Page 13 of Never Stop

CHAPTER FOUR

Easton

Nicole ended up moving back to Boston. I never thought she’d do it, especially without telling Brooke. She not only took Avery’s heart with her back to Boston but I knew she took a part of Brooke’s as well.

We were all adults, but I would be lost without Avery, so I understood what Brooke was going through without Nicole. She was more than her best friend. She was like her sister, and now wasn’t the time for Nicole to go back to Boston.

Everyone was hurting. Avery and Nicole had lost a baby, Brooke’s tumor ordeal might not be over, and I might never be able to give her the family she’d always wanted. If Brooke wanted to adopt down the road, I’d do it in a heartbeat, but I knew from talking to her she wanted her own flesh and blood one day. She’d already raised Bailee growing up, and now she was helping me with Cheyenne. It was finally time she had her own child—once we were married, of course.But if she had FAP…

Would we take the chance?

“Are you doing okay?” I crawled into bed with Brooke. When we got home from her appointment, she’d wanted to take a nap.

She nodded.

“Can I get you anything?”

“No,” she mumbled.

“Peanut will be home soon and—” I was interrupted by my cell phone ringing. “One sec.” I fished my phone from my pocket, noticing it was Halo’s number. “Hello?”

“Hey boss, it’s Traver.”

I stood from the bed. “Hey, Traver, what’s up?”

“So um…”

“Is everything okay?”

“I’m not a rat—”

“Spit it out, Traver.”

“I’m not really sure about the protocol, and I would hold down the fort myself, but I think it’s more than drinking, man.”

“Traver, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Avery’s drunk. No—he’s wasted. He’s in bad shape, man.”

I took a deep breath trying to calm my anger. Avery knew better—he knew the law, and he knew how bad this would look to our patrons and our employees. We’d talked about it several times when we wanted to take shots with chicks or have drinks with our staff. We didn’t do it.

“I’ll be right there.” I turned back to Brooke after hanging up the phone and kneeled down so I was eye-level with the bed. Brushing her hair from her face, I said, “I need to go to Halo. Apparently, Avery’s drunk.”

She raised her head to look at me. “Really? But he’s working.”

I shook my head in disappointment. “I know. I thought he was okay to work tonight, but I guess I was wrong.”

“Okay.” She started to sit up, and I kissed her lips softly.

“Why don’t you and Peanut go to the movies or go shopping? Do something to get out of the house and get your mind off of things while I work tonight. Try not to think about what Megan said. Let’s wait until the colonoscopy and the genetic tests come back.”

“That’s easy for you to say.” She groaned and stood from the bed. “I’ll see what she wants to do. Gives me an excuse to eat my feelings.”

I hated to leave Brooke, especially after her appointment. The timing for Avery to get drunk on the job was horrible, but it wasn’t like him. I knew he was hurting. If I couldn’t be there for Brooke, I knew my little girl could help me. I texted Cheyenne before I left for Halo, hoping her phone was on silent while she was in class.Kids these days had cell phones at birth.

Me:Hey, Peanut! I have to work tonight. Have a girl’s night with Brooke, she needs it.

I arrived at Halo, thanking God that it wasn’t happy hour or a busy time of night when the bar would be packed. There were only a few people at the bar, some at high top tables too, but no one dancing like you’d find on a Friday or Saturday night.