Page 201 of End Game

Something inside me loosens with it.

The intensity breaks, but not the thing underneath it.

I quietly text Dex that I will talk to him when he gets home and to focus on the bar. He replies with an angel emoji.

Outside, fireworks continue going off across the neighborhood, bright flashes reflecting against the windows.

Cami settles back into Griffin.

I sit beside Ronan.

Nothing about the room looks dramatically different than it did ten minutes ago.

Same couch.

Same half-empty champagne glasses.

But the space between Ronan and me is gone.

His hand rests between us on the cushion.

I place mine there, too. Palm up.

Ronan looks down.

Then he threads his fingers through mine.

No hesitation.

I look at our hands for longer than necessary.

I’ve spent months waiting for him to decide what he wanted.

Tonight he did.

And I don’t need to know what comes next.

I just need to hold on.

Chapter twenty-two

Roll For Trust

Micah

There are several ways Ronan could have asked me on a date.

He chose the most Ronan possible version.

I was standing at the kitchen counter on Wednesday morning, waiting for coffee and trying to convince myself I had enough time to finish my sketch before my first appointment, when he walked in, opened the refrigerator, and said, “I'd like to take you to dinner Friday.”

No lead-in.

No visible nerves.

Just a sentence dropped into the kitchen like we've been doing this for years instead of having our first real kiss a week ago.

I stared at him long enough that he looked over.