Page 52 of Verdict

Terrible, because I hated being away from her and Ellie. The more time I spent with Ava, the more I’d learned her—the quiet tells, the way she chewed on her bottom lip when she was thinking, how her voice softened without her realizing it when she talked to Ellie. Somehow, without asking permission, she’d embedded herself into a space inside my chest I hadn’t known existed.

Now, every time I left Austin, it felt like I was leaving a piece of myself behind. Like I moved through the world slightly off-balance, missing something essential. I wasn’t whole unless I was with them.

I sat on the edge of my hotel bed, elbows braced against my thighs, staring at my phone while the muffled sounds of the hallway filtered in under the door. Laughter. Voices. The guys were heading out to dinner. I should’ve been hungry after the game, but the knot in my stomach took up too much space.

I wanted to text Ava.

I wanted to FaceTime with Ellie.

But something stopped me every time my thumb hovered over her name.

Self-preservation, maybe. I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that the hurt still sat there, heavy and unresolved—the sting of having opened up to her in a way I never did, only to be met with nothing in return. No sharing. No balance. Just walls snapping back into place.

I ran a hand through my hair and pushed to my feet. I needed to get out of this room, get her out of my head. I told myself I’d text her tomorrow, when my thoughts weren’t such a mess. For now, I needed to respect her boundaries.

Hell, I needed to start creating some of my own.

Because if I didn’t draw the line now, I wasn’t sure I’d know how to later.

And that was a problem.

I held out for one day.

Now I was back in my hotel room after an early game, the sky outside already darkening, my phone propped against a water bottle on the desk as I waited for Ava to answer my FaceTime call.

She picked up on the third ring.

Her face filled the screen, soft and familiar, dark hair pulled back loosely, her skin glowing. My heart rate kicked up a few beats before I could stop it.

Fuck. She’s gorgeous.

“Hey,” she said, smiling warmly into the camera. “How was your game today? I saw y’all won, but I wasn’t able to catch it.”

“Good. Yeah, we won.” I forced a smile that didn’t quite reach my eyes. “Where’s Ellie?” My gaze drifted past her, scanning the screen automatically.

I didn’t miss the way Ava’s smile faltered. Just for a second.

But goddamn it, she couldn’t have it both ways. She couldn’t expect me to be open and soft with her while she stayed closed off with me.

“One sec,” she said, already moving. “She’s doing tummy time.”

A moment later, Ellie’s chubby cheeks took over the screen, her wide eyes blinking up at me. The sight of her hit like a reset button. My shoulders dropped, the tension easing from my body as an easy grin spread across my face.

“Hey, my Ellie girl,” I murmured.

I made ridiculous faces, exaggerated sounds, anything to pull giggles out of her. Every smile she gave me felt like oxygen. Ava turned the camera back toward herself once Ellie had been sufficiently entertained.

“So,” she said casually, “I thought when you get home, maybe we could take her for a walk to this new park I found. She loves it—there’s a bunch of ducks by this little lake.”

The invitation was easy. Familiar. The kind we’d fallen into without thinking.

“Yeah,” I said after a beat. “Maybe. I’ve got some things planned for when I have her.”

The silence that followed was brief—but it was loud. Ava pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and nodded, her gaze dropping from the camera.

“Oh. Yeah. No, that’s totally fine.”

I saw it then. The flicker of hurt she tried to hide. It wedged itself squarely in my chest. I pushed it aside. I had to.