Page 148 of Outside The Wire

“Watch.”

I reluctantly turned back and watched as Asher walked around the outside of the property with Holly, checking the foundation and looking at the flower beds with her. He wasmotioning around the yard with her, always with a big smile on his face. He looked genuinely happy. There wasn’t a single ounce of fear or worry in his features. And then they disappeared inside.

I slid to the front of my seat, desperate to see what happened next. I almost got out and snuck around to the back of the property so I could spy on them. Somehow, I held back. It felt like hours that they were in the house, but they finally emerged, both of them laughing and happy as can be. Asher shook the man’s hand.

Did that mean he was putting in an offer? Did he like the house or was he just in a good mood? Then they both got in their trucks and drove away.

“That’s it?” I shouted. “What happened? Are they buying?”

“I don’t know. Should we follow?”

“Yes!”

He shrugged and slowly pulled out, tailing them down the road. I nervously bit my thumbnail as we followed them to another neighborhood, and then another. Each house we followed them to was a little nicer, but it was the last one that really sparked my attention. This one wasn’t quite as cookie-cutter. It was on a quieter street with more trees and more character to the houses. The house they parked in front of was beautiful with so many wonderful features that I almost found myself calling Asher to tell him to buy that house.

The look on Holly’s face said it all. She was in love. And the way Asher looked at her…

“Do you see it?” Patrick asked.

Tears filled my eyes as I nodded. “Yes. I see it.”

“You deserve that, too, Jade. Not what your father pushed on you. Not what you and Asher were thrown into. Yes, you loved each other, but you deserve so much more. What you see there,” he nodded to Holly and Asher. “That’s real love, and one day,you’ll find someone that makes you just as happy. And it won’t be because he held you through the trauma or rescued you from flying bullets. It’ll be because he found you and fell hard for the person you are.”

I gasped as his warm hand wrapped around mine. My vision blurred as I looked at our joined hands. “I need to let him go.”

“You do.”

I nodded and squeezed his hand.

“You deserve better. Remind yourself of that and you’ll be alright.”

Though my heart was racing and my palms were sweating, I looked up at Patrick and swallowed down the last of my regrets. “Take me back to the hotel. I’m ready to leave.”

He nodded and gave me another squeeze. “You’ll be okay, Jade. I promise you.”

“I know I will.”

And I would be. Starting over was hard, but I had been reborn with a new life. I had an opportunity not many got, and I wasn’t going to waste it.

36

ASHER

“If we get the house,then we need to get new furniture!” Holly argued.

“I agree, but we need to wait until we move in and live there for a little bit. We want to find something we really like.”

She sighed heavily, groaning as she threw herself onto the couch. “But that means moving our furniture out and then moving it into the new house. It’s just so much work!”

I chuckled at how dramatic she was being. “It’s not like I’m asking you to move the furniture yourself. In fact, we could do something crazy like hire a moving company.”

She popped up and gasped. “And let them rip us off?”

“Well, either we let them move everything or I have to listen to you complain. Which one is it going to be?”

When she narrowed her eyes at me, she thought I would back down at her challenge. I wasn’t falling for it. “Asher?”

“Yes.”

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