Happenstance(51)

He nods for a full ten seconds. “Please, we need you safe, Elise.”

Instead of lecturing him on my free will, I find myself saying, “I know. I’m being safe.”

Because I don’t want these men to worry about me. It’s not about control. They genuinely care. They opened up to me the night we met. And again last night. I’ve just exposed myself completely in the escape room. We’re not just bed partners, we’re…friends. We’re confidantes. I don’t want to abuse the bond with them that is quickly beginning to feel like a privilege.

No one knows I’m in possession of the picture. I’m going to hold on to it until an opportune moment, then hand it safely over to Karina. I’m not risking my neck for a job I haven’t officially been given. For a story that I’ve been forbidden to cover at that. I’m going to find another way to land a reporter job, whether I actually take up Karina’s offer to write that human interest piece or…I actually bite the bullet and enroll in journalism school. I just haven’t decided which direction to take yet.

“Listen…” Banks clears his throat hard, going from serious to…a little apprehensive? This is the first time I’ve seen him anything but confident. “I’ve got a match on Tuesday. Late afternoon. I would love it if you came. I don’t…” He quickly adjusts his stance. “It’s rare for someone to attend one of my matches for me. My father lives too far away and has a whole new life. My mother…she can’t see through the past to the present.”

“She won’t support you now because she didn’t support you then?” I whisper, pressure weighing down on my sternum.

“Yeah.” He inclines his head stiffly. “I think I might finally be done leaving her a ticket at the box office. I’ve been doing it for years, but…yeah, I think that’s it.”

I’m not sure why I say, “Leave the ticket for one more match. I have a good feeling.”

Maybe I don’t like seeing him let go of his hope. Or maybe I do actually have a good feeling. Whatever the reason, he gives me a single nod. “All right. If you say so. It can’t hurt.”

He clears his throat. “Boring baggage aside, I would love you to come. To get to know me.” He reaches into his jacket pocket and produces a ticket, holding it out. “It kills me to say this, but I’d like to send Tobias with you. It’s just an exhibition game but the stands get rowdy, occasionally. I want to know you’re safe.”

“Sounds like a job for Gabe. Not Tobias,” I muse, taking the ticket. “A scuffle might mess up Tobias’s hair.”

“Gabe has to bring his mother to a doctor’s appointment on Tuesday.”

My heart turns over. “Awww.”

Banks tilts his head. “You’ve got a soft spot for Gabe, don’t you?”

“Yes,” I answer, though I’m tempted to make a joke and blow off the question. “I feel differently about each of you, I guess.”

He zeroes in on those words, even though I can tell he’s striving for casual. “That’s the first time you’ve admitted to having feelings for us, one way or the other.”

“Don’t go planning the wedding.”

“Legally, I don’t think we could.”

“Thank God.”

Banks chuckles, but his expression is anticipatory. “Feelings. Say more.”

I roll my eyes, casting a glance over his shoulder to find Gabe and Tobias out of earshot, but watching us curiously. My body is still heavily under the influence of their presence, my nipples pebbled, back of my neck hot. I refuse to regret my hasty departure, though.

Not even a little bit.

Sure.

I let out a breath. “Gabe makes me wish for lazy Sunday mornings in bed with coffee and the smell of cinnamon in the kitchen. Sweet. Tobias is Saturday night. Strobe lights and moaning and…that tipsy feeling, like if you have one more drink, you’ll be sorry.”

“And me?”

“You are…” I swallow. Being open and honest to someone about how I feel on the inside is harder than I remember. I’ve been out of practice so long. “You’re real life. The place where I’m in my pattern and feel safe. You’re not a detour, you’re a path forward.”

It takes him a while to digest that, staring ahead at me on the windy, wrapper strewn street, sun dipping behind clouds and back out again.

Finally, he takes a slow stride forward. Another one. “I don’t mind being real life, Elise.” He reaches me, taking two fists of my coat, tugging me close and finally, finally, raking his hard mouth over mine. “But I need to know I make you escape, too.” He reaches into my coat and palms my breast, slowly twisting the material of my shirt for friction against my nipple. “I need to know you’ll come to me when you want your panties pulled down and those thighs spread open.”

My legs decide not to hold me up anymore and I sway against him.

“I would, I do,” I whimper, reminded just how easily he can blur my thoughts and have me speaking gibberish. “I will.”

“Will. I like that. Good.” His treatment of my mouth is tender, but hints at darker promises. “Come to the game, Elise.” His voice hitches slightly. “It’s important to me.”

The kiss winds on for so long, I don’t have the chance to answer until a minute later—and quite alarmingly, my heart does it for me. “Then I’ll be there.”