Page 78 of Something to Prove

This time my eyes welled ’cause I wasn’t so sure.

The wall I’d erected over this past week wasn’t holding up.

I’d been thinking about the future, weighing obstacles, and wondering if Walker had given up on me the second I’d walkedout the door. Everyone left him. In this case, he’d pushed me out the door, but…still.

I couldn’t let it go, and I wondered why I couldn’t walk away. I couldn’t fix him. I couldn’t make his life easier. I couldn’t erase his painful past. All I could do was love him and?—

Holy shit.

I loved him.

The debilitating, soul-crushing, panicky angst I’d been carrying for a week wasn’t just confusion laced with concern and a healthy dose of fear. It was so much more. It was me sticking to a path I’d outgrown, too fucking paralyzed by expectation to realize I had power too. This was my life.

And I fucking loved him.

Maybe that wasn’t enough. Maybe we were too different.

It didn’t matter. He needed to know.

“I…I gotta go.” I rezipped my jacket, grabbed my keys, and bolted.

“Walker’s not here.”

I leaned on the doorjamb and whipped my sunglasses off, leveling Robin with my best work-with-me-here look. “Any idea where I can find him? It’s important.”

I wasn’t above using my height and broader frame to intimidate. Desperate times and all that.

Robin fiddled with his glasses, his freckled nose twitching as he fixed me with a suspicious once-over. “Why?”

“Because…I need to talk to him,” I replied irritably. “Please.”

He studied me for a long moment. “Sorry. I can’t tell you. I promised confidence, and I always keep my word.”

I dropped my head and knocked it against the door.Patience, Ty. Patience.

“Okay, I respect that. Could you…takeme to him?”

Robin frowned. “Ah, a loophole. Well done, Mr. Czerniak. While I applaud your cunning, I’m afraid I can’t in good conscience interrupt Walker’s interview with the curling team.”

“Curling. Cool. Thanks.”

“They aren’t at the rink,” he called as I reached the bottom porch step.

I reclimbed the steps with a dramatic sigh. “If I were just any ol’ guy looking for the curling team today…where would I find them?”

He shook his head and made a zipped lips motion. “I won’t tell.”Groan.“However, your utter desperation matches my friend’s uncharacteristic malaise, so I’m going to bend the rules.”Thank fuck!“To do so, I’ll require a prop. Bear with me while I fetch my things.”

Robin’s things were his camera bag and a stack of posterboards and markers he handed over while he relocked the door.

“What’s all this?”

“I told you…a prop. Walker was supposed to bring the posterboard for the team to write a note of thanks to family and friends. He forgot, and I was on my way to bring these items to the quad when you unceremoniously showed up on his doorstep and?—”

“I’ll do it. Thanks, Robin. You’re a lifesaver!”

“Wait!”

No chance.