Page 141 of Love Me Reckless

Her eyes fill with empathy. “Could you really do that?”

Emotions crest inside me so fast I have to hug myself and breathe. “Ohh.” My heart tightens like a knot and the room seems to swim.

Ava hurries over. “Easy, girl.”

I fight the sense that I’m unraveling. “He’s the most incredible thing that’s ever happened to me,” I gush. I remember Sawyer’s words.No one’s going to hand you that freedom. You have to fight for it.

“Then let’s take that option off the table,” Ava says, her kind eyes locked with mine.

I release a measured sigh. “What if I confront Birch?”

“Hmm, how would that help Sawyer?”

“Maybe it’s more for me. I don’t want Birch thinking I chose Sawyer over him. It’s more that I chose… myself.”

“I love that.” Ava sends me a kind smile. “Maybe bring someone for support?”

Sawyer has offered, but that could get tricky. “Grayson.”

“Great idea,” she replies just as Hutch passes by the bathroom doorway wearing a tool belt, with a giant chisel in his hand. His steady gaze flicks to Ava. The charge that zips between them could blow the walls down.

I wait for Hutch to pass out of sight. “Um, Aves?”

“Hmm?” Her voice sounds tinny.

“What’s going on with you two?”

She focuses on the paint roller, her brow knitted together. “He’s being an overprotective ass.”

I shoot her a look. “How so?”

“Ever since that break-in at my apartment, he’s been on me to get an alarm system. I told him he’s being ridiculous. The break-in wasn’t a huge deal. Nothing was stolen. Everyone was okay. Then today, I found out he’s had Jeremy checking on me.”

“Oh wow,” I say, frowning. “Have you seen Jeremy in San Francisco?”

“No. Just that night in Darby.”

“He was home visiting, though.”

“That’s what he said.”

I remember when Ava showed me pictures of our night out inDarby, and I spotted Jeremy in the background. Would Jeremy follow Ava all the way to Darby to honor Hutch’s request?

“Hutch probably just cares,” I say.

“He should have asked me.” She lowers her voice even more. “And Jeremy’s a good egg, but it’s not like we’re close. The idea that he might be keeping tabs on me is… weird.”

“I don’t know, it sounds kind of sweet to me.”

Ava doesn’t answer. “The shitty thing is he’s leaving tomorrow for another long deployment and I don’t know when I’ll see him again. I don’t want to be mad at him.”

I’m pretty sure she’s only partly mad about Hutch’s overprotectiveness. She’s mad he’s leaving again—but underneath that, she’s scared. Hutch’s job is risky, and he goes dark for months at a time, meaning we never know what’s happening or where he is, if he’s safe.

“Hang in there,” I say and give her a soft hug from behind.

She wraps her free arm across mine for a quick squeeze. “Same, girl.”

Sofie joins us and the rest of the painting passes quickly. We talk about Sofie and Zach’s wedding this summer and the plans she’s making, about graduate school and the internship she scored at the hospital, about Ava’s heavy course load this spring and the adventures she has with her medical school friends, distracting me for a little while.

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