“Will he have to stay out there all night?”
“Yes.”
I wrap my arms around myself, feeling tired and cold. “That’s not a long-term solution.”
He stays quiet a beat. “No, it’s not.” He doesn’t say anything else, and neither do I. “I’ve got to go; Evie’s waiting for me.”
“Oh, go.” I give him one last quick hug. “Thank you.”
“Love you.” And then he’s gone. I watch as he stops and talks to Reid a moment. Only once he’s gone do I head outside.
Reid sees me coming and frowns, walking over to me. “Hey, you okay?”
I don’t say anything, I just step into him and wrap my arms around him. I can tell I’ve surprised him, but he wraps his arms around me a second later. There’s something so familiar about hugging him. I close my eyes and just breathe him in. It’s not just the mate bond; it’s the bond of more than a decade of friendship between us. He smells and feels just like he used to smell and feel years ago when hugs were frequent between us. “I’ve missed you, Reid,” I whisper to him.
His arms tighten around me, and I feel him sigh against the top of my head. “I know. I missed you too.”
I get it; I really do. I was fourteen when he found out. He did what he had to. Do I wish he wouldn’t have cut himself out of my life for the past three years? Yes. But I get why he thought he had to do it. I tell him the words I’ve been thinking the last few hours. “I’m really glad it’s you.”
I feel his body stiffen and then he pulls back the slightest bit. I don’t want to look up at him, not yet. I’m not sure I’m ready for whatever he’s going to say. But he puts a finger under my chin and tips it up, so he can see my eyes. “I’m glad it’s you, Riley. It’s always been you.”
I bury my face in his chest, and he lets me. I’m not sure how long we stay that way, but I’m pretty sure I never want to leave this safe cocoon. “How long have you been staying up at night to watch over me?” He doesn’t answer right away, and I sigh. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?”
It takes him a moment before he tells me. “I didn’t at first. At first, I knew you were safe at home with your dad. As you got older, I would once in a while, just to make sure. But with the events of the past year, I’ve done it more often.”
“Like every night?” I ask.
“I have a need to know you’re safe, Ry. It eats at me. The threats that have been made aren’t idle, and most of them have been directed against you.”
I finally pull back. “You can’t stay up every night, Reid. That’s not going to work. I don’t care how strong your other half is. Eventually, you’re going to wear out. I don’t want that for you, especially not with your last season of college ball coming up.”
“I don’t care about that.”
“Yeah, well, I do,” I tell him. “And you’re not going to give up everything you’ve got going because of me.”
He smirks. “Okay. What’s your plan?”
“I’m moving in with you.”
His lips tug up even further. “Are you now?”
“Yes.”
“Riley, I’m not going to make you move into our house. You wanted the dorm life experience, the full college life experience.”
“Yeah, well I didn’t plan that my mate would suddenly show up; so here we are.” He frowns, and I shake my head. “That didn’t come out the way I meant it to.”
“How about this?” He reaches out and tucks a loose hair behind my ear. “How about you sleep on it tonight, or this morning, I guess? And we can talk about it after that.”
“There’s only one problem with that plan,” I point out.
“What?”
“You won’t be getting any sleep.”
“I’ll be fine,” he argues.
“Reid,” a huge yawn interrupts what I was going to say.
