Page 81 of My Three Hometown Alphas

Their lovable dog, Cash, trots along right-on Hadley’s heels. I guess she has four guys wrapped around her little finger.

Everyone starts chatting while Lyla and Evelyn skip around, chatting with each other.

“Jackson, come play with us,” Evelyn says, looking up at the younger boy.

Grayson sets him down on the ground. He tentatively grabs Evelyn’s hand, following behind the much louder girls.

I turn to see Avery trying to take everyone in. “Oh… guys, this is Avery.” I pause because I don’t know how to label her presence in our lives. “She’s helping to take care of Lyla this summer.”

She’s sure a hell of a lot more than that, but they don’t need to know the extent of everything.

She smiles, waving at everyone. I go around pointing out everyone in the group.

Lyla pops back over and points at Sienna. “Her grandma is Louise. The crazy old lady at Peak Brews who said my uncles were hot.”

“Lyla,” I scold, not wanting her to call Louise crazy, even if it’s a little true.

Maybe a lot true.

“It’s okay,” Sienna says, laughing. “That old woman is a little batty.”

“She wasn’t wrong about the handsome part, though,” Hadley says, stepping up to her best friend’s side. She leans down, pressing a kiss to the top of the baby’s head.

“Hey,” Brooks groans from the back of the group, glaring at Hadley. She just smirks in his direction.

“Just eww…” Lyla says, shaking her head. She points one hand at Hadley and the other at Grayson who’s standing in the back of the group, then looks back at Avery. “You bought your car from their mom.”

How does she know all of this?She already acts like she’s fifteen sometimes with a vault for a brain.

“Maggie is your mom?” Avery asks Hadley.

“Yeah,” Hadley says almost tentatively. “Did she say something bad? She’s kind of ruthless with her humor sometimes.”

Avery starts laughing. “No, I thought she was freakin’ awesome.”

Avery is too much of a badass. Maggie’s dark-as-fuck humor wouldn’t scare her off. She would just laugh her butt off and add in her own dark quips.

“Well, good. I’m glad she didn’t run you out of town,” Hadley says. “Can we set up camp beside you?”

“Go for it,” Avery says. “They might be going at each other’s throats,” she gestures to the swarm of men standing in front of the bleachers, “but I’ll play nice.”

Cash walks over laying his big head on Avery’s lap. She beams down at him, running her fingers through his thick fur. “And who are you, big guy?”

I don’t comment on how that’s the same name she called me when she was teasing me earlier.

“That’s Cash,” Hadley says, sitting beside Avery. “Sorry if he gets his fur all over you. He’s kind of an attention whore.”

Avery busts out laughing as she continues to pet Cash.

Sienna sits down on Hadley’s other side. “We’ll let the boys go do boy things, and we’ll have some girl talk.”

A smirk crosses Avery’s face. “I am definitely on board with that.”

I look over, finding Lyla still playing with Jackson and Evelyn. I look down at Avery. “You good?”

She gives me a slow nod. Her eyes are saying so much that her lips can’t right now.

Same, baby. Same.