Page 51 of Ashley & the A-Listers

The cadence of her voice was comforting to have in the background as she trained Cameron, and Dylan pulled out his phone just to have something to do with his hands.

He found a text from his sister, with some photos attached of her on a trip with his former pack. It looked like she was happy, and while it had taken him a bit to come around to the fact that his college pack had been into his sister, ultimately it was for the best.

Dylan belonged here,anyway.

“—like Dylan,” Cameron said, and Dylan lifted his head at the sound of his name.

Ashley was standing with her arms crossed as she and Cam went back and forth about something. Neither of them looked particularly happy.

“What happened?” Dylan whispered.

“Cam is throwing a fit. He wants you and Ashley to spar.”

“What?” He sat up a bit straighter just at the prospect.

He’d been watching her kick Cameron’s ass for days now, stretching into weeks.

“I’m not sparring with Dylan,” Ashley returned, voice hushed.

“Why not?” Cam asked, throwing his hands up. “He’s competent!”

“He’s not my client.”

“So? Like we’re gonna tell on you. I know what it feels like to get pummeled into the mat. I wanna see what it looks like instead. It’ll help me focus.”

Ashley huffed a sigh, and finally glanced over at Dylan. Her eyes widened as she realized he was watching, and he shrugged as if to say,I’ll take one for the team.

“Fine! Fine,” Ashley said, and shook her head. “But I’m not sparring with him until after we finish your session. No slacking,” she reminded him.

Cameron looked rather proud of himself as he agreed, and Dylan… well, Dylan’s heart was racing.

He was going to spar? With Ashley.

Ashley.

He didn’t know if he wanted to purr or growl.

“Don’t freak out,” River said, voice hushed.

“I’m freaking out,” he said softly.

“It’ll be fine.”

“You don’t know that, River.”

“What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

Pop a knot when she pins you?his subconscious kindly supplied.

“I don’t know that, either,” Dylan lied.

“It’s just a sparring session. She’ll throw you to the mats a few times and Cam will be happy. No harm, no foul.”

“Right,” Dylan said, and nodded, making himself believe the fib.

Yeah, it was just sparring. No big deal.

It was a huge deal.

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