Page 90 of Ashley & the A-Listers

Ashley snorted, rolling her eyes, but she met his gaze with that lighthearted grin and Dylan was lost. He’d do anything she wanted.

Including, apparently, jumping off a waterfall.

20. SECOND CHANCE

ASHLEY

The water rushed over the edge, rocks glistening in the light spilling through the leaves.

Below, the froth of water was white and shimmering, welcoming them into the depths.

“Ready?” she asked, and held out her hand to the alpha beside her.

Dylan’s hand was heavy in hers, and he squeezed once as he nodded. “Yep, totally.”

She smiled, glancing over at him and trying not to notice how fucking devastatingly handsome he was.

And shirtless. With… scars? Those certainly hadn’t been there when they were younger.

They were jagged, along his abdomen, and tanned a slightly darker color than the rest of his pale skin. A bolt of possessiveness struck her as her hindbrain flared. Who would hurt him?

“Who did this to you?’ she asked, and lifted their joint hands to brush the back of her index finger over one of the scars.

She was so struck with the idea of someone hurting him, it didn’t occur to her what an intimate thing she’d done, until she turned her gaze up.

A lock of dark hair fell over his eyes and it made him look younger, giving her a flash of the Dylan she knew from their childhood.

She wanted to protect him.

Her heart seized, and it was hard to take a breath.

“A job went south,” he said.

Chest tightening at just the thought, she realized once again that she didn’t know Dylan, this alpha, half as well as she once did.

He had secrets.

She wanted to know each and every one of them.

“Was it bad?” she asked, because she had to know.

“It wasn’t… good,” he offered.

Ashley frowned. Had she almost lost him for good? And she hadn’t even known?

“Where are they?”

“They’re gone,” he said, and she searched his eyes for the truth.

“On three?” he asked, shifting their hands to point over the edge.

Satisfied with what she found, she nodded and let it go… for now. “Yeah,” she answered.

Ashley made her lungs work, and sucked in a breath as they counted down.

“Two… one.”

The shouts of Cam and River followed them as they leapt off the edge, hands clutched tightly together. For a moment, she was weightless, and Ashley let her eyes drift closed as the water came up on them.

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