AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I need to hear this,” Cole teased, leaving the barbecue unattended for the moment. She watched as he sat on the edge of the chair opposite Ezio and rested his chin in the heel of his cupped hands. It was such a Bryce move, right down to the wide eyes and cheeky grin that he was wearing so much more often now. The Gold Coast—their entire lifestyle—looked good on him. He was happier, lighter too. Gone were the days where Cole was a dirty secret. If nothing else had come out of Denyer exposing them, allowing both her and Bryce to acknowledge him as theirs was worth it.
“Apparently, Nick knows all about it,” Ezio mumbled, motioning to his partner’s oldest friend.
“Well, when people love each other, they like to—” Ezio shot out his hand in a stopping motion and Nick snorted out a laugh.
“Stop. Please, stop.” Ezio shook his head, his half-laugh embarrassed. “Jax, the little bugger, has learned how to pick our bedroom door lock. Butt crack of dawn and he’s up, breaking into our room to ask if he can play X-box. We were… in a compromising position. Let’s just say those kinds of spectators are not recommended.”
“What kind of spectators areyoutalking about, King?” Cole asked.
King was staring off into the distance, running his fingers through Addy’s hair, a fond smile tilting his lips upward and colour rising in his cheeks. When Cole’s question registered, he snapped to attention. “Ah, lunch is nearly ready. You want me to wrangle the masses? Yeah, I think I’ll go get them.”
“What kind of spectators, King?” Addy seconded in a singsong voice.
“Just you… yeah, you know.” King scrubbed a hand over his neat hair, making it stick up every which way as he cleared his throat. He pointed to the soaked group of kids, men-children, and mums watching closely to make sure no one broke a limb or worse, pushed in. “I’d better go get them.” King hurried out of there like a fire had been lit under him, and Ava laughed heartily. He was such a shy one and Bryce, and now Cole, loved teasing the hell out of him.
Ava hopped up to help bring the remaining platters of food over to the table. Within minutes, the meal was ready to be served. Robyn and Emma had the kids wrapped in towels, and Levi, Mike, Bryce, and Liam had all thrown on T-shirts and were sitting among them. By the sounds of the kids’ colourful retelling of their adventures, everyone had been having a blast.
Cole and Bryce sat down on either side of her, and Ava didn’t hold back her elated smile. This was what they’d always wanted—to be together. Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined they would find themselves living and working in paradise and doing good deeds for the local community with their charity work. She had to pinch herself some days just to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
Their group of friends had become so dear to them in such a short time. They were a family by choice. Some of them weren’t lucky enough to have ties to their bio relatives. Others had severed their relationships because of the toxicity they’d experienced. But they’d found one another and would never take the others for granted.
No one underestimated the importance of being there for one another.
They loved hard. They loved fierce. They were loyal and true to one another. Everyone in the group were friends who’d become family and family who she wanted to be friends with. And the next generation of kids would grow up knowing how that love and acceptance, how being there for your people through thick and thin would leave an indelible mark on their hearts.
She was lucky to have the friends she had, but she was blessed to have her guys. They were everything to her. Her sunshine and solid strength. The absolute loves of her life. They completed her, and yes, it was in exactly the same cheesy way as the line from Jerry Maguire. Except that it was real. They weren’t make-believe; they weren’t the product of a script writer’s imagination. They were there right in front of her like they always were.
Even when they were apart, there had never been a question they’d be together again.
Fate in the form of a dust storm had brought them to one another. Call it recklessness or faith, but Ava had known her guys were different. Something had told her to trust them. She might not have known Bryce and Cole then, but her soul recognized its counterparts. Her heart recognized the ones it beat for.
Ava stood, raising her bottle. “Before we get started, I’d like to make a toast.” A cheer sounded and the others raised their drinks. She opened her mouth to continue when three simultaneous dings went off. Cole picked his mobile up while Ava started, “To fam—”
“Ava,” Cole said, a hint of urgent panic in his voice as he tugged on her summery dress. “You need to see this.”
“What is it?” She looked around the group and apologized before checking out a notification from their bank. Ava sat down before she fell, slumping into her chair. Surely it was a mistake. It couldn’t be right. There was no way. They weren’t even properly fundraising yet. There was a sign-up form on their website, but there hadn’t even been one hit yet. No one would drop a million bucks on them. But if it wasn’t right, then there was something seriously wrong. “Can’t be. Can it?”
Bryce was on his phone calling the bank. Was the hotline even open on a public holiday? Cole clicked through to the details of the deposit, but there wasn’t much to see. There was no name, no reference numbers. Nothing.
“Who’d give us a million bucks?” Cole asked, mirroring her question. “Well, the charity anyway,” he clarified.
“I have no idea.” Ava scratched her head and looked to the lawyers in their group. “I think we might have a problem.”
Her phone flashed up with a message and Ava picked it up. Cole and Bryce were both there, looking at it over her shoulders. Bryce hung up, the hold music ceasing immediately.
I’m trusting you to help as many people as you can—consider it a gift from Denyer.
The text—with no number displayed—was signed off with a chess piece. Queen. It had to be.
Ava blinked, re-reading the message a few times over, then looking to Cole’s phone. There were a lot of zeros on that number.
Holy shit.
Queen had sent their charity a million dollars.
One. Million. Dollars.
They could help so many people. They could do so much good with it.
