Page 39 of Heal Me, Love Me

Derek stared at us. “For real?”

“Yeah,” Rowan replied quietly.

Enzo leaned back in his chair. “Since when?”

“This time? A couple of months,” I answered.

Derek’s brow lifted. “What do you mean ‘this time’?”

I shrugged. “We were together in high school too, but that didn’t exactly work out.”

Enzo nodded. “Guess that explains why you two wanted to kill each other before.”

“We didn’t want to kill each other,” Rowan argued.

Derek snorted into his coffee. “Sure you didn’t.”

“Honestly, good for you guys,” Enzo said.

Rowan’s shoulders relaxed, and I realized he’d been bracing for a different response. So had I, if I was honest. The MMA world didn’t exactly have a long list of out fighters, especially among the men.

“You guys are really cool with it?” Rowan asked.

“I was way more concerned about you disappearing than I am about who you’re dating,” Enzo replied easily.

“Same,” Derek agreed. “You scared the shit out of us.”

“Sorry,” Rowan apologized again. “Without getting into too much detail, Keaton and I had a misunderstanding, so I took off. Probably wasn’t the best way to handle it, but we’ve talked shit out.”

Mason still hadn’t said much. Usually, he would’ve been firing questions at us or making jokes to get a reaction, but instead, he sat there turning the cereal box in his hands before finally glancing up. “I’m glad you guys figured things out.” The words were supportive, but they felt too subdued for the guy who yelled shotgun when he was the only passenger, asked questions he had no business asking, and could turn a quiet room into a group discussion before anyone realized they’d been pulled into it.

Rowan must have noticed that Mason was off too, because he shot me a brief look before straightening slightly. “For the most part, although there’s probably going to be some changes coming up for me.”

“What kind of changes?” Derek asked.

“I’m not really ready to talk about all of it yet,” Rowan admitted. “But I probably won’t be staying here or training at Titan anymore.”

“Why?” Mason frowned.

“It’s complicated.”

Nobody pushed harder after that, probably because they could sense more beneath the surface that Rowan didn’t want to get into.

Eventually, Derek checked the time and swore. “Shit. I have to leave if I’m going to make it to class on time.”

After that, everyone started moving again, and within a few minutes, the kitchen cleared out until only Rowan and I were left.

I reached for his hand. “They took it well.”

“Yeah.”

“Mason was weird, though,” I added.

“I noticed that too.”

“You think he has a problem with us?”

“I honestly don’t know.”