Page 7 of Ashley & the A-Listers (Sweetverse)

7. SACRIFICE

RIVER

River sat beside Dylan on the plastic chairs and waited.

And watched.

And appreciated.

“Wow,” River murmured, and not for the first time, as Ashley led Cameron through a series of very intense stretches.

“Didn’t know he could bend like that, did you?” Dylan mused, and flipped a page in his book.

“Of course I did,” River answered, and shifted in his seat. “I just haven’t seen him do it in a while.”

Dylan offered little more than a hum, and River wanted to rip the book out of his hands. “That explains why you’re here. Booty call.”

“Am not,” River said, even though that was part of why he’d come. “I missed him,” he admitted a moment later. “We talked on the phone last night, and I certainly don’t have anything going on besides Zoom meetings and rewrites. What was stopping me from showing up?”

In fact, River had just submitted another round of corrections on the screenplay to the team, and wanted something to distract himself as he waited on their feedback.

Cameron was his favorite distraction.

“What a good little housewife you are,” Dylan teased.

River rolled his eyes. “What are you even reading? A self-help book? You need plenty of it.”

Dylan chuckled, and River hated that it was attractive, the way he could laugh off an insult. It wasn’t that River disliked Dylan—quite the opposite, actually, since he was there to protect River’s partner—he was just fun to annoy.

“Sure, let’s go with that.”

River yanked his attention away from Ashley and Cameron to stare at this alpha. “I don’t believe you,” he sang, and leaned forward in the chair, gripping the back so he wouldn’t fall off and make a fool of himself. He tilted his head to get a glimpse of the book title and almost fell out anyway.

“It’s a romance?” River asked, a little struck. That’s not what River thought this big alpha would be interested in.

“You have a problem?” he asked, finally lifting his gaze from the page.

River leaned back in his chair. “No, no problem. Just surprised, is all.”

Maybe there was a bit more to this alpha than River had thought.

Silence settled and River only heard the sound of Cameron’s heavy breathing, a few curses, and the flip of those damned pages.

“What’s it about?” River asked, finally cracking.

Dylan shrugged. “I picked it up because it was at the trending table of the bookshop. Ironically, it’s about a queen and her bodyguard.”

River snorted. “Of course it is.”

“It’s quite the read so far. Lots of politics and stolen moments,” Dylan admitted. “And I’d quite like to keep reading, so if you don’t mind…”

“As long as you don’t get any ideas,” River said. The last thing he wanted was for this alpha to secretly pine over River’s boyfriend, secret or not.

Dylan arched a brow at him and River met his eyes bravely. “Believe me. The last person I’m interested in is Cameron.”

The nose wrinkle was a step too far, but River believed him, and mimed zipping his lips shut.

So he turned his attention to the pair on the mats, and tried to keep most of his gaze on Cameron… who hit the mats with a thump as Ashley swept his feet out from beneath him. She was not going easy on the omega, that was for sure, and it made River smile. Damn, Ashley was downright gorgeous, competent, and a badass.

“Come on, ” Cameron whined at one point, and Ashley just grinned, feral in her intensity.

“Again,” she told him as she ran him through another drill and corrected his placement. She tapped his lower back and abs, directing him to tighten up, and River snorted as Cameron groaned.

“Please, god, deliver me from my suffering,” Cameron muttered.

“You got this!” River called out, encouraging.

Ashley shot him a grin, and Cameron offered a wobbly thumbs-up.

“You know, if you guys are going to remain a secret, you’ve gotta be more lowkey,” Dylan grumbled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean, he ran to you like a long-lost love when you walked in the gym. It was a good thing no one was paying any attention, because the other celebs here would’ve clocked it.”

“They’d mind their own business,” River said, waving a hand. Internally, he realized Dylan was right. “But I’m aware. I just missed him.”

“Save it for the apartment.”

A snappy response was on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it. Despite how much Cam complained about Dylan, he was only there to look out for Cameron. Dylan didn’t deserve his ire.

Dylan knew, of course, that River and Cameron were a secret item. Something about needing to know everything about the client he’d be guarding so there were no surprises.

River tried to ignore the bit of giddiness that reared its head every time he remembered someone knew. Another person he didn’t have to lie to about the best part of his life.

That privilege only extended to a few people, like Cameron’s management, recently Dylan, and probably soon, Ashley.

Speaking of…

River was watching closely, and among finding peeks of the moves he’d written come to life, he noticed something else.

Every few minutes, Ashley’s gaze shot in their direction—no.

In Dylan’s direction.

And each time, the bodyguard was buried in his book.

River leaned over. “She keeps looking at you, y’know.”

For the first time, River watched the alpha go on alert. He tensed, stilling in an unnatural way, and River knew he suddenly wasn’t seeing a damned word on that page. “No, she’s not.”

“Hmm. But she is, though, is the thing.”

River watched it happen once more. “There it is,” he said.

Dylan lowered the book for a moment, cheeks flushing, and River smirked. “Cameron mentioned some… tension between the two of you.”

“There’s no such thing,” he answered far too quickly.

“That so?” River questioned. “Doesn’t seem like it. It seems like she keeps glancing over here, wondering if you’re watching.”

