Page 48 of Verdict

The way she looked at me. The way we moved through stressful parenting situations together with ease. Her trust in me. It felt like a preview of something real. Something steady. Something I never realized I craved. Or better yet, something I’d convinced myself I didn’t want.

And if I felt it… she had to have felt it too. Right?

She’d given herself away last night, whether she meant to or not. That comment about Beckham’s girl in San Francisco, and then the date I went on. The way her mood shifted. It bothered her. She cared.

So, what the hell was this now?

Why did she pull back?

I didn’t regret opening up to Ava—it felt right at the time—but I couldn’t help noticing that she hadn’t shared a single thing about herself. I felt like I only knew the parts of her she wanted me to know; everything else was locked up tight.

I landed on some random cooking competition and scrubbed at my jaw. My mind was a mess, and I needed someone to talk to. Normally, I’d call Walker, but I still wasn’t super comfortable going to him about his sister.

I grabbed my phone and dialed my sister instead.

After a few rings, Callie answered. “Hey, Coh. What’s going on?”

“I need advice,” I sighed.

“Oh! I’ve been waiting for this day to come!” she said, her voice bubbling with excitement.

I blew out a breath and summarized the events of last night, obviously leaving out the explicit details. “I don’t know if I’m imagining that something changed between us, or if she really just isn’t into me in that way.” I paused. “And if it’s the latter… I feel slightly used.”

Callie cackled. “That’s rich coming from you, Coh.”

“Ha ha,” I deadpanned, my tone heavy with sarcasm.

“Ava is… complicated. I’ve gotten to know her pretty well, and I don’t doubt she cares about you. Just in how she talks about you. I see how you two are together, and it isn’t nothing.” She paused. “But she has her guard up, and I’m not entirely convinced it’s solely because of your reputation. There’s something else there—I just don’t know what it is.”

I groaned. “Well, that wasn’t super helpful. I mean, I opened up to her, Cal. I never talk to anyone about our parents. The only other person who knows anything is Walker. All of my other teammates just assume both my parents passed.” I sighed. “And she gave me nothing in return. Not one goddamn thing.” I hesitated, then pushed on. “And it isn’t even that I needed her to open up to me. But after we—uh, you know—last night, I didn’t expect her to completely shut me out again the way she did this morning. Fuck, I think her walls got even higher.”

Talking about my mom wasn't easy for me. I'd never felt such a soul-crushing loss. It broke me in a lot of ways, so for Ava to flip a switch the next morning… yeah. It hurt.

“I’m sorry. I know you don’t give people a lot, and you finally did, only to be met with… well, nothing.” Her voice softened. “The question is, do you actually want to be with Ava? If that answer is no, then you really need to stop sleeping together.” She let out a soft chuckle. “Because you’re only making things entirely more complicated.”

“Tell me about it.”

“So,” she said gently, “what are you going to do, big bro?”

“That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it?”

Chapter 14

Ava

Ispent most of the morning refusing to look at my balcony.

What the hell was I thinking?

Was I going to Primrose Hill this afternoon?

No… but Cohen didn’t need to know that.

I needed space. Time to process everything that had happened between us last night—because something had shifted. The lines between us were blurring, sliding into territory that wasn’t safe. Things were becoming more emotionally intimate than they should, and I could feel myself losing the careful control I’d worked so hard to maintain…again.

And damn it, I craved him in a way that terrified me.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. We were just supposed to be friends, keep Ellie’s life uncomplicated. Stable.