Page 83 of The Lockdown Mann

“I’m going to meet someone in the morning before dawn, just for a couple of hours,” I say. Tell her. Tell her it’s Des.

“You like this person a lot, don’t you?”

I open my mouth, unsure of what will come out. Yes, I like him a lot. There’s a strong possibility I love him, but I don’t know how to tell Serena that. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”

“Good for you, Oak. You deserve it. We have to be careful with T.”

“I know. I would never do anything to hurt her. I’m flying blind here, Ree. I don’t know how to do this. Plus, there are other…obstacles.” Like the fact that he’s a guy and I’m not out.

“We’ll figure it out together. I still don’t think it’s a good time to deal with this publicly, though. Not in the middle of the season, Mom’s trial program coming up, and Tiana. If you really want to, we can tell the family now, but it will be a lot for Tiana to understand, and that’s a big secret to ask her to carry.”

“No.” I shake my head. “I don’t want to ask her to do that, and I don’t want to make this any harder on her than it’s already going to be. We can keep it a secret until the end of the season.”

“Okay. Let me know if you change your mind.”

She doesn’t move her head from my shoulder, and I don’t try to get up either, instead just sitting here with my ex, and worrying about how I’m going to tell the man I love, the one who has already been kept a secret, that he needs to stay that way a little while longer.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Desmond

It’s still dark when I get to the beach I told Oak about, and to my surprise, his vehicle is already here.

He gets out when I pull up into the spot beside him, wearing a pair of light blue swim trunks and a tank top. I’m wearing something similar, only my shorts are black, and my clothes for practice are in the back seat.

I grab my bag and meet him in the front of my car, both of us lingering about two feet away, as though we don’t know what to do—if we should move in for the kiss or not—because even though I don’t see anyone, that doesn’t mean there’s no one here. Especially in L.A., where the paparazzi are like a bad case of ants that you can’t get rid of no matter how hard you try.

“Hey,” I say.

“Hey,” he replies. “Do you want to kiss me as badly as I want to kiss you right now?”

I chuckle while, at the same time, my heart swells. “It’s fucking killing me not to, but I promise, baby. I’ll find somewhere private and taste you.”

“Jesus,” he hisses out. “I love hearing you talk to me that way.”

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

We’re on higher ground than the beach below, so I lead Oakley to the stairs that weave their way around and down to the sand. We’re both wearing slides, which we take off. There’s one person down and to the left, so we go to the right, continuing the journey until the woman is out of sight, and we don’t see another person around.

We set our things down, the sun just beginning to peek out. “Wanna go for a walk?” I ask.

“Yeah, I do.”

We continue on, side by side, our arms brushing against each other more than they should. To anyone looking, it’s an accident, a mistaken caress of skin on skin, but to me it’s just a tease of every way I want to touch him. “What’d you tell Serena?”

“That I was coming out here with someone.”

I try not to show my disappointment that he didn’t tell her he’s with me.

“She assumed it’s whoever I’m seeing, though. She asked me if I really like this person, and I said yes.”

My heart stumbles, but I keep my cool. “You like me, huh?”

“Shut up. You know I do.” He smiles.

Yeah, yeah, I do.

He lets me know about the conversation they had about telling the family when the season is over so he’s home more with Tiana. I get it, of course I do, but there’s no doubt the Pulse will be in the playoffs, and who knows how long they’ll stay in, so that puts us into next year, still a couple of months away.