Page 67 of Ice Queen

My mouth falls open. “No way.”

“What?” Abby asks, eyes bouncing between the two of us. “Oh come on, I don’t want to be left out of the trust tree!”

I choke out a laugh. “What’s a trust tree?”

“Not important.” My shoulders drop. Now, I feel like I’m not good enough for whatever the trust tree is.

“I’ll tell you in a minute, but I need the tea first.” She tacks on, almost as if she can hear my thoughts.

Scarlett smirks, popping a pretzel into her mouth. She chews slowly enough that Abby’s hands clench at her sides. “That’s the night they met,” she says, head tilting in my direction.

Abby turns to me slowly, wide-eyed as she tries to piece it together. “Spill.”

“I don’t really want to go through this again.” I fidget with the hem of my shirt. While it was therapeutic to talk about it yesterday, I don’t really want to do it again. At least not right now.

Abby’s lip pushes out into a pout, and I sigh, dropping my head into my hands.

“I ran from my ex. I asked Markus to help me hide. He took me to the airport, and that was the last we saw of each other until Sports Romance night.” It spills out, and I look up through my fingers in her direction.

She stares at me unblinking, gaping in my direction.

“That’s the cliff notes anyway. I didn’t know his name or who he was.” I drop my hands in time to see a slow, devious smile stretch across her face.

She rubs her hands together in front of her. “So what you’re saying is, by some weird twist of fate, you ended up in the same city as he did?”

I nod, fighting the urge to hide behind my hands again. What are the chances she thinks I’m a freaking basket case, and that I came here because of him?

“Oh hell yeah, he’s gotta be on your to-do list then. That’s some romance book shit.”

My jaw falls, head tipping back as the most unhinged laugh I’ve let out since before I moved here falls from my lips. I swipe a tear from my eye, bending over to try and catch my breath. “You two have lost your marbles.”

Abby steps in front of me, her hands landing on my shoulders. “No, Kait, I’m serious. Why is he not on your list?”

“Because he’s just helping me out. I’ll be back here in a couple of days, and we’ll see each other in passing or if I watch Maggie. I don’t even know why he asked me if he’s got Scarlett and his sister who can watch her. But me?” I scoff, “He’s not interested in anything related to me.”

“Kaitlyn, I’ve known that man for almost five years.” Her voice softens. “I don’t know a single person he’d let into his personal space the way he’s let you in.”

Scarlett steps up beside her, Cam now strapped into his baby carrier, fast asleep. “I’d bet my entire bank account you’ll be married in the next two years.”

Abby rolls her lips between her teeth, the corners of her mouth pulling tight. “You’re a…” she covers Cam’s ears and whispers, “bitch.”

Scarlett just winks at me. “Paying it forward. She and Markus said the same thing about Lucas and me when I first met them.”

She waves her hand through the air. “All this to say, you obviously mean something to him. If he means something to you, you honestly couldn’t find a better man. And he probably couldn’t find a better woman.”

Tears spring to my eyes as I stand here feeling like I’m on the other end of one of those unrequited love novels. Although I don’t know if I’d call this love, more like fascination, desire. Definitely lust, and I know what I’ve done, what I’ve given up in the name of lust before.

I can’t imagine what I’d do if I were to actually fall in love with someone. Would I cease to exist again?

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” Abby’s voice is closer than it was a second ago, and then her arms are wrapping around my neck.

“I’m not mad at you, I just…” I blow out a breath, lips flapping like a horse. “Like I told Scarlett the other day.”

“Would you just call me Lettie already?” She cuts in. “We’re friends, Scarlett sounds like my mother.”

I stare in stunned silence for a second before I roll my eyes and continue. “Like I was telling Lettie the other day, I like you guys. I don’t want to lose that because I put myself out there, and it inevitably falls apart. I’m just a charity case.”

“No, you’re not.” Tate shocks me by stepping up beside Abby. He doesn’t elaborate; he doesn’t need to. The steely look in his eyes should make me shrink, but it doesn’t. It fills me with a quiet strength I didn’t know I needed. Validation that I’m not someone's “project.”