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He walks out, and Deacon whistles. “He’s not even Prez anymore, you know. Yet, that shit still sent shivers down my spine. He’s got a lot of power in our world, and in yours too. Hell, I’m the fuckin’ Prez and I’m terrified of him. You’d better hope that Avery never leaves you. She might not be his only daughter, but we all know she’s the favorite.”
Deacon taps the table, marking the end of the conversation. Only I’m not done. At least, not yet.
“I need a favor,” I interrupt his retreat.
“What’s that? You’ve already got Avery.” Deacon laughs at his own joke.
“You’re not gonna like this favor.” The admission is easy for me to make, especially after everything else I’ve shared. “I guarantee it.”
“What’s up?”
“I need to find Will Andrews.”
Deacon freezes, and everything friendly about him vanishes. “Why thefuckwould I help you find that prick? We talked about him already, man. He broke her heart. Left her when she needed him the most. Almost destroyed her.”
“Exactly,” I practically whisper. “I need to know why. I need to get her that closure. And she’ll never do it herself.”
Deacon sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “I’ll make the call. Tomorrow night. I’ll have him meet you at Lucy’s after your shift.”
“Thank you.”
He shakes his head, seeming to have aged a decade in less than a minute. “Don’t thank me, man. This isn’t something I want to do, and I sure as shit hope that my sister never finds out about it. If she does, I’ll deny my part in all of this, right to her face. And I’m a better liar than you are.”
Deacon walks out behind me and waits until I get in my cruiser before he pulls out in his truck. With the weather turning, I don’t blame him for putting away his bike until spring comes back around.
But he’s given me what I want. And his father hasn’t gutted me for wanting to marry Avery.
The next night, I’ll finally get an answer to why Avery won’t talk about our future. Why she freezes up every time we start to make plans. Will Andrews might have been her past, but before I ask her to marry me, I need to know I am her future.
Only then can I give her the ring that’s been burning a hole in my pocket every day for the past month.
20
AVERY
“Everett James!” I holler for him at the top of my lungs. “So help me, if you don’t get your ass out of there, I’m going to lose my shit.”
Rett, with flushed cheeks and a broad smile on his face, jumps out of the pile of leaves with a smile on his face.
“What’s wrong?” He raises an eyebrow, looking between me and the rake in my hand to the pile of leaves on the ground. “I thought you said to help. I’m helping.”
“Really, he is.” Lucas keeps raking, laughing the whole time. “If making a mess is the plan.”
I give up. “Whoever invented raking should be exiled,” I tell them when I drop my rake. “Scoot over, Rett.”
With nothing left to do but enjoy myself, I jump in the leaves alongside my nephew and call out to Lucas. “Come on, bud. Chores can wait.”
Lucas smiles, and I have to take a minute. The complete and utter change in him hasn’t happened overnight. Instead, it’s happened with every ‘good morning’ and ‘good night,’ all the hugs, the small touches, and the security of knowing he will be safe no matter what.
He thrives with Carter, and I thrive with both of them.
When Chris pulls his car into the driveway a little while later, we are sitting in the middle of the yard, all the leaves completely forgotten as we roll one of Rett’s kickballs back and forth.
“Got room for one more?”
He shoves into our circle and Rett calls him on it. “I didn’t sayyes, Uncle Chris.”
“Zip it, twerp.” Chris grabs Rett and ruffles his hair. “That’s no way to talk to your favorite uncle, is it?”
