Page 64 of Ashley & the A-Listers

So he’d gotten out early, tagging on with his sister to “protect” her venture into the bigger city, and he’d made himself never look back until he could be somethinggoodfor her.

He wanted to control it.

And this… this emotion in his chest was just something he didn’t think he’d ever be able tocontrol.

“I feel like I’m still not getting it,” she said, and crossed her arms. “And I’m still so…” She uncrossed them and flexed her fingers in a wringing motion. “…So fuckingmad.”

“You deserve to be,” he said softly.

“Stop that!” she said, raising her voice a bit before clearing her throat. He wanted to tell her he didn’t mind. “Stop being so understanding and calm!”

Dylan stood, because he felt silly staying seated. “I do understand, though,” he offered.

Ashley groaned and raked her hands through her hair, messing up her ponytail. “I’m somadat you, and I was so hurt when you left, and then mom died, and you didn’t answer my messages, and all this time I thought you just didn’t care. And now here you are, and I’m having to rewrite the last seven years simply because you couldn’t bother to reach out to let me know your number changed! Do you know how fucked that is?” she asked.

He nodded. “Really, really fucked. I messed up. And I want to fix it,” he said, meaning every word of it, hoping. “If you’d be up for that.”

Ashley shook her head. “I don’t even know where you’d start.”

Dylan shrugged. “Like this? Apologizing, looking at pictures. You can yell at me some more, if you like. And I’ll… stay. I’m not going anywhere.”

“What about when the job is over? When Cameron doesn’t need you to be his bodyguard anymore?”

Dylan shrugged. “I don’t have a pack. My sister is fine. I can go where I please.”

Ashley narrowed her eyes at him. “And it pleases you to be here?”

“It does,” Dylan said, and tried to put every ounce of emotion into the phrase. “Just because I left, it doesn’t mean I stopped thinking about you, wondering how you were, or regretting my decision in the first place. I convinced myself Gemma needed my help, my protection, because she was an omega going to a big, scary city. And for whatever reason, that seemed less scary than staying here and facing what was happening. So. Now is my chance to fix it. And I want to do that, however you’ll let me, for however long it takes to be your friend again.”

Ashley stared at him for a long, long moment, and Dylan felt like she could see right through his little glass house of lies he’d told himself.

“Please,” he added, because it never hurt.

Her lips pursed, and she crossed her arms. “Fine. But I’m gonna make you work for it,” she said, lifting her hand when he let his excitement bleed into his expression. She patted the tote. “That's enough emotional turmoil for one night. Take these with you. So you can take your time.”

His first instinct was to tell her they could do it together, like they should’ve done all those years ago. But that offer servedhimmore than it ever would her.

He laid a hand on the lid. If she’d had to go through them alone, he could, too. Why give her one more burden to bear? Maybe one day, in the future, they could revisit them together, when the wounds weren’t so raw.

“I’ll take good care of them.”

Like he should’ve been doing when she’d needed him.

Ashley cocked her head to the side to study him, and Dylan felt like a bug under a microscope.

“You better,” she said, and Dylan knew a social cue when he saw one, so he made his way to the door.

“I’m sorry, again,” he said, once he was standing on the other side, like so many other times, dropping Ashley off after their late-night hangs, saying goodbye on the doorstep, his headlights splashing across the garage.

“I know you are,” she said. “See you next time?”

A hundred memories overlaid the moment, those exact words having fallen from her lips countless times as kids.

But this time was different. He would prove to her that he meant it, that hewassorry, and that he could be better. It would take time, and he had a lot of groveling to do.

She was worth it. Once, being an alpha terrified him. But now he was going to show her that he was aworthyalpha.

One worthy of her.

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