Page 86 of My Three Hometown Alphas

She shifts her head so she can look up at me. “I missed you today.”

“I missed you, too.”

If I miss her this much when I’m gone for a handful of hours and know I’ll see here when I get home, I don’t even want to contemplate how much I’m going to miss her when she’s gone for good. My brain can’t even fathom that right now.

“Aves, you want some candy?” Lyla shouts.

Avery laughs. “No, I’m good, sweetheart.”

I hold her against me for another breath before we both pull back. “Sorry if I got you wet.”

She shrugs. “I don’t care.”

I start to stand. “I’m going to go shower. I’ll be back down in a few.”

A flicker of heat passes through her eyes. “Think of me,” she says, biting her bottom lip.

“Every damn time,” I say, walking toward the stairs.

Avery groans, letting her head fall back against the couch.

Good.

I won’t be the only one hot and bothered while I’m in the shower.

While I do think about her in the shower, it isn’t the type of thoughts I was aiming for. I can’t fully appreciate the sexy thoughts because the worry and sadness I have over her rapidly approaching departure from our lives takes over.

She’s leaving in a matter of days. We don’t even have weeks anymore. It’s down to days.

Frustrated, I shut off the shower and quickly get dressed in sweatpants and a hoodie. I try telling myself I’m wearing comfy clothes because of the gloomy weather outside and not the gloominess I’m feeling inside.

Making my way downstairs, I find both ladies still in the living room. Lyla is now laying on the floor building something with her magnetic tiles, while Avery is sitting on the couch with her laptop on her lap.

I try not to look at what’s on her screen, but I fail. It looks like it’s information from the people she’ll be working for soon.

I shake my head, rounding the couch. It’s none of my business. I shouldn’t have been looking in the first place.

I sit down beside her and notice her eyebrows are scrunched together as she reads. “Is everything alright?”

“It’s just some onboarding stuff for my internship.”

“I’m happy for you,” I tell her. “You’re going to do amazing. You deserve this.”

She nods, giving me a smile that almost seems forced.

I don’t know what it is, but her reaction seems off. Maybe she doesn’t actually want this job opportunity.

Nah.Maybe she’s just masking her excitement because of the messy situation we’ve all found ourselves in. That has to be it. It has to.

There’s a part of me that wants to beg her to stay here instead of leaving for the internship. And I’m not going to lie—that part is growing louder by the day, maybe even by the hour at this point.

I have to fight the urge to do just that, though. I would never do something that could hurt her in the long run. I love her too much to ever do that, even if it puts myself and my brothers in the crosshairs.

She deserves to go out and live her dream in the big world out there with her shiny new degree in hand. There’s nothing in this tiny town for her.

I just need to accept that.

If only it were that easy and my head and my heart could get on the same page. Because right now they aren’t even in the same book.