeling the looseness of letting his last secret go. Nobody else had to know. ButNateknew, and that meant something.
Actually, it meanteverything.
“Well,” Nate said softly, reaching out and squeezing the hand that held the chain, “I’m glad you gave it away, then. So I could replace it.”
“You didn’t have to—”
“I know, but I’m so fucking happy I did. Because you’re . . .” He huffed, like he was still a little embarrassed at the sentimentality he was exposing. But Ramsey loved it. “You deserve the real thing. Youarethe real thing.”
Ramsey had to kiss him about that. Long and sweet and a promise, for the future.
When they finally broke apart, Ramsey fumbling with suddenly thick fingers at the clasp, Nate stopped him, touch soft on his arm.
“There’s a . . .uh . . . an engraving too.” Nate rubbed the back of his neck, still flushed pink. “Your number, on the clasp.”
Ramsey found it immediately, thumb rubbing over the numbers. They were incised deep into the metal, and Ramseyliked that he could feel them so clearly. This was who he was. An intrinsic part of him, and Nate had always seen that.
“I was going to put my number, right alongside yours, but that felt presumptuous.”
He couldn’t help it anymore. Ramsey laughed out loud, the sound startled out of him. “That was presumptuous? You bought us a house. Picked it out and everything.”
Nate shrugged, blush creeping down from his cheeks to his neck. “The necklace is yours. It was yours before I ever showed up. It’s for you. I didn’t want to shove myself in where I didn’t belong.”
The thing was, Ramsey had begun to realize that Natedidbelong. To him, anyway.
“What if I make space first?” Ramsey questioned.
Because hedidwant Nate around his neck, forever. The two of them, intertwined every single day for the rest of their lives.
Nate smiled down at him. “Well, it’s a good thing I left room for it, then.”
And Ramsey had known, had kind ofalwaysknown, in fact, that Nate was perfect for him, but he’d never imagined that his jagged pieces would fit so well with someone else, but there was no question that they did.
“That’s perfect.You’reperfect,” Ramsey said and kissed him.
Epilogue
“Isthisthekindof shit we’re gonna be doing now?” Jordan asked as they sat in the stands, waiting for the game to start.
Nate still thought it was pretty weird that hockey players not only played multiple games a week, but also played on weeknights as a matter of course, not just once or twice a year.
But even if it was weird, Nate was still grateful because it meant that he’d been able to drive down to Buffalo tonight and watch Ramsey make his season debut for the Wolves.
“You don’t like it?” Nate asked. He knew Jordan didn’t watch hockey. Of course,hehadn’t watched hockey before Ramsey had come into his life.
When he’d told Jordan this morning that he was going to the game tonight, to Nate’s surprise, Jordan had invited himself along.
“Hockey’s decent, I guess, but Ramsey . . .well,he kinda rules, you know?” Jordan said, a telltale flush on his cheeks that told Nate that his boyfriend had won over another fan for life.
He couldn’t even be annoyed about it, because Ramseywasamazing, and he deserved everybody adoring him the way Nate adored him.
