Page 58 of Ashley & the A-Listers

She saw it cross his mind, the idea that she’d reached out to him in a time of need and he hadn’t been there.

She hoped it hurt him as much as it had her.

She’d spent years feeling so stupid, wishing she hadn’t put so much of her heart into him. Wishing she hadn’t been so vulnerable with him. That she’d been meaner.

“Would you have even answered?” she bit out.

Dylan rocked back on his feet. “Of course I would have. Of fucking course I would have. Fuck, Ashley. I’m so sorry.”

She ground her teeth together. “Sorry for which part?”

“All of it,” he said, chasing her words with his own. “Leaving the first time, freaking out, and not being there when you needed me.”

He pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes, and even in her anger Ashley could tell this hurt him, rehashing the past.

Good. Maybe he’d have just a tiny taste of how she’d felt all these years.

“How did she die?”

Ashley cleared her throat and averted her gaze. “Heart attack. She was here one day and gone the next.”

Dylan swallowed, and she watched every nuance of his expression. She refused to allow the words that swelled to cross her tongue, but they crossed her mind.

She wasn’t the only one.

“I’m sorry, Ashley,” he said, and his voice was as soft as she’d ever heard it. “Sorry you had to go through that. She was so young.”

Ashley nodded, choking back the hurt she’d been shouldering for years. “She was. And healthy, except for the stress of holding down two jobs to support a whole-assteenager.” Her eyes clouded with bitterness for a moment, and she blinked it away. “There was no one to blame, so.”

“How old were you?” he asked.

Part of Ashley didn’t think he deserved this information because he hadn’t been around. Another part of her realized maybe hediddeserve it for that same reason.

Look what you missed.

“I was twenty-one. Still at home with her while I worked.”

Dylan raked a hand through his hair. “Shit. What’d you do?”

She paused, wondering if he had any right to ask the question, if she wanted to even go there. “Kenzie and Jordan were a huge crutch for me,” she said, glossing over the darkest time of her life. “Still are,” she admitted, and cleared her throat.

“A pack?” he blurted, and then his cheeks colored.

He blushed.

Part of Ashley wanted to lie. To make him realize that yeah, his actions had consequences, and this particular consequence meant he’d missed his chance.

Meant he’d fucked it up. Irreparably.

But Ashley was a grown adult with a conscience.

“No. Just friends. Not that it’s any of your fucking business,” she said, low and slow.

Dylan swallowed. “I deserve that. I’m sorry.”

Ashley nodded once, because if she kept going it would only hurt the both of them.

Why didshehave to be the bigger person?

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