Page 46 of Take The Risk

​There was such openness in his eyes, a look of hope and even fear, that I found myself on the step, my knees pulled tightly against my chest.

​Ty sat down heavily beside me, facing me.

​I hugged my middle, leaning forward, trying to curl up as much as possible. I realized I wasn’t hyperventilating the way I usually would. It was a bizarre thing to notice in a moment like this.

​“I’m listening,” I prompted him, proud I could even speak. He knew.

​“Your bathroom flooded this weekend,” he began.

I nodded. I remembered the message he’d left me at the time; he’d said that he—“Oh.”

Ty cursed, running a hand down his face. “This was not how I wanted to do this.”

I felt the immediate need to reach out and take his hand. To comfort him. Instead, I waited silently, my body locked in place.

He went over the details of what happened when he’d arrived on Sunday, telling me he thought the leak had been going since Saturday and why he hadn’t been here then. When he said it was bad, I raised an eyebrow at him. I was pretty sure that was not how he’d described it in his message.

“I’ve seen way worse,” he swore.

I didn’t know how I knew, but I knew he’d downplayed the severity of the flood for me. Even if he was telling me the exact truth. He probably had seen worse.

“The water managed to get to your office door, and I had to go in.”

I knew all of this. He’d said it in his message. I’d just been dealing with the hell storm my parents were sweeping me up in, so it hadn’t registered.

“We weren’t intentionally going through your papers—”

I could see it all as he described it. The water soaking everything, including the boxes I hadn’t unpacked. Cardboard and water didn’t mix. I couldn’t blame Ty for that or for the fact I hadn’t been more responsible and put those papers in the safe I’d had delivered earlier in the week.

Across the street there was a lone tree whose leaves were still green, and I stared at it. I watched as the green leaves swayed in the gentle breeze, not really hearing the rest of what Ty said.

“You need to know I won’t tell anyone, sweetheart. I wouldn’t betray you like that.” Sweetheart. It was the endearment that pulled me out of the place I’d gone, not really listening, and yet hearing everything.

It wasn’t the first time he’d used an endearment like that with me, and despite the numbness fogging my brain, I couldn’t stop the small smile that tugged at my lips.

Was I worried about him telling people? Yes. No. Maybe? The threats popped into my mind, but just as quickly I dismissed Ty as the source. Everything inside me told me I could trust him.

“I’m not worried about that.” I sounded unsure, and he raised an eyebrow at me.

“Okay, so I’m…I’m just not used to people knowing, even if I know I can trust you. And I do.” This was so weird now. I didn’t know how I felt.

Ty reached out, taking my hand in his, making me aware I was clenching my hand into a fist so tight I’d lost feeling in my fingers.

“It’s not just me,” he said slowly, his face a mask of confusion. “Wade and Jesse know, too. They’ll keep your secret, I swear.”

They knew? How did…? This was what happened when I spaced out. I missed things. My clothes felt like they were shrink-wrapping themselves to me, making me feel closed in.

“Hey,” he said gently, his hand going to my back when I shivered. “Baby, they’re not going to say anything.”

​How was I going to handle this? Now, Wade and Jesse knew. I needed to call my agent, Alex, and maybe my lawyer; I needed—did he just call me “baby”?

​Ty cleared his throat, saying the one thing that wiped out any warm and fuzzies the nickname and its implications caused. “There’s one more thing.”

​Could I take more? Did I have a choice?

​“Tell me,” I urged, bracing to rip the Band-Aid off.

​“There were some papers from your desk that had spilled onto the floor.” The slash of color on Ty’s cheekbones said it all.