Page 12 of Trust Me
She has her back to me so I can’t see her face, but I sense that this can’t be good. Her entire body radiates tension and is as stiff as a board. As far as I know, Drake has wanted nothing to do with his former girlfriend and their daughter since he found out she was pregnant. My need to protect her kicks in and before I know it, I’m abandoning my cart and striding toward her.
I hear Drake say, “She looks just like you.”No reply from Avery. Drake continues, “So, still not seeing anyone? That doesn’t really surprise me, Avery. You’ve always been opinionated and difficult. You should meet Kelsey. She’s great. You’d probably really like her.”
I can hear her gasp in surprise. What an ass! Drake still hasn’t seen me approaching them, so I decide to walk up behind her, throw my arm over her shoulder, and give her a light kiss on the cheek. She tenses at first from the contact and turns to face me. I’ve clearly caught her off guard.
“There you are,” I say. “I was looking for you and Bean.” As if on perfect cue that I couldn’t have planned better myself, Brooklyn sees me and reaches up for me. I gladly take her out of the cart and cuddle her to my chest, kissing her on her pudgy little cheek. She gives me a big happy greeting that honestly melts my heart. I could seriously love this little girl.
I throw my arm back around Avery and turn to scowl at Drake. He’s standing there with his mouth slightly gaped open, eyes flying back and forth between Avery and me.
“Huh. I didn’t see that one coming. I’m sure ol’ Jake loves you doing his baby sister.” I instantly see red. I want to punch this douchebag straight in his running trap. Before I can reply, Ihear Avery say, “Well, as long as it’s notyouI’m doing, he doesn’t seem to mind so much.”
He gives us a cocky little smile and starts to turn his back, but before he walks away, he throws over his shoulder, “Let me know when you want to get together and meet Kelsey.” I stand here with my arm around Avery, holding Brooklyn, and fight the urge to follow him outside and beat him bloody. No one gives a crap about his high-maintenance girlfriend who he’s probably already cheating on.
“Did he seriously just ask you if you wanted to meet his girlfriend?”
She’s still staring off at the place he once stood and replies, “Yeah. Can you believe that? He didn’t even ask me about Brooklyn. Just said ‘She looks like you.’ That’s it. No ‘How has she been?’ or ‘Is she a good girl?’ Nothing.”
“He doesn’t deserve to know anything about her. He’s too narrow-minded to realize what he’s missing.” I lean down and give Brooklyn another kiss on her cheek. She was happily chatting to herself, oblivious to the ordeal that lay before her, or the fact she just met her sperm donor father.
“I know. I just feel bad for her sometimes,” she says as she rubs her hand onBrooklyn’s back. It’s at that moment we both realize I still have my arm around her. She clears her throat and steps back. I feel the void immediately when she steps out of my embrace. I ask Brooklyn about the cookies she either ate earlier or is planning on eating. I’m not sure which but she hasn’t stopped babbling about them since I got here. She gives me her best toothy grin and hugs me one more time. I close my eyes and breathe in her little scent. She smells like baby lotion and cookies. That douchebag who just walked away has no idea what he gave up. And if I have my way, he never will.
I put Brooklyn back in the cart and turn to face Avery. She watched the exchange between her daughter and me but has kept quiet. Everything inside me is screaming to ask her out, to take her to dinner. Make her smile. But I can’t do that. Not if I want to live, and I do value my life. Jake will kill me slowly and bury my body somewhere on the family property.
So I give her a quick goodbye and steer my cart toward the checkout after grabbing the first package of buns I find. I can’t help but think someday, someone is going to be the luckiest son of a bitch on the planet to get to share his life with Avery and Brooklyn. It just sucks it won’t be me.
Chapter 9
Avery
After unloading the groceries from the Wrangler and getting Brooklyn settled in the living room with her favorite cartoons, I grab the phone to call Holly. I pace my small kitchen as I tell her all about the exchange in the grocery store with Drake and about Maddox swooping in and saving the day.
“He likes you,” she says. “I see it in the way he looks at you when he thinks no one is watching.”
“Yeah, well, even if that were true, he still isn’t doing anything about it. You should have seen the look in his eyes after he realized he was kissing me Saturday night. It was just a stupid impulse. He was probably mad he missed out on taking Miss Big Boobs home that night.”
“No, he totally could have taken her home if he wanted to. But I think he wanted to take you home instead.”
“All the more reason to stay away from him, Holly. He feels obligated to help and protect me. He’s Jake’s friend. Of course he feels that need to help me. That’s all it was Saturday night and that’s all it was tonight in the grocery store.”
“If you say so. But I’m telling you, that boy has feelings for you. One of these days, they will all come to a head, and you will both realize you love each other.”
“I don’t love him,” I throw back at her, stumbling a little on the words.
“Riiiiiiight. Avery, you’ve been fantasizing about that man for ten years. When you think about your life five, ten, or even twenty years from now, do you see him in it? And not as Jake’s friend.”
I take my time answering her question, even though I already know the answer. I can’t picture my life without Maddox in it. So I give a quiet, “Yes.”
“Well, Avery, go after your happiness. Don’t let Jake and your other brothers scare you away from what you want. And what you want is him, right? You want Maddox.”
“Yes,” I say. “But, Holly, he’s a player. He’s just like Jake. A different girl everyweekend. I don’t want that. I want stability. I want respect. I want loyalty. I want trust. Maddox doesn’t even know what those things are in terms of a real relationship. I have a little girl, and I need all those things for her as well as myself.”
“So, you’re willing to let him go because you’re scared he won’t be what you need? Without even really finding out and giving him the chance to be the person you are looking for?”
“You have to have him in order to let him go, Holl. I don’t have Maddox. I have a crush. And I’ll get over it.” Someday.
“It all comes down to trust for you,” she says. “You trusted Drake and he cheated. You trusted him to stand by you when you told him you were pregnant, and he bolted faster than a cheetah pouncing on his prey. You trusted…what was that other guy’s name?”
“Kevin.”
