Half of My Heart ✔️

57 | worth the wait

♔

"lust rushes
but love waits."
- Bridgett Devoue

♔

Stepping into the lobby of the hotel, I immediately feel underdressed. I really didn't expect our basketball team to have reserved room at such a high-end place, but that's the least of my concerns at the moment.

I need to figure out what room Jack is staying in.

Finding the hotel itself wasn't that difficult since my parents had already told me that they were staying in the hotel across from this one. I just figured out where my parents were staying and drove across the street. Call me Nancy Drew.

So I'm in the same building as Jack. But something tells me that a place this nice won't take lightly to a random girl asking for the rooms that the championship winners are staying in. At the same time, I want to surprise Jack, so asking for his room number isn't an option.

I walk slowly through the lobby, acting like I'm simply going to my room, when I'm really wracking my brain for a plan to figure out where the hell Jack is. Fate is on my side because less than two minutes after I walk through the lobby doors, I see my ticket up to Jack's room.

The guy is tall as hell, towering over everyone else, and wearing a sweatshirt with our college's emblem on the back. A basketball player. My eyes follow him as he strolls over to the small store—the kind that sells overpriced toothbrushes, razors, and anything else a traveler could have forgotten—and walks out a few minutes later with a small bag in his hands.

I get up and follow him in to the elevator, hoping he doesn't recognize me.

"Hey, you're Maddox's sister, right?" he says, turning to me after pressing the button for the twenty-first floor. He glances at the back of my jersey, confirming his suspicions, before getting a good look at my face. "Woah, you two have the exact same eyes."

I give a polite smile. "So I've been told," I say. Then I face him with an almost pleading look. "Here's the thing: Archer doesn't know I'm here. So I would be really grateful if you could keep it that way...."

As my voice trails off nervously, his eyes dart to the elevator buttons. The gears turn in his head as he considers the fact that I'm going to the same floor as him—the floor probably completely occupied by the team—but I'm not going to see Archer. His face splits into a knowing grin.

"Your secret's safe with me, little Maddox," he says just as the elevator doors open. I thank him and step out quickly. But not before I hear him add, "Griffin's in room 2151, in case you were wondering. End of the hall."

My cheeks light up with red as I rush down the hallway to room 2151. As awkward as that was, I have to thank the guy for making it a lot easier to find Jack.

The closer I get to the end of the hallway, the more my heart rate picks up. It's been less than an hour since I saw Jack, but I'm already jumping out of my skin to see him again. Ignoring my feelings for him for so long has only served to strengthen my emotions right now. It wasn't a matter of if I would ever run to him, it was a matter of when.

Without any reason to keep my feelings for Jack at bay, he's all I can think about.

I knock thrice then start fixing my hair like a fifteen-year-old on her first date. Showing up unannounced to someone's hotel room, I should be feeling nervous and wondering if he'll be angry or uncomfortable. But I don't feel any of that. Because it's Jack, and all I feel right now is excitement.

When he opens the door, I forget everything I was gonna say. He's wearing sweatpants and a faded red sweatshirt. But one side of the sweatshirt is resting on his shoulder as one arm sticks out of the bottom, exposing most of his tanned upper body.