Page 42

AVERY

O nce we’d put the groceries away, Cole took Ashton to train with Trent. He’d missed a full day of training with both men, and I thought it would be good for him to get some time with those two.

“You go ahead. I’ll be fine here,” I said.

“Not by yourself,” Cole said. “Come along and watch the men at work.”

Ashton tensed. I remembered what it was like to be a teenager and having your parents—or grandparent, in my case—hovering over you while you were trying to do something. He’d be more at ease if I wasn’t there.

“I’ll go to Stormy’s,” I said. “I haven’t seen her in a couple days. That way, I won’t be alone. How’s that?”

Cole looked dubious but agreed. He insisted on following me to Stormy’s and sitting at the curb with Ashton until I was safely inside. Stormy was at the door, waving me in as Cole drove away.

“Nice bodyguard you got there,” she said as she locked the door.

Shiloh sat in a corner, babbling away to herself and banging a bright red block against a pile of other blocks. As I walked in, she looked up, smiled, and blew a big raspberry at me, drool running down her chin.

I laughed. “Same to you, little miss.”

“She’s in a mood today,” Stormy said as we settled on the couch.

“Where’s your mom?”

“Work.” She rolled her eyes. “She’s old enough to retire, but she loves working. I’m not going to tell her to stop.” She leaned forward. “Forget about my mom, how are you doing? I’ve been out of my mind with worry.”

“Everything is okay,” I lied.

“Girl, seriously? You can’t mean that.” She raised an eyebrow. “You’re getting back with the guy who ripped your heart out, and there’s some psycho who’s trying to ruin your life or maybe even hurt you? It’s like you jumped into The Twilight Zone or something.”

She wasn’t wrong. Ever since the moment I walked in on Perry banging our neighbor, things had gone off the rails. It seemed like some new issue popped up every day.

“Things could be better,” I admitted. “But some stuff is good. I’m surprised how well things are going with Cole, for one. It kinda feels like we’re picking back up where we left off.”

Stormy looked at me as though trying to peer into my head to see if I was lying.

In the years after Cole left me, she’d made hundreds of pronouncements about the awful things she would do to his genitals if she ever saw him again.

Many of those promises had involved a chainsaw.

It wasn’t easy for her to forget all those years of hatred, even if I was able to look past it.

“All I ask is that you’re careful,” she finally said.

“I want you to be happy, and I think you need to try for that. Like I said the other day, second chances don’t come all the time.

But I can’t survive seeing you hurt like that again.

It would destroy me.” Stormy winced at the thought.

“Are you positive that this is a good time to start rebuilding your relationship with Cole? With Ashton getting close to shifting and ending everything with Perry? There’s a lot going on, and it would suck if you jumped into something without thinking just because it felt nostalgic, right? ”

“That is a very valid argument,” I said. “But it feels different. It’s not like he’s been pushing to get back into my life. He wants to be there, yeah, but I’ve had to lead him along sometimes. Cole’s respecting my boundaries. He’s really trying.”

“Good,” Stormy said, and then looked across the room at Shiloh, who was crawling across the floor to another pile of toys. “Just hold off on any forever promises. You never know what tomorrow will bring.”

The way she looked at Shiloh broke my heart.

The little girl was the spitting image of her father, and it had to hurt Stormy to remember the love she’d lost. In a way, we’d swapped positions.

For years, I’d been the one who’d lost the love of her life, and Stormy had tried to help me through that.

Now our roles were reversed. Before she could say another word, I wrapped my arms around her.

Stormy stayed rigid for a moment, then melted into my embrace. She allowed one single sob, then pulled away and wiped at her eyes. “Shiloh will start crying if she sees me cry. For a baby, she’s really empathetic.”

Stormy had struggled in the weeks after her husband Marcus had been killed by a drunk driver, and she hadn’t allowed herself to grieve properly because she’d been caring for a small child.

I hoped one day, my friend would find someone new who would love her and Shiloh the way they deserved because she was an amazing woman.

We spent several hours talking and playing with Shiloh, but it was getting late and I needed to head home. I gathered my purse and stood, but Stormy stopped me.

“Aren’t you gonna call Cole and tell him you’re going home?”

I rolled my eyes. “It’s a few minutes’ drive. I don’t think anything bad’s gonna happen between here and there. Plus, I don’t want to interrupt Ashton’s time with him. I’ll be fine. I’ll text you when I’m home.

