Page 120 of Game on, Love

I replied with a middle finger emoji before pocketing my phone and leaving the room. The dickhead knew my issues with ducks andwas responsiblefor the said issue, but once it got brought up, he left no chance to make fun of it. Entering the lift, my phone buzzed in my pocket again. I didn’t need to look at it to know it had something to do with ducks.

I knew it was overly dramatic, but when you’re a kid, and a frantic duck chases you around for over a mile because your idiot of a best friend was nagging it on and was better atduckingit—you develop issues.

Pun intended.

Walking in the paddock, I dropped Rihaan another text—who had replied to my earlier texts with multiple duck emoji’s—to tell her about the news and waited for the call that I knew was coming.

It was nearly 5:30 in the morning back in the UK, but seeing it had been our new normal for the past couple of days, she wouldn’t have thought twice before ringing me.

And just in time, my phone rang in my hand as I found a quiet spot.

Picking up on the second ring, her face filled my frame, and I could feel the pure happiness pouring out of her as she spoke. “Hey, you!”

“Morning, Gorgeous,” I replied, keeping my tone casual.

“Rihaan just told me the news. Congratulations!”

I grinned to myself. “I was just about to tell you myself.”

Her grin faltered for a second, and a frown overtook her face. “Oliver, whereareyou?”

“What do you mean?” I pressed my lips together as her eyes blinked up from her phone and back to me.

“I thought I saw…” She frowned, and unable to take it any longer, I flipped my phone to the front camera and angled it to show her my view, which was the line of motor homes down the paddock with the unmistakable buzz before turning it back around on me.

Her face held pure shock, her jaw dropping as she realised. “You’re here!?”

“Surprise,” I said, my grin widening as she stood up and started moving.

“But when you called yesterday, you were still at training camp!”

“I took a flight right after that,” I admitted, shrugging. “It’s a good thing we had only call each other in the morning, and text in between during race weekends because I spent the whole of yesterday between flights and layovers and was completely relying on the plane WiFi.”

Her expression softened, her disbelief giving way to something warmer as I felt a rush in my chest. Spotting her nearing me, I waited for her to find me.

And just like they always did, her eyes connected with mine the next second as she faltered, like she realised that I hadn’t been messing with her and I washere.Walking up to her, I captured the moment in my head. She was in a denim jumpsuit, her hair framing her face perfectly as it broke into a radiant smile.

“You’re actually here,” She said, shaking her head as my chest filled with warmth at the sound of her voice.

“You said you wanted me to show your world,” I said, smirking and she punched my arm lightly as I wrapped them around her. Leaning down, I couldn’t help but say the one thing that my heart had felt since the moment I was gone. “And I missed you.”

“I missed you too,” She replied, as she tipped up on her toes to place her lips on mine, and just like that, everything tilted on its axis for a moment like it had been missing a piece and there had been a moment of imbalance, the tiredness from my travel, the ache in my chest from missing her; all vanished in a second before everything fell back into its place.

Right next to her.

Pulling back, her emotions were a mix of pure excitement and joy, but there was a tinge of pride creeping up on her as she whispered. “Congrats on making the squad, King. I’m proud of you.”

My heart raced at her words before filling me with a feeling I had felt for her for weeks now.

I wanted to say it, wanted her tohearit, but I also wanted it to be right.

While there was never a right way of telling someone you loved them, it was knowing that she would want to hear them when it was about her.

Because I loved her, because of her.

And not just because she had rooted herself in my life in a way I had never imagined someone could, not just because she had breathed life back into me when I didn’t even know I was gasping for air, not because of how everything made more sense because I was with her.

No matter how much it consumed me, I wanted to show her before I made sure I told her.