Page 23 of Perfect Alpha

I’ll never understand how she could have left them behind.

Left me behind.

“When is her flight out?” I ask.

“She’ll be here all next week to help Hannah, and then she’s leaving late Sunday night. She wants to be back at work first thing Monday morning. No one can question her work ethic.”

“Is she dating anyone in the city?” Sounding casual is a Herculean effort, but the most awkward conversational transition of life probably gives me away, anyway.

Hannah has been tight-lipped about Victory’s love interests, and while I respect her devotion to her best friend, it’s also all kinds of annoying.

“Does her job count?” Julia asks, with a snort.

I smile even though thoughts of me have played no role in Victory’s uncoupled status. It will be easier to sleep tonight if I let myself think they have.

“Uncle Cade, turtles now,” Aidan cries, having exhausted all the patience his toddler brain can tolerate. “You pwomised!”

“I better head home.” Julia gives me a hug that lifts some of my broken spirits. “Aidan already ate as much as he’s ever going to while you were in the shower.”

I squeeze Julia back fiercely, trying to tell her without words just how much she means to me. When her tear-stained eyes meet mine, I know she understands.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Cade. I still have hope for you two. I always will.”

At least someone does.

Chapter 9

Victory

Aidanhadameltdownduring dinner on Thursday after Hannah shared her news. He spilled water all over the picture he was drawing, which clearly signaled the end of the world.

He was whiny and grumpy for the rest of the evening and demanded all Hannah’s attention. Then he refused to settle for bedtime, and when Hannah went to lay with him, she fell asleep, too.

Remembering back to her first trimester with Aidan when we were still in college, Hannah could barely get through studying for exams, let alone the three-hour time commitment for writing one without falling asleep or puking.

I can’t imagine what she’s going through with a toddler and a sick parent to care for, plus the whole growing a human business. So, I’m trying to cut her some slack for leaving me hanging.

But it’shard.

I spent Friday with my parents while Hannah took Aidan on a play date before heading to work. I was a distracted mess at the Granger’s house that evening, and trying to work when we got home was a lost cause.

It took me double the time it should have to edit manuscripts between thoughts of Hannah’s plight and my rebellious heart screaming at me to lift the shade and see if Cade was home.

Cade.

God, he’s so sexy. Tall, dark, and handsome is a cliché, but he perfectly embodies it. His strength is built from growing up doing ranch labor and now a whole new kind of physical work.

The lines of his body are like a caricature because muscles don’t bulge like that in real life. Besides, someonemustbe joking about a 6’3” perfectly jacked man with warm brown eyes that are always glimmering with amusement. He has the thickest chestnut hair that is perfect for curling your fists in when he’s kissing his way down your body.

He looks like he stepped off the cover of Men’s Fitness into my backyard as some kind of cruel joke. Whatever I did in a past life, it must have been terrible.

So, it’s no surprise that I wake up late on Saturday morning and stumble down the stairs seeking coffee.

Dad knows me, so a pot is brewed and waiting, tempting me to get on my knees and praise the heavens for the glorious invention of my lifeblood. There’s a note in his messy handwriting that they went into town to run errands and didn’t want to wake me.

My parents are probably the last people on the planet who still have a landline phone. I pick up the receiver like I did as a kid, and dial Hannah’s number from memory.

“Hey, Victory, how are–”

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