Page 20 of End Game

Nothing about it feels intrusive.

Nothing needs to be catalogued or managed.

It just feels natural.

More and more, I’m grateful things happened the way they did, rather than the way I planned.

I don’t know exactly where she’ll touch me next.

And right now, I don’t need to.

Both of our phones chirp, cutting through the quiet, letting us know her blood sugar is trending down.

“Guess it’s time for food,” she says casually.

Slowly, I release her, and she climbs off my lap, finding her pants while I find my shirt, and then we head to the kitchen.

Dex and Micah are there, which shouldn’t surprise me—Dex would have left the bar about half an hour ago.

Dex isn’t talking—that’s the first problem.

Micah isn’t smiling—that’s the second.

“You two look grim,” I manage to say, mostly joking.

“Okay, Dungeon Daddy,” Dex says with a lot of attitude, “we were just worried about the two of you.”

I smile, but Cami walks up to him, puts a hand on his arm, and leans up to kiss his cheek.

“We’re okay, don’t worry about us,” she says softly, but with an edge of mocking in her tone.

Dex’s eyes stay on me for a minute before he turns his head and looks down at her. “Yeah, Dollface?”

“Yeah,” she says with another soft smile.

Micah tips his chin at me. Normally, that’s enough.

Tonight, I have no idea what that means.

I don’t know what Cami told them. I don’t know what they heard. I don’t know what they assume.

There are too many unknown variables.

And suddenly I understand that losing control of when tonight happened also means losing control of how everyone else learns about it.

“You need juice?” Micah finally manages to ask Cami, breaking the awkward silence for at least a moment.

“Please,” she answers and hops up on the counter, perching herself there like she normally does.

“How was the bar?” I ask Dex.

“Oh, are you trying to make small talk so we don’t talk about what just happened?” he retorts.

“Not necessarily,” I answer with a smile.

“And you,” he turns to Cami, “I heard what happened, and it’s unequivocally not okay that you were basically assaulted.”

Micah gives him a sharp look and shakes his head as he grabs the orange juice from the fridge.