Chapter 36
Chapter thirty-six
Rhys
Front Porch Semi
My cuff buttons are going to break if I continue to twist and tug at them but I don't know what to do with my hands. I had Felix’s address on file with the car service from Halloween and the entire drive over I couldn’t get the memory of Duncan under my kilt from my mind.
So now I'm standing on his teammate’s porch with a semi.
It was a fulfilling but long day. I’m tired but antsy to see Duncan. With each meal I served today, I wondered what he was doing. I checked my phone constantly, hoping for a text from You Know You Want It.
I’ll admit it was cowardly to go home last night and not call but I don’t feel like I have a solution yet.
Or, more honestly, I’m afraid this commitment is going to be too much for Duncan to handle.
Zara had a few scenarios for us to pick from. I could come to one of his games, we could be seen out and about, or he could come to one of my shows. Either way, it’s important to her to say I had, in fact, been brooding while writing the album.
As far as she knows, we met in Scotland, and then stayed in touch, only making our relationship official last night.
Sort of skipped over all the friends-with-benefits stuff but Zara doesn’t need to know exactly how I fell for him.
"Rhys!" Felix’s deep voice booms as he pulls the door open. "Come in, come in. We’re about to have dessert. You missed football. Not soccer, American football. Do you call it soccer?"
"We actually call it fitba." I dig out my accent to make my point.
"You’re bilingual just like me!" He pulls me further into the house.
A dozen smiling faces greet me. I wave and nod at Duncan’s teammates and their better halves, following Felix deeper into the home.
"Duncan went downstairs to grab a bottle of wine." Emmett says as he twists around like he’s cracking his back.
"Go ahead and check on him." Felix points towards the open staircase that leads to the lower level as he drops his hand into a cooler.
We’ve gone a few days without talking before, but that was before I asked him to be my boyfriend. Last night when I couldn’t sleep my mind filled with lyrics.
My chest ran hot with the memory of Duncan snoring softly besides me before I drifted off to sleep.
Words tumbled out as warmth, gentleness, hope, possessiveness formed inside me and my thumbs flew across the keyboard as I filled my notes app with the feeling of the world spinning out of control and stopping completely all at once.
A smile dances across my lips as disbelief shakes my head.
I’m walking into the basement of a professional hockey player about to talk to, ideally kiss, my own professional hockey player boyfriend.
How did we find each other?
How did the universe fit these moments together so perfectly?
I let my eyes drift and lose myself to a fantasy of what my relationship with Duncan will look like.
Laughter, joy, so many chicken nuggets. Travel schedules to work around, watching each other do our jobs, coming back to one another at night.
It would be loud and light but also grounding.
As I turn to take the final steps downstairs, one thought cements itself inside me.
We might not always get it right but Duncan will never again doubt how I feel about him.