Page 297 of End Game

“I'm scared I'll go and find out I want a life that keeps taking me away from you.”

The room goes completely quiet.

There.

The real thing.

No jokes left.

Micah's fingers tighten around my knee.

Then he shifts until he's facing me more directly. “Look at me.”

I do.

“Loving me does not require you to make yourself smaller.”

My throat tightens. “That's not—”

“Yes, it is.”

“I'm not talking about making myself smaller.”

“You're talking about preemptively deciding how much you're allowed to want because you're afraid wanting more might inconvenience us.”

“That is not the same thing.”

“It's close.”

I glare at him.

He doesn't care. “Dex, four weeks in Chicago isn't leaving me.”

“It could become more.”

“Yes.”

“That doesn't bother you?”

“Of course it fucking bothers me.”

That stops me.

Micah exhales. “You think I want you gone for a month?”

“Well, when you phrase it like that—”

“No. Listen.”

I shut up.

Mostly because he has the tone now.

Not Sir.

Not quite.

Just Micah when he needs me to actually hear him.