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I was scared if I thought about it, I’d pop like a balloon. A giant Ava-sized balloon. It was starting to rise, looking for the sunshine, smiling, feeling the warmth, and some eight-year-old would come running up and not just to prick the balloon. He’d yank me down, and squeeze, squeeze, squeeeeeze until I popped. Then he’d discard me and run off, laughing because he’d given the world some of his destruction. Joy.
That would happen. I was just waiting for it, but on the bright side, I could enjoy the ride until that happened.
Right?
I wasn’t the type to “enjoy the ride.” I was the type that if someone was going on a ride, and if their ride went off the rails, I was the bystander that would get hit by the ride. Not them, whoever was in the ride. They’d be fine and dandy. I’d be dead. That was me. That’s what would happen. So if it wasmyride?
I shuddered at the thought of what I couldn’t imagine would happen.
That did it. I couldn’t move in with him. I’d have to tell him.
He wasn’t in the living room or in the kitchen when I left the bedroom, so okay. I checked my phone. No text or message. I looked around. No note left behind.
I brewed coffee. I made toast, ate some fruit, and after that, I waited.
Zeke would come back, maybe expect me to be packing, but I’d tell him then. That I wasn’t moving in with him. That it was foolish for me to do that.
I was unpacking the hallway closet when the front door burst open.
“We’re here, and tadaa!” Something thumped on the table.
I moved my head, peaking around the pile of blankets. “Zeke?”
“Hey. Yeah. What are you—hold on.” He took the pile from me, and glancing around, began to put them on one of the stacks of boxes. As he was doing this, a bunch of guys were filing into my apartment behind him.
One guy walked in, calling out, “Allen—”
Zeke pushed the pile of blankets into the guy’s arms. “Here.”
“What?” The guy’s head popped around them.
“Take those downstairs.”
“Zeke—”
But Zeke was already turning and heading my way, some papers in his hands. He held them up for me. “Got you out of your lease.”
My lease?
But, I was distracted. Some guys began grabbing boxes and carrying them right back downstairs. One guy stopped and flashed me a smile. “Hey, Ava.”
Swear, my knees went weak, but it was Blaise DeVroe. Millions of female knees went weak at just the sight of him. He went into the kitchen, and I heard cupboards being opened.
I was gawking, totally gawking. “What—who are all these people?”
Zeke was giving me a patient but also indulgent smile. “I saw that.”
“Saw what?”
“My best friend.” He pointed to my stomach. “Did he make your little tummy all fluttery?”
“Oh, my God.” I groaned.
He laughed, putting his arm around my shoulders, his side touching right next to my side. “Don’t worry. I’m not jealous. I’m very secure in my man-bromances with Blaise and Mason Kade. I’m aware of what a stud my best friend is.”
“Shut. Up,” came from the kitchen, in a bored deadpan.
Some of the guys who were still carrying what I’d packed snorted, but they never stopped working. A few guys started to grab boxes, ones that I had unpacked the day before and hadn’t gotten around to repacking, picked them up, realized nothing was in them, and started packing them.
