Chapter Thirty-One
Irolled over, feeling the empty space next to me.
Damn.
Maybe it was all a dream. I was on my back now, staring up at the ceiling. Memories came flooding back—definitely not a dream. The sun shone through the bedroom window, and I looked at the time. It was morning, and I’d slept well over fourteen hours at this point.
I rolled over, my hand tracing the spot where Ryker had clearly been. He’d come for me, stayed all night, except he wasn’t here now. The spot was empty, cold. Maybe it was for the best.
I sighed and sat up in bed, letting the sheet fall to my waist.
“Ugh.” My back popped, and it hurt to stretch my arms all the way out. “This is what I get.”
My brain was not cooperating at the moment to think straight. I loved this man. He loved me, but with Parker in the picture, what if it imploded everything? Ryker said he would take care of everything, so did Beckett, and knowing Jemma, she’d be right along with them.
I took a deep breath and let it out.
A loud whistle came from somewhere in the house that sounded exactly like my kettle. I made quick work of finding one of my lounge sets.
When I opened the door to my room, I could hear a conversation coming from the kitchen.
I followed the voices and found not just Ryker standing at the island, but also Beckett and Jemma.
They were all huddled around the counter, each with a mug in hand, talking.
I wasn’t paying enough attention to make out what they were discussing, but it was Jemma who caught sight of me first.
“Good morning,” she said softly.
Ryker’s head whipped around, and he made a beeline for me. Worry was still written across his face, just like it had been last night. Eyebrows tight together, lips pursed.
He reached out to me, grabbing my hand.
“How did you sleep?”
“Good, I think?” I shrugged. I didn’t feel tired or lethargic like some nights when I didn’t get enough sleep. I did, however, feel the hangover from the panic attack.
“How are you feeling, honey?” Jemma came up to us, and she reached for my other hand.
“I’m not really sure. My body is in flight mode, and it hurts to move.” I sighed, my chest heavy.
“You should go relax, my love. I can bring you food and some tea.” Ryker spoke, and as much as I agreed with him about lying back down, I really wanted to know why all of them were here again.
“What are you all talking about?” I changed the subject.
“About last night and the claims Parker made.” Beckett piped up this time. I liked him being here now. I knew that with his response, he wouldn’t try to baby me.
“Seriously?” Jemma whipped her head around, and while I couldn’t directly see the look on her face, I knew she was giving him a major side-eye for even mentioning Parker’s name.
“What?” Beckett pushed away from the counter and made his way over to us. “She asked, so I thought she should know.”
“I agree.” I pulled my hands away from both Ryker and Jemma.
“We don’t need to discuss this right now.” It was Ryker’s turn to give Beckett the side-eye.
“I’m not a delicate flower.” I pushed past them all and made my way over to the kettle, making my cup of tea. “I can handle this conversation.”
I could. Right?
If they were going to be here, it meant that they cared. I took a deep breath as I added sugar to my tea and stirred three times. I reached for the spice cabinet and grabbed the cinnamon, adding a few dashes before stirring three more times.
Just in case.
“So soon after yesterday?” Jemma asked cautiously. Her voice was still soft, like I’d break again at any moment.
I turned around to look at Jemma. She knew me better than these two men.
She knew how I was when I had panic attacks, how I worked on getting myself back up after them, but this time was different.
This wasn’t an attack from being at an event for too long, or memories that came crashing back when something happened to trigger them.
This was something that didn’t just happen to me, but to everyone in this room here.
We needed to talk about this now that it was a new day.
While yesterday I was able to push it aside and not speak to them, today was not that day.
“I contacted Melody this morning.” Beckett continued to explain to me what they were talking about. “We had a discussion about the events that happened, what Parker said. We will be meeting with her and Parker next week, along with our lawyers, to discuss next steps.”
“So soon?” I was surprised at how fast Beckett was making this happen.
“If it weren’t for our lawyer needing to draw up a new contract for Parker, it would probably be today we were meeting with him.”
“You could meet with him so soon? New contract? How many times has this happened?” I rattled off the questions, tilting my head in confusion.
“We have a default contract for when something like this happens, which is why we could have met today,” Ryker was the one who spoke up this time.
He made his way over to me, assisting me in finishing making my tea.
He handed me the warm mug and pushed a piece of hair behind my ear, his hand resting on my cheek, before he continued.
“But this is different. This involves not just me, but you.”
