His Game

Epilogue...Pt. 2

As promised, here is a continuation of the epilogue! As someone who doesn't really like open-endings, I really did y'all dirty with the previous ending and I felt like there was a lot of stuff I sort of left out with Joey and Rhett's reunion. Hopefully you guys enjoy it, if not, just pretend the book ended during the previous epilogue lol!

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Rhett's POV

Seeing Joey again after all of these years feels like a dream. Since the second she stepped into the bar, I haven't been able to keep my eyes off of her. Too afraid that if I do, she'll disappear and I'll wake up alone in the cold darkness of my apartment.

I lost her once. I don't know if I could handle losing her again. Not without giving this-us a real chance. 

In the back of my mind, I wonder if I'm really this pathetic. If it's at all normal that a girl that I dated six years ago for only one month could have this much of an effect on me. But when she smiles back at me and I note the same ruby red lipstick on her lips that drove me crazy when we were kids and the ever-confident spirit in her shimmering eyes, I know that nothing with Joey is 'normal.' It's anything but. Normal wouldn't have me feeling this way. 

Joey has always been the one girl that was different. And damn if I'm not still crazy about her.

"I was really hoping six years would mean you had forgotten about that nickname," I say as I shove my hands into my pockets. 

I'm unable to keep the smile off of my face, same as her. 

She's only gotten more beautiful.

"Let's see if six years made you forget my go-to Chinese food order," she says with that same smoldering look she's always had perfected. 

"You mean the entire menu? Come on, it's not far from here," I say, nodding behind me. 

"Won't Roger and Dino miss you?" Joey teases as she walks closer to me, her flowery perfume invading my senses and taking my mind back to all of our memories together. 

Late night talks on the phone that led to me falling asleep every night with a stupid grin on my face. Dancing together at her party and knowing that, without a doubt, I was the luckiest guy there. Playfully fighting over who gets the last dumpling on the plate and then always giving it to her. Kissing her for the first time on her front porch, my heart pounding excessively hard when she didn't pull away. Introducing her to Belle and having her become one of Belle's favorite people. Holding her in my arms and trying not to notice how perfectly her body fit against mine.

When Joey's lips lift up into a small smirk, I realize I was staring and quickly blink away the memories to come back to the present.

"They're both good looking dudes, but I think they'll understand I much prefer to leave the bar with a pretty girl like you," I say with a smirk, falling right back into my flirtatious antics with her. 

I've flirted with girls in the past couple of years, but sometimes I had to force the words out of me. I had to snap myself into being interested in them, forcing away the distant memory of my endless flirtatious conversations with Joey. With her, though, it's easy. It's natural.

Joey stops right in front of me, looking at me through her lashes as she studies my face with one brow slightly raised. My heart starts beating faster with her so close to me and I fear that somehow she'll know the effect she still has on me.