“And I’m not. Because she doesn’t want me to watch.” As if reminded, he picked the book back up.

“Them’s not the vibes I’m getting,” River murmured.

“Well, you just got here. You don’t know the vibes,” Dylan hissed, lifting his book higher. His scent went a little dry, burning with irritation, and River wrinkled his nose.

“How’s the book, buddy?” River asked.

“It’s fine,” Dylan growled, almost a bark in his voice, but River smirked.

He reached over, grabbed the bottom of the book, and flipped it right side up.

“There ya go. Enjoy.”

His growl was low and rumbly, more annoyance than anything threatening.

River sat back in his chair and grinned when Ashley risked a peek once more. “What’s going on there?” he asked quietly.

“Nothing.”

“Liar,” River sang. “Did you kill her pet fish? Total her car? Oh! I know. I bet it’s a secret love affair.”

“That’s more your style, not mine,” Dylan drawled.

“Ouch,” River replied, and tried to let it roll off his shoulders.

Dylan placed his bookmark and shut his book. “It seems I’m going to get no reading done while you’re here. When are you going back?”

“Hmm, I don’t know,” River mused. “Seems more fun here.”

Dylan rolled his eyes again and it brought River great joy to poke at this intense alpha.

“Just watch,” River suggested. “Give it a minute.”

Dylan was a tense brick fucking wall next to him as they waited, and River noticed Dylan’s dark eyes flash as he watched Ashley kick Cameron’s ass.

She was a main character, like Axel. Could even be an asset to him. The two of them would team up, take down some big, corrupt organization with ease.

The script was writing itself.

Dylan was… an obstacle. Someone from her past that she needed to confront to move on, to give her motivation before the final battle.

He wondered how close to the truth that was, before remembering these were real people with feelings, and not characters on a page.

A spectacle of a character, at least in Ashley’s case.

And so was Cameron, don’t get River wrong. He’d stand in his man’s corner all fucking day, but this tension between the two alphas was particularly intriguing.

So River was watching when Ashley’s gaze flitted to them, noticing Dylan’s attention. She flushed, if not in color then in demeanor, and turned back to Cameron lightning-fast.

“See?” River said.

“I don’t see anything,” Dylan said, but he sounded slightly less convinced than he had moments ago.

“She wants you to watch. How curious,” River hummed.

“I doubt that,” he argued. “She practically hates me.”

“Why’s that?”

Dylan grumbled something. “I’m not talking about this with you.”

“Why not me?”

“Boundaries. I have a therapist for that.”

“Oh, so it’s serious,” River said, sitting up a bit more. “Now I’ve got to know.”

Dylan sighed. “If I told you, you’d just tell Cameron, and then he’d be mad that I didn’t tell him first, and also—” he said, as if realizing something— “this is absolutely none of your business.”

“I’m making it my business, because Cameron has a wittle cwush,” he said, and walked his fingers along Dylan’s arm.

The alpha scowled at him.

It shouldn’t have been so attractive, and yet it was.

Dylan sighed, the sound spilling from deep within, and River had a moment of sympathy.

Then it faded.

“What happened?” River asked.

“I hurt her once. I was young, and stupid, and I ran from it. She’s right to be angry, and I refuse to manipulate her into anything else.”

River turned the words over in his head, noticing how Ashley pointedly didn’t glance their way, not even once more, now that she might risk meeting Dylan’s gaze.

“Have you talked to her at all?”

“I tried to apologize. But it’s too late, and that’s alright. Things don’t always work out.”

“They could, though,” River pointed out.

“Not without forcing it. And I’m not going to hurt her even more by doing so.”

“Well, I think we should let her kick your ass,” River mused. “That would probably bring her great joy.”

Dylan paused, dropping his crossed arms to his lap. “Do you think so? I know she could put me in the ground, just from watching her train Cam these past few days.”

“I mean, I don’t know. You ever had an ex you just wanted to punt the shit out of? Just for fun?”

Dylan frowned. “No.”

River rolled his eyes. “Therapy is doing you too much good.”

“Thank you,” Dylan said, lips twitching.

“It wasn’t a compliment,” River returned.

Cam had been keeping River apprised of his least favorite bodyguard since they’d started working together, so River had some insider information.

“Clearing the air would be a good start, but conversations are hard,” River said. “Believe me,” he murmured, gaze falling to Cameron.

River didn’t want to hide with Cameron anymore—he wanted to walk beside him on the sidewalk and hug in the gym without fearing who’d see.

But River found it harder to bring up each time Cameron had to deny him.

His agent and publicist were really pushing the whole most eligible bachelor image, and no matter how many times Cam and he broached the subject with them, they shut them down.

Most days, it didn’t bother him.

“My therapist has said something like that before,” Dylan offered.

“They’re onto something,” River told him. “Maybe she needs to kick your ass, get all those emotions out before she can talk to you.”

Dylan snorted, and with a tilt of his head he studied the sparring pair with more intensity.

“I’d happily sacrifice my dignity to talk to her,” Dylan said, so softly he maybe didn’t intend River to hear it.

But he did, and as River stared at his partner, he wondered what Cameron would sacrifice for their happiness.