Page 29 of Vegas Baby!

“Was she sick? How did I not know any of this?”

“I never wanted you to know. And yeah, she was an alcoholic. It got really, really bad around the time I graduated high school. We fought constantly. The second I turned eighteen, I bolted and never looked back.”

“Luke, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“I should’ve told you. You were this one bright spot in my life and I couldn’t stand the thought of you looking at me with pity.”

“I wouldn’t have,” she insisted.

“Maybe not, but you would’ve tried to help.”

“Almost definitely,” she agreed.

“I needed to protect you from that. Your mom and brother agreed. My mom would’ve been a vampire on your compassion, sucking every drop she could get from you. She’d have gottenyou doing chores, running errands, loaning her money until you had nothing left to give. I couldn’t let that happen.”

“Why’d you leave entirely instead of moving out?”

We pulled to a stop at the parking lot and I turned to her. “The only way I was getting out of that situation alive was going where she’d never find me again. I was trying so hard not to self-destruct and become just like her. If I stayed under her influence, I’d have been like her sooner rather than later. I haven’t spoken a word to her since I left California.”

“Or me,” Ava said quietly. “Have you talked to Nathan at all?”

I grimaced. “Not as much as I should have, and not anytime recently. I told him when I arrived, but then he got busy with school and I got busy carving out a life for myself here.”

“It really sucked losing both of you at once.”

Nathan had gone off to university not too long after I’d bolted. “I can’t change any of what I did in the past, but I promise I am not going to do that to you again.”

Ava pursed her lips. “I’m going to have to let actions prove that. Can I have my phone back?”

With a nod, I hopped out, rounded the vehicle to open her door for her, and offered my hand to counterbalance. I fished her phone out of my pocket and passed it over while we walked into the small restaurant.

“This is…a lot.” She stared down at the screen, scrolling through the multitude of missed messages and calls.

“He started getting pretty aggressive. I didn’t want you to see it when you were already stressed out.”

She was quiet while the host seated us in a little booth, setting down waters before taking our orders. Ava deferred to me on what to choose since I ate here so often. I ordered her a classic chicken shoyu ramen.

“I don’t understand,” Ava said when the server had gone. “Andrew has never talked to me like this before.”

“You’ve never left him before either.”

She frowned.

“A lot of people don’t show their true colors until you stop giving them what they want. I wish that wasn’t the case for you. I know absolutely nothing is ideal about the situation, but I hope you know the pack will take care of you.”

Her eyes blazed with quiet fire. “Because you have to since I bonded Jesse, or because you want to?”

I let out a breath. “You know the answer, Aves. Didn’t I always protect you when we were kids?”

“We’re not kids anymore.”

“No, we’re not, but I’m going to protect you anyway.”

Her gaze dropped, focusing on the chopstick wrapper she was fiddling with. “I’m still mad at you.”

“Join the club.” I huffed a laugh. “Everyone is mad at me, including myself.”

The arrival of our ramen bowls alleviated some of the tension. I watched Ava dive in, her hair slipping dangerously close to the broth. I pushed my bowl across the table and moved to sit next to her, gathering up her hair and holding it securely. I didn’t have a hair tie, but my hand was the next best thing.

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