Page 24 of Accidentally Checked By My Brother's Best Friend

“What time will dinner be ready, Scarlett?” Ava pulls the phone to her ear, taking it off speaker. From the corner of my eye, I see her nodding her head. Then her gaze rises to mine again. “I’ll ask him for you; I took the phone off speaker.”

I go back to working the dough, focusing on the feel of it between my hands.

“Hold on, I’ll have you tell him that.” I look up, raising an eyebrow, to see Ava again put the phone on speaker. “Okay, he can hear you.”

“I’ll miss you at dinner,” Scarlett whines, laying the guilt on thick. “I love you.”

The corner of my lips lift and my heart is left melting. “I love you too, Red. I’ll make sure to visit soon.”

My eyes fall on Ava’s face, and my breath catches at the softness I see staring back at me before she turns her focus back to the phone and takes it off speaker again.

I go back to rolling the dough out in a hopeless attempt to take the focus off the woman across from me, which is obviously not working with how poor of a job I’m doing with a simple roll out.

“I’ll see you in a little bit. Bye, sweetie.” I hear Ava slide the phone in her purse. And though she doesn’t say anything, I can feel tiny tingles on my skin. Fully aware that she’s watching me.

The air in the room is so thick that each breath I take feels strained.

“Duncan, I know that before I came, you were constantly at David’s for dinner, and I hate knowing that you’re not seeing Scarlett as often as you normally do. Because of me.”

I shake my head at her, but she continues anyway.

“When I left LA, I didn’t think about where I was going; I just went.” She goes silent, and I look up to find her chewing on her bottom lip. “I forgot that you were traded to the Wolverines. And I forgot how close the arena is to Maple Ridge. I never would’ve—”

“Ava, it’s fine.” I stop pushing the roller and pin her with my gaze. “Really.”

“You’re being nice, and I’m not sure you should be.” She’s running her thumb under her fingers, a sure sign she’s uncomfortable. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile as much as you do when you’re around Scarlett. It’s obvious how much she means to you and how much you mean to her.”

“Ava—”

“Can you do me a favor?” Her head tilts slightly, looking just like Scarlett whenever she’s about to say something sassy.

I press my lips together to keep them from curving up and nod, “Anything.” In that moment, I mean exactly that…anything. If she brought up fake dating again, I would say yes.

“Let me know when you want to see Scarlett, and I’ll make myself scarce. Okay?”

Ava MIA, when I’m around, is exactly what I’ve wanted since she came to town. It’s what I still want, I remind myself. So why am I hesitating to answer?

“Duncan?”

“Sure,” I say through a tight throat. “I appreciate that.”

Jessie’s Girlplays through the room again, and Ava pulls her phone out of her purse. Her face immediately goes white. With shaking hands, I watch her decline the call and immediately power it off.

“Ava?” The fear in her eyes has me wanting to wipe whoever put it there off the face of the earth. “Everything okay?”

“Fine. Fine.” Her smile is shaky, and she’s not meeting my eyes. “It’s just Nathan. Again.”

“How many times has he called you?” I ask. It looks like Finn and Caroline were right to be worried about her if the expression on her face is anything to judge by.

“Duncan, please don’t concern—”

“How many?” I ask in a tone that sends most of my teammates scurrying.

“He never stops,” she whispers, rubbing her hands together. “I keep my phone off most of the day and check it every so often to make sure I’m not missing any important texts or calls.”

My fists clench, and heat crawls up my neck. I can feel a muscle in my jaw tick.

She glances up, and I can see the worry in her eyes, but it’s for me this time. “Duncan, it will be fine. He can’t keep this up.”

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