Page 138 of Ashley & the A-Listers

She chuckled at the thought and picked up her keys. “Are we doing this?”

River stood from the bar, palms pressed flat to the top, and Ashley studied the way his muscles flexed, the way the ink of the tattoos curled around them.

What was his routine?

“We’re doing this,” he said, and drew a line with his palm toward the door. “Lead the way.”

After they picked up two caramel macchiatos from a local cafe, they wandered around the hardware shop, and while waiting for the paint to mix, flocked to the light section like moths.

The bright white lights were harsh and unforgivable, just like the ones in Cameron’s apartment.

The next aisle was more welcoming, lit like a tunnel with a display of the string lights they offered.

“Cameron needs these,” River mused, and Ashley glanced at him, noting the way he stared at the lights.

“The star-shaped ones,” Ashley suggested sarcastically. At River’s silence, she explained, “Because he’s a movie star.”

He snorted softly, gaze flicking to her as if she was ridiculous, as if he was charmed. “He’d laugh at that.”

Once they returned, it got a bit tedious, what with the taping and moving chairs and taking outdated art down off the dining room walls.

He’d brought along another one of those 24K gold cones, and Ashley scoffed… before retrieving a lighter and showing him the patio out back to boost their morale.

“This place is really cute,” he said. “I can see why you held onto it so long.”

The breeze was making the trees whisper while the sun shone down, hot, but cool enough in the shade as they sat in the wicker furniture. She and Dylan had built snowmen in this yard at some point.

“Yeah, there’s memories. But it’s small,” she admitted.

“Why does that matter?” he asked.

Ashley’s attention was rapt on the trees. “Well. I think it’s too small for even, say, Dylan and I,” she murmured, flushing, and shifted her gaze to the end of the joint while she rolled the filter between her fingers before passing it. “And I mean, I do want a pack eventually,” she muttered, so quietly that she had to repeat it louder for River to hear when he said, “What?” and wouldn’t let it go.

Her cheeks were even redder now, and she stood, ready to make her way back inside so she didn’t have to meet his eyes.

“Have you always wanted a pack?” he asked, following after packing the joint away in its little glass tube.

“Don’t all alphas?”

“I suppose so,” he said.

The first moment she rolled the paint on the wall, she knew she’d picked the perfect color.

“Cameron has mentioned a pack recently,” River alleged as Ashley laid the roller on the wall. She paused, studying him and searching for… a hint, she guessed?

“Oh yeah?” she asked, oh-so-casually. His lips twitched and she continued rolling the brush. “Do you want one, too?”

“I think…” He hesitated, giving the question more thought than she had intended. “I think the idea of a pack is romantic, and Cameron and I both are hopeless romantics. But…” River trailed off. “Cameron can’t even tell the world aboutme. Once he finally does that, then I’ll be ready to think about a pack with him.”

Ashley frowned at that, something in her chest lurching for River. “How often does that come up… going public?”

“Uhm… pretty often, I’d say,” he shared. “The last time it came up, Cam’s management said I ‘wasn’t a threat’ because I’m a beta. That no one would take me seriously anyway, even if we did announce we were together.”

Ashley gaped. “Hesaidthat?”

River shared a look of disbelief with her. “Iknow!It was rude, but… true. I mean, Cam has millions of fans at this point, and he’s an omega. What would an omega want with a beta, when he could have any alpha he wants?”

The matter-of-fact way he said it told Ashley all she needed to know. He’d been over this in his head a hundred, maybe a thousand times. She wondered how long he and Cam had discussed the topic.

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