Page 25 of All Too Well
“Yup.”
“Dude, from a mile away I can tell she’s fucking hot. I mean, I don’t know how the hell you aren’t?—”
The look on my face says it all. I swear, if he finishes his sentence, my friend here won’t have teeth left.
He raises both hands in the air. “Easy, brother. We all know I have no desire to date anyone.”
“Doesn’t matter. Don’t fucking think it.”
“I see. It’s unrequited then?” he asks.
“It’s not anything.”
He chuckles. “Whatever you need to tell yourself, Lach.”
I’m done with this conversation. I head across the field to where Davidson is standing with Ainsley. “Chief, Ainsley came to meet you for your dinner tonight, but she was confused where to meet. I brought her so she didn’t get lost.”
I force a smile and look to her. “Dinner tonight?”
She blinks a few times and clasps her hands in front of her. “Oh no, was it not today?”
This woman. “Nope. Definitely not.”
Her jaw drops a little and she lets out a long sigh. “Oh, I must’ve mixed the dates up. I’m so sorry, Lach. I just ... you know, I swear you said to meet tonight. When you weren’t at the firehouse, I thought maybe you wanted me to meet you somewhere else. Thank you so much, Danny. You’re so nice and I’ll be sure to bring Pricilla the steak sauce once I get it from New York.”
“Not a problem, Ainsley.” His eyes meet mine and he grins. “I better get back to work. Have a good practice, Chief.”
“Thanks.”
As soon as he’s gone, Ainsley crosses her arms over her chest, and the grin on her lips makes me want to find ways to wipe it off—very creative ways.
“Pretty proud of yourself?” I ask.
“Why? I already knew that your practice was tonight, which is why I asked the questions.”
Ainsley has always been a step ahead of everyone. She’s brilliant, which is why when she talked about wanting to do journalism, it made perfect sense. She loves a story or a puzzle. The act of dismantling it and putting it back together was like a drug for her. Just like it was for me to watch her do it.
“So you found out about the league, happy now?”
She shrugs. “Maybe.”
If I know her at all, she’s practically doing a jig in her head. The best way to deflate her is to take the joy of the challenge away, which means it’s my best scenario anyway. Ainsley is going to get the article, one way or another. The faster I get it over with, the sooner she’ll leave Ember Falls, allowing me to go back to a world where I don’t think about her.
The last few years, as hard as it’s been, it’s been worlds easier than seeing her. To try to forget the way she felt against my chest as she held me, offering me comfort when I sure as fuck didn’t deserve it.
Ainsley has been that girl. The one that I knew would destroy my entire life and I wouldn’t even care.
However, she has to tackle the world, and I would never fit into her idea of what life would be like. It’s better foreveryone involved if we never even enter a scenario where we could be together.
It means I need her to go, and I need her to go quickly.
I extend my hand. “Come on, you’re relentless and I might as well get this over with.”
“Where are we going?”
“To meet the guys.”
Her hand fits like a glove in mine, but I focus on leading her across the field so she can get the distance we both need.
