Ryker grabs a discarded pacifier from the kitchen table and throws it at my face, but even drunk, my reflexes are quick enough to dodge it. “Dumbass.”
“The last conversation I had with Evan in the locker room that day... I told him I wanted to ask Ashton out.” Fuck, the words are raw even after thirteen years. “He told me no. SaidI wasn’t ready for her. Wasn’t good enough yet, and that if I wanted to date his sister, I needed to be better.”
One heartbeat passes, then another, the silence in the room threatening to suffocate me with the memory. Two hours later, he was gone.
“You were a junior in high school, Jamie. You were a kid. She was a freshman. You guys weren’t ready for serious. He was just looking out for both of you.”
I hear what he’s saying.
I’ve played it out in my mind too many times to fucking count.
“Don’t let that conversation stop you?—”
“Stop me from what? Fucking his sister? Too late. I already did.” And fuck, I’m an asshole because I wouldn’t change that night. The only damn thing I’d change was the next morning. I wouldn’t let her walk away.
“Don’t be a dick because you’re pissed you’ve wasted years. Go to bed. Sober up. And figure out how to fucking fix it now.” He grabs my glass and the bottle and stands. “You’re better than this, man. Act like it.”
Am I really though?
ASHTON
Someone once told me the right women don’t let you disappear in your hard seasons of life.
I didn’t understand that before. I do now.
—Ashton’s Secret Thoughts
Dillan
Ashton, are you dressed?
Ashton
Umm... Do leggings and an old T-shirt count as dressed?
Lexie
How old?
Kaleigh
Like can you see through it?
Ashton
It’s Friday night. I didn’t know there was a dress code for pizza.
Dillan
There isn’t. But you might not want to wear something with holes in it to dinner.
Ashton
I’m not going to dinner.
Lexie
Yes you are. We’re in the driveway, and you’re coming with us.