“We discussed this morning that the contract needs to be changed.” Beckett continued as Ryker and I stared at each other.
“He will never come here again,” Jemma spoke up.
“Along with our normal contract that Parker never mentions who Ryker is, we also included a clause that he will never come to your home or see you ever again. This includes events, social media—anywhere. It will be a lot for his lawyers to review, which is why we are meeting next week. It will essentially ruin his career, but he made the first move here, and we will be making the last.” Beckett explained further.
“It’s the best we can do without a restraining order,” Ryker whispered to me.
I pulled away from Ryker and looked over to Beckett, who looked mighty proud of himself, and Jemma, who still looked just as worried as Ryker did.
They were all here for me. A part of this.
The bad and the good that would come from it.
I had no idea why they were here, though; why they would put themselves through all of this.
“Why are you all doing this?” I stood back, looking at all of them equally now. My heart sped up as I moved from face to face.
My best friend.
My boyfriend and his best friend.
How in the world had they gotten mixed up in all of this?
“What do you mean?” Ryker took a step toward me.
“Oh, honey,” Jemma said, a frown forming on her face with sad eyes. Pity. I knew it all too well. She took a step toward me, too, reaching me before Ryker. Her arms wrapped around me.
I tried to push her away, but she wouldn’t let me. I sucked in a breath, barely getting anything in.
“Because we love you.” She whispered in my ear.
She mimicked the one, two, three breathing exercises we normally did when I started to panic.
I followed the rhythm as our chests moved together.
I stood in her arms until she finally let me go.
She pulled away and placed her hands on my shoulders. “Because we love you.”
Jemma repeated her words, but this time for the whole room to hear.
I looked over to Ryker, who had a soft smile, and Beckett, who was nodding his head enthusiastically in agreement.
“Since we are already talking about all of this, I think you should know about the second half of this conversation that the boys didn’t want to tell you about. I think you deserve to know, though.”
“Jemma,” Beckett said her name. The firmness was something I hadn’t heard from him yet. “That is different.”
“Just like all this shit that happened with shit face involves them both, so does this.” Jemma waved her hand at him, disregarding the admonishment. I looked over to Ryker, who was no longer looking at me, but down at the mug he had in his hand.
“Ryker wants to out himself,” Jemma said, since neither of the boys was talking now.
My eyes widened; her words shocked me. I pulled away quickly, like I’d just been slapped.
“What?” I exclaimed. “Absolutely not. Isn’t this the whole point of meeting Melody? The contract? So that Parker doesn’t announce it to the world?”
“No.” My gaze went straight to Ryker as he spoke up.
His eyes finally met mine, and there was something there, something serious I hadn’t seen from him before.
“The point of the meeting isn’t for that; it’s so that we can make sure Parker never comes back around for you.
That is why we are meeting with them. His not telling the world who I am is just a blip into what we want from him, which is to never be able to hurt you again in any capacity. ”
“Ryker wants to do this on his terms.” Beckett followed up.
Jemma moved away from me, and Ryker made quick moves to take her space. His eyes searched mine.
“I can’t let you do that.” I reached up, both of my hands holding his face, and brought it down to me. Our foreheads pressed together.
“It’s my choice.” He leaned in further, placing a kiss against my lips. “I’ve thought about doing this long before the award show, and long before we decided to take this relationship any further.”
“I had no idea.” Ryker had never really mentioned not liking that he was an anonymous gamer, but then again, I hadn’t known who he was for very long.
“The café and my name were only ever the true reasons that I started gaming the way I do. With the sale of the café, yesterday was only the catalyst for this to happen. It’s something that’s already been in motion before we even met at the ball.”
“Are you sure?” I reached my hand up, searching his eyes this time. They’d softened, and a smile grew on his face as he kissed my lips.
“Yes, and this isn’t something uncommon for those who game like I do. The only thing different about me doing it is how long I’ve been doing it like this. We are going to have to figure out how to work this and do it right because it will garner a lot of traction when it is announced.”
“Exactly why I wanted her to know now,” Jemma added, giving a pointed look to both men.
“Beckett and I were talking about it last night and this morning, but would have never made a final decision without you, because I know how much this would affect you, too.”
I stared at him. I didn’t know fully what to say. This was crazy—the fact that this man was going to implode his whole career just for me. For us. I had no idea why he would want to do that.
“But why?” I asked.
“Because I love you and want not just to protect you, but to protect us.”