It told me something about him, where he was and where I was. It told me he was open. That he was willing to try like he said.
He tilted my head forward to touch his mouth. “I want you to know me. Everything, Brielle.” He lifted my head. “I told you, no regrets.”
No regrets. No fear.
If only it were that easy.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Bri
When Ramses texted about drinks tonight with his friends, I almost dropped my phone.
Which was why he immediately followed up that said drinks would be at a friend’s house—in private.
Ramses: It was December’s idea. She wants to meet you without being in a towel *grin emoji*
Which meant he’d talked about us… fine. She already knew, but now, it sounded like more than one friend would too.
So, then he sent another text.
Ramses: Stop freaking out because I know you’re freaking out. This is an intimate gathering. You and me, December and Royal, and their friends, Knight and Greer. Yes, they are all students at the university. No, they won’t say anything. You know, I told December because I can trust her. Well, she told her friends because she can trust them. None of them talk to my mom. We’re good.
Ramses: Anything else? *smile emoji*
This had all been sent without a response from me and told me epically how much he got me. It told me severely how much he knew me…
Without really knowing me.
I still guarded a lot of my heart from him, even when he had opened up that night in the bath. I was aware of this and planned to work at it. I did want him to know everything about me too.
It was just hard for me.
Spilling my secrets didn’t just tell him but made me face them when I didn’t want to. I did a good job of burying them deeply.
Ramses reminded me on the daily, no pressure. He wouldn’t pressure me but wanted me to know he was open.
He made it so easy to be with him, trust him, so I did agree to go have drinks with his friends. As it turned out, they’d be held on campus at December’s place. We’d be near his, right next door.
The event was BYOB, and in addition, we’d been assigned sweets duty. The others were bringing finger foods as well.
I had no problem with that, and Ramses took us both by the grocery store after I got out of work and he finished his classes.
I’d been better about us being in the same vicinity as the other when we were just out and about. Places like grocery stores were fine. Everyone shopped for food, and if we did run into someone we knew, a colleague or even his mom, we could pass off we’d run into each other.
I knew this probably sounded silly. We’d been seeing each other for over a month at this point, but with graduation (and our deadline) around the corner, I didn’t see the need to change anything. Our arrangement had been working fine, so I didn’t see the point in changing things up.
Ramses and I split up once we got to the store, assigning me to the liquor while he got the sweets. The liquor department was on the other side of the store, so we covered more ground that way. Of course, he offered to go with me, but I didn’t mind. Anyways, we could get in and out quicker.
He merely shook his head at me, knowing that was why I wanted to split up but didn’t say anything. He never did. He simply kissed me on the top of my head before parting off, and I ventured to get one half of our supplies.
The grocery store had an entire liquor wing, so actually finding what I wanted was a chore, but I found the wines I liked. I figured a dessert wine would be good with whatever Ramses got.
I’d been scanning the shelf when a girl in a short jacket and shorts sidled up beside me. It’d warmed up
outside since spring had hit, but it wasn’t that warm. Her arms were full of wine coolers, and I thought she’d just grab something off the shelf next to me, but she didn’t.
“Oh my gosh, it’s totally you!” she chanted, actually giddy in her flip-flops. Again, it wasn’t that warm, but what could I say about young people. I’d caught Ramses wearing flip-flops in the snow one time to get the mail. She grinned. “Brielle Norrington?”