“What did she even say?”
Dallas made a face, but then recounted last night’s conversation. By the time he finished, my worries about Avery had skyrocketed. “Fuck,” I muttered, shaking my head.
I pulled out my phone and shot Avery a text.
Are you okay? Dallas is at the station with me today and told me about dinner
Her response was quick.
Avery: I’m okay. I mean, I’m not, but I am. But June and Evie comforted me
The only reason I didn’t text you was because I knew you were with Levi and didn’t want to interrupt
. . . and how did that go???
Mateo: I’ll fill you in later. Promise
“What’d she say?” Dallas asked, creeping closer.
I shielded my phone from him before he saw what she’d said, my heart thumping in my chest. I became all too aware of the fact that I could have been caught just now. That Dallas could have looked through our texts and found out the truth.
Fuck.
I cleared my throat. “She said she’s okay. Well, that she isn’t, but she is.”
Dallas nodded. “Good. Thought that’d be the case. Well, I told her we can start our own family dinners. Maybe we should round up June and Evie too. Make it a group thing.”
“That sounds good to me,” I said. It actually sounded like a fucking disaster, given that Avery and I were sneaking around. And technically Levi and I were now too. “Could be good for all of us.”
“I’ll text our chat. It’s time we dusted it off,” he said.
I raised a brow at him. “You’re going to be the one to text? What happened to you being all quiet and broody? You’re never the one to organize shit like this.”
His cheeks reddened and he shrugged his shoulders, although it was a forced shrug. “Just think it would be good for everyone to spend time together, is all.”
Now, it was my turn to narrow my eyes on him. “Whoare you wanting to spend time with, Whynot?”
“Everyone, of course.”
I wasn’t buying that. “Sure.”
He tipped his chin up. “How about you keep your secrets, and I’ll keep mine?”
Now, what in the actual fuck did he mean by that? I raised a brow, but decided not to push any further.
“Fine,” I said. “We got equipment checks and hydrant checks on our list today.”
“All right, boss,” he said. “Tell me where you want me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Levi
I turned on my phone and sighed.
The amount of messages was slowly becoming more manageable. But only slightly. I scrolled through all the texts and then cleared all of them with a click, rolling my shoulders back as I sipped my coffee.
All of my teammates were still concerned. I was appreciative of their check-ins and did my best to respond, but none of them were really my friends.