Stormy hesitated, but then she hugged me and saw me out. “See you later.”

“See you.”

My friend watched me from the door as I pulled down the driveway.

As I pulled onto the highway, my mind drifted to a hundred different areas.

Mostly, I wondered what Stormy would do for companionship.

Having your baby and mother was better than nothing for loneliness, but she really needed someone else.

Was it too soon for her to start dating again?

Maybe, maybe not. I’d only been back in town a couple weeks, but I went ahead and started flipping through my mental list of men I knew who might be a good match for my strong-willed and sassy friend.

It was during this mental lull that I noticed the car in my rearview mirror.

A black sedan was riding my ass. Frowning, I put on my turn signal and moved over to the slower lane.

The vehicle behind me moved over as well, mimicking my movement.

That sent a tremor of fear through me. Stormy’s words echoed through my head, and I wondered if I’d made a bad mistake in not calling Cole. Was it Kyle behind me?

My eyes bouncing from my rearview mirror to the road ahead, I dug my phone out of my pocket, my fear escalating with each passing second. There was no other traffic, no reason for them to be right on my ass. I called Cole.

Almost as soon as I did, the car behind me swerved back into the fast lane, slammed on the gas, and flew past me, shooting down the road and leaving me in its wake. A little sigh of relief escaped my mouth. It must have been some asshole kids screwing with me.

“Avery? Are you okay?” Cole’s voice said in my ear.

I flinched in surprise. I’d almost forgotten I’d called him. My relief at the car leaving had overwhelmed me, making my brain go blank.

“Huh? Uh… yeah, sorry. Butt-dial, I think,” I said.

I didn’t want to freak Cole out, especially if it was over something this silly.

“Are you sure?” he asked, his voice growing tight with worry.

“Yeah. Positive. I was going to call you, anyway, though,” I said, trying to sound easygoing and flippant about the whole thing. “I’m headed back from Stormy’s. I’m about three minutes from home. Wanted you to know.”

He sighed, and I prepared for him to chastise me for not informing him or waiting to get an escort, but he didn’t. Instead, he said, “I wish I could be there to watch over you, but if you’re close to home, it’s probably fine. Let me know as soon as you’re home safe, okay?”

“Will do.”

“See you soon.”

When I got home, I waited until the garage door was fully closed behind me before getting out.

Probably being overly cautious, but better safe than sorry.

I texted Stormy and Cole to let them know I was home safe.

Once inside, my worries faded, and I felt that telltale tingle of excitement.

Being away with Cole would give us time to properly discuss what was going on and figure out how we’d navigate our relationship going forward.

It would help get us on the same page. We’d been so focused on Ashton that we hadn’t really had any talks about us . I was looking forward to that.

Plus, I couldn’t lie—I already wanted him again. The night before had been mind-blowing. Just the thought of being alone with him in a hotel room got my imagination going, and I let a few scenarios play out as I packed my overnight bag.

My phone rang a few moments later, ripping those thoughts away.

There was a moment of panic as I wondered if it was Kyle again, but it was Gaige. Relief washed over me as I answered.

“Hey, Gaige.”

“Avery, glad I could catch you.”

“Anything wrong?”

“Not at all. I wanted to let you know I got those boxes shipped out for you. House is fully cleaned out. I’ve already had a couple agents nearby ask for showings. I’ve got no doubts this place is gonna sell in no time. Fingers crossed, we’ll have a bidding war.”

“That’s great news,” I said.

I wasn’t hurting financially. The magazine paid me well, more than enough for the amount of work I did.

That helped, and a friend had given me some pretty good advice on investing in Bitcoin.

Though, in hindsight, it would have been better to invest a few thousand dollars rather than five hundred.

Instead of cashing out a hundred-and-fifty grand, I’d have been a millionaire.

Either way, it had allowed me to put money away for Ashton’s college fund and to get us totally debt-free, other than the mortgage.

The sale of the house would be welcome, though.

It was always good to have a safety net.

Cole kept saying he wanted to take care of us, but it was hard to break the habit of taking care of yourself when you’d done it for so long. Besides, it was good not to trust anyone blindly. As I’d seen in the past, anything could happen at any time.

“I do have some weird news for you, though,” Gaige said hesitantly.

“What’s that?”