Page 75 of All Too Well
“Oh! Good! By then I should have a ton of information on the four of you, so the last tournament will be a good ending part to the piece that I can add during edits.”
“You mean three.”
She huffs. “Yes, I forgot. You’re a pain in the ass and won’t comply.”
“Comply with what?”
“Helping me. You know how much this all means to me, Lach. I’ve wanted this since I was a kid.”
“To write about the sportsball, as you call it?”
She wants more than this. She’s better than this too. She is meant to take the world by storm, to win prizes, to show people just how damn smart she is. I’ve read and saved every article that she’s ever written, and even when talking about hats, she makes the words come alive and jump off the page. Ainsley MacKinley is one of the most talented writers I’ve ever read.
“You know I want more than that.”
“And yet you’re writing about Frisbee.”
“The world doesn’t work like that. We have to prove ourselves, and that’s what I’m doing.Withoutthe help of someone I know.”
“As you just said, you have to work. What makes you think every person you want to interview or expose is going to be helpful? Consider this training.”
Ainsley snorts. “Do you remember who my father is? I’ve been training for this my whole life. The Admiral is the most evasive human ever known. He never answers a question without making you think you asked something else.”
That’s accurate. He’s also not a man you want to piss off. Ainsley, though, was able to say anything and never get in trouble for it. She somehow cracked the code to be able to always be on his good side.
“He also always indulged you.”
“I can be persuasive when I need to be. Most people have a weakness. You just have to find it.”
I smirk. “And what’s mine?”
She shakes her head and looks out the window. “I don’t know.”
I laugh at that. “You do. Go on, tell me.”
“You don’t have one.”
She’s lying. I know because that’s her weakness. She sucks at it. Her pure heart doesn’t allow for the deceit easily.
“Ainsley,” I say her name carefully. “Don’t lie to me, please.”
The long sigh that falls from her lips is filled with frustration. “You’re not going to like it.”
“To be fair, I don’t know that anyone likes their weaknesses.”
“True, but one of your many weaknesses is that you don’t think you have any.”
I huff. “I know I have them.”
“Name one.”
You.
You are my biggest weakness, and it’s why I tried so hard to shut you out of my fucking world.
“I’m stubborn,” I say instead of that thought.
“That’s an understatement.”
