Page 71 of Ashley & the A-Listers

I’m being a brat. It’s fine. She’s allowed to give her attention to whoever she wants.

Self-awareness was important; he remembered Dylan parroting that at him from those therapy sessions he’d been attending.

How dare the alpha be so well-adjusted while Cam felt like a fish out of water?

Cam wanted all of her focus, but this was a celebration. River squeezed his knee under the table, and when Cameron glanced his way, River’s lips were twitched in a knowing smile.

Don’t look at me like that,Cam tried to say with his eyes.

How can I not, when you’re so stupid and cute,River probably meant.

Cam loved him.

Fucker.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Ashley said, and Cam came back into the conversation.

“Don’t know about what?” Cam asked.

“My birthday is this weekend,” she said.

“What?!” Cameron blurted, and almost turned completely in the booth to stare at her.

She seemed taken aback by his response, eyes wide as she blinked at him.

“Yeah, tomorrow.”

“Are you doing anything? We should do something!”

Over her shoulder, Dylan was making a cutting motion across his neck, and stopped right when she turned to glance at him, running a hand through his hair to cover.

Cam hated that he looked hot while doing so.

When she spun back to Cam again, she shrugged. “I did have plans, but my friends had a family emergency and had to leave at the last minute. No big deal. I’m gonna get dinner and have a quiet night in.”

“Would you… want to do something with us?” River asked. “I know birthdays don’t mean the same to everyone, but we’d be happy to celebrate you.”

Ashley tilted her head at them. “Birthdays used to be my favorite thing.” She shot a glance at Dylan and god the curiosity waseatingCam alive.

“Are you going to bring me to another place like this?” she asked, and motioned at their empty chandelier-lit plates.

Cam shrugged. “We’ll go wherever you want. It’s your day.”

Ashley hummed. “And what if I said I wanted to go on a short hike and smoke weed at a waterfall? What then?”

River clapped his hands together and pointed at her. “That’s my kind of day. Let’s fucking do it.”

“I’m in,” Cam agreed, and grinned.

“Really?” she asked dubiously. “There won’t be any Michelin-star granola bars.”

Cameron leaned a bit closer, and he felt his heart pound as their thighs touched. “What makes Michelin stars so scary?” he whispered.

She arched a brow, eyes sparkling in the low light. “The… pretentiousness of it all.”

Cameron patted his chest. “Do you think I’m pretentious?”

Ashley laid a hand on his knee. “No, absolutely not.” Her lips twitched as she pulled away. “Spoiled? Yes.”

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