“My house,” Miles said.“You remember where—”
“Of course.”I cut him off, pulling away from the curb.
“I can get a hotel room.”Avery’s voice trembled.“Although I bet Dad’s canceling my credit cards right now.”
“No hotel.Rachel would kill me, and I don’t want you alone tonight.”Miles lowered his tone to that soft rumble I’d always loved in our quiet moments.“Aves, you did so good.I’m so proud of you.It’ll be okay.”
She gasped and then broke into loud sobs, muffled a moment later, no doubt against Miles’s broad shoulder.He murmured to her, little phrases of, “It’s okay,” and “Get it out,” and “You’re safe.”
God, I shouldn’t have envied a traumatized woman a decade my junior who’d just taken a nuclear bomb to her family relationship, but I did.My body hurt like I’d been cross-checked into the boards.I kept my eyes on the road and didn’t look in the mirror, even when I should’ve, so I wouldn’t see Miles cradling the person he now loved in his arms.
Miles lived in a fairly ritzy suburb himself, only ten minutes away.His house wasn’t an ostentatious mansion with columns, but he had a wall of glass windows looking out on a pond, plus a pool, and a basement gym, along with four bedrooms, three of which I’d never slept in.Miles’s bed was custom-made for his size, and luxurious.Avery probably looked like a doll in it.
He also had a long circular drive, but no fence, no gate.I pulled around the circle and stopped by the front door.“Logan’s taxi service aims to please.No need to tip the driver.”My tight voice made the joke sound weird.
Avery’s sobbing had died down to little gasps by then.Still, I didn’t look back until she’d opened her door.
“God,” Miles said before she got out.“You two haven’t even met.Logan, this is Avery.Aves, my… friend Logan.”
I twisted to extend a hand over the seatback.“Good to meet you.”
She laid cool, trembling fingers in mine for an instant.“Hey, there.I’m not usually this kind of a mess.”
“No worries.Miles’ll help you through it.”
“Miles is the best.”Her damp eyes shone.
I turned back around, pretending to fiddle with something on the passenger seat.“Yeah, he is, andthe bestshould get you into his house and into a hot shower before you get hypothermia.”
Miles started to say, “The car’s pretty warm—”
I rode over him with, “And don’t you have to meet the moving guys later?They said something about a storage unit.”Because I was a masochist, I added, “Would you like me to help with that?”
“God, no,” Miles shook his head.“You’ve done enough.Thank you.I can’t tell you what a relief it was to see that truck make it off the property.”
“The guys you hired did the work.I just supervised a bit.”
“Even so—”
“Really,” I urged him.“Get Avery inside, get her warm, do what you need to do.We’ll catch up sometime, right?”
“You should come inside too,” Miles urged me.
“God, no.”That came out too forcefully.I softened it with, “I’m beat.We just got back from a roadie this afternoon.I’m going to go home and crash.”Fact was, in no universe did I want to go into Miles’s house, where we’d been together, and watch him comforting his new fiancée.
“For a minute?”
“Get that freezing woman out of my car, Buckner.We can catch up another time when you don’t have six vital things to do before you sleep.”When he still hesitated, I said, “Go!”
“Okay, but I’ll call you later.”Miles slid out of his seat.
“Tomorrow,” I told him.“I’m hitting the sack and you’re busy.Call me tomorrow.Or the next day.”
He paused, a hand on the open door.I didn’t twist around to look up at his face.I had time to take three tense breaths before he said, “All right.Thanks, Logan.You were a lifesaver tonight.”
“Call me Batman,” I joked, hoping I’d hidden how much tonight hurt.“Avery, take that blanket with you.I can get it back another time.”
“Thanks.I’m glad Miles has a friend like you.”She wrapped the fleece tighter around herself and let Miles give her a hand up.
