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She was nothing but bratty teenager the last time I saw her in person nearly four years ago, when I stopped by to drop some stuff off for my ex Caroline, but if the pictures on her Instagram, which I may have come across one drunken night a few months ago while I wallowed in my solitude, are anything to go by, she's turned into a fucking crimson-haired temptress.
Not to mention the pout on her gorgeous lips beside Chloe’s grin is making my cock twitch beneath my jeans.
This is bad, really bad.
Back when I first briefly met her she was barely fifteen, a fucking child and I’m not a fucking monster. I had no attraction to her at all other than acknowledging she was pretty. But now, Avery's eighteen, a legal adult, and fuck me if she hasn’t turned into a fucking goddess. I don't know how I am going to get through this visit in one piece.
Chloe knew I could never deny her anything, which is why I’m confused she didn’t tell me Avery would come along with her. I wouldn’t have told her she couldn’t bring her along, although I should have given the way my dick is pressing against the zipper of my jeans from just looking at the fucking picture of the alluring siren with bright aquamarine eyes.
I shake my head, running my hand over my mouth and the scruff I’ve grown out the last couple weeks, when I’m startled by the sound of a car engine outside my living room window.
Fuck. They’re here.
I can’t help the sudden rapid beating of my heart as I slowly strut over to the front door. The anticipation of seeing Chloe again makes me fist my hands at my sides to calm my nerves. Not to mention the way my blood rushes down to my cock aching to see what’s just behind that door.
Fuck.This is going to be harder than I thought. Having Avery under my roof for a whole fucking week is going to test my restraint in every single way.
I chuckle to myself at the absurdity of it, having not even seen the girl in person yet. Maybe she’s used one of those face morphing apps kids nowadays are using to filter the fuck out of their social media photos. You can’t trust anything you see online.
Before opening the door and stepping out onto the snow covered front porch, I take a deep breath and adjust myself in my jeans. Greeting the girls with more than they’ve bargained for would be fucking embarrassing.
Having grown up in Colorado and lived here most of my life, I’m used to the brisk air and layers of snow that fall like thick blankets every winter over the land. It’s why I moved back out here after my divorce from Chloe’s mother. California wasn’t for me, and when there was nothing left for me there, I left. It was that simple. I’m not used to being in one place for long, and given my current occupation as a freelance photographer, it’s common I’m away on assignments for weeks at a time, anyway.
The city is too flashy and busy for a guy like me. I prefer to be alone out in the woods, secluded from the calamity of the world around me, left to drown in my self-deprecating thoughts. Alone. Though I must admit it was hard leaving Chloe behind all those years ago. Caroline was a selfish woman, and that translated to her being neglectful as a mother even if she hadn’t meant to be, but there was nothing I could do.
Caroline O’Connell forbade me to go near her daughter after the divorce, and since Chloe was nothing of mine, I couldn’t fight her on it.
It broke my heart to leave my baby girl alone with that conniving bitch, but I also couldn’t keep dangling hope in front of her. Hope of a stable life by my side. I had nothing to offer her, I couldn’t be the stable guardian she so desperately needed. I never considered myself a father figure although I’d lived with her and her mother since she was about eleven years old. I was more of a friend to Chloe, someone she could count on, confide in, but I was never there to judge her or tell her what she could and couldn’t do.
Luckily, Chloe followed a straight and narrow line, always following the rules, and never getting into trouble. Not sure what I would have done if I’d stuck around and watched her become a wild teenager. Especially with Avery as her best friend.
Those two must have gotten into loads of trouble over the years.
Unable to bear the thought of hurting her by offering her any ounce of hope in any kind of relationship with her mother’s ex-husband, I left, came to hide out in the mountains, and ignored her calls and messages for years. Though now that she’s eighteen and officially an adult, I can’t keep hiding from her.
Nor do I want to.
“Aaaahh!”
I’m startled out of my reminiscing by a loud squeal coming from the long, icy driveway.
“Shit,” I curse out loud, looking down toward the road and seeing a blanket of dark red hair laid out against the stark white snow on the pavement.Oh shit.
“Oh my God! Avery, are you okay?” Chloe shrieks in panic, kneeling down at the side of her best friend currently lying out on the floor in pain.
They look almost comical, like one of those viral videos you see online everywhere of people slipping and falling on ice covered ground during the winter, but the groans and grunts coming from the girl on the floor pull me out of my trance.
I rush forward. “Fuck, this shit is hella slippery,” Avery groans, trying and failing to sit up.
“Woah there, slow down sweetheart,” I blurt out, reaching down to steady her. Both girls turn and watch me with bewildered gazes.Fuck.I have no idea where that came from. I’m not one for terms of endearment. I’m a man of few words and calling her sweetheart is definitely not like me. I run a hand through my hair. “Stay put. We have to make sure you didn’t hurt your neck or your back before we move you,” I add, trying to distract them from my comment.
Avery’s bright blue eyes watch me curiously, unsure of how to respond. It’s like the rest of the world has faded to black and all I see are her mesmerizing blue irises and flawless facade. Fuck how is it possible she’s more beautiful in person?
Her bright red hair falls in long waves behind her back, a stark contrast to the snow white of her skin marked with rosy patches against her cheeks from the brisk winter air. Her lips are plump and perfect, her nose surely making every plastic surgeon back in California jealous, begging to say they’ve perfected it. But it’s the sliver of skin peeking beneath her coat, the silky porcelain dip of her collarbone, that lures me in.
“It’s my foot,” Avery murmurs, snapping me out of my lustful daze.Get it together Zane.
“What?” I mumble, confused why I’m suddenly crouched down beside her.
